Living in Reseda

Chapter 15: The Third Student

Miguel's POV

A little more than a month has gone by since Hazel joined the dojo and we are both getting much better. I train all the time even outside of the dojo and Hazel joins me sometimes. It turns out she actually knows karate and she's pretty good. Maybe even better than me. After the first couple of day's Sensei and she finally started to get along, so training is much more fun. At first, she would just argue with everything he said and then he would call her a name (most of them were bad words) and then they would yell for a while until one of them stormed away to another room and then the rest of the lesson would just be super awkward and quiet. Now they seem to have reached a level of understanding and they don't fight as much but there are a few bickers here and there. We were definitely getting better but we still needed some work. A few days ago, Sensei held me in a headlock as Hazel stood next to him, her eyes wide as she tried to decide if she should help me. Sensei was yelling at me as I struggled to get out of the position.

"What does a cobra do? What does a cobra do?" Sensei had called out trying to get me to move. I tapped the mat harshly the way one would with wrestling but Sensei just held on tightly.

"There is no tapping in Karate!" He said slightly annoyed. After a few minutes, he released me finally knowing he would choke me to death before I could make it out on my own.

The next day, we were practising hitting fast punches. There was a large batting machine pointed at Hazel and me. We were wearing gear so that we wouldn't get hurt but still it didn't cover every part of our bodies. I had a few small bruises on my arms, but the worst was when I looked over at Sensei and he fired the machine anyway. I doubled over as the ball hit me in the nuts. Hazel gasped and her mouth and eyes opened wide in shock as she rushed over to me to check if I was ok.

Later in the week, we had gotten better. The only things we were wearing were our regular clothes. Sensei held the remote to the machine and he would direct the machine at our body and shoot it so we could hit it away. A fastball whizzed by my left arm and Hazel kicked it away.

"Good job Hazel," Sensei said as he pushed the button on the remote and a ball flew at me. I hit it with my elbow and it flew across the room. Sensei nodded his approval as beamed as balls continued to shoot at us.

Today, we were each fighting Sensei. He was definitely going easy on us but no easy enough that we would win every time. Hazel stood on the side watching the same way I did a few minutes ago when it was her turn to fight. Sensei was starting to ease up a bit on me but I swept his leg out from underneath him and he fell to the ground. I smirked but Sensei just sat up and pressed the button of the remote that was still in his hand. The machine still hadn't been moved from the day before so when the button was pressed, a ball hit me smack in the ear. I grabbed my ear and fell to the ground in pain.

"What... what the hell? That... that wasn't fair," I said as Haze rushed over.

"You want a fair fight? Dream on," Sensei said as he stood up, "You can't always think your enemies won't always play by the rules," He said standing over me.

"Yeah.. but my ear," I said, still on the ground.

"What if that baseball was your enemy's friend coming at you from behind? You have to be prepared for everything," Sensei said as I stood up and regained my balance. Sensei pulled my hand away from my ear through my whimpers as Hazel ran to go get the first aid kit.

"Let me look. No, it's fine. Don't be a baby," Sensei said as he looked at my already bruising ear. He made a yikes face just as Hazel returned with the first aid kit as the bell above the door jingled. A dozen or so women dressed in leggings came in through the door with yoga mats over their shoulders.