CHAPTER 39
Silver and Miguel got into Silver's car and then drove to Silver's house. It was almost a half an hour drive, but Miguel barely felt a minute of it, as he was sitting in the plush leather seats of undoubtedly the nicest vehicle he had ever been in. Silver, like Sam, drove a Mercedes, but this car was several tiers higher than the one driven by his ex. The feeling of the wind tickling his cheeks and his hair blowing in the wind as they sat in the comfortable was absolutely awesome, and as Miguel felt this, he smiled to himself. Life could be a hell of a lot worse right now. They soon arrived at Silver's house and once again, Miguel's breath was taken away at how incredible this place was. They were outside the Valley, in what was definitely one of the richest areas in L.A, and Silver lived in a vast mansion in the corner of the neighborhood. Several storeys high, it sat right on the coast, overlooking the ocean and the horizon.
Silver led Miguel into the house and gave him a short tour. The place was insane! A variety of antique items, extremely fancy furniture and the sheer size of the place told Miguel just how rich this man really was. Not that he didn't already know. Silver took Miguel through the kitchen, the various living rooms, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the wine cellar, the basement, just some of the countless rooms in the mansion.
"Wow, you have a really nice place." Miguel remarked.
"Thanks." Silver replied. "Consider it a home away from home. If things ever get too much at home at any point and you need some time away, feel free to come here anytime."
"Thank you, sensei. I really appreciate it." Miguel murmured, smiling faintly at him. Knowing the chaos that was bound to come between him, Johnny, his mom, Robby and their unborn baby in the near future, he knew that there could be a chance he took up that offer.
"No problem at all." Silver replied. "Now, I'm going to gather the documents for us to make this deal official. If you want, you can use the shower in the guest bathroom."
"Yeah, that'd be great, thank you." Miguel murmured, and Silver showed him the way to the room, before leaving him alone. Miguel walked inside and of course even the bathroom was spectacular. As he used the toilet, he was peeing on gold. Literally. The fucking toilet was plated with gold! Like who the hell had the money to live so luxuriously?! Me in the future, Miguel told himself. He wanted to earn this amount of money to be able to afford such unimaginable luxuries.
After taking a long shower, Miguel emerged from the bathroom, and he immediately heard the faint sound of beautiful music in the distance. He walked into the main living room, only to see his sensei sitting over a grand piano, tickling the keys in a way that produced a gorgeous sound. Miguel stood there, in awe, for several moments as he listened to his sensei play, before Silver eventually pressed the final note of the piece and looked up to see Miguel.
"Wow… that was amazing." Miguel remarked, in breathless shock.
"Thank you." Silver smiled at him. "You play?"
Miguel shook his head.
"Nah. I wanted to when I was younger but… we could never afford it." Miguel admitted.
"Well then how about after we finish making our contract official, I show you a few things?" Silver suggested kindly. Miguel sighed.
"I'd love to, but uh… I'm meeting up with some friends a bit later."
Silver nodded.
"Not to worry. Not to worry. Another time, perhaps." He remarked, before the two took their seats on the sofa and Silver handed Miguel a pile of papers.
"What's this?" Miguel asked.
"It's a written contract." Silver explained. "It's a list of all the things we agreed about your deal with Cobra Kai when you joined last night."
"Oh, right." Miguel murmured as he began to read them.
"So… let's begin with the pay. The simplest part." Silver stated, as Miguel read that paragraph at the top of page one. "5000 dollars a week like we discussed, to be paid at the end of every week like we agreed. I have, however, added a few things that you can go ahead and read."
Miguel continued to read it and felt more and more assured with every letter he read. This contract seemed extremely legitimate, not just something scribbled on a napkin, to be discarded at a later time. It discussed the fact that if Miguel got injured through anything karate or dojo related, he would still receive his money, whereas if he got injured doing any personal hobbies, he wouldn't. It discussed how Miguel needed to show up to a minimum of 3 training sessions a week, which was more than okay as Miguel planned to show up 5-6 times a week anyway. Hell, Silver even offered Miguel a bonus for any official tournaments that he won in the future.
"Oh yeah, one thing. In terms of if you want to quit at any point…" Silver started.
"I won't want to. I can assure you." Miguel murmured, feeling more and more confident with the deal.
"If. If you want to leave, I don't want to feel like our contract is forcing you to stay. Which is why you are 100% free to quit at any time. No two weeks notice or anything. Provided if you do, you won't receive that week's payment, but other than that, you'll be free to go off and do your own thing from the moment you leave. However, if I don't feel like things are working out and you're not fulfilling the role in the way I've hoped and I have to let you go, I will indeed pay you two week's salary - 10 thousand dollars - in compensation and you can leave immediately without having to stay for the two weeks obviously. That sound good?"
"Yeah, sounds great." Miguel replied. Silver nodded and smiled.
"Good. That's great. So now that we have the payment part of things out of the way, let's clarify your role within the team." Silver stated. "I know that according to the official contract, to get paid, you have to do nothing more than to merely show up to training 3 times a week, but I'd like to explicitly explain what I expect of you so our relationship remain fruitful as it has thus far. I would hate to have to let go of such an amazing student and ambassador of Cobra Kai."
Miguel nodded.
"Well, I know I've said this a lot, but I'd like to make sure this is clear. I am not going to start any attacks against Miyagi-Do. I'm not going to fight them unless they start it, and am surely not going to plan any premeditated ambushes against them."
Silver shook his head.
"I can assure you Miguel that you will not have to do any of that." He replied. "Your role in the dojo is to be the student leader. Represent your fellow Cobra Kais. If they have a problem with something or someone, you either try and help them or if you can't, you let me know and I can try and help. I know that in the time you have been in Cobra Kai both times, it's been all about rivalry with Miyagi-Do, but that's honestly not what Cobra Kai is supposed to be like. Cobra Kai is not supposed to be an army; it's supposed to be a family. And you're the equivalent of the oldest child in the family so you have the added responsibility to look over their shoulders and make sure they're doing well every now and again."
"Yup. Yeah, I can do that." Miguel said. Silver grinned.
"Awesome." He encouraged his student. "Just one more thing though… there was one thing I wanted to discuss with you before we both sign the deal and make it official. In the case that Miyagi-Do or Eagle-Fang karate wage an attack against us…"
"I fight back." Miguel finished. "I will defend my fellow Cobra Kai students, to the point where we are no longer being threatened. Once we have extinguished the threat, when there is no need to continue fighting, I won't continue whaling on them just to prove a point. That's just who I am. I didn't do that before when I was in Cobra Kai, and I don't plan on starting now."
"100%." Silver replied. "That's exactly what I hoped to hear from you. Once again, I'm not the one who is incensed with wiping Miyagi-Do out of the Valley. In fact, the last thing I need is a scandal where my student has committed assault while I'm trying to expand our dojo. So yeah, please don't go overboard if you need to defend yourself or your fellow students. You don't need to strike lightly, but when the fight is clearly over, you don't need to keep hitting."
"Sounds good." Miguel murmured. Silver smiled and nodded.
"Well, that's about it for me. Anything else you want me to know before we sign the deal and make this official?"
Miguel shook his head, a small smile gracing his own lips.
"No, I think that about covers it." Miguel murmured. "Sensei, in case I haven't said it enough yet, thank you so much for what you're doing for me. I mean, that 5k a week is going to mean the world to me and my family…"
Silver shrugged.
"Are you kidding me? I'm happy to do it. Not like you can take it with you when you go, right?" Silver replied, before pulling out a gold-tipped black fountain pen and signing his signature on the bottom of the contract, before handing it to Miguel. "So, Miguel, you ready to lead Cobra Kai into the future?"
Miguel slowly picked up the pen and after taking a deep breath, he brought it down on the dotted line.
"Yes. Yes, I am…"
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Hey, are you sure you want to be here?" Demetri remarked to Sam as Miyagi-Do parked their car at the top of the canyon, ready to walk down to where Moon was throwing a party. Sam had immediately come to apologize to him after their incident in training, and she had explained everything. Realising everything that she was going through, Demetri had forgiven her, so he was instead now filled with concern for his friend as they arrived at the party.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked, confused.
"I mean, you realise that Miguel's probably going to be here tonight, right?" He commented. "Moon said she's inviting almost everyone, so that probably includes him too."
"Yeah, he's coming. Moon told me earlier." Hawk confirmed as he stepped out of the car. Sam froze for a moment. She hadn't realised that. She had assumed that given that Miguel was staying under the radar and hadn't even bothered contacting her, he wouldn't be coming to the party. But he was going to show up? Sam forced herself to remain calm and keep it together, and she slowly nodded.
"You know what? I'm fine. I feel like it would be good for us to be face to face again and be able to air out our issues with each other." Sam stated, not really telling them but trying to convince herself more than anything.
"Yeah, that's good. Maybe it'll help you both move on." Demetri remarked. "And hey, if a fight ends up breaking out, know that we've got your back."
"Well… Demetri's got your back. I've gotta stick with my boy." Hawk commented.
"Eli…" Demetri snapped quietly as he saw the troubled look on Sam's face.
"What? I'm not the one who broke up with him!" Hawk exclaimed. Demetri didn't respond though, as he stared down at the bottom of the canyon and his jaw dropped in shock.
"Um… guys? They're here." Demetri stammered.
"Miguel?" Hawk asked, but to his surprise, Demetri shook his head.
"No, no… THEY'RE here." Demetri spluttered, not able to bring himself to call them by their names.
"Bro, what the fuck are you talking ab…" Hawk's voice trailed off as his eyes widened in alarm. He spotted exactly who Demetri was talking about, and his hands curled into balls as he spotted none other than Robby Keene and Tory Nichols at the bottom of the canyon…
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Oh, my God! What are they doing here?!" Sam murmured as they slowly walked down the canyon towards the Eagle-Fang students, who in the eyes of Miyagi-Do, stuck out like sore thumbs amongst all of the other students at the party. Thankfully, Robby and Tory hadn't noticed them arrive yet, so Miyagi-Do had time to think of a game plan before they got to the bottom of the canyon.
"Who invited them?!" Demetri hissed, his eyes narrowing towards Hawk, knowing that it was his girlfriend's party.
"Hey, don't look at me! Moon didn't exactly send me a guest list." Hawk responded. Despite beating Robby in the finals, that had done nothing to take away from the fury he felt towards that boy. It was the same guy who had scalped him in the tattoo parlor. The guy who he had so much resentment towards spanning all the way back from their All-Valley semi final last year, and beating Robby this year had done nothing to stem that hatred. And Sam's issues with Tory… well there wasn't much more to say about that. Despite Tory admitting that Silver had cheated in the tournament, the fact that she had done nothing to explain that to the All-Valley commission showed her that Tory hadn't changed at all. She was still the bitch who had caused so much terror in her life, and who Sam knew that she would NEVER see eye to eye with, no matter which side Tory was on. And the feeling was mutual, as Sam correctly knew that Tory felt the same way.
Eventually, the group of Miyagi-Dos - Sam, Demetri, Hawk, Chris and Nate - made it to the bottom of the canyon, though the latter 2 names scurried away pretty quickly, leaving just Sam, Hawk and Demetri to confront Robby and Tory. The couple noticed their adversaries pretty soon after, and they both immediately dropped their solo cups, slowly prowling towards the advancing Miyagi-Dos. It was just instinct. When both were there, they immediately knew that it was time for a fight. It was almost second nature for them to stand face to face and square up to one another as they approached each other.
"The hell are you guys doing here?" Hawk snarled at Robby. Robby smirked at him, clearly not too fazed by his All-Valley loss as he knew that he could kick the "champion's" ass 6 ways from sunday if it came down to it.
"The other Eagle-Fangs invited us." Robby replied, coolly. "They said that Moon told them to bring whoever they wanted as the more the merrier."
"Yeah, did she also say anything about too many cooks spoiling the broth?" Demetri remarked, to which Robby and Tory looked at him, confused as to what he was talking about.
"He's saying you're not supposed to be here." Sam snapped, to which Tory put on a smirk similar to the one of her boyfriend.
"We're not supposed to be here?" Tory laughed. "What would mommy say if she heard that her little girl had snuck out to a party and was staying up past her bedtime?"
The two sides bickered on and on and on for what seemed like an eternity, both readying for physical blows sooner or later, until all of a sudden, their voices were cut off by the incredibly loud roaring of a car engine. But this didn't sound like any car. It was the sound of some kind of sports car…
All of the heads turned to look at the top of the canyon, where all of them had parked their cars, to see a new fleet of like 3 cars pulling up. But it was the car at the front of them that caught their eye. It was glaringly different to every other car in the loud, as rather than being just another Masda or Subaru or Honda or any other type of car that mommy or daddy traditionally bought their kid, this car was none other than a fire-engine red Ferrari. Their jaws dropped at the sight of the beautiful car staring down at them from the top of the hill like the Lions on Pride Rock, and they watched as two people got out the expensive car and met up with their friends, who had also just parked. They were too far away for anyone to tell who exactly they were, but as Tory and Robby instantly recognised the car from prom night, they knew which party had just arrived. The group of teenagers (and one fat, middle-aged adult) walked down the hill together and as they got closer, the jaws of every single karate student hit the ground in shock. Leading the line of Cobra Kai students was someone none of them in a million years expected to be wearing the serpent emblem again.
Hawk was the first to regain the ability to speak after the bombshell of shock, but even he spluttered to find the words as he saw his best friend standing amongst some of his worst enemies in the world. All he could bring himself to say was…
"Holy shit."