Chapter Fifty Two
Primadonna

"LET'S BEGIN!"

The awkward silence after Johnny's loud announcement made the group of teenage glanced at each other. Sydney raised an eyebrow at them, shrugging.

Demetri gingerly raised his hand.  "Uh, begin what exactly?"

Johnny and Daniel glanced at each other.  "Being a new era," Daniel elaborated.

"Well, that was very anticlimactic," Sydney muttered, making Miguel snort a quiet laugh.

"Many of us used to be enemies," Daniel continued. "But rivalries don't need to last forever,"

Sydney slightly shifted her eyes over to Charlie, who was standing on the other side of Sam. Then, she glanced over at Eli and quickly looked down at the ground.

"The All Valley tournament is just a few months away and this year, the stakes are higher than they've ever been. We know that Cobra Kai is gonna use every dirty trick in the book. There's only one way we're gonna be able to beat—"

"By kicking their asses so hard they shit themselves!" Johnny interrupted.

Sydney nodded.  "Ah, I was waiting for it to come."

"We got take things to the next level," he continued and took the lead. "We're gonna teach you an aggression stronger than anything Cobra Kai can throw at us. They strike first? We'll pre strike!"

"I feel like that's the complete opposite of why we started this," Charlie muttered to himself.

"Okay, we're getting ahead of ourselves," Daniel interfered. "We are going to respond to what they
do—"

"Eagles do not respond!"

"Why did we think this would be a good idea?" Sydney whispered to her boyfriend.

"We have too much hope." He whispered back.

"They swoop down and take whatever they want. That's what we're gonna do. Take back the valley." Johnny declared.

"Take it back in a measured and organized approach," Daniel added.

"We bite first!"

Sydney and Sam leaned forward and caught each other's eye, sighing simultaneously.

"Okay, let's just warm up with some simple exercises," Daniel started.

"All right, line up!" Johnny ordered.

"And just breath and follow me," said Daniel,  glaring at the man.

"Fighting positions!" Johnny followed. "Right leg back. Front kick ready. Hi-yah!"

Mitch ended up kicking Nathan in the back, making him fall to the ground with a loud thud.  "Shit dude, I'm sorry." he quickly apologized.

Nathan groaned in response.

Sydney rested her hand on Miguel's arm. "This is going to be a long day."

They stood by the fence and watched Bert and Mitch get ready to fight. Sydney and Eli were leaned against the large rock.

"Ready. Fight!"

They started swinging at each other.  "That's right. Go for the teeth!" Johnny encouraged.

"Hey hey hey, you're just swinging at each other," Daniel intervened and stepped between them. He looked back at Johnny. "Don't you teach any defense?"

"Best defense is more offense." Mitch pointed.

Bert kicked him harshly in the leg and then pushed him backwards in the rock. Sydney and Eli quickly moved out of the way.

"Holy. . . Why do you have a rock in the middle of your dojo?" Johnny questioned.

Sydney and Bert high fived secretly.

"Fight!"

Demetri and Sam started moving slowly in a circle. Sydney sat criss crossed on the deck and watched boredly with her elbows rested on her thighs.

"That's it. Keep circling," Daniel assured. "Don't anticipate. Stay focused."

Sydney rubbed her tired eyes.

"Alright, one of you do something. What the hell is this?" Johnny said impatiently.

"Yeah, that's not really how this works. One of us has to be provoked," Demetri explained.

Johnny threw his water bottle at him. "Provoked yet?"

Sydney laughed out loud and Demetri flashed his head in her direction, making her quickly stop.

"Wax on. Wax off." Daniel repeated while walking by the teenagers washing the cars.

Sydney sighed heavily. "How is manuel labor going to teach us anything?"

"Ah, c'mon Syd, you remember this," Daniel encourage and stood beside her. He started doing the motions. "Come on, do it with me. Wax on, Wax off,"

Sydney followed his actions.

"Are you getting it?" He asked hopefully.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting it."

He smiled happily and patted her back. When he walked away, her face dropped into a sour expression and she continued waxing the car in annoyance.

"That's right, clean it good. Want it looking brand spanking new," she heard Johnny order and looked over to see the boys cleaning out his car. She snorted.

Miguel looked behind him over his shoulder at her and shook his head,  indicating that he was annoyed.  She smiled and blew him a kiss.

"Come on,  you maggots!  Faster!"

Sydney lifted her leg up high and kicked the very top tire of the obstacle course set up.

"Nice job,  Sydney!"  Johnny praised.

"Oh God,  I think I'm about to barf," Chris announced.

Sydney's eyes widened. "Wait wait wait, please—"

He ran straight for the boat and emptied out his stomach.

Sydney held her hand mouth.

Miguel noticed. "Wait, Syd, don't—"

Sydney quickly bent over and barfed, making them all groan in disgust. Miguel winced and held her hair back.

Daniel glared at Johnny, only to make him laugh nervously.

After a very long day of training, Sydney joined Miguel and his family for dinner at Johnny's apartment. Her body was sore from the amount of fighting she had to do and she still felt nauseous from throwing up.

"All right, tonight's main course is fajitas and grilled vegetables," Johnny announced and sat a plate full of food down in the middle of the table. "I have pico de gallo, and corn and flour tortillas."

"Wow, this looks delicious, Johnny," Carmen smiled.

"Thanks. I got the recipe off the Chili's website," Johnny grinned. "I wanted it to be authentic."

"Aww," Sydney said and looked at Miguel. "How come you never cook for me?"

He frowned. "I made you grilled cheese the other day,"

She titled her head then smiled again. "Oh yeah, you did. Thanks love,"

"Authentic for who? We're Ecuadorian, not Mexican." Yaya said in Spanish.

Sydney, actually understanding what she said, snorted into her cup of water. Miguel hit back his laugh but still smiled.

"Mamá." Carmen laughed.

"Here, try this. Spicy mango," Johnny said held up a bottle of spicy mango salsa.

He poured some on Yaya's plate but ended up pouring too much.  Sydney and Miguel smiled in amusement.

"So,  how was the big first day?"  Carmen asked,  changing the subject.

"Uh,  you know,  it's the first day,"  Johnny shrugged.  "work in progress."

"I'm happy you and Daniel are working together.  I just want to make sure Miggy's safe,"

"I said that my back's in better shape than ever,  okay.  You don't have to worry."  Miguel assured.

"She's your mom,  she's always gonna worry.  But don't worry,  I'm watching him."  Johnny informed the woman.

"Yeah,  don't worry,  Mrs.  Diaz.  I've been making sure he doesn't work too hard,"  Sydney teased and pinched Miguel's cheek.

Miguel rolled his eyes and slapped her hand away.  He groaned.  "Syd."

"So tell me,  Miguel.  How do you like doing karate with your girlfriend?"  Yaya asked Miguel teasingly in Spanish.  "You guys enjoy a lot of one on one sparring?"

Miguel blushed red and glanced at the girl beside him.  She raised her brows in question.  "She asked how I like doing karate with my girlfriend,"

Sydney giggled.  "It's really fun,  actually.  I've been attempting to teach him to dance."

Miguel's eyes widened and Carmen gasped.  "Oh my gosh,  really?  That's so sweet!"

"Mom."  He groaned.

"He's not as bad as I thought he would be."

He gave her an offended look.

She smiled. "That was a compliment!  I've seen a lot of bad dancers."

He rolled his eyes but smiled anyway.

"Have you ever thought about using your dance moves in karate?" Johnny asked, joining the conversation.

She furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, you spin around and use your legs, right? It's not much different." He elaborated.

Miguel's face lit up on interest. "Whoa, Syd, that would be sick. You'd be like a badass karate ballerina,"

She shrugged sheepishly. "I don't know. It'd be kinda silly, don't you think?"

"What? No," Miguel shook his head. "None of us can do what you can do. You'd be like another sensei, technically."

Sydney stared at him for another minute before looking across the table at Johnny. He shrugged, seemingly agreeing with Miguel.

She looked down at her food and grinned to herself.

i have a theory that Sydney, Odessa, and Hailey would be great friends