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Kalina was startled awake by a loud thud, she rubbed her eyes before pushing her blankets off and grabbing the bat by her bed. Kalina slowly opened her bedroom door and peeked down the hallway of her father's apartment before sighing and putting the bat to the side. "Oh, Dad..." Kalina whispered as she walked towards her father's drunken body, he had barely managed to get in the door of the apartment. Kalina grabbed her father's arm and used all of her strength to pull him inside, she closed the front door and locked it before turning to her father. "What am I going to do with you?" The twelve-year-old asked no one.

Kalina struggled as she managed to get her father onto the couch, it had taken almost two hours but he was finally settled on his side with a blanket over him. Kalina grabbed the aspirin from the top cabinet and a bottle of water, she placed them on the table before she began cleaning up the apartment. By the time she had finished everything, the sun was rising and she had to get ready for school. She went into her room to get dressed, the bathroom door closing followed by the shower alerted her that her father was awake. With no words shared between the two, Kalina walked to school despite the clear exhaustion she felt; It was her routine.

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Kalina smiled widely at her father as he walked towards the apartment. "How was your night?" Kalina teased making Johnny groan in annoyance as Miguel approached them. "Hey, I just... I just wanted to say thank you," Miguel spoke as he walked alongside Johnny. "All right, well, you said it," Johnny replied before motioning Kalina to help him but she simply shrugged and laughed. "So last night, was that, like, Tae Kwon Do or Jujitsu or MMA or something?" Miguel questioned.

"It's Karate. Old-school Karate," Johnny replied as he looked at his daughter, he was thinking back to when she was younger. He had taught Kalina the basics of Karate when she was around nine years old but once she reached eleven, he stopped in fear of her becoming him and losing the kind soul she had. "Do you think you could teach me?" Miguel asked, pulling him from his thoughts. "What? No," Johnny answered while Kalina listened.

She thoroughly loved learning Karate, she didn't care that her father was harsh as a Sensei or that his tactics were merciless and hard. It brought the two closer to each other, they were always serious during the lessons but afterwards, they'd be laughing at each other and enjoying themselves. Kalina always had it tough after being split away from her other half, her twin brother, Robby Keene.

Johnny didn't show up to the birth of his children and because of that, Shannon ─ Kalina and Robby's mother ─ had custody of both children. Robby was born first, older by a mere two minutes yet he never failed to remind Kalina of that. However, once Kalina was old enough to talk, all she did was cry for her father and Shannon couldn't handle it. So, Johnny agreed to take custody of Kalina which initially created a rift between the twins. But they got over it and accepted it.

"What? Come on, when school starts, those guys are gonna make my life miserable," Miguel whined before looking to Kalina for help but she just shrugged at him. "It's not my problem," Johnny told the boy as he continued walking to escape the conversation. "If I just knew a little bit of what you knew then I would be..." Miguel started but was cut off by Johnny, "Forget it. I don't do Karate anymore." Kalina sighed with a small frown.

"All right? Besides, I need to find a job," Johnny added with a wince as Kalina looked over to him with saddened eyes. "You got fired again?" Kalina's voice was soft and Johnny was suddenly wishing she'd just yell at him the way his stepfather Sid does when he messes up. These were the moments that stunned the older Lawrence and left him convinced that Kalina took after his sweet mother and that was something he admired.

"Sorry, Kali..." Johnny rested his arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Well, you can open your own Karate school," Miguel spoke up not wanting to see the sad expression on Kalina's face anymore. "It's called a Dojo," Kalina spoke up with a smile. "Well, you could open your own Dojo," Miguel said to Johnny after getting an encouraging nod from Kalina. "Look, I'm not getting into this with you, all right? I'm not even sure I'm allowed to be around kids right now... besides my own daughter," Johnny looked to Kalina who huffed.

Kalina gave her father a look but he shrugged it off and turned to Miguel, "All right, you want my advice? Stop being so annoying. Maybe you'll stop getting your ass kicked." Kalina facepalmed and shook her head as her father walked by her and headed inside. "He's, uh, great at advice," Miguel stuttered out but Kalina looked up at him with a 'are you serious' look. "He sucks at advice and it's a nightmare. But anyway, I'll be there to help you out," Kalina offered.

"Thanks, Kali, I appreciate it," Miguel answered with a sigh. He didn't doubt that she'd be there to help him out but he didn't want those boys to start on her yet little did he know, Kalina was the angel of the school and messing with her resulted in being disliked by everyone in school. The two new friends waved each other goodbye before making their way into their separate homes, Kalina smiling sweetly at her step-grandfather Sid before heading to her room not wanting to hear their heated conversation.

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Kalina had gotten an invite out with the girls but she refused, she didn't feel like being around Yasmine and Moon right now. Her father had left the apartment so Kalon was sitting outside by the fountain by herself with her phone, she was looking down at her Instagram when she got a notification; 'miguel.diaz has followed you.' She smiled at it and clicked onto his page with a smile before following him back.

"You know, I was worried that you wouldn't follow me back but then I remembered... that you are the literal definition of a Hufflepuff," Miguel spoke up as he sat down next to Kalina. She let out a quiet laugh before nodding in agreement with him. "Yeah, well... You're a great guy from what I've seen so far. So I thought I'd take the chance and make a new friend," Kalina told him as she turned to look at him, both of them smiling.

"Where's your dad?" Miguel asked causing Kalina to sigh. "He's out... probably drinking or something like that," Kalina spoke softly. She loved her father and she was thankful for everything he does for her but she was also annoyed with him as he refused to take Sid's money which would help them tremendously and yet, he refused. But she understood her father's hatred towards Sid, she empathized with it as Sid wasn't the nicest but that money would help.

"Oh... Uh, did you wanna come have dinner with us? My mama won't mind," Miguel offered as he scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'd love to," Kalina answered before the two made their way to Miguel's apartment. Rosa and Carmen were stunned to meet Kalina for two different reasons, Carmen wasn't expecting such a beautiful yet kind girl. Whereas, Rosa thought Miguel had made her up as she didn't expect Miguel to make friends with someone of the opposite gender.

Kalina enjoyed her time with the Diaz family, they spoke about different topics and she learnt that Carmen was a nurse while Rosa was a feisty woman who she already admired. After dinner, Miguel and Kalina sat in his room and she spent some time updating him with the information about the school. She opened up to him about how she was one of the "popular" girls as they labelled her but she was wanting new friends this year.

Miguel convinced her to ditch the title and be the person she wanted to be, so with that agreement, the two decided that no matter what happened at school; they would have each other's backs through it all. After receiving a message from her father, Kalina said her goodbyes to the Diaz family, hugging Miguel ─ which he wasn't expecting but willingly hugged back ─ before heading home just in time to watch her father stumble onto the couch and pass out.

Kalina let out a quiet sigh before pulling the blanket over him, kissing his head before making her way into her room. She changed into her pyjamas and crawled into her bed, laying on her back and staring up at her starry ceiling as her phone buzzed. She grabbed it and turned it on, being blinded momentarily before smiling widely at the post Miguel tagged her in. It was a photo of the two of them with wide smiles caption: Friends till the very end!

Kalina smiled widely as she liked it then replied to his picture; Damn straight, Miguel! Ain't nothing stopping us this year. You fall, I fall! She locked her phone and curled into a ball under her comforter, smiling to herself as she closed her eyes. She was excited for the new year, excited for a change and most of all, she was excited to be who she's always wanted to be without forcing herself to be someone she isn't. It would be a good year.

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Rosemary Speaks

I love Miguel. They are strictly platonic but yes, there will be moments where you will ship them. But anyway, I hope you are keen on more.
I'm working on writing this story!

Thoughts on this chapter?

See you in the next chapter!