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Scout frowned.
His uncle shouted, “Warm up, then hit the bag. You’re doing grappling tonight.”
He held up a hand, turning for inside, but watched me for a moment, without saying a word.
I felt his uncle watching me too, but he didn’t comment. “Class starts in five minutes,” he said instead. “You can see if you like it before paying. I’m not going to take your money if you don’t like the class. Bathrooms and water are inside, but we’ll be having class over there.” He indicated a section in the grass. A couple guys were carrying over a large mat, and as we watched, they dropped it on the ground. A few women, some girls I recognized from school, and a couple other guys were lingering around. Some were chatting. Some were stretching. A few looked nervous. Some of the girls were looking our way, a couple laughing.
“I’m going to self-defense their asses if they keep laughing,” Theresa said loudly, pointing right at them.
The girls turned around. They shut up.
Theresa harrumphed. “That’s what I thought.”
I gave her a look. “I think, of all of us, you might be the one who shouldn’t take self-defense.”
“Fuck that. I’m totally in.” She pointed toward the gym. “I saw a couple of girl fighters in there. I might join. I feel like my soul is clicking into place, and fighting is what I’m supposed to be doing for a living. I love that you invited us here.”
“I’ll be your trainer.”
She gave Alred a look. “I’m going to need a professional trainer.”
“Then I’ll be your warm-up hyper, or the trainer’s assistant, or whatever you need. Water boy. I’m it.”
Gem looked around, biting her lip. “This is all aggressive and making me nervous.”
Theresa’s eye twitched. “Get used to it because this is about to become my second home.”
Gem didn’t say anything, but continued to bite her lip.
Theresa and Alred went inside for the bathroom as Gem and I headed toward the mat outside. I nudged her. “It’s just self-defense. I’m sorry I wasn’t more forthright, but I—”
She stopped and grabbed my hand. “No.” She was fierce. “Whatever helps you, we’re doing it. Okay?”
She grabbed both my arms. “For what it’s worth, I’m really glad you asked us to come today. You just made all our days, but you really made Theresa’s. She came alive when she saw a girl crossing the parking lot to go into the gym.”
“Thank you.”
She nodded, smiling.
Theresa and Alred joined us at the mat, bouncing from excitement.
One of the trainers led us through some warm-up stretches before a woman instructor and Miles came out of the gym. The lady held up a hand. “Hello, everyone. I’m Rachel. I’m one of the instructors at the gym. I know Miles usually teaches you, but I’m going to work with you all today while Miles brings the new students up to speed. We all know the first-day lessons are so key. Everyone, line up with a partner. We’re going to practice the heel-palm strike, the knee strike, and the eye strike. Ready?”
Miles motioned us to the side. “I figured it’s important to go over the basics, and we have a couple other new students joining as well.” He looked beyond us, and Theresa shrieked.
“Oh my God!” She ran over to hug Cohen and Amalia.
Gem hugged Amalia too. “What are you guys doing here?”
Cohen was looking my way as he responded, “Scout mentioned the class. Thought it might be a good idea.”
I felt Scout’s uncle watching us. He gave us a little nod, clapping his hands together. “Okay, everyone. Come over here.”
There was a general introduction made. He told us about him, about the gym, about the intention of the class, and after that we lined up. He began laying out the basics for us.
He said to trust our instincts.
He explained how to avoid being an easy target—make them work for it, if they were going to target you.
He said we should use our body to let an attacker know we weren’t weak or vulnerable. We should verbally let the attacker know we were not the ones to mess with. He explained how to keep a relaxed but confident stance, and how to use that for the element of surprise if someone did attack. He told us how to maintain a safe distance.
Then, after all of that, Miles began running us through some techniques.
After that, we rejoined the other group, practicing how to break your attacker’s nose, how to go for their eyes, and how to go for their groin.
We were nearing the end of the hour when we moved on to how to break out of body holds—the headlock, the chokehold, and the rear bear hug.
I was paired with Cohen, and we watched everyone else go through the techniques, learn how to get out of them, but I didn’t want to do it. Nope. No, thank you. I was sick to my stomach.
