Kung Fu to Tutu

There she is, Jason thought as he saw the girl before him. Her gi matched his, but atop her dark blonde head was a floppy pink bow. This isn't ballet, he had thought every class, a notion that only occurred to him because there was a ballet class next door.

"What are you staring at?" Kelsie asked, tightening her gold belt around her waist.

"I'll tell you when I figure it out." She scoffed and turned away. Some boys were nice. Some boys were ok. Some boys were dumb. But then there was Jason, who might be the worst boy ever.

"Let's start with a joke." Sensei Steve said, stretching his arms across his torso as he sauntered over. "Why can't a nose be twelve inches? Cuz then it'd be a foot!"

"More like my weiner." Jason muttered to Ricky next to him.

"Ugh." Kelsie muttered under her breath. She looked over to the other girls for support. "Seriously. Grow up, right?"

"I know." Sophie mouthed to her.

Kelsie focused on the katas they were learning, but it seemed like Jason was always goofing off or doing something that showed he thought he was a lot more talented than he actually was. And that hair! Was that gel making it so spiky or had he just not washed it in a week? Someone should bust him down a peg. Or three. Kelsie thought. Her increasingly creative visions of his comeuppance powered her through the rest of class.

"Why do you even wear that bow?" Jason asked as everyone was drifting toward the locker rooms.

"Keeps my hair out of my eyes." They traveled up to his spiky hair. "We can't all use an entire bottle of gel."

"My hair's cool." Jason said defensively.

"It's gross." She retorted.

"It's aerodynamic."

"Oh, yeah. That's why you tripped during every other kick, right?" Jason's face turned almost as pink as her bow.

"I'm better than you."

"Sure." She knew there was no chance of that.

"I am!"

"Uh-huh." It was amazing how he seemed to be getting more and more worked up when she wasn't even saying anything.

"I'll spar you. Anytime, any place." That sounded like a line from a movie.

"Why not right now?" Jason clearly did not expect that.

"Uh"

"Come on, Jason. You can take her." One of his vile little friends hissed in his ear. Ricky? That sounded right.

"Uh, sure! Let's go." Kelsie shrugged and checked to make sure Sensei Steve had already disappeared into the boys' locker room to keep them from roughhousing.

"Alright." She walked to the center of the mat, shaking her head as Jason's friends were psyching him up. Hope I don't embarrass him too badly. She thought.

"I'm gonna rip that bow out of her hair."

"What is your obsession with my hair?" To be fair, she was as disturbed by his hair. Even when he shook his head, it stayed still. How much gel was even in those spikes?

"It's like something a ballet girl would wear."

"A ballerina?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm gonna beat you so bad, you're gonna switch to ballet." She started to roll her eyes, but inspiration came from the most surprising places.

"Actually, that sounds good."

"Huh?"

"Loser switches to ballet down the hall." She extended her hand. Jason felt a twinge of doubt, but he saw his friends looking. He could take her! He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, the smile never leaving her face.