MOMENT OF TRUTH¹ eli moskowitz

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The next day Miguel and Amara went over to the dojo bright.and early in the morning to get a little bit of training in before they had to leave for school. The two were punching at the dummies and controlling their breathing.

“Hey, you d myon't happen to have any friends who wanna learn karate, do you?” Johnny asked the two who were ignoring him and continuing to punch. “Aw, what am I saying? You don't have any friends. Sorry.”

Amara turned around and looked at her Sensei. “Excuse me. Miguel and I do have friends. But I don't think they would be interested in karate.”

“Hey, Sensei,” Miguel said, turning around, “when are we gonna learn to do some kicking? I was watching this YouTube video of a guy breaking boards, and it looked badass.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Johnny said to Miguel. “Kicking is badass. But neither of you are ready. Besides, if I don't get more students in here, I won't be able to teach y'all anything.”

“You've thought about advertising, right?” Miguel asked Johnny.

Amara snapped her fingers and looked back at Johnny. “Yes. Advertising is a great way for you to get more students in this joint.”

“Yeah, duh. Of course.” Johnny said to the two. It was obvious he hadn't thought about advertising for a second.

“All right, well we gotta get to school or we're going to be late.” Amara said, as she picked up her bookbag.

Miguel looked at the time on his phone. “Oh shit.” He said, grabbing his bag. “We’ll be back after school.”

“Be here by five!” Johnny yelled as the kid ran out of the dojo doors.

•♪~†~♪•

Amara was sitting in her cafeteria with Miguel, Eli, and Demetri. Counselor Blatt was giving students a whole spill about bullying. All the students were in their phones and didn't seem to care what she was saying.

“Cyberbullying is no laughing matter. Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face.” Counselor Baltt said. “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.” She looked directly at Eli as he began to cover his lip. A bunch of kids murmured as they looked over at him too.

“It's the kid right there.”

“It's the kid with the weird lip.”

Amara and Demetri looked at each other then back at Eli. “Stop that.” Amara grabbed his hand and pulled it down. “It looks fine.”

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

“If you're sick of getting bullied, Amara and I’s karate dojo is looking for recruits.” Miguel whispered to Eli.

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

“I'm serious, Demetri.” Miguel told him. “Our sensei’s a real deal. I'm sure we could get you both discounts.”

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

“Demetri, Crucible Control is not as fun as getting hit in the face.” Amara told him honestly.

“One last thing.” Counselor Blatt said, “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.’”