Chapter Thirty Nine
Primadonna

MIGUEL'S SURGERY WAS over and like she promised,  Sydney drove to the hospital the morning before school to see him.  When she walked into his room,  he was watching TV with his head leaned back tiredly.  "Good morning."  She greeted at the door.

His mood brightened when he saw her.  "Good morning."  He said with a tired smile.

"How'd the surgery go?  How are you feeling?"  She asked while holding onto the straps of her backpack.

He shrugged.  "The doctors said it went well.  I'm just really tired."

"Well,  I know your probably gonna want to sleep all day but just incase,  I brought you my laptop so you can watch netflix."  Sydney explained and took her computer out of her backpack.  "I wrote my password down."

"Thanks babe."  He said with a grin.

"Of course,"  she said and leaned down to kiss his forehead.  "If you need anything just call me,  okay?  I'll stop by later today."

He nodded with a lazy smile.  "I will.  Have a good day.  I love you."

"I love you more,"  she said and kissed him softly.  "I'll text you later."

She said a final goodbye and walked out of the room,  leaving the hospital and headed to school.

"You're telling me you built this whole thing by yourself?"  Sydney asked Demetri when he showed her his science project.  "With no help from your partner?"

They two of them walked out of class and headed to lunch.  "Well,  I told Yasmine our best shot would be for me to to just do it so we're sure an A."

Sydney raised her brows.  "She told you to do it yourself,  didn't she?"

He frowned slightly.  "Maybe."

Sydney sighed.  "D,  how many times do I have to tell you not to get with her?  She's like the devil."

"Well,  you were like the devil and look at us now."  He reminded her.  "You watched Harry Potter with me last weekend."

She hushed him.  "Don't tell people that!"

"All I'm saying is people change. You changed. Plus, now that people know I'm friends with the popular girl, I have a little more street cred."

She furrowed her brows. "So you're just using me to get girls?"

"What, no," he laughed nervously. ". . . only sometimes."

She rolled her eyes.

They walked into the cafeteria and Demetri saw Yasmine sitting with Moon. "Hey, ready to rock. . . our earth science presentation?"

"I'm ready to go back to a world where we don't have to talk to each other on a regular basis." Yasmine said rudely.

"That makes two of us." Sydney said and sat down beside Moon.

"Hey hey hey,"  Demetri objected.  "My popularity's on the rise while yours is steadily declining."

Sydney snorted.

"But,  uh,  maybe we can meet in the middle,  like a sexual venn diagram,"  Be continued and made circular motions with his fingers.  He winked at the blonde.

Sydney cringed.  "You are so weird."

Moon laughed.  "So what's under the sheet?"

"I'm glad you asked,"  Demetri said and stood up.  He took the sheet off of the display.  "Behold,  what scientists believe to be the valley when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Go ahead,  press the hadrosaur egg."  He instructed Yasmine.

The blonde reached forward and pressed down on the of the eggs on the display. The volcano started to erupt and smoke rose from the top, making the girls gasp in impression.

"Nice job, Metri." Sydney hummed.

Yasmine smirked.  "Not bad.  My parents may not have to pay for my A this time."

"Oh,  you're parents will never have to pay for an A again."  Demetri said with wide eyes.

"Not likely."  Sydney commented and Yasmine glared at her.

Demetri started explaining all the parts of his project in depth.  Sydney grinned at his excitement.  Suddenly,  a ball was thrown toward them and collided with the project,  making it smash into piece.  Sydney gasped loudly and instinctively covered her face.

Demetri stared at the broken display in pure sock.

"Ah,  psfff. . . I'm sorry man,"  Hawk said obnoxiously when he approached them and someone threw him the ball.  "Looks like my hall just got away from me."

"That took me three weeks to build."  Demetri said in disbelief and betrayal.

"Eh,  took my ball three seconds to destroy."  Hawk replied rudely.

"And it's gonna take two seconds for me to lodge this fork into your eye."  Sydney hissed and held up her fork.

Hawk glared at her and walked back to his table.

"Do you have another one?"  Yasmine said desperately.

Demetri didn't respond and his facial expression turned angry and he approached Hawk and his friends.  "Another week,  another pissing contest.  Although I shouldn't be surprised since you love pissing so much."

"You landed one kick.  You got lucky."  Hawk said and got in his face.

At the same time,  Sam and Sydney walked up to them and stood in front of Demetri,  glaring at Hawk.  "Better back off,  or you won't be lucky."  Sam sassed.

Hawk scoffed at them.  He looked over their heads to see Counselor Blatt walking around the cafeteria.  "Yeah,  like you'll start anything,  princesses."  he said to them.  He looked at Sam.  "Actually,  why don't you go sleep around with someone new and break his heart?"

Sydney saw red and shoved Hawk backwards,  making him stumble into his friends.  "Everyone else may be afraid to kick your ass,  but I'm not!"

"What's going on here,  Miss Benoist?"  Blatt questioned.  "You know our new guidelines against physical contact."

"Whatever happened to the guideline against bullying?  Did that go out the window?"  Sydney snapped.

"Syd."  Sam warned.

Demetri sat his hands and her shoulders and pulled her back slightly.

"Did she enter your personal bubble without your verbal consent?"  Blatt asked Hawk.

Hawk pulled a fake innocent stare.  "Yeah,  she definitely triggered me in my safe space."

"What are you talking about?  He started it by destroying my science project."  Demetri exclaimed and motioned to the broken Lego's all over the floor.

"That was an accident!  You probably shouldn't bring your toys to school anyway." 

"Bite me."  Sydney hissed at him.

"Miss Benoist,  enough.  I don't want to hear excuses.  I just want you all to respect each other,"  Blatt said.

Hawk played the innocent act.  "She's right guys.  We should stop the aggressor.  Micro and macro."

"Oh,  give me a break."  Sam snapped.

"Hey,  consider this a warning,  Miss Larusso and Miss Benoist,"  Blatt warned them.  "And get these Legos off the ground.  Someone could get hurt."

She walked off and Hawk shut the innocent act off.  "For you pansies,  no place is safe."

Sydney got in his space again a dark glare rested on her face.  "You think you have the right to call yourself Miguel's best friend after that act you pulled?  He would be disappointed to know that you stole the money.  Keep playing this game and I can turn him against you with a pretty smile and snap of my finger."

She spun around and stormed out of the cafeteria,  leaving the red haired boy to glare at the back of her head. 

Gym class was definitely Sydney's least favorite class of the day.  She only took it for the extra credit.  She never actually participated.  She was outside on the bleachers lacing her gym shoes.

"These gym shorts pinch in all the wrong places."  Demetri complained.

"I think they're hideous,"  Sydney grimaced and tied her hair back into a ponytail.  "And I look horrible in tennis shoes."

"Come on.  Have a little school spirit,"  Sam teased.

"Oh,  yeah.  Go mountain lions!  Rrr!"  Demetri cheered sarcastically.

Sydney chuckled.

From across the field,  she watched as Hawk and his Cobra Kai followers walked straight through everyone,  pushing past them.  "I want to claw his smug face off with my nails."

"I wish we could do something about those cretins."  Demetri agreed.

"We can."  Sam said while glaring at them.

"How?"  Sydney and Demetri asked.

"Counselor Blatt will give us detention for breathing near them." Demetri added.

Sam looked around and grinned. "I don't see her anywhere, do you?"

Sydney narrowed her eyes. "What are you planning in that pretty head?"

Sam smirked.  "You'll see.  Besides, what's a soccer game without a little physical contact?"

Sydney smirked viciously.

Sydney let out a loud cry and kicked the soccer ball into one of the guys on the other team's stomach, making him fall backwards. She smirked in satisfaction. Sam ran forward and took the ball, running with it and shoving another one of the guys onto the turf before stepping on him and running again.

Hawk kicked the ball into the goalie net and cheered loudly. He jogged past the cheerleaders and winked at Moon, who rolled her eyes and started flirting with the boy beside her. Sydney smirked and ran up beside him, bumping into his shoulder harshly.

Demetri followed after her and started to talking smack. When he was distracted, Demetri bumped into him and leaned down, leg sweeping him and Hawk fell to the ground harshly.

The couch blew the whistle. "Hey!"

"I guess that's why the Europeans call it football." said Demetri.

Sydney and him high fived before jogging away.

The game continued and Sydney rammed into a one of the boys that had the ball. She tripped him with her foot,  making him fall flat on his face and she took the ball before swiftly passing through everyone and kicking it into the net, hitting the goalie in the crotch.

"YES!" She cheered.

"Nice going, Syd!" Moon shouted and cheered.

The other team grabbed the ball and kicked it, making it fly in the air. Everyone dove forward to get it and Hawk shoved Demetri to the ground before bouncing the ball on his head.

Sydney glared and when the ball rolled towards her, she kicked it as hard as she could and it hit him in the face.

The couch blew the whistle again.  The more violent it got, the louder the whistle was blown. But they didn't listen.

They all followed Sam who had the ball in her keep. making them think she was going to kick it.  She stopped it with her foot and two boys on the red team smacked into each other harshly. Then, Demetri kicked the ball into another one's stomach.

"You know what? That's it!" The couch shouted and blew the whistle again. "Everyone to the principal's office now!"

Sydney winced when she touched her face, feeling the bruises come up from where she got tackled during the game. She and the others were waiting outside the principal's office. The other team was on the other side and they were glaring at each other.

Hawk and Counselor Blatt walked out of the office. "Caldwell, Johnson, Rickenberger, the three of you and Eli are free to go."

"Oh, you've got the be joking." Sydney said in disbelief.

"Unbelievable." said Demetri.

"You're got to be kidding me," Sam exclaimed. "What about us?"

"The three of you will be serving rehabilitative, not punitive, Saturday detention."

"Detention?  Oh,  great,  there goes another blemish on my permanent record."  Demetri said sadly.

"This is bullshit!"  Sam exclaimed. 

"Miss Larusso!  That is not how we express ourselves here," Blatt objected.  "I think you need two weekends of rehabilitative detention."

"This school sucks!"  Sam shouted and slammed her fist into the locker.

She stormed off and Sydney widened her eyes.  Okay,  plan b.  She smiled innocently at Counselor Blatt.  "Counselor Blatt,  née I remind you that my mother and father donate half a million dollars to the school every year,  and my father helps funds the trips that the teachers take throughout the year,  and my mother helps with the blood drawings and drug tests.  I don't think they'd be too happy to hear that they're daughter is being treated unfairly after all they do to help support West Valley High."

And that's how Sydney and the others got out of Saturday detention.

When Sydney got the call from Carmen that Miguel was released from the hospital, it took her zero time to speed her way all the way to Receda.  When she arrived,  she saw Carmen helping Miguel out of the car and into his wheelchair.

Sydney parked her car and immediately got out.  "Baby,  OMG!"  She squealed in happiness.  "Just when I think you can't get any more handsome,  look at you!"

Miguel blushed red.  "Hey babe. Why's your face bruised."

"A long story that I will tell you later. I'm so happy you're back!"  She exclaimed with a wide smile and bent down,  squishing his cheeks with her hands.

Carmen smiled at the interaction.  "The doctor says he's free to come home just as long as he's careful,"  she motioned to the man standing behind her.  "Sydney,  this is Brayden.  Miguel's physical therapist.  Brayden,  this is Sydney.  She's Miguel's girlfriend."

"Bice to meet you.  Be gentle with him please.  He's delicate."  Sydney pleaded and laid her chin ontop of Miguel's head.

He rolled his eyes.  "I am not."

The teasing didn't stop there and Sydney couldn't help but swoon as she watched Miguel lay down on the bed that the physical therapist had brought.  "You look so cute right now."

"I have never seen you smile this much."  Miguel said when he turned his head to look at her.

Sydney scoffed.  "Not true.  I always smile when I see you."

He smiled back at her.

The door to their apartment opened and Johnny walked in.  "Rented mule."  He said and paused when he saw what was going on.

Sydney furrowed her brows.  "What mule?"

"Sorry,  I thought you said 10:00 that you'd be alone."  Johnny said to Miguel.

"I'm sorry,  my mom gets free physical therapy from work and this was the only time brayden was available."  Miguel explained.

"Mahalo." Braden greeted while rotating Miguel's leg around.

"Be done soon if you wanna wait." Miguel suggested.

Johnny didn't say anything and only looked at Carmen, who looked away from him.

"Now, if you're feeling any pain hermano, let me know," said Brayden.

"Still not feeling whatsoever." Miguel said sadly.

Sydney frowned.

"No worries. Positive thoughts, remember? You're doing great."

"Right. Positive thoughts." Sydney agreed and pointed down at Miguel from where she was standing over him.

The boy smiled at her.

"At what? Letting you lift his legs?" Johnny smarted off,  making Miguel chuckle.

"Johnny, Brayden is a specialist in this field. He knows what he's doing." Carmen defended.

"Slow, deep breaths." Brayden instructed. "Inhale joy and love."

"Joy and love." Sydney repeated.

"You gotta be shitting me." Johnny cursed.

"Johnny. . . can I talk to you for a minute?" Carmen asked.

The two of them walked over to the side and Sydney looked down at Miguel again. "Trouble in paradise?"

Miguel sighed.  "You don't know the half of it."

She crouched down onto the knees beside him. "How are you feeling?"

"Scared, probably." He admitted.

Sydney nodded. "It's okay to feel that way. But you're home now.  That's one step closer to recovery, wouldn't you say?"

Miguel nodded. "Yeah."

"Good. So, am I granted permission to call you hot rod?" she asked.

"No,  you do not."

"Thanks hot rod." She grinned and kissed his cheek.

Miguel groaned in defeat.

Sydney and Demetri are like Rachel and Chandler and I stand by them