Warrior: The Forging of a Champion

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 

"What are you going to tell Theresa?" Dan asks me at lunch the next day. 

"About what?" 

"Your date on Saturday." 

"Why would I tell her about it?" I ask. 

"Because you're supposed to go with Theresa to the dance on Friday. You dog, you. You're going to go from one date to the next." 

"I totally forgot about the dance on Friday." I say as I smack my forehead. 

"Speak of the devil, here comes the forty-five degree angle in your love triangle."  

Theresa sits down next to me and starts off, "You never called me back." 

"I'm sorry. I forgot." 

"I waited for you to call me." 

"I got caught up with something, and I just forgot." Dan holds his fingers up behind Theresa in a triangle and mouths the words, "Love triangle." Theresa looks over at him, and he puts his hands down before she can see what he did. Theresa stands up. "I have to go to the library." She walks off. 

"I can't believe I forgot," I say to Dan. 

"A love triangle is a difficult thing to maintain," he says. 

"Would you please stop with the love triangle." 

"No, I'm enjoying this way too much." 

Across the cafeteria, I see Theresa, who is quickly walking out a door. I stand up and follow her, calling her name, but she doesn't turn around. I keep going after her I start to run and then get a glimpse of Ms. Irving who holds up her hand to slow me down. I ease into a fast walk upstairs and into the library. 

I sit down next to her. "I'm sorry," I whisper. 

"I know." She looks down at her book, not at me. 

"Are you mad at me?" I ask. 

She shrugs and doesn't answer.  

I sit there for a few seconds. When I start to leave, she says, "I heard you met a girl this weekend." 

I walk back to her. "Who told you that?" I say out loud. 

She doesn't respond. "Was it Dan?" I ask even louder. She still doesn't answer. The old nun who has been running the library forever comes up to me and points at the door. "If you are here to socialize, get out." 

I look at Theresa, who is still looking at her book and not me. I leave and go back down to the cafeteria to confront Dan, but he's not there. I know it had to be him. He is loving this. I text him but don't get a response.  

Dan evades me for the rest of the day. I text him one more time on the bus. He doesn't respond, but Chris sends me a text asking how my day went. I tell her it was fine and that I'll call or text her after Tae Kwon Do. I'm obviously not going to tell her about Theresa. I make it to my house and then bike over to practice. 

I am the first to get there and as soon as I walk in, Master Lee yells down for me to change and come upstairs. He is sitting behind the desk reading, holding up a Korean newspaper. I bow to the newspaper or the person behind it and sit down. In a few minutes, Jane arrives at the school and he yells down to her in Korean. She responds. She also comes up and bows to the newspaper. She sits down in the chair next to me and looks at me wanting to know what is going on. I shrug.  

A few more minutes go by, and he puts the paper down. "Where's Adam?" he says in an accusatory tone like I kidnapped him and am holding him for ransom somewhere.