"So, are you guys in a fight now?" Migeul asked, meeting Karter outside of his apartments when she called.

"I don't know, do you think i'm overreacting?" she rose her eyebrows his way. "I mean, I get where he's coming from, but I just wanted to be involved with him again."

"No, I get that." Miguel rubbed his eyes, not telling her he was asleep when she called. "But, maybe try to see it from his perspective. His mom and your moms seem to always compare the two of you, he's probably feeling like he needs to one up you. And Karate is all he seemed to have in order to do that."

"So, I should quite?" Karter suggested with a questionable look.

"Quite? No." Miguel looked at her oddly, leaning on the pole. "Just step back a little bit, don't over power him. He's got a big ego, but he means well. It seems like he just wants to prove to his parents that he can be good at something that you aren't."

Karter blinked. "Woah, Miguel, tell me how you really feel."

"You know what I mean." he said back with a half smile, yawning. "But, then again, he needs to realize that you're literally just here for the summer."

"Then gonna pull a houdini and vanish." Karter hummed, swinging around one of the poles with a cheeky grin. "You gonna miss me?"

"Duh." Miguel said in return, laughing slightly. "Are you gonna come back for Christmas?"

"Are you kidding? I'm gonna show up, fist rose-" Karter began, holding her fist up. "-and punch you right in the throat as a hello."

Miguel pulled an odd look. "I'll be waiting on it. And maybe a knife to the face?"

"Hey, anything you want." she rose her hands, earning a grin. "So, you gonna invite me in or just let me freeze my balls off out here?"

"You think it's cold?" he gave a look of disbelief, walking toward the door and opening it with ease. "Is Arizona really that hot?"

"Hotter then satans nipples." she hummed, waving to Yaya in the living room. She waved back, grinned widely. "Where your mom?"

"Out. Have fun. Have fun." Yaya encouraged, waving Miguel and Karter along to his room. Miguel gave her a crazy look, but him and Karter headed that way.

"Can I stay here tonight? I wouldn't put it past my lovely cousin to try and suffocate me in my sleep." she said honestly, walking into Miguel's room.

"Has this happened before?" he gave a questionable look.

"No, but I did accidentally roll on top of him when we were six and nearly cut his windpipe off." she hummed in response, falling back on the bed as her curls spread across the pillows. Miguel stood at the end of the bed. "I've got a PHD in The Navy, I know how to suffocate people using just my elbow."

"A PHD in The Navy, huh?" he hummed in response. "Wouldn't put it past you, Somalia."

Karter grinned, pushing up on her elbows as Migeul sat at the end of his bed. "So, do you want to head out tomorrow night or the next morning?"

"I told Tory I was gonna go visit her for 80s night at the skating rink, so the next morning?" Miguel suggested her way.

Karter looked in questioning. "Is something going on between you and Tory?"

Miguel shrugged slightly. "I told her that you and I are just fake dating."

"You did?" she sat up fully. "I thought we were really clear on not wanting anyone to know we were faking it?"

"Yeah, but, it's just Tory." Miguel nodded his head.

"So, you told her because you wanted her to know you were actually available?" Karter asked, blinking as she tilted her head.

"We've just been hanging out." he pointed out. "I didn't want her to think I was just leading her on."

"Hanging out as in playing video games or hanging out as in making out?" Karters tone was a bit more snappy, and Miguel was taken back by it.

"I don't- I don't know. A little bit but not anything too crazy." he explained, giving her a confused look. "What- are you upset? I thought, since we're just fake dating, that it wouldn't be that big of a deal."

"It's not a big deal if you want to lowkey date Tory." Karter got off the bed in annoyance. "It's a big deal that we made a promise not to tell anyone and you couldn't even bother to tell me that you said anything."

"Karter." Miguel frowned as he stood up. "I'm sorry, I should have told you."

"It's whatever." she shrugged, pretending as if it hadn't bothered her. "Look at the bright side, huh? You have an actual girlfriend now, meaning you don't have to pretend to be into me anymore."

There was the tone again, Miguel blinked as she grabbed the door knob. "I thought you wanted to stay the night?"

"My aunt will be mad at me if I don't show." Karter said, walking down the hallway as he followed her. "I'll see you at practice."

"Karter." he tried to stop her, but she ignored him.

The Coast girl walked into practice a little later then usual the next day, not having time to warm up.

"Everybody fall in." Sensei Lawrence spoke up, walking from the office. Miguel looked away from Hawk, meeting Karters eye before she fell in on the opposite side of the mat. "Today, we'll be learning one of the most important lessons a Cobra Kai could ever know."

"Where's Sensei Kreese?" Hawk spoke from the front.

"Yeah. Shouldn't we wait for the sensei emeritus before we get going?" Stingray added in, still wearing his red headband. Johnny stared after him harshly. "Or not."

"Mr.Kreese will no longer be joining us." Sensei Lawrence said in return, causing a faint chatter to spread.

"Why?" Karter questioned in confusion.

"I made a promise when I became your sensei. To always look out for your best interests. Despite how hard this may be for all of us, he didn't have our best interests at heart. John Kreese may have founded Cobra Kai, but he no longer represents what this dojo stands for. His Cobra Kai was old and outdated. He refused to move forward. What happens when we do that, Mr.Diaz?" Johnny looked toward Miguel, who was on the right.

Miguel inhaled, his hands locked behind his back. "You get stuck like cement."

"Exactly." the blonde agreed. "To be a great fighter, you gotta learn to adapt. This creed on the wall...follow it to the letter, it'll make you strong. It'll make you formidable. It will also make you an asshole. Cause that's just black paint on a white wall. But life's not black and white. More often than not, it's gray. And it's in those gray areas where Johnny Lawrence's Cobra Kai sometimes shows mercy."

Hawk and Miguel shared a look, as did Karter and Aisha. Johnny went on before the students could think too much into it. "Doesn't mean you can't be badass. It's still a requirement. But you have to learn to think, not just with your gut...or your fists...but to really use-"

He drummed on the side of his head. "-this. Which leads me to todays lesson."

He grasped a board from the bench, breaking through it with his head. The students laughed in shock. "Headbutting. Grab a partner."

"Wanna team up?" Aisha looked to Karter.

She grinned, a friend, a real friend that wasn't her fake boyfriend. "Yeah, totally."

"Hey, Rwanda." Miguel caught Karter outside of the dojo when practice ended, she had waved goodbye to Aisha. "You and Aisha bonded in there?"

"A little bit." she nodded her head.

He leaned against one of the poles with a sigh. "Look, i'm sorry about last night. You were right, we swore to each other not to tell anyone and I did it anyways. It wasn't cool, and it definitely wasn't cool that I didn't even tell you."

Karter shrugged slightly, pulling her curls down. "I overreacted."

"I broke a swear, it wasn't okay." he nodded his head.

Karter nodded her head. "So, what now? If you and Tory are together then what's the point of having a fake girlfriend?"

"Tory and I have agreed to keep whatever is going on between us lowkey until the end of summer." Miguel gave a knowing look down at her. "I don't want to make it seem like I left you for another girl. You don't deserve to have people think you're a second choice or there's anyone better then you."

Karter tried not to smile. "Okay."

"So, will you please be my fake girlfriend again?" Miguel exhaled with a begging look. "Rwanda."

"I accept, Somalia." she exhaled, grinned as he leaned in for a hug, Karter holding the back of his head.

•

kylie speaks

miguel is really out
here first starting to
want to get his ex back
and now having a secret
gf all while his actual soul
mate is faking being his
girlfriend. poor dude has
got it all confused and has
his chapters mixed.