by Kim Pritekel
"You really did that?" she asked.
"Hell, yeah, I did."
"He absolutely deserved it." Haley took me by the arm, and lead me to the lockers, and sat. I followed suit, curling myself up, knees to my chest, arms tucked into my body. I felt so vulnerable as I told her that story. "I’m so sorry. God, I just feel like such a bitch."
"Why? You didn’t do anything."
"Didn’t I?" She looked at me, looking miserable. "Andi, you’re not comfortable around my friends, understandably so with Jimmy, yet I keep trying to pull you in. You know, it’s like I’m trying to kill two birds with one stone; spend time with you and them by incorporating you into my little group. Part of me feels like I have this duty to show you that life can be fun." She smiled at me, I smiled back.
"Believe me, I have enough fun on my own, Haley. I don’t need to spend a fun-filled lunch with James Parker for that."
"Yeah, I guess you don’t." She sighed, running a hand through her hair, pushing the dark strands behind an ear. "I’m so sorry about today, Andi. It was completely unacceptable of him, and I just feel horrible to put you through that. I am really sorry."
"It’s okay. What can you do, you know? I think we’re all created to fill certain roles, and the popular chick, I was not meant to be."
"It shouldn’t be that way. I mean, not to sound like some poster for peace, but why can’t we all just get along?"
"Because then life would be boring." She chuckled ruefully.
"Yeah." With a groan, Haley stood, wiping off the butt of her jeans as she did. She looked down at me. "Are you going to go back in there?" I shook my head.
"No. Anything I need is right here." I patted my backpack that lay not far from me.
"Okay. Well, the bell is going to ring soon, and I need to get my stuff from the cafeteria. Can I get you anything while I’m in there? I mean, you didn’t even get to eat."
"No. I’m not real hungry."
"Okay." She just looked at me, and I wondered what was going through her mind. "Well, I’ll see you after school when I give you a ride home. Got that?" I grinned, nodded.
The day went by quickly as I threw myself into my classes, using the concentration techniques that I had been taught for over a decade. James Parker wasn’t worth my spit, let alone brain power. The day would end, and so would the week.
I slammed my locker shut, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, and began to walk toward the main hall when I caught Parker out of the corner of my eye. He was talking to someone, and he did not look happy. I was shocked to see that the person he was talking to was Haley. I took a few steps closer, dying to know what was being said.
"What the fuck’s your problem, Haley? She’s nothing. Damn."
"You’re a sick bastard, Jimmy. Why do you get off on other people’s pain? Andi is my friend, so don’t you ever do what you did today again. You got me?" She poked him in the chest.
"Ow, what did I do?" She stared at him, incredulous.
"You need help." She muttered as she turned away from him, headed in the direction of her locker. He watched her go, then shook his head as he walked in another direction. My gaze searched for Haley in the crowded hall, but I had lost her. A slow smile spread across my face.
* * *
We had decided that Haley would meet me at the dojang since I had to be there so early. Sabum Nim Kyung had talked with us, giving everyone their assignment. Since I was one of the few not going for the next belt, I would be the main sparring partner among the higher ranking students.
"God, I hate these," Tracy said, adjusting her ti. Today she would be trying for her first degree black belt today, so this was a big moment for her. I knew she would get it, and had tried to be as supportive as possible.
"Charyot!" Everyone came to attention, lining up in our rows, bowing to the Sabum Nim. "Those of you in trials today, stay. The rest, go."
I stood, bowed, and headed toward the front of the massive room, deciding to warm up with some patterns, slowly easing into the more difficult, intricate kicks and punches. I always lost myself once I started, the world just receding away from my awareness so that all I felt was the energy flowing through me, matching my breathing with the slow pulse, eyes closed as I tried to feel my opponent.
"Hey."
I swung around, feeling my wrist come into solid contact with something just as solid. My eyes shot open to see Haley standing before me, holding her shoulder, eyes huge.
"Ah, jeez. I’m sorry. Are you okay?" I hurried over to her. "Let me see that." She removed her hand, and I felt her shoulder. "I think you’ll just have a good bruise there." I grinned. "Do you walk out in front of moving cars?" She narrowed her brows.
"What?"
"Well, that’s essentially what you did just now. Don’t ever sneak up behind a warrior."
"A warrior, huh?" She tried to hide her smile.
"Hey, don’t laugh."
"Sorry. And sorry I scared you." I shrugged.
"My defenses were up, and you became the enemy that was already in my mind." She looked at me for a moment, as if she was trying to decide whether I’d lost my mind, or I was serious. A smile spread over her lips.
"That’s kind of cool." She looked me over. "So, what is this thing?" She clipped the loose sleeve of my uniform.
"Well, this is called a dobok. This," I pointed to the patch that was sewn on over the left breast. "is my dojang’s, which is this building, patch. Kind of like a Coat of Arms. This," I grabbed the end of my belt. "is called a ti. These gold bars here will tell the history of my success here. There are three, and I am a third degree black belt, thus the black belt itself." I looked up from my uniform to see her eyes on the belt, her face a picture of awe. Finally she met my gaze.
"That’s really neat." She smiled wide, obviously impressed. Neat.
I smiled, then noticed that the class had begun to gather around the mats that had been laid out earlier where the trials would be. The students were on their knees in a circle around it.
"I have to go. You can either just stick around here, sit on the bench along that wall, there, or you can join the circle."
"Thanks. I’ll find somewhere."
I felt Haley’s eyes on me as I hurried over to the circle, falling to my knees as things began. I would not be needed for a little bit, as the younger, less experienced students fought, but I had to be in the circle to support my classmates. Tracy knelt down next to me.
"Haley Corregan is here?" She eyed her, then looked at me with surprised eyes.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"I invited her."
"Oh." She turned back to the sparing, and didn’t say another word.
The hour passed quickly, each student given a certain amount of time to prove that the have earned the opportunity to advance.
"Sunbae Nim." I hopped to my feet and entered the fighting ring. My opponent was Jeremy Handlin, six foot two, one hundred ninety- four pounds. As he walked toward me the room was deathly quiet, except for the "oh, my god" I heard come from toward the back of the room.
I grinned as I got set up for the fight. Jeremy was trying for his second gold stripe. Sabum Nim issued the call to begin. Jeremy gave me everything he had, but I was able to dodge every blow, being smaller gave me much needed speed with a much larger opponent. This guy had ten inches of height, and sixty-five pounds of weight on me. I had to admit, I was slightly intimidated, but that quickly waned. He was good, but I was better. Jeremy was a great guy, and I wanted him to get his advancement, but he was sure going to work for it.
He got behind me, determined to pin me. I grabbed him by the bicep, and pulled. The momentum his body had already been creating sent him hurling over my hip, and onto his back on the floor. I quickly pinned him with my foot on his chest. The order was called to quit, and I reached down to help him up.
"Nice one, Andi. Didn’t even see it coming." Jeremy breathed, sweat covering his forehead. I grinned, slapped him on the arm.
"Thanks. You, too.
You nearly had me, there." He smiled, bowed to me, I bowed back, and he joined the circle. I glanced over toward the back to see Haley watching, her eyes wide, as if she’d been transfixed by what she’d seen. She looked at me, gave me a smile and a thumbs up, then I turned to my next sparring partner.
It took nearly two hours for us to get through, and for everyone to be allowed to go. I hurried over to Haley, breathless from an hour straight of fighting.
"Hey." I grinned.
"Hi, there. Very impressive." She smiled, standing from the bench she sat on.
"Thanks. What did you think?"
"This is amazing what you guys can do. Wow. You are lethal, Andi." I felt so proud that she appreciated what I had worked so hard to do.
"Thanks. Well, I’ll be right back. I’m going to catch a quick shower, and get changed."
"Okay. I’ll be here."
I ran to the back room, and stripped out of my dobok, which was saturated with sweat in some places. "Yuck." I stuffed it in the bag I’d brought with me, getting my street clothes out. The water felt wonderful against my over-worked, over-heated skin and muscles. A few of the students had gotten some great whacks in there, and I knew I’d be bruised by tomorrow, and sore.
I buttoned my jeans, and pulled the tank over my head, trying to hurry so I could at least say goodbye to Haley. I figured she had other things to do today, and was grateful she had taken the time out for me. Grabbing my comb as I stuffed everything in my bag, I zipped it up and slung it over my shoulder as I headed out to the main room. Tangles made me flinch as I quickly tried to get them out of my hair, finally getting it all smooth and back, away from my face. It amazed me how much darker blonde my hair was when it was wet. I could feel the wet ends tickling the tops of my ears, and my neck.
I stopped as I entered, seeing Haley looking at the technique poster, her back to me as she tried to imitate what she saw there. Sabum Nim had hung the poster up a few years back when an irate parent had come in after their precious little boy had gotten hurt, by being stupid. They wanted to know and be able to see everything that we did without having to take the time to actually stay for an entire class. I remember my teacher had been so angry, thinking the poster cheapened his dojang. He nearly kicked the kid out altogether.
Haley brought her hand up, staring at her palm as she looked back at the poster.
"That is the sonbadak." She swung around, startled. I grinned, as I walked toward her. "Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you."
"Oh, that’s okay." She looked at me, eyes trailing over my tank and jeans. "You really shouldn’t hide that." She said, looking back into my face. Confused, I looked down at myself, then at her, still no clearer.
"Hide what?"
"That body of yours. I know you say you’re not interested in dating right now, which is cool, but wouldn’t it be nice to at least be looked at? I mean, I had no idea, though I guess it makes sense with your Tae Kwon Do and yoga, and stuff."
I looked away, thoroughly embarrassed, suddenly very shy, and feeling quite uncomfortable. I wished I had a sweatshirt of jacket on about now.
"Um, thanks." I smiled weakly, crossing my arms over my chest.
"What, do you think I’m going to stare at your breasts?" I looked at her, surprised, my arms immediately going to my sides. Haley had her hands on her hips, a quirky smile on her lips.
"No." She chuckled.
"Come on, explain this stuff to me." I walked over to her, still surprised. Only one other human being had ever noticed that I even had breasts, and I sure as hell didn’t want to think about him. "What is this?" Haley pointed to the forearm of the man on the poster.
"That is called the palmok. You use it right here." I slapped my forearm to show her. "This is the yop joomuk," I slapped the side of my fist. "Ap joomuk," I pointed to my knuckles, "And finally, dung joomuk." I pointed to the back of my hand. Haley listened intently as I went through the body, explaining what each was called, and what it was used for.
"Wow," She shook her head. "How long did it take you to learn all that?"
"Not as long as you’d think, but then I was six years old, and most children learn much faster than adults."
"Show me how you flipped that guy this morning." She said, a twinkle in her eye. "That was really cool, and I’d love to see you do that to Jimmy." I chuckled, nodded, slowly moving myself in front of Haley, grabbed her arm, and down she went with a whoosh of air from her lungs. She stared at me from the floor, dazed. She blinked rapidly before her eyes focused up on me. "Oh." Chuckling, I reached down and grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet. She ran her hands through her hair, pushing it back into some sort of order, then turned to look at me. "Warning next time?"
"Sure thing. That’s how it’s done. Are you okay?" She nodded. "I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist." I smiled, trying to not laugh, but it was slowly seeping through.
"That’s okay, it’s okay. You’ll just teach me, and remember, Andi," She leaned in close to me, staring me in the eye, "paybacks are a bitch." She ran her hands through her hair again, and smiled at me. "So, hungry?"
"Well, yeah."
"Great. Come on." She grabbed her purse from the floor, pulling the bag’s strap across her chest. "Why don’t we drop off a car, it doesn’t make sense to have both of them out, and then we can grab some lunch. Sound good?" I nodded, excited to spend some time with her.
We began to walk toward the door.
"Would you teach me some Tae Kwon Do stuff?" I looked up at her, surprised by the question.
"Sure. What do you want to learn?"
"All of it. I think it’s such a beautiful sport, well, I guess it’s a sport. Anyway, it’s just a good thing to know, too, I think." I nodded in agreement.
"How much time do you have today? We could begin."
"Well, let’s see." She exhaled a deep breath as she thought. "I’m free until tonight. I promised I’d go with Kelly to her little sister’s Thanksgiving play at the elementary school. That’s at seven, so before that," she shrugged.
"Cool. Okay."
"I’ll see you at my house? Want to drive today?" I smiled.
"Yeah." I didn’t get to drive that often, so I was pretty excited about it; it gave me a sense of responsibility and control to some degree. I had saved nearly every paycheck from the lab in the time I’d been there, and my mom promised that she’d match what I’d saved to buy me a car this winter. I couldn’t wait. It was to be my Christmas present.
Haley jumped into the passenger seat, and we got going from her house. She looked around the car, one corner of her mouth turned up in a sardonic smile.
"Gee, I barely remember the last time I was in this car."
"I bet you do. It was interesting, huh?" She glanced at me, and I smiled at her.
"Yeah, something like that. Andi, can I ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
"Well, okay, but you can’t get mad at me or defensive."
"Oh, boy. I just love these kind of question. Okay, I promise."
"So, you’re not interested in dating, you’ve made that clear. But why? I mean, is it just high school guys, guys right now, guys in general, what’s the deal?" I sighed as I thought about it, trying to come up with some sort of an answer that made sense, and that she’d accept.
"Well, high school guys are kind of a turn off for me, for one."
"Why?" I smiled.
"Curiosity killed the cat, you know."
"And satisfaction brought it back, don’t avoid the question."
I chuckled. "Well, I think they’re quite immature, interested in only one thing, and I’ve already made that mistake." I felt her eyes boring into me.
"Andi?"
"Haley?"
"Have you been with a guy? Like, had sex?" I sighed again, nodded.
"No shit! I never would have guessed. Who was it? When did it happen? Were you guys dating?"
"Whoa. Slow down there, chick. You might hurt yourself. His name was Rick, and it happened last summer
when we worked at the lab together."
"Rick what? Would I know him?"
"I doubt it, unless you’ve been hanging around New Mexico and didn’t tell me. He worked there during college here, and graduated last spring."
"A summer romance. Wow. Was he cute?" I glanced at her as I turned into the parking lot of Carlo’s Pizza Heaven.
"Man, you’re just full of questions, aren’t you?" She grinned like an idiot, nodding vigorously. God, how could I ever resist that? "Yes, he was a good-looking guy. Dark hair, bright grayish eyes. But, he was an ass, and was only after one thing."
"So, you were with this one guy, and he was an asshole, so automatically you assume every guy is like that?" We got out of the car, walked toward the building.
"Well, isn’t every guy this age like that?" I asked her, pushing the door open, and holding it for her.
"Thanks. Yeah, pretty much." She chuckled.
"Alright, then." We walked through the restaurant until we found a booth, and sat down. "The thing is, I wasn’t looking for a relationship, or anything even remotely serious, and I knew that I was a notch for him, but I guess I’m just kind of mad at myself now, for not thinking it through." Haley looked at me as she grabbed a menu.
"What do you mean?"
"I gave him something that I can never get back, or give to someone out there that I love."
"Oh. I see." She handed me my own menu.
"Thanks."
"Did you care about him at all? I mean, how did he get through?"
"Get through?"
"Well, you’re so stuck on the idea that guys suck, and are not datable because they’re under the age of twenty-five. This guy must have been in his early twenties. What was so different about him than anyone else? I can’t imagine he and Ryan are the only guys who have tried to ask you out in your life." I shrugged.
"I don’t know. I guess for a minute there I got lost in the idea that he was older, I mean, a whole whopping twenty-two. He was nice, cute, and we had a lot in common. Rick was very good at making you believe just about anything, you know? Making you feel like you are the most beautiful woman in the world, or some bullshit like that. You know the type, they’ll tell you anything to get you into bed." Haley looked at me for a moment, looking into my eyes.
