Muscle Memory

Esqueleto (5)

October 2017 

Miguel breathed rapidly, punching a dummy repeatedly, alternating fists while Anastasia laid on the ground trying to press her right knee to her chest. However, unlike her left hip, her right didn’t have the same flexibility it used to.  

“Shit,” Johnny muttered in his office as he looked over multiple overdue bills. He turned to the white board where he’d written ‘Current Students: Miguel,’ and he tilted his head back in frustration. 

Johnny stepped out, still looking over bills. “Hey, you don’t happen to have any friends who wanna learn karate, do you?” He asked Miguel. “Aw, what am I saying? You don’t have any friends. Sorry.” 

“John,” Anastasia scolded weakly, wincing at the burn in her hip as she pulled her knee towards her hip. 

Johnny set the pile of bills on the floor, kneeling down to push Anastasia’s knee a bit further causing the brunette to gasp in pain as her knee met her chest. 

Miguel stopped punching the dummy, turning to them, “Hey, Sensei, when am I gonna learn to do some kicking? I saw a YouTube video of a guy breaking boards, and it looked badass.” 

“Yeah, no shit. Kicking is badass,” Johnny commented as he brought Anastasia’s knee away from her chest, laying her leg on the floor and patting her thigh encouragingly. “But you're not ready. Besides, if we don’t get more students in here, we won’t be able to teach you anything.” 

“You’ve thought about advertising, right?” Miguel asks. 

“Yeah, duh,” Johnny says quickly. “Of course,” he adds quietly. 

Anastasia mouths ‘No’ at Miguel as she sits up, wiping tears from her eyes.  

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Anastasia happily ate one of the chicken salad croissants that she’d made herself for lunch, sitting alone at one of the vacant tables in the cafeteria. She smiled when she took note of Miguel talking eagerly with his friends.  

“Cyberbullying is no laughing matter,” Counselor Blatt began, speaking into a microphone so that she could be heard over the chatter in the cafeteria. “Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face. I’m not gonna name names, but the other day a mother called me up because her son was crying after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity.” 

Anastasia facepalmed, knowing that Blatt could’ve been a little more subtle. She should’ve left out that part about the facial deformity because now everyone knew she was talking about Eli, one of Miguel’s friends, who put a hand up to his mouth to cover the scar from his cleft lip surgery. The brunette frowned, feeling bad for the boy who’d probably gone his whole life being made fun of.  

“But today, our goal here is to make this school a safe space for all students,” Blatt continued. 

Miguel leaned over to Eli, “You know, if you’re sick of getting bullied, my karate dojo’s looking for recruits.” Eli actually looked interested. 

“Yeah, right,” Demetri scoffed. “You hear that, Eli? A little karate training, and you’re gonna kick some major ass.” 

“I’m serious, Demetri. My sensei's are the real deal. I’m sure I could get you both discounts.” 

“As enticing as that sounds, I think we’d rather spend out afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face.” 

“One last thing,” Blatt adds quickly. “While we’re all looking forward to the Halloween dance, let’s make sure our costumes are culturally sensitive. For example, instead of ‘sexy nurse,’ maybe try ‘gender-neutral hospital employee.’”