Chapter 3
At the end of the class, about half of the students filed out the door without looking back. Lawrence glared at their backs as they left, clearly without any intention of returning. The remaining students formed a line as they waited to talk to the senseis and officially sign up. Tory lagged at the back of the line, wanting to wait until everyone had left for her turn to talk to the senseis.
Sam, however, didn’t realize Tory’s plan and joined her at the back of the line. “So, you’re signing up?”
“Uh…I’m…not sure yet,” said Tory carefully. “I just…had a few questions.”
Sam nodded.
Tory watched as the next student stepped up to face the senseis. Since she’d lived in Blue Creek all her life and the population never grew beyond a couple thousand, she at least recognized everyone and knew most of their names. She could even recognize Kyler Park’s mullet from behind, without seeing his face.
“I’m glad you’re signing up,” said Sam. “I was worried there wouldn’t be any girls. But you’re actually cool.”
“Thanks?” Tory laughed.
“Yeah, and I bet you’ll be good at this. You’re already good. Seriously,” Sam added as Tory rolled her eyes and laughed again, “You’re good.”
The line moved again and Tory started to dread talking to the senseis. How was she supposed to walk up and ask for a discount? She felt nauseous. But she needed this, and maybe Sam’s dad would be nice.
“Hey, are you free after this? I was gonna get lunch somewhere but…I don’t know what’s good yet.”
Tory glanced at Sam and smiled. “Yeah, um…there’s this place on Main Street. Joey’s Diner.”
“Ooh, I saw that the other day and wanted to try it,” Sam grinned.
There was only one person in front of Tory now. Would she really have to beg for charity in front of Sam? She couldn’t think of an alternative. Maybe she should just leave the line. But then what would she say to Sam and the senseis?
“I’m gonna head to the bathroom really quick. I’ll meet you outside once you’re done and then we can go,” said Sam.
“Cool.”
The boy in front of Tory shook hands with Sensei LaRusso as Sam walked away. He left, leaving Tory alone in the room with the two senseis. She braced herself for the awkwardness.
“Hey, you’re that chick with the roundhouse,” Sensei Lawrence blurted. “You’ve got talent, kid.”
“Uh, what Sensei Lawrence was trying to say,” drawled Sensei LaRusso, “is that you have a lot of potential and we both are really interested in teaching you. What’s your name?”
“Tory Nichols.”
“Well, Tory, welcome to Miyagi Kai.”
“Mr—Sensei LaRusso,” Tory said anxiously, “I…um…I feel really bad about asking this, but…I don’t know if I can…my mom and I….”
LaRusso looked sympathetic, despite Tory not even saying the thing that was supposed to earn pity yet. She resented him for a fleeting second, then sighed and pressed on.
“I don’t think I can afford this. I really, really want to learn, but I can’t pay a crazy fee. Is there a way we could…work out some kind of plan, that way I could pay it off over a longer time? That’s all I’d need. I just…my income isn’t steady enough to pay the rate that you’ve set on a monthly basis.” Feeling satisfied with her professional tone, Tory glanced at Sensei Lawrence.
Lawrence nodded at Tory and looked at LaRusso. “I’ll pay her rate.”
“No!”
“Johnny…”
“I will! She has what it takes. I want to see her succeed. I’ll cover her cost.”
“First of all,” sighed LaRusso, “that’s not even necessary. We set the rate arbitrarily, but if one student gets a discount or—”
“I don’t need a discount. I just need an extended payment plan. I don’t want charity,” insisted Tory. “I can pay you what you’re asking for, and I will.”
“Look, Tory, we’ve both been in your shoes before,” LaRusso countered. “And Johnny’s right, you’re talented and clearly dedicated if you’re willing to do whatever it takes just to be in this dojo. So, it’s only fair if we meet you in the middle.”
“I…I really appreciate that, but…”
“Kid,” interrupted Lawrence, “you’re Miyagi Kai now. We look after each other.”
Tory stuttered for a moment.
“We can work out the details of the payment later,” said LaRusso with a wave of his hand. “For now, what size uniform would you like?”
Before Tory could argue any further, Sam returned. Sighing, Tory answered, “medium,” and shook hands with the senseis. Feeling awkward, she took a step back from the two men as she glanced out the window. The rain had slowed to a slight drizzle.
“Dad, can I get lunch with Tory?”
“Sure. Need a ride?”
“Oh, uh…I brought my bike,” said Tory.
Sensei LaRusso smiled. “We’ll toss it in the back. Let’s go!”
Joey’s was small and simple, but Tory had always loved it. The diner stood to represent everything that she hated about Blue Creek and yet the food was too good and the atmosphere too charming to resist. Brenda and Tim, the owners, always wandered around the diner, passing out meals and catching up with the town. Though Tory lacked the money for frequent visits to Joey’s, Brenda always recognized her because of Tory’s mother; the two women had grown up together and had been friends since childhood. Nowadays, Tory would sometimes come in before school and have a cup of coffee or a small bite to eat with Brenda, which Brenda always insisted was on the house despite Tory’s constant protest.
Naturally, Brenda almost immediately spotted Tory entering with two strangers and bustled over to the side of the counter, hanging over it and grinning. “What a pleasant surprise!” she chimed. “Welcome! Tory, how are you?”
“I’m alright.”
“And Melissa?”
“Good,” Tory answered. “She’s been hoping to come by soon.”
“Oh, good! You tell her I asked about her now, y’hear?”
Tory nodded.
Brenda smiled in response and turned to look closely at Sam and her father. “And I don’t believe we’ve met?”
Sam’s father leaned over the counter and stuck his hand out. “Daniel LaRusso. This is my daughter, Sam.” Sam smiled and waved at Brenda, who nodded.
“They just moved to town a couple weeks ago, Bren,” Tory added.
“Aww, of course! You like it so far?” The LaRussos nodded as Brenda gathered a bunch of plates from the kitchen window, rested them along her arms, and turned to the side. “Listen, y’all take that table near the corner and I’ll send Fred ‘round in a minute.”
Before they could make their way to the table that Brenda had indicated, Sensei LaRusso fished his wallet out of his pocket and handed some money to his daughter. “Alright,” he said, “call me when you’re paying the check and I’ll come pick you up.”
“Thanks, Dad,” said Sam as she took the cash.
Tory stood off to the side until Sensei LaRusso finished saying goodbye, then followed Sam’s lead over to the table. As embarrassing as it was to be given so much so quickly, Tory appreciated the car ride and the lunch. And, she thought, at least he was only somewhat overbearing with his kindness. He could be a lot worse.
Sam picked up a menu and Tory was suddenly overcome with an unexpected anxiety. She didn’t know Sam at all, and now she was sitting in one of Tory’s most sacred places. What if she didn’t like it? Or worse, what if she was rude about not liking it? Joey’s wasn’t a place for people from beyond Blue Creek. It wasn’t impressive in any sense, and sometimes the tables could get a bit grimy.
But Sam said nothing until finally she laid the menu down on the table, pointed at the breakfast section, and asked, “the bacon, eggs, and toast?”
“What?”
“Is it any good?”
“Oh,” Tory replied. “Yeah, it’s…my mom’s favorite.”
Smiling, Sam closed the menu and put it on the edge of the table. “I’ll try it then.”
Tory took a minute to look through the menu, but it was pointless. She had known what she was getting from the moment Sam asked if she wanted to get food: the blueberry pancakes. They had been her favorite for as long as she could remember. She’d been so consistent, in fact, that the staff rarely took her and her mom’s orders anymore and instead would bring the two dishes to the table without any holdup.
Fred came round as promised, holding a small notepad and chomping away at a piece of gum. He took Sam’s order and turned to Tory, who nodded at him. Fred smiled and took off back toward the kitchen as Sam looked at Tory, confused.
“He knows my order,” said Tory.
“Oh, so you’re like a regular?”
“Sort of. I just always get the blueberry pancakes,” Tory shrugged. She still wasn’t sure about bringing Sam to Joey’s, but it was too late for second thoughts.
Brenda arrived with a pot of coffee and two mugs. “So you’ll be headed to the high school in the fall, right?”
“Yeah,” said Sam, “we’re in the same grade, apparently.”
“Aww, how nice! And how’d y’all meet?”
Tory had only a fleeting second to prepare herself for Brenda’s reaction before Sam replied with the story. Afterwards, Brenda shot a surprised but pleased look at Tory and wished Sam’s father well with the dojo. Grasping the coffee pot, she smiled one last time at the girls and left.
Tory took a quick sip of the coffee and decided to skip small talk. “So,” she said carefully, “why Blue Creek?”
“Well, my dad heard that Johnny was gonna start up a dojo and wanted to…supervise,” chuckled Sam. “Johnny’s style of karate doesn’t have the best history, and…well…my dad really wanted a reason to get out of Jersey. So he asked to partner with Johnny and he agreed for some reason.”
“Your dad must be really serious about karate, uprooting his whole life like that.”
Sam laughed, then looked into her mug of coffee uncomfortably. Tory watched her patiently, until Sam added, “he is really serious about karate.”
“That serious?”
“Holy shit, Tory, you’re gonna make me vent all my depressing crap to you before we even get food,” Sam laughed. “Are you trying, or are you just naturally always this easy to talk to?”
“I’m trying a little bit,” Tory smirked as Sam laughed and shook her head. “I’m just not a big small talk fan.”
Sam’s laughter faded into a smile. Finally, she sighed and picked up her coffee mug, holding it carefully in her hands. “Well, ‘why Blue Creek’ is basically the opposite of small talk for me. It’s kind of like this huge secret that we’re all supposed to pretend isn’t happening because if we act like it’s really happening, it’ll pretty much destroy my dad. But it’s bullshit because it already has and I…don’t know why I’m telling you any of this.”
“We can talk about the weather or something instead.”
“No,” Sam smiled. “No, I feel like I need to say it and you don’t seem like you’ll tell a bunch of people. And who cares if you do? It’s not like it’s actually a secret, but…so, basically, my parents ran a car dealership in Jersey.”
Tory wanted to interrupt with another joke, but held her tongue.
“They were the owners, but my dad’s brother, Louie, worked there too. So he got an employee discount on the car he bought from the dealership. And one day…my dad was making dinner for the family. So my uncle went to pick up my grandma and they were driving to our house when a drunk driver…he…it wasn’t even that late, but the guy was totally wasted…and he, well, everyone died. All three of them.”
“Oh my god,” Tory managed to say, “I…I’m so sorry.”
Sam smiled weakly but said nothing in response. Tory took another sip of coffee in the silence and wished she’d asked a different question. On the other hand, she knew much more about Sam now. And she hadn’t pressured Sam to say anything, really, she’d just asked a question. Regardless, Tory was preparing to make a lengthy apology when Sam spoke again.
“Jersey’s home. It’ll always be home. It’s where my dad, my mom, my brother, and I grew up, it’s where we were born, and it’s where I lived my whole life. But now that it’s also the place where my uncle and my grandma were killed in a car from our family’s dealership on the way to our house, it’s really hard to be there. It’ll be hard to be there for a while, and even harder to live there. Maybe it’ll always be hard,” Sam reasoned, “but my mom says to look forward and try to find a way to keep going.”
“She’s right,” Tory added quickly. “My mom always says you just have to keep pushing, no matter how hard you get pushed back.”
“Your mom sounds awesome,” Sam grinned. “It’s so cool how everyone knows her here. What’s she like?”
“Dying.”
Silence surrounded the two girls again. Then, a low rumble of laughter grew out of control, until they were both cackling hysterically and nearly spilled coffee all over the place. Tears dripped from Tory’s eyes as she bent over the table, unable to stifle her cackling. Once they’d calmed down, Sam murmured, “it’s really not funny,” which only set off the laughter again. Then, Fred arrived with the food at the worst moment, making Tory laugh even harder.
Finally, Tory sighed and took a bite of her pancake. Delicious, as always. She looked back at Sam, who was buttering her toast. Sam had shared such a personal bit of information that Tory felt considerably more comfortable, so that now she felt like she was talking to Brenda, or someone else that she’d known for as long as she could remember.
“She’s sick and she’s been bedridden for a few months now,” Tory explained. Sam looked up from her toast with a serious look. “No one’s said she’s dying, but they’ve said enough. ‘Not improving,’ and things like that. But it’s so frustrating because I wish they’d just give me an answer. She says the same thing. Like, if she’s dying, just say it and say how long. But there’s no control. It doesn’t work like that. We just constantly have to wake up, like, ‘is this the day?’ Is today the worst day of my life? Who knows.” Tory stabbed a piece of pancake and added morbidly, “it’s only lunch, so there’s still time.”
“That’s…fucking unbelievable. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.”
Tory shrugged. “I try to keep pushing, because that’s what she’d want. But sometimes I’ll be on my bike on my way to school and I’ll think about riding until I can’t push any further. Maybe I could make it to Columbus. Or further. Anywhere but here.”
“Where would you go?”
Tory thought about it for a moment. No one had ever asked her that before, but she’d thought about it privately. The problem was that she struggled to pick a single place. “To live, or to visit?”
“Hmmm…to visit.”
“California.”
Sam grinned. “All of California?”
“Yeah,” said Tory assuredly, “all of it. But I’d want to see SoCal first. I think I’d like LA. And I want to see the ocean.”
“I’ve only seen the ocean a couple of times,” said Sam. “We went to the Jersey shore like twice and we went to the beach in Florida once. But I don’t remember it very much. I think I wanna see it again too. Or see the Pacific for the first time.”
“My mom went to a beach once, in South Carolina. She has this conch shell that she bought. She and her friends bought the same ones. I wanted to go with her some day, but…” Tory fell silent as she took another bite of her pancake.
“Well,” Sam continued carefully, “maybe we can go together. And maybe your mom can come with us.”
Tory managed a smile, because as unrealistic as that plan was, it was nice of Sam to say. Hardly anyone that Tory knew would’ve said something like that, except her mom. Sam smiled back at her kindly, munching on her toast.
“Yeah. That would be cool.”