We went outside to find Sensei Kawada talking on his cell phone. The class had just ended and I found a ride with Liam. He had offered in the locker room as we changed back into our regular clothes and I accepted.
It seemed that Liam and I got along with each other very nicely. We talked to each other through class and we seemed to have a lot in common. We both liked videogames, watching some sports, and even studying! Though we had our differences; it was clear that Liam was way more athletic than I was. He lifted weights, skateboarded and loved to practice the martial arts that he was learning from his dad. Liam liked that I had hobbies even though he didn't have any (I build simple machines from the hobby shops and I build models). But we hit it off during class despite our differences. He even invited me to play videogames with him tomorrow.
Liam was telling a joke to me when we walked out to find his dad on his cell phone. The sensei sounded a bit distressed as he talked to someone over the phone. Liam's smile left as soon as he heard the tone of his dad's voice.
"Ok, thank you, bye," the sensei said as he hung up his phone.
"What's wrong dad?" Liam said. The sensei smiled a bit as he turned around to face us but the smile seemed forced.
"I just received a call from one of my advanced student's mother. My student, Daniel, received an injury to his groin and won't be able to compete in any of my upcoming tournaments," the sensei said.
"Is he ok?" I asked. The sensei turned to face me and he seemed to study me for a second. He seemed to detect the strange mixture of worry, relief and humor in me. But he seemed to shrug it off.
"It's not good. He received some deep tissue bruising and might lose one of his testicles," the sensei said. I saw Liam winced sympathetically at the mention of the injury details. I did not.
"Man, that sucks for Daniel. So how did he get injured?" Liam asked.
"Apparently, some bully did a number on him while he was working on a car part outside on his porch. He was caught by surprise and kicked severely. Luckily, that's all that happened to him," the sensei said as he looked at me.
"So dad, is it ok if we give Keith a ride back to his house? I offered him a ride," Liam said as he gave his dad a look. The sensei broke to a smile as he looked away from me and towards Liam.
"Yes, of course. We can drop him off at his house," the sensei said.
"So where do you live?" Liam asked as we rode in his dad's sedan.
"I live near DuPont circle in the Clear Creek subdivision," I said.
"Oh cool, what a coincidence! That's where we live! So at what street do you live on?" Liam said excitingly
"I live on Oak Tree Drive," I said. I was really happy to find out that Liam lived really close to me. I could actually walk to his house and hang out with him!
"That's just the next street over! We live on Acorn Drive," Liam said.
We pulled into our subdivision and Liam pointed at his house as we passed it. I nodded and gave directions to my house. We pulled into my driveway and they dropped me off. Liam waved goodbye and the sensei just looked at me. I unlocked my front door and went inside. As soon as I closed the door, I collapsed. Everything that I was holding in went out in an explosion. My fear and anger about almost being raped as well as the relief and joy over Daniel's news all went out. Tears streamed down my eyes as I sat in the corner near the front door. I was paralyzed and I couldn't move because my emotions were just too strong.
I sat there collecting my thoughts for thirty minutes before I lifted myself up. I dragged myself upstairs and took a long hot shower. During the shower, I decided that I would not let the experience affect me and I would do my best to learn how to defend myself. If Daniel ever decided to do that again, I will kick his ass no matter what. After the shower, I went to my room and fell asleep.
The next few weeks passed by like a blur. Liam and I became greater friends and we started to hang out regularly. I was slowly overcoming my shortcomings and I started to feel much more confident. I no longer feared social situations and I started to make more friends. But Liam and I were pretty much becoming best friends. I felt everything in my life was going great, that is until one fateful class.
We were practicing moves on each other. I was paired up with larger kid I didn't even know. Once our turn came up, we bowed to each other and started to spar. The larger kid had power and weight, but I had reflexes and agility on my side. I was actually doing well until I noticed someone walking in and up to the Sensei. I felt faint as I realized Daniel was talking to the Sensei.
I lost focus and everything felt strange. My heart started pumping even faster and my adrenaline was flowing. The last thing I saw was Daniel looking straight at me, smiling and giving me a wave. My blood grew cold as I stared at him.
Because of Daniel, I lost my focus and got flipped by the larger kid. I was down on the ground and I lost the sparring match. I stood up and bowed to the other kid quickly. I sat down before the other kid could bow. I didn't care. I just felt angry that I let Daniel get to me like that. Just the sight of him made me trip up. My animosity towards Daniel made me so crazy. I didn't notice at the time but the Sensei was watching me really closely, especially when Daniel walked in. He saw my balled up fists and the look on my face. I did not hide my anger well. The sensei silently nodded as he made a decision that would change my life forever. He continued talking to Daniel until he left. Then the sensei came up to me.
"May I speak to you, Student Flores?" the sensei said, "In private."
I gulped at the usage of my last name. He never did that, or at least I never encountered it before. He would usually call us by our first names. It was like when parents use your full name when they are mad.
I frowned and followed him into his office. He told me to sit as he sat down. His face was expressionless, almost stoic but I couldn't tell. He seemed to be collecting his thoughts as we sat in silence. After a while, he began to speak in an even tone.
"I will be outright. You are falling behind, Student. You have made the least progress out of all of my students. I fear that you will not receive a belt by the end of the summer if you do not improve. Your last match is testament to this."
"What do you have to say?"
I sat silent. I was dumbfounded. I thought I was doing well. But, I guess I wasn't.
"I don't know, sensei," I said, at a loss.
"I have been thinking about this. I feel that you may benefit from extra practice. In fact, I feel that you may benefit from a sort of tutoring from a fellow student. Do you feel up to this?" he said.
"I'm up to it sensei," I said intensely. The sensei nodded.
"Good, now you may have a choice of any student to tutor you," the sensei said. I thought for a moment and I knew almost right away who I wanted.
"I want your son Liam to tutor me," I said. The sensei didn't seem surprised.
"This will make things easier for all of us. But I am disappointed that you didn't chose anyone more experienced than my son. You could have picked anyone, such as Adrian (the person who beat me last) or even Daniel, one of my advanced student," he said. I kept my feeling behind my mask as best as I could.
"But very well, I will let Liam tutor you. But I would like to start this as soon as possible. Let's go talk to Liam" he said
"Ok,"
We both walked out of his office. I saw a few kids turn away, pretending not to have been watching. I felt a bit embarrassed but I continued walking on. We eventually reached Liam; he was talking to Josh, my other (new) friend.
"Can I talk to you Liam?" the Sensei said.
"Sure dad," he said as he eyed me. We went away from the general class and continued our talk. After a bit, we figured out everything.
Liam would twice a week help me train. He would have me practice some of the technical aspects of moves. Liam's dad would drop us off at my house to train and he would allow Liam to walk back to his house after we finished practice. At the end of the month, the Sensei is going to test me and see how much I have progressed. If I progressed enough, I would earn my first belt.
Today would be the first day Liam would train me.
I felt a bit apprehensive but I knew Liam would be a good teacher.
The rest of the class passed by rather quickly. The Sensei allowed some free style time, we were allowed to practice on each other, by ourselves or just talk. At the end, the Sensei made a few announcements about our first belts and asked that we would practice a bit outside of the normal class time. Then it was time to leave.
We all went into the locker room, talking excitedly about the possibility of earning a belt. I also talked, but in the back of my mind, I knew I would fail unless I practiced with Liam.
I changed at a fairly slow pace, along the same pace as Liam. Like always, I caught as much of Liam as I could while he changed. I knew it was kind of wrong doing that to my new best friend but I couldn't help it.
Liam was pretty ripped from all the sports he did, but the martial arts I was taking wasn't lost on me either. I had finally started gaining muscle from everything I have been doing. I'm still way out of Liam's league body-wise but I'm getting there. My midsection was probably the most drastic change on my body. I was now on my way on getting a full six pack, a drastic change from my plain belly from the beginning of my class.
Liam snapped me out of my thoughts as he slammed his locker shut. He smirked at me as I rushed to get dressed. Liam walked slowly out of the locker room, waiting for me to catch up. I slammed my locker shut and raced to catch up to Liam.
"You daydream a lot, do you know that?" Liam asked as I came up to him.
"What can I say, I have a big imagination," I said.
"The only big thing on you," Liam said with an evil smirk.
"That hurt you big, dumb jock," I said as I punched him in the shoulder. Liam feigned pain as he dramatically rubbed his shoulder. I laughed at him as we walked out towards the Sensei's office.
The sensei was on his office phone as we walked in. He motioned for us to sit down as he finished talking.
"That was your mother, Liam. Her car broke down in D.C; she needs me to get her. Do you mind walking home?" he said as he hung the phone up.
"Sure dad, "Liam said "But, I need to go to Keith's house for training, remember?"
"Oh yes, go ahead and practice with him, but wait for me to call before you go back home, ok?" the sensei said as he picked up his coat and keys.
We followed him as he locked up his office and the classroom and through the staff entrance out to his car.
"Have fun and behave yourself Liam," the sensei said as he got in the car and drove away with a wave. We both left in the opposite direction towards our neighborhood. As we walked, I noticed dark clouds in the distance and a small flash. Who knows, it might rain.
Sensei Kawada drove towards the highway that would take him to Washington. As soon as got on the highway, heavy drops of rain fell onto his windshield. Kawada frowned and looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were gathering fast. He quickly turned the radio on and tuned into the nearest news station.
"... issued for the Washington DC metropolitan area. Heavy thunderstorms are expected and winds up to 40 mph. Please stay tuned for further updates."
Kawada dialed his phone and called his son. He frowned again when a phone rang from the back seat.
"I hope he hurries to Keith's house," he said to himself as he dialed his wife's cell phone.
"Damm I forgot my cell phone," Liam said as he patted his pockets.
"I got mine if you need one," I said as I showed him my phone.
"Nah, it's ok," Liam said.
We passed by Daniel's house without incident, I held my breath as I passed by his house. I partly expected Daniel to storm out and kick my ass but it didn't happen. I was glad to have Liam by my side just in case.
Liam seemed to detect my apprehension since he started to tell jokes to keep my mind off things. We pretty much laughed the rest of way to my house.
"This is my backyard, as you can see," I said as I waved my hand like a tour guide.
"Oh really?" Liam said sarcastically. I gave him a dirty look and he just laughed.
"Well we can practice here," I said as I took off my shirt. Liam gave me a raised eyebrow. I don't know what I was thinking but I just felt it would be cool to take off my shirt, just like those kung fu movies. I even did that Bruce Lee hand gesture ( Bring it on!).
"Oh it's on now!" Liam said as he peeled his shirt off.
I went into a defense stance quickly as Liam lunged at me. Liam attacked and I counter attacked. We both laughed as we fought each other.
As we fought, I knew this wasn't what the Sensei had in mind with practice. He wanted me to practice the basics but this fighting with Liam was too much fun. I was just using more advanced moves that were in step with what Liam was doing. At least I was keeping up with what Liam was dishing out.
Then it started to rain. I barely noticed since we continued fighting and I had to keep up with Liam. The rain came down harder and harder until it was almost torrential. Eventually our fighting stopped. I ended up on the ground after I miscalculated a move and I was flipped onto the ground. Even more surprising, I had Liam's big brown foot in my face. Of course, it was a reflex from completing a move but it was surprising nonetheless. It was so close to my face, I could smell Liam's masculine scent emanating from his sole. Liam seemed to take a second too long removing his foot but he did pull it off.
He offered his hand and I took it. That was when he saw the big grin on my face.
"Oh shit," he said, realizing his mistake. I immediately pulled him to the ground with me. I laughed as he went into the mud puddle with me.
That's when I noticed the torrential rain. My trance was over. I stopped laughing and Liam seemed to have broken his trance too.
We were both soaking wet and in a mud puddle.
We walked into the house through the kitchen to the laundry room. We stood there momentarily and looked at each other.
"So, you probably don't have anything I could borrow in my size," Liam stated.
"Umm...yea, sorry." I said nervously. "You'll need to wear a towel or you could go naked,"
"I'll take a towel, thanks," Liam said rather sarcastically. I nodded as I dug around in the linen closet until I found two towels. I handed Liam his towel as he began to take off his pants. I did the same until we were both in our underwear. By this time, my heart had turned into a jackhammer. I was really nervous. Liam, on the other hand, was as cool as ever or, at least, he hid his nervousness very well. Liam took off his underwear almost right away without hiding it. I did the same, just to do something than other than gawk at Liam's package.
We stood there a second too long, staring at each other naked bodies.
I quickly put a towel around my waist and placed my clothes in the dryer. Liam did the same, without a word. I twisted the knob on the dryer and started it.
"It'll take a while before all clothes dry" I said. "Do you want to watch tv or something?"
"Sure. Do you have any movies we could watch?" Liam asked.
"Yea, up in my room. I have a DVD player in my room, we can watch movies there," I said as we left the laundry room. I started walking up the stairs with Liam walking close behind. I felt like Liam was looking at me once I reached the top step. I turned around to see Liam smile blankly. All I know is that Liam was hiding something.
I went straight to my closet to look for the movies while Liam plopped himself on my full sized bed. His towel was barely tied up.
"What do you want to watch?" I asked as I looked at Liam's barely concealed dick. I looked away quickly as he said that any movie would do. I randomly chose a movie and placed it in the DVD player. As went to sit down on the bed, I saw a big grin on Liam's face. That's when I heard it. A moan. A grunt.
I turned around and saw that I had accidently placed the only porn video I owned on TV. Even worse, it was a gay porn video.
"Fucking shit," I said plainly.