Warrior: The Forging of a Champion

Chapter 10

After the regular classes at Tae Kwon Do instead of judo class, we go up to Master Lee's office, fill out all the paperwork for the competition, and make sure we have kicking pads and all our gear ready. We need to meet Master Lee in the parking lot of the school at 6:30 in the morning to drive to Richmond. He lets us go home to what should be a good night's sleep, but I have other plans, that if he knew about, he would kill me. 

I get home, put my new shirt on and jeans, and ask my mom for a ride, "Don't you have a competition tomorrow?" 

"Yeah, it's just something quick."  

"Are you going to meet Dan?" 

"No, someone else." 

"Who?" 

"Do we have to get into this?" I ask as I make sure my shirt is tucked in my pants. 

"I need to know who you are going with. For all I know, it could be some crazy person from the internet." 

I put my hands up to my head in frustration and say, "Mom, please it's a person I met from another high school. You don't know her." 

"Her? It's a girl?" 

"Yes," I say reluctantly. 

"Hey, Dave," my Mom calls out to my Dad, "Doug has a date." 

"Mom, please it's not a date. We're just meeting." I say as I hold up my hands to calm her down. 

"A date?" my father asks. "Let me get a camera." 

"Please Mom, Dad, can we not make this a production, and can I just get a ride?" 

"Oh, yes of course. We will just act natural. Can I meet her?" 

"No, just drop me off and then I'll call, and you can pick me up." 

"Okay, of course." 

My dad comes back into the room with his camera and takes my picture. "That's a beauty," he says admiring picture in the camera. 

"Can we just go?" I ask. 

"Okay, let's go," my dad says. 

"All of us?" I ask. 

"Yes, this is a big moment, and we all need to be part of it." 

We all pile into the car, and it is the most painful car ride ever. They interrogate me like I'm a member of Al Qaeda. We finally get to the mall, and they let me off by the entrance. I walk over to Starbucks, thinking about what I'm going to say. "Hey, glad you could make it" would be good. No, no that would cheesy. "Hey what's up?" Uhh, that's even worse. I stop and take a breath and then think for a second. I'm just going to say, "Hi." And act like it isn't a big deal. I rub my palms against my pants to dry them and take another deep breath. The coffee shop is right around the corner. I lean my head around the corner, look into the Starbucks, and see Chris sitting at a table sipping a drink and typing on her phone. 

Man, I feel like I'm at a competition I'm so nervous. I step back, check my fly, turn and look into the window of a store to see my reflection. This is a nice shirt I should feel confident. If I'm not confident, she'll see right through me. I just need to act like I did at the party if I can do that I'll be fine. I won't just be fine I'll be great. Okay, deep breath. I walk around the corner and up to the table she is sitting at. She is still looking down at her phone. I should say something charming about her looking at her phone like, are you expecting a call? Or something funny. 

"Oh, hey Doug. How long have you been standing there?" she asks. 

I sit down. "Oh, umm, you know, like I just got here,"