CHAPTER 44

The next morning, it was finally time for Miguel and George to return to reality and their lives in L.A. It was December 31st, and they were finally due to leave New York. Although they didn't want to leave the paradise that was the Big Apple, their spirits were too high to feel sad about leaving. The fight and the week they spent exploring the city leading up to it was absolutely glorious. It had not only been really fun for Miguel, but a brilliant way for him to get over his grandmother's death. Before the trip, his was seeing his yaya everywhere: at home, in the dojo, around the city, everywhere. But now, the change of scene had helped ease that and it had overall made him a happier person. To be honest, despite the stress he was feeling about the All-Valley, this was probably the best mental shape and happiest state he had ever been in. And it was only going to improve from here.

That morning, strangely, Mary had texted them and asked if they were free to call, saying that she had "big news". George and Miguel had no idea what it was about, but they were curious to find out, calling Mary after breakfast, as they were packing their bags. They needed to leave to the airport in a half hour, so they had just enough time for a quick call.

"Hello?" Mary said as she answered the phone.

"Hey Mary! How are you doing?" Miguel asked cheerfully as he sat on the couch of the hotel room and George continued to pack up his bag.

"Good, good. How'd the rest of the trip go? How was the fight last night?"

"Oh it was awesome! Really, really awesome! Fight of the century and we got to be there. Still can't believe it to be honest." Miguel said. Mary smiled.

"Well that's really cool. How's everything else going? You ready to get back to school and everything next week?"

"Yeah, everything's going well. I'm kind of excited to get back to training to be honest. I'm starting to miss it." Miguel said. "What about you? You excited to get back to that posh, rich San Francisco private school of yours, where everything's sunshine and rainbows and kids who wear suits to school?"

"Shut up." Mary laughed, rolling her eyes. "Besides, any school seems like paradise compared to that school you go to which is basically a warzone between battling karate dojos!"

"That's… fair." Miguel admitted.

"Exactly!" Mary laughed. "But anyways, regarding school, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you and George about. Is he around?"

"Yeah, he is." Miguel replied, before looking up from his phone at George, who was just finishing packing up his suitcase. "Hey, George! Get your fat ass over here!"

George flipped Miguel the finger as he sat down beside his friend and looked at the phone.

"Hey, Mary, what's up?" He asked.

"Well, I have some news…" Mary said. "My dad's bank branch here in San Fran shut down."

"Oh, no, that's awful!" George exclaimed. "So he lost his job? Why do you sound so happy about that?"

"Yeah, so because the branch my dad was at closed down, the bank relocated him to a different branch effective immediately."

"Oh right. Where's the new branch then? Also in San Fran?" Miguel asked, curiously. Mary grinned and shook her head.

"Actually, no. It's in L.A." She replied. Miguel and George's eyes widened.

"No way! You're coming to L.A?!" Miguel said. Mary nodded, all three of them smiling from ear to ear.

"Yup. My parents are transferring me to a private school in L.A so I won't be in the same school as you guys, but we'll still be able to see each other a LOT more!"

"Yo this is awesome! The gang's all back together again!" Miguel exclaimed.

"Yeah, and you can even join Eagle-Fang Karate with us!" George added. Mary laughed and shook her head vehemently.

"Hell no! You know I think Karate is for…"

"Dumbasses." Miguel and George finished, knowing exactly what Mary was going to say as she had said these words SO many times before.

"You know, you say that but self-defense is useful, especially for women." Miguel remarked. Mary nodded.

"I know, which is why up until two years ago, I went regularly to a self-defense gym." She stated. "But…"

"Awesome, so you already have karate knowledge to an extent! You'd be an amazing addition to Eagle-Fang!" George tried to argue.

"But…" Mary continued, ignoring him. "The karate the two of you are doing has turned into an all-out war that I have no interest in getting involved with. I honestly don't care about it enough to be willing to put my ass on the line every day."

"Eh, that's fair enough." Miguel remarked. "But you moving to L.A… that's fucking awesome!"

"Thanks, Miguel." She laughed.

"So when do you arrive?" George asked.

"4 days. I'm due to start my new school next week and my parents have already rented an AirBnB for us to stay in for the next 6 months."

"Well, that's awesome. We can't wait to see you again." George said. Mary smiled.

"I can't wait to see you guys again too." Mary replied. "Look, I'd love to talk longer but I've gotta go. My parents are calling me to come help pack up the house."

"Yeah, we've gotta go too. We're leaving to the airport soon and we need to finish packing." George said. Them and Mary said their goodbyes moments later and hung up the phone, all of them grinning wildly. Miguel was over the moon. Eagle-Fang Karate, his future sorted out, Mary moving to L.A, and the All-Valley in June… Miguel had quickly gone from having all of the cards stacked against him to all of them giving him an incredible rush of happiness. It was like the universe was finally rewarding him after screwing him over oh so many times in the past couple of months.

However, Miguel's happiness took a slight hit as the two boys checked out of their hotel room and walked outside, only to find snow pouring down in a massive blizzard. They threw themselves into a taxi and the driver was pretty hesitant to drive due to the weather, but eventually did so, taking the two boys to the airport. There, however, was where they encountered their roadblock. They got through check-in and security and everything with no problems at all, however because of the horrendous weather, their plane was not allowed to take off. Instead, they were stuck in the airport for what felt like an interminably long time. Hours and hours passed with no sign of the plane taking off any time soon. Miguel and George spent hours playing video games against each other on George's tablet but soon even that got boring. All they could do was sit, wait and hope that the flight would take off anytime soon. Eventually, at 9 pm, almost 12 hours after they had arrived at the airport, they were finally able to get on their flight. It was a pretty painful experience but they managed to get onto the plane safe and sound, and the flight took off and landed 5 hours later with no issues.

Then, however, the issues restarted. When they landed and got out of the airport, it was exactly 11:30 pm in L.A. Given the fact that it was New Year's Eve, practically no one was on the flight or in the airport. And while that might have seemed like a good thing, it also meant that there were absolutely 0 taxis around the airport. No taxi driver wanted to be driving through the city at this point, knowing the traffic and congestion that was bound to be backed up for miles. To make things worse, it was pouring rain outside, something pretty unusual for them in L.A. They had just come from a blizzard in New York to a downpour in L.A and they weren't happy at all. They tried to go back into the Airport for cover too but unfortunately, the doors were automatic and were exit doors only so they wouldn't open for them. The pair were effectively stuck outside, getting poured on by the rain with every passing second, no way of being able to cover up.

"Yo, what do we do? Argh fuck it's so fucking wet!" Miguel groaned as they stepped outside the airport.

"We could call an uber?" George suggested. Miguel shook his head.

"That's a bad idea. No uber's going to come for at least an hour or so 'cause it's New Year's Day." Miguel stated. George nodded.

"Yeah, then I guess we find somewhere to take cover in until then." He said. Miguel nodded.

"Where?!" He exclaimed. George pulled out his phone and quickly opened Google Maps, looking for anywhere that they could hide in until an Uber was able to get to them. Soon, George found somewhere - a diner - about a 15 minute walk from the airport. Because it was New Year's Eve, most places were closed so this was the closest place they could get to. Sighing in defeat, they let themselves continue to get soaked by the rain as they began the seemingly endless walk to the diner…

After 25 minutes (it took so much longer to make it due to the roads being extremely slippery), they made it to the diner and stumbled inside, both of them drenched by the still pouring rain. As expected, the diner was practically empty, with only about 10 customers and two waitresses in the whole restaurant. Groaning in relief at the strong feeling of heating as they walked inside, the two took off their sopping wet coats and hung them on the coat rack, shook their heads to splash some of the rain out of their hair, and then finally sat down in the booth in the corner of the restaurant, settling there as they knew they would be there for the next little while…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Dude, you need to get a girlfriend!"

Almost as soon as they had sat down in the booth, George said this to his friend, and Miguel groaned. He had heard this many times from George and he honestly wasn't interested to hear it.

"Dude, you know my opinion about this." Miguel grumbled.

"Come on! It's been 6 months since you broke up with Tory!"

"Yeah, and dating also caused the most stress I've ever been under. I'm finally happy again. Why would I want to ruin all of that for a girl!"

"Maybe, that's just you saying that 'cause you've been dating the wrong girls. Dating shouldn't make your life more stressful. It should make it more fun! Besides, 6 months! Come on, man, you're 17! You must be dying to get some action!"

Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Really, man? Because last time I checked, in the past 6 months, I've gotten infinitely more 'action' than you." Miguel remarked. George rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sorry I forgot that back when you were a Cobra Kai prick, you were also a massive player." He stated bluntly. "But dating's different and you know that. Being with someone you truly care about versus being with someone you just met… you can't possibly think those are as good as each other!"

"Sure, but being with a girlfriend requires emotional commitment that I'm honestly not really interested in doing right now. At least during my hookups, it wasn't emotional. It was you're here, I'm here, we're probably not going to see each other again, let's just have fun."

"God, I really wish one of those girls got pregnant! I would've died laughing!" George exclaimed, causing Miguel to glare at him.

"I know you would've. And you call me the prick…" Miguel remarked. "Anyways, yeah, not really interested in romance right now."

George and Miguel looked at each other for several moments, silently sizing each other up, before George broke the silence.

"Nah, I don't buy it!" He exclaimed, causing Miguel to groan and look at his watch. When he saw it, his eyes widened.

"Hey, George…" Miguel started but George interrupted him.

"I'm sorry but I don't buy it!" George declared.

"No. It's not that. It's…"

"Look, when you're with the right person, dating shouldn't be a task. It should be a pleasure!" George stated. "It…"

"Hey, George!" Miguel exclaimed a bit louder, effectively cutting George off and interrupting him, which the boy did not appreciate.

"What?" George snapped. Miguel grinned at him as he replied.

"Happy New Year." Miguel said. George's eyes widened and he looked at his watch.

"Holy crap it is! Happy New Year, mate." George said. The two of them raised the Pepsis that they had ordered.

"To the coming year. I have a feeling this is going to be our best year yet." Miguel toasted.

"Damn straight." George grinned, and the two of them clinked glasses. However as Miguel put his glass down, George kept his in the air as he gave his own toast. "And to finding Miguel a girlfriend!"

"DUDE!" Miguel shouted, annoyed. George raised his arms in defeat.

"Fine, fine. I'm done." George murmured, going silent for a moment. However, the silence didn't last long as he opened his mouth again not even a minute later. "I'm done because I know that when you stop looking, that's exactly when the perfect girl comes along! Okay, now I'm really done!" George finished, stifling a chuckle at the massive glare on Miguel's face.

However, a few moments later, a sound hit Miguel's ears. And this wasn't any ordinary sound. No, it was the most gorgeous singing Miguel had ever heard in his life. It was coming from behind them so Miguel spun around, only to see one of the waitresses playing guitar and singing at the front of the room. And this girl made Miguel almost have to do a double take. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful girl Miguel had ever seen. She had fair skin, and gorgeous locks of silky smooth brunette hair. Even though she wasn't looking his way, her ocean-blue eyes pierced straight into Miguel's soul. A pair of arched eyebrows looked down on sweeping eyelashes on her face. Her delicate ears framed a button nose. A set of dazzling, angel-white teeth gleamed as she created music that would make Whitney Housten cry. Every part of this girl looked like it had been molded by God himself, and as Miguel looked at her, immediately head over heels, he realised that George was right. Maybe he had been dating the wrong girls before. He had first dated Sam, someone he probably wouldn't have had a crush on if she hadn't been one of the popular girls who was so out-of-his-league before he started Karate. Then he dated Tory, a girl who was, harsh as it was to say, the easy option to date. She had had feelings for him, she did Cobra Kai with him, so it just made sense. However, neither of these girls made Miguel feel like he did as he looked at this stunning stranger, despite not even having talked to her before. As Miguel looked at her, all of the pain he had felt in the past and the pain he was currently feeling disappeared. Gone was all of his stress, anxiousness, fear, pain, anything that made him feel in a negative way. For a moment, Miguel thought that she was something supernatural, an actual angel that God had sent down to make this fucked up world a little less fucked up. As he listened to her sing, mesmerised, his theory only strengthened. But he soon realised that it wasn't her being an angel or anything. This was love. He was in love with a girl he had never even met before. Miguel, remembering what George had not moments before about finding someone when you least expect it, groaned in annoyance.

"Damn it, George…"