CHAPTER 55

"Good morning, sunshine!"

Miguel groaned as George's insanely loud voice greeted him, and the curtains were drawn back to let a stream of light into the room. It was the next morning and they had school so George had had to wake him up extremely early. That meant that on top of the fact that Miguel was super hung over, he was also exhausted too. He forced himself to roll out of bed, swallowing the nausea that was threatening to creep up on him, and stumbled his way over to the bathroom to wash up and get ready for the day. As he walked downstairs into the kitchen to see George munching cheerfully on some cereal, when he looked up at Miguel, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow, you look… horrible." George remarked as Miguel collapsed onto the seat next to him.

"Jee, thanks man." Miguel shot back, his sunken eyes glaring at George and his whole body resisting the urge to throw up at the smell of the rich, sugary cereal. "Remind me next time my dumbass friend tells me to 'just drink more, it'll be fine' to tell him to fuck off and just leave."

George laughed, the loud sound ringing in Miguel's ears and causing him to groan in pain.

"Honestly, that'd probably be a wise idea looking at you right now." George replied. "Forgot you couldn't hold your liquor."

"Shut up." Miguel snapped.

"So how much do you remember from last night?" George asked. Miguel shook his head.

"Not much, to be honest. I was kinda wasted." Miguel said.

"I noticed." George laughed. "So you don't remember your pact with Emily?"

Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" He grunted. George winced, knowing that what his friend had babbled to him about last night in his drunkenness was exactly what Miguel had said would happen with the alcohol: a bad decision. "Nah, I remember Emily and I actually getting along and hanging out. I don't remember exactly what we were doing or saying. You know what? I think this could be a turning point for me and her. Maybe at this rate, we can eventually get together."

George chuckled nervously and shook his head.

"I'm not sure about that mate…"

George told Miguel about exactly what had gone on between Emily and Miguel the night before and when he was done, Miguel put his head in his hands.

"Ugh, well that just sucks." He grumbled. "So what now? I'm supposed to be just friends with her?"

George shrugged.

"I don't know, man. I'm not you or her, but if you truly want her in your life in some way, you might have to just give up trying to date her and be friends with her instead, or you're going to lose her."

Miguel groaned.

"Mate, this is so fucking painful. I'm literally so in love with that girl. You can't even imagine how much this hurts."

George looked down at the floor.

"I don't know man. Liking someone who only likes you as a friend… I know how that feels."

Miguel raised an eyebrow, confused.

"You do? How?" Miguel questioned, then realisation dawned on him. Everything clicked together like a jigsaw. Why George kept pressing for them to stay last night with Emily and Mary rather than leave. Why he was so happy about Mary arriving. "No way!"

"What?" George grunted.

"Mary?!" Miguel exclaimed in disbelief. George's face immediately turned crimson, and his head shot up to look at his friends.

"What? No! I don't like Mary! You like her!" George stammered, babbling nervously. Miguel couldn't help but laugh and raised an eyebrow.

"Um… no. In case you've forgotten given I haven't mentioned it in the past 10 second, I'm very much in love with Emily, remember? But you and Mary? Wow… I didn't… I didn't realise man."

"Yeah, well not much to see." George murmured, abnormally quietly. "I like her. She'll never feel the same way. End of story."

"Woah, woah, woah! Not end of story!" Miguel declared. "You're just giving up without even giving it a shot at all?"

"You don't miss every shot you don't take." George remarked. Miguel raised an eyebrow, stifling a chuckle.

"That's just about the dumbest thing I've heard you say, not gonna lie." Miguel laughed. "You don't SCORE every shot you don't take. You're never going to know unless you try. If she says no, then you'll go to bed that night with no regrets. But if she says yes, you'll have a chance to be as happy as Emily and I could've been. Come on dude. We're two relatively nice guys. At least one of us deserves to get the girl in the end! Do it for me, so I can have faith that the world isn't entirely fucked up. You know, my grandmother did die less than 2 months ago…"

"Wow, how long are you going to milk that excuse for?" George grumbled. Miguel grinned at him and shrugged.

"Depends on your answer. If you agree to try and shoot your shot with Mary, I swear I will never use that excuse again!"

George looked at him for several moments, before eventually sighing in defeat.

"Alright, fine. Yeah, I'll do it. I'll ask her out…"

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"Wake up, Keene!" A guard shouted, rapping on Robby's cell door. Robby groaned and opened his eyes. He had been in Juvie for 4 months to the very day, and he couldn't help but smile widely as he realised something… he was finally out! He was going home today! It had been a hellish experience in juvie… being locked up with some of the toughest, most ruthless teenagers in the country had been an experience he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. The beginning had been especially hard: as someone not already in a gang, he had constantly been beaten up, picked on, and tormented by the other guys, but eventually, after about a month, he had defended himself in enough fights to gain their respect and they left him well enough alone. He wasn't friends with any of them, but he had earned their respect and their admiration in some ways, which was good enough for him.

He was extremely excited to get out of juvie. His whole life was truly awaiting him once he got out. His mom was out of juvie so he was going to live with her. Things between him and Johnny, and him and Daniel had never been better. He had heard from them the terrifying stories about the havoc Miguel and his Cobra Kai were wreaking over the Valley so he couldn't wait to get out to protect his friends and prevent them from being stomped on by Cobra Kai any longer. And most of all, he couldn't wait to represent Miyagi-Do in the All-Valley again and get his first win over Miguel in the tournament (though he should have won last year's final).

However, Robby's good mood would soon be brought down to a crushing stop. After showering and changing into his normal clothes for the first time in 4 months, he was brought by one of the guards to the front entrance of the juvie block. The lady in front of the front desk smiled at him as he walked in.

"Mr. Keene! You're getting out today?! How great!"

Robby nodded.

"Yeah, I am." He replied. At that moment, a guard walked into the room.

"Hey, Keene! You got a visitor!" The guard barked. Robby raised an eyebrow.

"A visitor? I'm out of here today." Robby stated. The guard shook his head.

"No. You're out of here tonight. You still have to meet with your counsellor one more time and fill out all of your release forms. But before that, you have a visitor so get out into the visitation room NOW!"

Robby nodded and quickly hurried out the room. Who was this visitor going to be? His mom? His dad? Mr. Larusso? But it was none of these people. Instead, it was one of the last people Robby wanted to see. For when he entered the room, he found himself face to face with none other than John Kreese…

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"Hello, Robby." Kreese smiled at him as Robby was forced by the guard to sit opposite the elderly, sinister sensei.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Robby growled, readying himself for a physical confrontation. Noticing this, Kreese raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Calm down. I'm not here for a fight. I'm just here to talk." Kreese stated.

"What do you want?" Robby snapped.

"I came here to warn you about Miyagi-Do." Kreese said. Robby looked at him, confused.

"Huh?" He snapped.

"You know that when you return to Miyagi-Do, you're not going to be the number 1 student anymore?" Kreese told him. "They have a new student. A new golden child."

"So what? Miyagi-Do isn't about winning." Robby snapped. Kreese shrugged.

"Is it not? I beg to differ. I mean they're so desperate to win the All-Valley… why else would they have let in Diaz?"

Robby's blood ran cold. Miguel was at Miyagi-Do?! They had let him set foot in the dojo after everything he had done to them both before and after the school fight?! Daniel had let him into the dojo after hitting his daughter?! Had let him into the dojo after beating the crap out of most of the dojo at various points over the past year?!

"No way. You're lying." Robby spat angrily. Kreese shook his head.

"I assure you, I am not." He replied, ever calmly. "Miyagi-Do is a sinking ship, Robby. They are no longer Miyagi-Do. They are Miguel and his Merry Men. Now you have two options… remain on that ship and wait for them to cast you out. Or… you join Cobra Kai."

Robby chuckled mirthlessly and sat back.

"Ah, I get it now. You're trying to get me to join Cobra Kai, aren't you?" Robby remarked. Kreese shrugged.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps this isn't Sensei Kreese, it's just John, who unlike everyone else in your life, has your best interests at heart."

"And why would you possibly have my best interests in mind?" Robby asked, unconvinced.

"Because I see something in you, Robby. A potential that no one I've ever met or coached before has. You have no ceiling as to how high you can go, and as a sensei, that is something I love to see. However, your potential is being wasted in Miyagi-Do. Just like Samantha Larusso, you're going to be forced onto the sidelines and forced to play second fiddle to Miguel."

"I don't hate Miguel that much anymore." Robby murmured, pretty unconvincingly as his blood boiled. Kreese chuckled.

"Now you and I both know that isn't true." Kreese replied. "Look, if you want me to, I can make you into the greatest Karate student the Valley has ever seen. You could have unprecedented success and could completely wipe out Miguel once and for all."

Robby glared at him for several moments, a small voice inside him internally doubting his allegiance to Miyagi-Do and listening to what Kreese was telling him? Had Miyagi-Do really stooped that low to have recruited Miguel? Was Kreese right? Would he only be playing second fiddle to his greatest enemy? Robby shut down that voice pretty quickly though, and shook his head at Kreese.

"My Karate isn't about destroying people. It's about defense. And honor. Something you clearly don't know much about given that you're trying to recruit your enemy's son and your other enemy's mentee. So I don't care about Miguel being at Miyagi-Do, because no matter what, I will always hate Cobra Kai more. Get out of here." Robby snapped. Kreese nodded, obliging and leaving the room. However, despite not having convinced Robby to join Cobra Kai, he smiled. It had been a successful mission. He had managed to plant the seeds of doubt and hatred towards Miguel and Miyagi-Do, just as Robby was about to be returning to the Valley. If fate swung his way, Robby would be his student by the end of the month…