Finding Myself Abroad

Chapter IV

I knelt in my room, breathing deeply, inhaling through my nose, and exhaling through my mouth. My breathing was slow and regular. It was a form of meditation that helped me relax. Soon, I'd put on my shoes, and head to school. It was the first day of classes. I'd received my class schedule at orientation, and had taken the time to find where my classes were. Knowing that I was prepared for school calmed me. Knowing that I was ready for a fight also calmed me.

During the summer, ma had me on a training regime. Karate in the morning, lifting weights in the afternoon. Ma and I had gone to a thrift store and purchased a weight set. It was the kind where you could select a weight up to 90 pounds and it would automatically give you that weight when you lifted it out of the case. I'd also been running in the evenings. I could tell my endurance was better; I could run faster, further, and easier than I could before the summer came.

"Fear does not exist in the dojo. Pain does not exist in this dojo. Defeat does not exist in this dojo." I recited these lines as I tied my shoes. My hair fell into my face as I was bent over. It was still long.  Nearly to my shoulders.  The school didn't set too high of a bar for hairstyles. No crazy colors, no mowhawks.  Ma said as long as I didn't get a mullet, she was okay with my long hair. After explaining it was "business in the front, and party in the back" to me, I still didn't know what a mullet was.

I grabbed my backpack, and headed out the door. Since I was going to be in school all day, ma had worked her schedules so she'd be gone early in the morning, and back in the evening. I carefully locked the door, and was carefully moving up the concrete steps, careful not to make too much noise as a courtesy for the other residents. I squinted into the morning sun, and headed west. My shadow stretched before me, and I made my way to school and whatever possibilities awaited me there.

I didn't see Charlie, Clark, or Benny on my way in. Perhaps their mothers were fussing over them. Making sure the new clothes that had been purchased for school looked right, or making sure their lunch had enough chips or brownies or something. In my pocket jingled some coins for the lunch provided by the school. Since we were considered a "lower income family", the school district only charged us fifty cents for lunch. Ma was going to make sure I had a hearty breakfast every day to make up for the possible slop that the school would serve.  I would just need to microwave it so it would be hot. 

Humming the "Rocky" theme, I ran up the stairs to the front entrance. Ma had allowed me to see how Rocky trained, and fought. The tune was quite catchy. I headed to my locker. I spun the combination, and placed most of my notebooks on the shelf.  With a lighter backpack, and plenty of room for textbooks, I headed to first period. It was English class. To bookmark the end of the day, I had Spanish class last period.

Pausing at the door, I took a deep breath and stepped through the door into my first classroom as a twelve year old. I had my birthday during the summer. Ma had made a cake, and took the day off work. We just watched movies together. We both had a good time.   Noticing that the seats were beginning to fill up, I went and sat near the wall. I knew if I sat by the windows, I'd spend time looking outside and not focusing on work.

"Hey. I'm Mike." The voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned to see the owner was a guy with brown hair, and a black t-shirt.

"Hey, my name is Finn, but you can also call me Roen. What do you hear of the teach? Any good?"

"Oh, my older brother had her a few years ago. Old Misses Paal is pretty easy. One tiny book report a month, one big one every quarter, and random tests that are easy if you study."  He seemed confident in his response.

"Thanks, Mike.  Forewarned is forearmed."

"What?"

"Um, knowledge is good. Knowledge is power."