CHAPTER 27

The following argument was far from pretty. In fact, Miguel would have been surprised if people all the way in Encino couldn't hear Johnny's yelling. Johnny did everything he could to try and get Miguel to come back: persuade him, attempt to bully him into returning, make him reminisce about the good times he had had in karate. But Miguel didn't budge. His mind was set - he was done with karate. And the worst part for Johnny to accept: it wasn't a spur of the moment decision made in the midst of an angry, heated moment. It was a calm, calculated decision from Miguel, one Johnny knew he wouldn't be able to convince Miguel against.

Miguel was done with every aspect of this whole karate war. He was done with the feeling of not being safe the second he stepped out of his house. He was done being wary of an incoming attack at any moment. He wasn't done with his hatred for Robby - he would resent that boy for the rest of his life - but he was done with the whole feud. For someone he claimed he loathed as much as he did, Robby sure as hell took up a lot of mind a lot of the time. Always thinking about how to one-up Robby, physically or emotionally… at the beginning Miguel had thought that it was healthy. After all, it motivated him to put in longer hours in training, motivated him to push himself further than he thought his body was capable of. But now he had realised, it wasn't just a friendly, healthy rivalry. It was bordering on an obsession. When 90% of your energy is focused on playing mind games to try and psychologically take down his opponent, that was the point he knew he had gone too far. Miguel had started karate to learn how to fight off bullies. Well, with the training he had gotten from karate combined with the training his dad had given him the past month, Miguel was confident he could achieve that. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that as former Cobra Kai champion and one of the central figures in this karate war, if Cobra Kai wanted to target someone, he was close to the top of the list of target. But Miguel was certain that he'd be able to take them on no matter who they threw at him.

Also, it was July; that meant that in less than 12 months, he would be graduating. And after that point, he would never be seeing Robby again. He would be going off to college, an experience that if he continued to let his loathing of Robby consume him, he wouldn't be able to have. Miguel needed to prepare for college. He had big ambitions for the future - go to a top-tier school like Stanford, become a doctor - but he knew that on his mom's current salary, there was no chance in hell he was able to afford that. He needed to do one of two things: either get a scholarship or get a job and start saving money. Even potentially take a gap year to earn enough money if need be. But the more time Miguel wasted on a karate rivalry, the longer he had to put off working on either of those things.

That afternoon, Miguel found himself sitting in the living room, facing Johnny and his mom in the exact same way they had been all those months ago when they revealed to him that they were dating. They clearly had something to tell him as they were both shuffling from foot to foot, nervously pacing around Miguel, who had been roughly pushed onto the sofa by Johnny.

"Guys, if this is about me not coming back to karate… look, I'm sorry but my decision is final. I'm done. For now at least."

Johnny shook his head.

"No, that's an argument for another time. We, uh… we have something to tell you, kid." Johnny murmured, glancing at Carmen. "You want to tell him?"

Carmen looked at Johnny, confused.

"What? I thought you were telling him!" She said.

"Hey, I'm not even Miguel's sensei anymore. I'm just some random guy who lives next door. You should tell him." Johnny said, both of them desperately trying to avoid being the one to make the revelation to Miguel. Truth was they had no clue how Miguel would react to their news. Would he be happy? Angry? Upset? And the new baby part of it aside, there was also the Robby of it all, and they could only guess how angry he was going to be about that side of things.

"Come on, Johnny, you should tell him." Carmen pleaded. Miguel was utterly confused at their uncomfortable expressions, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Guys, just tell me… what's going on?" He laughed. "What, are you guys pregnant or something?"

Carmen and Johnny glanced at each other, not responding. Miguel's eyes widened as he realised…

"Wait…. What? You guys are actually pregnant?"

Carmen slowly turned to Miguel nervously and she nodded, awaiting Miguel's reaction with baited breath.

"Yes. We are. Johnny and I are having a baby." Carmen said, trying to read the unreadable expression on her son's face. Miguel was silent for a long time, trying to process the bombshell that his mom had just laid on him.

"Oh, my God." Miguel murmured, quietly, absolutely floored by the news.

"But hey, look, Miguel, I swear that nothing is going to change with us." Carmen stammered. "We wi…"

Carmen's voice trailed off as she watched Miguel stand up and slowly walk towards her. Before she knew it, Miguel had pulled her into a tight hug.

"Congratulations." He said when he let go of her a moment later.

"You're… you're okay with it?" Carmen stammered, surprised yet over the moon. Miguel nodded.

"Well… yeah. This is a good thing, right?" He remarked. Carmen and Johnny looked at each other and nodded.

"Yeah… yeah it is." Johnny replied.

"Miguel, you don't have to act happy if you're not, okay? If you have something you want to say to us, please say it now. Don't let it fester." Carmen told him. Miguel shook his head, his mind still spinning and reeling from the news.

"No, I… I'm really, really happy for you guys. I think having another kid, especially given that I'm graduating this year, is a great thing for you, mom." Miguel said. This wasn't fully a lie, though there was a lot more going on in Miguel's head than he was letting on…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So Sensei Lawrence knocked up your mom? Nice." Hawk grinned at Miguel as the pair lay around in Hawk's basement, playing a video game but neither really focussed on it as Miguel told Hawk the news. Hawk had been shocked to see Miguel knocking on his door that afternoon, to say the least, but he was absolutely delighted to have his best friend back. Miguel's breakup with Sam thankfully hadn't affected their brotherly friendship, so Miguel had no problem biking over to Hawk's to reveal to him the news.

Miguel glared at him.

"No. Not nice. Fucking weird is what it is." Miguel responded, his hands twitching nervously but being disguised by using the video game controller. "I mean it was weird enough before when Sensei and my mom were just dating, but now they're having a kid together?! That's going to change everything, and not in a good way."

Hawk raised an eyebrow.

"How's that?" Hawk asked. Miguel shrugged.

"Well for a start, think about who the baby's brother is." Miguel pointed out. Hawk looked at him, confused.

"Um… you?" He replied, raising an eyebrow. Miguel glared at him again.

"Other brother, dumbass. Johnny's son." Miguel snapped. Hawk's face went from confusion to disbelief to pure delight as he burst out laughing.

"Oh, my God! That's actually perfect! You and Robby Keene being brothers… what could go wrong?" Hawk remarked. Miguel nodded.

"It's not just that though." Miguel muttered. "There are other issues I have with this too."

"Such as what? Little baby Miguel afraid his parents are not gonna love him anymore?" Hawk teased him. Miguel scowled at him and shook his head.

"No. Shut up. It's like this. Johnny has no fucking money. He was earning money when he was Cobra Kai sensei but now with Eagle-Fang, but he keeps pissing it all away on dumb shit and he's not earning it back. Right now, he has like only 5 students and I know he's not even charging like half of them."

"Yeah, so?" Hawk said.

"So? My mom is hardly rich either. The two of them are hardly financially stable, and my mom can't support herself, me, my yaya, Johnny AND another child too. Her salary barely covers enough for me, her and yaya to begin with. And you know my yaya's not getting any younger. Soon she'll be at a point when she needs medical assistance to go about her life; that's another chunk of my mom's money that's going to be cut away. How are they supposed to have the money to support a child, send the child to college, give the child a good life?!"

Hawk shrugged.

"Yeah, so Johnny can just get a job somewhere else." Hawk stated.

"Sure, he can get some minimum wage, dead-end job somewhere, but for how long. He's 54 years old. He has about 10 more years until he has to retire. 10 years until he stops making money again. That's another problem, the age gap! Johnny is 54, my mom's 35! He was graduating high school when my mom wasn't even born!"

"Interesting time to finally take a stand against their relationship when they've been dating nearly 6 months already." Hawk remarked as he watched his friend spiralling in stress and worry.

"Yeah, see it was fine when it was just a casual thing between them. My mom was happy, sensei was happy, it was all good. But now with this baby… the baby's just going to be 8 years old when Johnny officially becomes a senior citizen. Johnny will be 72 years old when the baby graduates high school! 72! Most people are in senior homes at that point! The kid might have to deal with losing his dad when he's just a child. Do you know how scarring that is?! And you know how many fights Johnny has gotten into! The head trauma from that is bound to have taken a couple of years off his life!"

Hawk paused the video game and turned to his friend, an unusually sympathetic look on his face. Miguel was practically hyperventilating at this point. He hadn't thought about all of these things when he first found out about the baby, and as he described them to Hawk, he kept thinking of more and more reasons why this whole baby thing was a horrible idea. It was a terrifying prospect, but Hawk remained much calmer than Miguel.

"Okay, dude, relax. You need to calm down." Hawk said. "That whole money part of it… that isn't your job to figure out. I'm sure your mom and Johnny can sort that shit out in the next 9 months before the baby comes. And also more and more people are having kids at Johnny's age. 54 really isn't that old to have a kid at anymore. Also you don't have to worry about anything… if Johnny dies, I'll make sure to take care of you and your hot, young mom. Hey, I can become your step dad!"

Miguel glared at him in a mixture of annoyance and just sheer disbelief at how his friend was making jokes in such a dire situation.

"Dude, come on." Miguel snapped at him. Hawk laughed at his friend's unamusement.

"Look, all I'm saying is that it's okay. They're the adults. You're the kid. Let them sort out all of the adult stuff. They're not stupid people. They've both had kids before so know the financial cost. Hell, your mom's a nurse. If anyone knows what having a baby is about it's her."

Miguel slowly nodded, his panic not dissipating, but being pushed down slightly, and rather than being up in his head, resting deep in the pit of his stomach.

"So in the meantime, you planning on coming back to Karate? You know we're 1-1 on All-Valley wins. We need to settle who the better fight is once and for all. You know, like Sensei Larusso and Johnny did a few months ago."

"Yeah, and how'd that end again, because I seem to remember them both knocking each other out?" Miguel remarked.

"Your point being?" Hawk grinned. "You know you should join Miyagi-Do. "

Miguel laughed.

"You mean join my ex-girlfriend's dad's dojo? No, I'm good thanks. I've had enough awkward sensei-student conversations with Johnny in the past few months."

"So, what? You gonna join Eagle-Fang? Train with your best pals Robby and Tory, under the tutelage of Robby's father? In a dojo that isn't even a dojo, as your sensei doesn't have the money to afford one? I've been in all three dojos, trained with all three. Trust me, man, Miyagi-Do's the move."

Miguel chuckled and shook his head.

"No offense, man, but right now, for me I think the move is no dojo for a while."

Hawk's eyes widened in alarm as he looked at Miguel.

"Wait… what? You're not joining a dojo?" Hawk asked. Miguel shook his head, and Hawk's jaw dropped. "Why? You scared to fight me or something, you big pussy?"

Miguel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, first of all, I've spent the past month training with absolute monsters. If I wanted to whoop your ass, I could do so before you even blink." Miguel commented. Hawk opened his mouth to protest but Miguel held up a hand to cut him off. "Second, my decision to quit Karate has nothing to do with you. It's all about me and my future."

"What do you mean?" Hawk asked, confused.

"What are your plans after high school, Hawk? Where are you trying to go to college?"

"Well ideally M.I.T, Stanford, Cal Tech, schools like those." Hawk replied, eyebrows furrowed in perplexion. "Why?"

"Do you know how much it costs per year in any of these places? 60 thousand dollars! I don't have that kind of money! The only money in the Miguel college fund right now is the spare change I find in between the seats in the car. And now with another baby on the way… no chance my family have the money to send me to even the cheapest of colleges. If I want to do anything more with my life than being just another latino plumber, I'm going to have to pay my own way through it. So I need to use every minute I have in the next year to either be working at a job and earning some money, or keep doing karate and gamble on somehow being one in a million who earns a college scholarship. I can tell you which odds I like better, so yeah… I'm not doing karate anymore. I'm done…"