Chapter Five
Primadonna

SYDNEY ENTERED THE Larusso backyard and saw Sam laying out in the sun on her computer. "Samantha, darling." She greeted elegantly

Sam lifted her head and closed her computer. "Hey, Sydie."

"I had an interesting day," she told her and sat on the other chair beside her, "I think I might be losing my mind."

Her friend laughed. "What happened?"

"I had an interaction with someone. Someone I never thought I'd actually talk to," she explained, "now I can't stop thinking about it."

"Are you talking about Miguel?"

Sydney cringed. "Don't say his name, please."

Sam laughed out loud and swung her legs off the chair. "Sydney!" She squealed. "That's great. You have a crush!"

She lifted her pointer finger. "First of all, I do not have a crush on that braces wearing, twelve-year-old looking boy. I don't know how I ever could."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Syd, don't be mean. Be serious about this."

"I am serious," Sydney argued with her. "Just because I gave him my number doesn't mean—"

She gasped loudly and Sydney realized she forgot to tell her that part first. "Sydney!" She squealed again.

Sydney groaned and put her face into her hands. "You're insufferable. Why do I have these talks with you?"

"Because I'm your best friend and you trust me." Sam insisted and grabbed her hands, pulling them off her face. She smiled brightly. "You like him, Sydie. Just admit it."

Before she could say anything, Daniel came into the backyard and interrupted their girl talk. Thank you, Jesus. "Hey girls. Going for a swim? You gonna invite the other girls over?"

Sam's happy mood dimmed. "No, not today."

"Great." He said a little too happy. "You guys wanna spar with your old man?"

"Karate?"

Sydney groaned at that. "Oh, not again."

"You don't have to say it like it's the flu." Daniel objected with a laugh.

"It might as well be seeing as everyone's doing it now."

"C'mon dad, that was eight years ago." Sam reminded him.

"Well eight years isn't that long." He asserted.

"Eight years ago, me and Syd were eight."

"Come on, remember that time you nailed me in the jaw with the flip kick? I mean, you know I had to eat soup for a week." Daniel recalled.

Sydney nodded. "It was pretty badass."

Sam looked down at her hands. "Today's just not great. I've got a lot of homework." She lied.

"Yeah and I did my makeup really good today. Don't need to sweat it off."

"Okay, no sweat. I understand." Daniel said, clearly disappointed, and started walking off.

When he was out of sight, Sydney turned back to her. "Now, why do you look so sad?"

Frowning, Sam lifted the front of her computer and handed it to her. Sydney saw a post of a girl with multiple sausages stuffed in her mouth. She realized it was supposed to be about Sam. She angrily shut the computer again. "They're a bunch of tossers, Samantha. They're nobodies. They have nothing better to do with their lives. Maybe I should take up karate, learn to flip kick someone in the jaw."

Sam gave her a sad smile. "Thanks Syd, but this is high school. It's gonna take more than kick to the jaw to get them to stop."

Not knowing what else to say, Sydney reached out and grabbed her hand.

Sydney always did really good in school. She had perfect grades all her life, all of the subjects coming easy to her. But Spanish was the only thing she struggled in and the D on her recent test reflected that. "I know Spanish isn't your best subject, Sydney.mI would suggest a tutor or else you're gonna have a hard time the rest of the year." Her Spanish teacher told her with sympathy.

Sydney just nodded her head and continued to stare at her failed test. She was mentally kicking herself.

The teacher sighed and leaned forward. "I'll tell you what. Find a tutor, study, and if you pass the next test, I'll replace this D with whatever you get. Okay?"

It somewhat lifted her mood. "Thank you, Señorita Perez." Sydney said and left the classroom.

She weighed her options.nShe could either A. learn to cheat and write the answers down somewhere on her body or B. ask someone for help.

She spotted Miguel standing at the end of the hallway with Demetri. "Diaz!" She called out his name.

Seeing her, Miguel stumbled into Demetri's chest. "H-Hey, Sydney."

She crossed her arms. "What are you two talking about?"

"Hookers." Demetri answered with no hesitation.

Muguel shut his eyes.

She gave him an odd look. "Right. . ." she said slowly before looking at Miguel. "Look, I'm not one to admit when I need help cause quite frankly I'm perfect in everything. But I think you might be my only option at this point,"

Miguel tried to hide his excitement.  "How may I be of service?"

"Oh my god,"  Demetri muttered to himself.

"I've been thinking about your offer, about helping me with Spanish. I might need your services." She beat around the bush.

He was awestruck. "Um, yes, of course. . . Definitely." He said nervously.

Sydney gave him a closed lip smile. "Perfect. Just text me your address and I'll be there after tomorrow after school."

Miguel stopped her before she could walk away. "Uh,  actually, I have karate after school tomorrow afternoon. B-But I can have my mom pick you up after?"

She waved her hand. "Nonsense, I'll pick you up from karate. It's the one at the strip mall, right?" He nodded and she smiled again. "Great, see you then. Bye Danny." She waved at Demetri and walked off, her heels clicking down the hall.

"Demetri!" He shouted at her. He looked at Miguel with wide eyes. "Dude, do you realize you're about to tutor the most popular girl in school?"

Miguel shrugged trying to play it cool, but his insides were turning. "Yeah, totally."

Sydney was in the Larusso kitchen making snacks for her and Sam's movie night. When she heard a knock at the front door, she put the knife down and walked out of the kitchen to open the door. A boy stood on the other side, his brown hair tucked behind his ears. Sydney noticed he was wearing a Larusso's Car Dealership uniform. "Can I help you?" She asked, slightly suspicious.

He unnamed boy looked shocked to see her. "Oh, I-I'm just here to d-drop of these sales reports to Mr.  Larusso. . ." He stuttered, holding up a Manila envelope.

He had pretty eyes, Sydney said in her head. She hummed. "Okay," she leaned out the door slightly, "go around to the backyard and you'll see a pair of doors.  Just walk in and he should be there."

He smiled at her. "Thanks."

Sydney grinned and closed the door. "He was cute." She muttered and went back into the kitchen.

When Sydney walked into the Cobra Kai dojo, all eyes turned to her, and she saw every boy's jaw drop at her presence. Miguel walked off the mat. "Sydney, hi. You're early." He told her.

She checked her phone. "You said it would be over five,"

He checked his watch. "It's 4:45."

"Oh," she said and shrugged. "It's alright. I can wait." Sydney glanced over his shoulder. "Geez, it's like a nerd bomb went off in there."

Johnny walked out of his office and saw Miguel talking to a girl. "Oh gosh, not another girl," he said aloud and walked over to them.

She narrowed her eyes. "Sexism is so 2008."

"Who's the chick?" He asked as if she wasn't standing right there.

"Sensei, this is Sydney Benoist. Sydney, this is Johnny Lawrence, my sensei." Miguel introduced them.

Realization lit in the man's eyes. "Aren't you the chick from the dance?"

She now recognized his name and face. "Aren't you the man you who got is ass kicked in the All Valley?" She said back and looked him up and down.

Miguel tried not to smile as Johnny almost glared at her. "Girls." He muttered to himself and walked away from the teens.

She gave him a sarcastic smile. "Are you ready? My car's running?" She said to Miguel.

"Uh, yeah. Just let me change and I'll be right back." Miguel said and scurried off.

Eli quickly grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Dude, what the hell is Sydney Benoist doing here?" He said in a whisper, his eyes still wide.

He hid his smirk. "Tutoring session." Miguel said cooly and went into the back room.

Seeing Aisha, Sydney sighed with relief. "Aisha, I didn't know you went here."

"Oh yeah, I just started. I'm the only girl, as you can see." Aisha explained.

"I can see that. They look as if they haven't seen a girl before." She observed the room of boys again.

"So what are you doing here?" Her friend asked, taking a sip from her water bottle.

"Miguel's tutoring me in Spanish. I made a D on the last test and my teacher if I pass my next test, then she'll replace my last grade."

Aisha hummed. "That explains why he kept bringing up you up today."

Sydney titled her head. "What?"

"Well he kept talking about a pretty girl with a British accent and you're the only pretty girl with a British accent around here. Besides your mom, of course."

She barely had time to register the information before Miguel came running back into the front room, dressed in his normal clothes. "Okay, I'm ready." He said with a smile.

Miguel was scanning every part of her car in awe, having never stepped foot in a BMW before. They rode together in silence, Sydney trying to figure out what to say. "Aisha mentioned something to me earlier," she brought up, glancing his way for the quickest of seconds, "she said that you were talking about a pretty girl with a British accent."

Miguel shut his eyes extremely tight. "Oh that?" He said, his voice going high. "I-I-I was talking about Emma Watson. Hermione Granger is —" he kissed the tips of his fingers.

Sydney blinked. "Emma Watson?"

"Of course. Who else?" He said with a nervous laugh.

She shifted her hands on the steering wheel. "Well, Keira Knightley, of course. She's the ultimate romance Queen."

"Oh, of course." He agreed with her. "I love her in Pride and Prejudice."

She looked at him with wide eyes. "You watch romance movies?" She said in disbelief.

"I'm the only child to a single mother."

Sydney looked back at the road, feeling shocked. "Wow, okay. So I guess you listen to Taylor Swifr as well?"

Miguel scoffed.  "Are you kidding? Her Speak Now album is definitely number one."

"Favorite song?"

"Enchanted." Both of them said in unison. Sydney almost wrecked her car. "You're lying to me." She declared and looked his way again.

"I swear I'm not!" Miguel said back with a wide smile.

Sydney all of a sudden felt like she was in a different place, like she was having an out of body experience. She grabbed her phone and changed the song that was playing.

Recognizing the opening, Miguel titled his head. "Are we about to jam out right now?" He said excitedly.

"You bet your ass we are, Diaz."

"There I was again tonight, forcing laughter, faking smiles. Same old tired, lonely place."

"Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacancy, vanished when I saw your face," Miguel sang into his fist, very off key.

Sydney couldn't help but laugh. "All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you." She sang as well, also off key.

He cringed. "Oh wow, that's bad."

She gasped and hit his arm. Miguel laughed and kept going, "Your eyes whispered "have we met"?" He sang while looking at her. "Across the room, your silhouette starts to make its way to me."

She smiled at the road ahead of her. "The playful conversation starts. Counter all your quick remarks like passing notes in secrecy. And it was enchanting to meet you."

At the same time, they belted out, "this night is sparkling. Don't you let it go! I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home. I'll spend forever wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you!"

She returned to her body when they arrived at the Receda Apartments. She came back down to Earth, leaving whatever just happened locked away in her car. "You definitely can't sing but you killed the chorus." Sydney told him and she followed him to his apartment.

Miguel's jaw dropped. "Ouch. Taylor would be disappointed in you."

"Please, Taylor and I are old friends. I have all her albums on my wall."

He chuckled. "Nice, nice." He led her into his apartments where he was greeted by his mother.

"Miggy, who's this?" His mom asked, her voice kind.

Miguel looked over his shoulder, seeing her stand at the entrance of the home, awkwardly messing with her hands. "Mama, this is Sydney Benoist. Sydney, this is my mom, Carmen."

Sydney sent her a small wave. "Hi."

"Oh, you're the girl in his Spanish class!" Carmen realized and gasped. "Oh my gosh, you're so beautiful. It's so nice to meet you!"

She held out her hand and Sydney's eyes widened when she was brought into a hug instead. "It's nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Diaz," she said back, her eyes cutting to Miguel, who stood there looking embarrassed.

"Oh my gosh, your accent," Carmen gasped again and pulled out of the hug, "are you from England?"

"My mother was born in Kingston. I picked the accent up from her," she explained.

"How interesting. Miggy tells me you're having trouble in Spanish?"

Again, her eyes cut to Miguel and his embarrassed increased. "Uh, yes, I am. I'm more skilled in French, you see. My father's French." She explained further.

"Oh gosh, you'll definitely have to teach me some French. I think it's such a beautiful language." Carmen continued to smile.

Miguel could see she was getting uncomfortable. "Okay, we more going to go study in my room. Bye!" He said and grabbed her arm, dragging her with him to his bedroom.

"Door cracked, Miggy!"

"Mom!" He groaned loudly. He closed his door, cracking it open, and sighed. "I'm sorry about her."

Sydney just smiled. "She's cute."

"Thanks," he muttered with a red face, "so, uh, I was thinking we should start with pronunciation. How does that sound?"

"Sure thing," she nodded and sat on his bed, putting her bag on the floor, "you're the boss after all."

He chuckled. It was quiet between them, Sydney looking around his room and Miguel sitting there silently freaking out that the most popular girl in school was in his house, in his room, and on his bed. "Oh! Right. . ." He remembered and reached inside his backpack to pull out a notebook.

Sydney crossed one of her legs over the other and leaned back on her arm, titling her head to the side.

"I-I-I," Miguel stuttered, losing his train of thought, "I, uh, wrote down some things for us to practice." He told her.

"When did you do that?" She asked, her eyes cutting to the notebook.

"Before I went to the dojo."

Sydney didn't respond but she sat up straight and put her hands on her lap.

She crossed her legs and leaned back on her arm.

"So, um, let's start off simple. Hola, mi nombre es Sydney," Miguel spoke and motioned to her.

"Hello, mi nomnre es Sydney," she repeated, less with an accent but she pronounced it right.

"Good. That's good." He nodded and looked at his notes. "Okay, uhh. . . cuál es su color favorito?" He said in flawless Spanish.

"Can you say it again?" She asked him, thinking he said it too fast.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." He said and cleared his throat. "Cuál es su color favorito," he said more slowly.

"Cuál es su color favorito," Sydney repeated at his slow face.

Miguel smiled. "Nice. Do you know what it means?"

"What's your favorite color. I'm not that dumb." She replied , hostile.

"Of course," he quickly said, blinking multiple times, "you're not dumb. You're just struggling. I heard you're, like, one of the smartest girls in school."

"One of them, yes," Sydney responded with confidence, "which is why it's so embarrassing that the one thing I should be good at, I'm not."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Hey, I suck at math! Always have." He tried to cheer her up.

The corner of her mouth turned up so lightly that it almost wasn't there. She continued to look around his bedroom. It was as boyish as any boy's bedroom could be. "You say it's just you, your mother, and your grandmother?" She changed subjects.

Miguel nodded. "Uh, yeah."

"Where's your dad?"

His face dropped at the question. Oh, um—" his eyes drifted back down to the notebook. "I don't know actually. . ."

She straightened her posture. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." She said, feeling guilty.

"No, it's okay." He quickly shook his head. "I, uh, never knew him. I would tell you about him but I honestly don't know anything."

"I only ask cause if we're going to spend time together, I thought we should get to know each other."

His lips turned into a smirk. "So we're going to be hanging out more?"

"Don't push it."

"Right, right," Miguel muttered, still smiling. He shifted his weight to where he facing her. "Okay, tell me something I should know about you."

Sydney pushed her hair off her shoulder and she leaned back on her arm again. "You're saying my last name wrong," she came up with.

Miguel's mouth gaped. "Wait, really?"

"Well, everyone says the American version, but, you pronounce the T at the end," she started to explain, "most people don't."

He nodded. "So it's Benoist?" He asked, leaving off the T.

Sydney nodded. "But it's also French, so, my family pronounces it the French way for my father."

Miguel leaned forward. "So how should I say it?" He asked with interest.

"Ben-wa."

"Ben-wuh?"

Sydney shook her head and leaned forward. "Ben-wa," she spoke slower.

His eyes fell to her lips as she spoke. "Ben-waaa. . ." He trailed off.

She smiled. "Correct."

"Wow," Miguel grinned, his braces showing, "now it's you giving me a lesson."

Sydney bit the inside of her cheek and turned her head away. "What else should I know about you? Other than you like Taylor Swift, karate, and romance movies?"

He pursed his lips and threw his hands up. "You got me." He laughed.

"Oh, come on, there must be something else."

Miguel just laughed again. "There's really not. I mean, I like video games and comic books, but, other than that I'm an open book."

"A nerdy book."

"Hey," he said and pushed her shoulder, making her chuckle. "Should we continue?" Miguel asked and held up the notebook.

"Si." She answered.

He smiled again.

Them singing about their literal first encounter with each other is everything to me