Chapter Eight
Primadonna

SYDNEY HAD ONLY met Daniel's mother a handful of times in her life but each time Lucille came to visit, she showered her with love like she was apart of the family. They all sat outside in the warm sun while Daniel and Louie grilled. "You know, it's bad enough that this monster is teaching kids. Now he's somehow convinced the All Valley board to let Cobra Kai back in the tournament."

Sydney had been hearing about the karate drama all morning. She looked down at her phone that she was hauling under the table.

sydie 🐬💙
is karate the only thing he talks about?

sammy 🌸💓
apparently

Her and Sam smiled at each other.

"Oh, that's horrible. They can't let them back," Lucille expressed, "they're nothing but a bunch of bullies."

"They can't all be bullies though, right?" Sydney asked when she remembered that Miguel was in Cobra Kai.

"Trust me, Sydney, you don't know the half of it. Those cobra jerks made my little boy's life miserable." Lucille explained. She pointed at her son. "Tell them how they pushed you down that hill."

"We've heard it. Many times." Sam mumbled.

"Well, they're already heard it ma—"

"I thought it was a cliff." Said Anthony.

Amanda came outside with the pasta salad. "You want any pasta salad?" She offered to Lucille.

Daniel's mom pulled a face. "Oh no, thank you. I-I-I don't like that prepackaged stuff from the store. It's. . ." she shuddered.

Sydney felt the awkwardness begin to rise. "I'd love some, Amanda." She spoke up.

"Thank you, Syd," she said gratefully and put some on her plate. "I would've made some, but I got home late from the dealership."

Lucille waved her hand. "Oh no, that's okay, I get it. It's tonight being a working mom. But at least you have a partner." She pointed at Daniel. "Remember how I use to come home from work and then start cooking from scratch?"

Sam grabbed Sydney's arm, her face reading a fight way about to start.

"Yeah ma." Daniel sighed and sat down beside his wife, patting her back.

"You know, that son of a bitch has a lot of nerve entering the tournament," Louie stated and he sat down at the table. "Especially after everything he's done to you. And you fixed his car for free."

"Dad, what if Cobra Kai's changed?" Sam voiced what Sydney was thinking.

"Yeah, I mean, there's kids from our school who are in it."

"Please, girls, Cobra Kai will never change," Daniel told them. He looked at Sam, knowing he couldn't control the other girl. "Promise me you'll stay away from the kids who are associated with it. All right?"

The girls looked at each other again. Sam gave her a look, wondering what she was going to do. Sydney said nothing at just looked at her hands. She grabbed her phone from her lap and opened the Snapchat app. She pointed it at her and Sam, the girls smiling at the camera.

"Aww, please send that to me." Sam begged.

Sydney saved the photo and sent it to her and Miguel.

They ate dinner rather quickly, or maybe she only thought that because she wanted to get to dessert so badly. As Sydney ate her cake, she listened to Lucille talk to Daniel. "Hey, I heard you've gotten back into karate." She brought up.

Her son nodded. "Yeah, it's been too long," Daniel nodded. "There's this kid, Robby, who works at the dealership. We train together."

Sydney thought it had to be the cute boy who showed up at their door the other night.

Amanda came back to the table and sat between Sydney and Anthony. "Well, I just got a call from the dealership," she stated, rather angrily, and locked her fingers together. "Sheila just said a couple of sketchy guys rolled up on motorcycles looking for Louie,"

All eyes turned to Louie and he sipped his coffee. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you!" He said when he realized. "I met these bikers when I was the auto convention in Vegas. We got hammered at the palms. We were drinking boilermakers. It was a sick time."

"Boilermakers?" Sydney repeated.

Amanda just shook her head.

"Anway, long story short, when they found out who I was, we came up with this great idea. Larusso Luxury Motorcycles."

"What are you talking about?" Amanda questioned, now stressed out.

"That's a wicked name, I can't lie." Sydney whispered to Anthony.

"Relax, I just said we'd start with four and then work our way up from there." Louie stated but that didn't sit right with the Larussos.

"Louie, what did I say about using my name to make deals?" Daniel piped in.

"I'm sorry, cuz. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Amanda laughed sarcastically. "Where have we heard that before?"

"Hey, be nice. He just made a mistake," Lucille butted in.

The woman looked at her in disbelief. "A mistake is forgetting to lock up at work, which he's done several times. This is interfering with our business. Just stay out of it." She said with hostility

The teenage girls grabbed each other's arms, cringing silently.

"Stay out of it," Lucille repeated. "Yeah, that's a very nice way to talk to her your mother-in-law."

"Ma, she didn't mean it that way," Daniel tried assuring her

"No, no, I meant it that way, okay?" Amanda snapped. "If it wasn't for her, we never would've hired Louie in the first place."

Louie objected.

"He's family, and you always take care of family." Lucille insisted.

"We do take care of family! Because not only did we hire Louie, we also host Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter—"

"Host? Come on. It's easy to host when everything is catered."

Sydney looked down at her phone and texted Sam again.

sydie 🐬💙
your family dinners never disappoint

sammy 🌸💓
oh, shut up

As much as Sydney loved Daniel and his family, she could only handle so much of hearing about his high school experience with a bunch of karate bullies over forty years ago. But then again, who was she to judge?

When she knocked on Miguel's door, he answered it and his eyebrows raised at the sight of her. "Hey, Syd," he spoke and grew a smile.

She smiled back. "Hi."

Hearing her voice, Carmen stood behind her son and gasped. "Sydney! Come inside honey, we have plenty of food." She offered.

"Oh, no, mom, she already a—"

Sydney raised her hand, silencing him. "Nonsense, Mig. I would love to, Mrs. Diaz." She smiled at the woman and entered their home.

Miguel hummed approvingly and closed the door.

"Ahh, hola Sydney amada!" Rosa greeted her happily. Hello Sydney, dear

"Hi, Rosa." Sydney waved at her with another kind smile.

"Sensei, you remember Sydney?" Miguel said to Johnny, who was sitting at their kitchen table. He pulled out a chair for her.

Johnny and Sydney met eyes and he waved awkwardly. "Uh yeah, hi."

Carmen sat back down. She continued to smile. "Sydney, we were just talking about you."

Miguel groaned at that. "Mom, please—"

Sydney kicked his ankle and he yelped. "You were?" She said to Carmen with a smile.

"Miggy tells me your parents travel?"

She nodded. "Yeah, they both work in the medical field and they travel a lot for work. My dad's a neurosurgeon and my mother is a traveling physician."

Johnny almost choked on the water he was drinking.

"Oh wow, that's amazing," Carmen spoke again after sharing an impressed look with her mother, "but that must be so hard for you."

"It was harder when I was younger, but, I've gotten used to it," Sydney said with a small smile, "they get to do something they love with each other. Hopefully, I get a chance to travel like they do. They actually come back home tomorrow."

Miguel's eyes went wide. "Wait, really?"

She looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, they're coming home from Europe."

"Sabes algún idioma además del francés?" Rosa asked.

Sydney stared at her, only recognizing the word French. She looked at Miguel again.

He chuckled. "Uh, she asked if you know any languages other than French." He explained.

"Ohh. Yes, I speak a little bit of Italian because my parents traveled there for work when I was a kid and my mother came back desperate to teach me. French is really the only language I've mastered. But Spanish is getting easier," she unfolded and glanced at Miguel, smiling, "I have a great helper."

His cheeks grew red and he smiled.

Carmen smiled at them. "You said you hope to travel one day. Is there any specific place?"

"I've always wanted to go to Greece but I'd say my number one destination is France." Sydney continued with a glowing smile. "I've always wanted to go watch the Paris Ballet."

"Ballet?" Rosa gasped.

"I want to be a professional dancer."

"Wait, really? I didn't know that." Miguel said with his eyebrows raised.

"That sounds amazing. Have you danced before?" His mother asked before she could respond.

Sydney nodded her way. "My parents put me in dance classes when I was kid to keep me occupied when they were away. Ballet was always what I gravitated to the most." She explained further.

Miguel, now completely invested in the story, leaned toward her. "Why did you stop?"

She glanced at him, her hands locked under her chin, and she smiled dismissively. "I just grew out of it, I guess. . ."

After the dinner was over, Miguel walked Sydney back to her car, both of their steps very slow. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for us to bombard you with questions." He said with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his shorts.

"Of course not, you can always ask me anything." She assured him.

Sydney felt more comfortable with him as each day passed. Ever since their date, she didn't want to be away from him, and the feeling made her nauseous. It made her feel idiotic because Sydney went her whole life not needing anybody, especially a boy. Then all of a sudden Miguel comes into her life and now she wanted to be around him all the time.

When they got to her car, Miguel leaned against the car door. "So Sensei told me something today about Mr. Larusso," he brought up.

"Oh, believe me, I've been hearing about him my whole life," Sydney emphasized and crossed her arms.

"He said the Larusso's are bad news, that Mr. Larusso ruined his life basically."

She half way rolled her eyes. "I think he's exaggerating a little bit, but, I've grown up with the Larussos since I could walk. Daniel's a good man, along with his family. I wouldn't have gotten this far without them. Now do I agree with this karate fued they have going on? God no. I think it's childish. When I graduate, I'd like to forget everyone and everything that happened in high school."

Miguel cracked a grin. "Even me?"

She tried to ignore his attempt at flirting with her. "Please, like you'd let me. You'd probably follow me to wherever I go." She scoffed.

He chuckled. "Is that such a bad thing?"

"I dunno yet," Sydney answered truthfully, both of them holding eye contact with each other.

His lips curled up into another smile. "So, you want to be a professional dancer you said?" He changed the subject.

She hummed. "It's always been my dream."

He leaned off her car. "Can you show me some moves?"

Sydney laughed. "What?"

"Come on, show me something." He insisted. "The only time I ever dance is alone in my room."

"Really?"

Miguel nodded. "Yeah. . . don't tell anyone that though."

Sydney laughed again. "Okay. Um. . . w-what do you want to know first?"

He grinned. "Surprise me."

She rolled her eyes. "Alright." She mumbled. Sydney took his arm and guided him away from her car. "So this is first position," she said and stood with her feet together and pointed them outward. She curved her arms in front of her and closed her fingers.

Miguel followed her movements. "Like this?" He asked.

She nodded with a small hum. "And then you go into second position," she continued and spread her feet apart, positioning her arms out in a straight line. Miguel did the same. "Into a plié."

"Oh, that feels weird." He cringed when they both went down at the same time.

Sydney giggled. She then went into fourth position, en haunt of the arms and her feet en croisé, and tried desperately not to laugh at his awkward attempt to do the same. Then, Sydney moved her feet back into first position and brought her hands above her head, going into a pirouette.

Miguel attempted to spin and he nearly tripped over his shoe. "Oh, shit."

Sydney laughed again. "Careful." At that point, she was fully into the moment and she didn't stop. She lowered her body into a penché, straightening her front leg and banging her back leg up while keeping her foot pointed straight. Her left arm stuck outward in a straight line while her right lifted behind her, her hands curving with precision. It was slightly harder to do considering she wasn't wearing her pointe shoes and she wasn't in a leotard, but after so many years, you can pretty much dance in anything.

When she was done, Sydney dropped her leg and faced Miguel again, seeing him standing there and watching her. "Too hard?" She asked with a small laugh.

He nodded. "Just a little." She chuckled. "But, uh, that was pretty. You're really good."

"Thanks," Sydney muttered with a smile and she tucked her hair behind her ears, "be lucky. I've never shown anyone that except for my family, the Larussos, and Aisha."

"Well, I'm honored." He said and put his hand over his heart, bowing to her.

Her dark eyes softened as well as her smile.

the way they're a direct reflection of daniel and kumiko