THE BRIGHTSIDE, robby keene

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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
THE PLAN
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WOKEN UP BY THE NEED TO PROVE HERSELF, MERCY SANTIAGO LEAVES HER BOYFRIEND'S NEW HOME PRETTY EARLY IN THE MORNING.

Of course not without having written him a note that explains everything. She just really wants to get back to the dojo to show everyone how committed she is to their cause.

And after stopping by at her house to take a quick shower and change into her own clothes, she's on the way to the dojo. Tapping on her steering wheel to the sound of her favorite music, Mercy almost allows herself to look forward to a promising summer day.

But then she reaches the dojo and gets a look at Eli, Demetri, Miguel, Sam, and Bert who are having a conversation, probably filling Demetri in on everything that happened the previous night.

Scared of Sam's judgy blue eyes, she walks slowly towards them, not announcing herself. What even is there to announce?

Hey, it's me, you still don't trust me and I probably can't blame you for that, but I'm now Miyagi-Do so get that in your big head and shut the fuck up, Sam.

Or something along those lines.

"We need to tell the senseis," Miguel says right when Mercy is close enough to hear their words.

Demetri's eyes land on the girl and his face immediately lights up.
"There she is! The missing piece to our puzzle! Sam just told me everything, crazy that Kreese didn't do it, right?. And crazy that Silver payed off the ref."

Mercy nods quickly at the boys, a suppressed smile on her face, while totally ignoring Sam.

"I don't think telling the senseis is gonna do anything," she tells them.

"Exactly. What are they gonna do? We all saw what happened to my dad when he confronted Silver," Sam agrees. "I don't want him getting hurt like that again."

Her eyes get this sad shimmer, which reminds Mercy of their childhood and her brain almost gets flooded by all those sweet and innocent memories of better times. Almost.

"Me too, there gotta be a way to expose him without anyone getting hurt again." Mercy nods. It's no problem for her to admit that she also cares about Daniel, she's known him her whole life, he's like an uncle to her after all.

"Maybe. But if this ref and Stingray are on Silver's payroll, they'll never admit anything," Demetri tells them with a sigh, which automatically leads everybody else to sigh too.

"I'm not so sure about that," Bert replies after a minute of silence. "I know he's in Cobra Kai and I'm in Eagle Fang, but Stingray's still my friend. He wouldn't lie to me. At least, I hope he wouldn't."

He looks at Mercy, who shrugs her shoulders in uncertainty. She knows that she wouldn't lie to a friend, even if it's about something like this.

"Think you can get him to talk?" Eli asks.

He nods confidently and that pretty much settles it. After agreeing on the details that they would meet in the evening later, Mercy turns around to leave, but Demetri and Eli quickly catch up to her.

"Loved the picture, by the way. Although your smile wasn't really convincing," Demetri tells her on her way to her car.

"You gonna print it out again? For each of us?" She asks, more or less rhetorically, but he nods eagerly.