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Everyone sat around the mat as they watched the two sensei's fight. "A little rusty, sensei," Johnny taunted. "Okay, pay attention. He's got my neck, I've got his elbow. If I try to break out -" "I dig in, and I put him to sleep." Cherry gulped. She knew Johnny wouldn't get hurt, but she cares about the stubborn man. "If I go for his ribs -" Johnny elbowed John in the ribs. "He completely exposes his chest." They went back to their position. "Two difficult choices. What do you do?" No one answered and Johnny kick his leg back, hitting John's knee and they both fell.
"You damn the consequences and you power forward."
"You may get hurt, but nobody wins by doing nothing."
"You make a choice. You make a move. You go all in." Miguel slipped his hand into Cherry's and he squeezed her hand. Cherry squeezed back.
× × × ×
"Hey, Sam invented me to the mall. I'll see you later tonight, yeah?" Cherry had changed back into her mom jeans and a loose, thin grey shirt. Miguel nodded and Cherry kissed him before heading over to Aisha. "I still don't trust the twins - especially Tory. Watch her for me?" "You know Miguel will push her away, but yeah, I'll watch her." Cherry pulled her into a hug before getting into her car and driving off.
Aisha, the twins, Hawk, Moon, a few other guys, and Miguel are going to a diner. Cherry wanted to attend, but Sam had invited the girl to go to the mall and she agreed because she wanted to restore their friendship. What she didn't expect was to see Robby and Demetri with her. "Hey, I hope you don't mind," Sam said upon seeing the redhead.
"No, it's cool. How are you Demetri?"
"I'm okay. You?"
"I'm good. Robby, I know we started off good but then everything went down. And I'm sorry." "It's cool. Still want those skateboard lessons?" "I'm good, actually. I've been practicing on my own and I can skate now."
Robby nodded in respect, then they started walking around.
After a while of shopping, they got food and Robby, Sam, and Cherry sat at a table. "Oh, sweet man bun." Robby laughed at Cherry's sarcasm. "I told you guys it was a horrible picture." "You know, if you were friends with us at the time, we could've warned you that this was a fad." "Yeah, well, I'm stuck with it for five years still. No biggie, right?" Cherry chuckled and Sam gave her the card. "Wait. Robert Swayze Keene?" "My mom was a huge fan of Patrick Swayze. He was an actor in the 80's."
"Yeah, like we haven't seen Dirty Dancing 100 times."
"My mom made me watch it all the time." Cherry noticed the excitement in his voice. "Made you?" "Okay, maybe I liked it," Robby admitted and the girls laughed. Demetri joined their conversation and Cherry felt her phone vibrate.
