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“Milty, are you all packed!?” Milton’s mother hollered from downstairs. Milton was up in his room, packing for possibly the biggest move of his life. His parents had just put him into a witness program. The infamous high school bully, Frank, who has been a legal adult for sometime now, went away to jail months ago. Somehow, Milton saw him at school, and when asking his friends if he was crazy, they said they saw him too. Because of the horrible things Frank has done to the kids at their school, he was eventually tried as an adult and arrested. Now he was back at school, with no prior warning; and here Milton was, in a witness protection program, about to move away from everything that he cared about. Away from their hometown, away from Milton’s friends, and away from his karate dojo..
When Milton’s dad broke the news to him that they would have to move all the way to Maine from California, he was devastated. He didn’t ask for this. He didn’t want to move. He thought this Frank drama was way over. Him and his friends thought they would be safe, at least until they got a little better at karate to help defend themselves.
“Why can’t I stay here?,” Milton pleaded to his parents “I can protect myself! And if that falls through, I have my friends at the dojo to protect me.”
“Now Milty, you know that won’t work..Your father and I think this is the best option for you.. I’m sorry, Milty. Maybe you can chat with your friends once in a while.
” Milton’s mother. I can take care of myself, Milton sighed to himself.
“Gah!! Mom, it’s not just about my friends. Yes, losing my best friends is going to suck so much; but I’m gonna have to leave my dojo, my school, my teachers, my home. Why are you guys so okay with sending me off across the country so quickly?”
“We just want you safe, Mil,” his dad said. That’s all he said. His mother said nothing more. He was then sent up to his room to begin packing.
So here Milton was, his second to last night in his hometown, putting his final things into a suitcase. He zipped up the case, and stepped back to look around the now empty room. Suddenly, his phone began to ring. He pulled it from his back pocket and answered.
“Hey Milton!”
“Hey Kim,” Milton said to the voice in the phone.
“Are you ready to go?” Kim asked hurriedly. Milton heard rustling and stomps from Kim’s side of the phone.
“Yeah, I’m ready. What are you doing?” Milton replied. “I’m just getting a few things ready for tonight,” Kim giggled.
“Well, alright. I’ll see you soon Kim!” Milton said.
“See ya soon!” Kim hung up first.
Milton threw his shoes on and was out the door as soon as Kim hung up the phone. He started his walk to the dojo, possibly his last walk to the place he’s walked to his whole life. Tomorrow..no more of this.. he sighed.
Milton stepped into his friends’ dojo, smelling something burning immediately.
“What’s going on in here?!” Milton yelled while running towards his group of friends. “Sorry, Sensei..I think we singed your mat a little bit..” hollered Jack, who the group had met about 3 years ago. Jack often stood up to Frank and his bully friends when the rest of the kids didn’t have such good karate skills. He was usually the most level headed one of the group, never causing drama inside of the dojo.
The whole group was crowded around a small sparkler fountain, the diffuser broken and on the floor next to it.
“Ah, oops,” said Eddie, Milton’s friend since elementary school.
The group's Sensei suddenly came out of his office, getting a whiff of the putrid smell. “What did you guys explode??” He questioned while cringing.
“Just a little sparkler, the damage isn’t too bad to your mats. They’re already nasty and smelly; what’s a bit more smell?” Kim retorted. Milton looked at her and couldn’t help but laugh. Kim waved and showed a big smile at her friend.
“Let’s get this party started! WOO,” a curly haired boy yelled as he ran out from the locker room.
“Jerry! I thought you weren’t gonna show for a minute,” Eddie pushed the boy.
“Hey Jerry,” Milton hugged his best friend. “Why do you think I wouldn’t show? There’s no way I’d miss my best friend’s going away party.” Jerry pushed Eddie in return. He walked over to Milton and gave him a hug. When they stepped back Jerry was holding a red present box. “Oh, what’s that? Milton eyed the box. “Uh, it’s for you! Just a little going away present,” Jerry held it out to Milton.
“The idea was technically from all of us,” Kim started. “But Jerry designed it and paid for it,” Jack finished the sentence. Milton opened the box to find a golden locket watch with a photo of the group inside. Milton smiled at the photo, remembering the exact moment it was taken.
“It’s just a little gift to remember us by,” Jerry added. “Like I’m gonna forget you guys,” Milton rolled his eyes. “I hopefully won’t even be gone that long. It’s not like Frank’s going to run wild for the rest of his life.”
The atmosphere suddenly felt gloomy. “We did so good on these decorations.” Eddie started, trying to change the subject. “Don’t you think so, Milt-” Eddie was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass piercing through the room.
The group turned around to see 5 kids from their rival dojo, one of them being Frank.
“Frank?” Jack gasped, “What are you doing here??”
“I came to finish what I started,” Frank smirked evily.
Frank ran straight at Milton, holding his fist out. The punch was intercepted by Jerry, who flipped Frank to the floor. Eddie and Kim were then attacked by two of the other kids. Kim took down the boy in front of her with a spinning kick. Eddie was struggling to fight back against his schoolmate. Kim motioned at Eddie to come at the guy from the opposite side of her. They ran towards him, crashing and knocking the boy down. “BOOYAH” Kim yelled and high-fived Eddie.
Meanwhile, Jack was fighting two of the kids by himself.
Milton backed away as Frank got off of the floor. Frank jumped and kicked towards his head; Milton ducked down to dodge. “Hey, your friends are leaving you!” Jack yelled from behind Frank and Milton.
“Yeah, well I’m not done here,” Frank snarled.
“Frank! The police are coming!! We’ve got to go,” one of Frank’s friends said as he straggled behind.
Frank hesitated, then suddenly lunged towards Milton.
Milton blocked a kick from him, pushing him back. Frank rolled back up to stand. Jerry then stepped in, grabbing Frank’s arm and flipping him. Frank groaned and sat up quickly.
“I wouldn’t try anything again if I were you,” Jerry said, “We outnumber you now. Best thing for you to do is try to leave before the police come get you.”
Frank scrambled to his feet. He glared at Milton before running out the front door. Just as he reached for the door handle, a police officer showed up in front of him. Frank gasped and turned to run back into the dojo. The officer caught him by the arm, and handcuffed him. Frank looked outside the dojo and saw that his friends were captured as well.
“Hey guys! I called the police, they should be here any minute,” Sensei ran out of his office. “Oh, they’re here.. Great!” He immediately went back into his office. Milton rolled his eyes.
“Thank you all for catching these criminals. They will be going into maximum security prison for a long time. You don’t need to worry about them any more. But, seriously..a party while these fools are on the run? You guys need to gain some sense,” the officer said, hassled.
“Yeah..that probably wasn’t the best idea,” Kim scratched her head.
“I’m glad everything worked out,” Jack sighed. Jerry walked over to Milton, fixing his hair slightly from the fight.
“Uh, hey Milton?” Jerry started, “Doesn’t this mean that..you don’t have to leave?”
Milton gasped, “I didn’t realize that! I get to stay! I get to stay, Jerry!” Milton rushed at Jerry to hug him, his best friend embraced him back.
“Dude.., I don't know what I would've done without you. I’m so glad you’re not leaving,” Jerry started tearing up. Milton leaned back to wipe his own tears. “Me too.
I don’t want to leave you…-you guys,” Milton corrected himself.
The rest of the group joined the hug, with a few more tears shed. “Let’s make sure we don’t do something so stupid next time we’re in a life-threatening situation, yeah?”
Milton laughed.
“No kidding,” Sensei Rudy spoke up, “Who wants dinner? It’s on me!”
The group of teens hollered and started out the door. Jerry saw Milton hesitate behind them. “Hey, what’s up?” He turned back to his best friend.
Milton shifted on his feet. “Oh, nothing. I don’t know why I’m hesitating. I guess I’m just in shock that all that just happened,” Milton laughed.
Jerry smiled and held his hand out to Milton. “Let’s go and celebrate, then,” Jerry exclaimed. Milton happily took Jerry’s hand, and they headed out of the dojo.
“We’re safe now. I honestly can’t believe it,” Milton whispered to himself as they walked towards the restaurant to meet their friends. Everything would be okay now. No more threats, no more having to run away. Even if something bad happened again, they had each other to protect themselves. Milton’s friends were great, and he was so glad he would get to stay with them.