Junior Year Box Set

A storm had come up in the Pacific, and we were the beneficiaries of some terrific waves. It looked like several people had skipped school to come out this afternoon. Al was in the group and made it a point to ignore me. I was okay with that.

When it was my turn, I began to paddle. I’d just gotten up when I saw that Al had jumped my wave. The little jerk didn’t peel off, as was proper etiquette. I was tempted to run him over, but that was also bad form. What sucked was I had to go to the back of the queue and wait my turn for a wave. When Al did it for the third straight time, I’d had it. I decided to just go in before I had to drown his butt. He wasn’t worth it.

After I showered off, I made myself a sandwich. I wanted to let Fritz enjoy the bigger waves, so I wasn’t in a hurry to leave. I put on my new sunglasses and walked to the car to grab my iPad so I could check my email when I pulled up short. Al was waiting for me with two of his friends. Clearly, this wasn’t a friendly visit, because they all had baseball bats. I contemplated running back to the house, but I wasn’t sure whether I’d make it. No way would I turn my back on them.

“I’m giving you fair warning that if any of you decide to use a bat, I’ll put you down hard,” I said, stepping in front of the car.

The car had a motion-activated camera on the dash. I wanted a clear record that I didn’t start this.

I made the mistake of thinking that Al would puff up and give some speech about how I did him wrong. Instead, he stepped forward and took a swing with the bat. It caught me in the stomach. If he had swung at my head, I might have been done for. Even with what Cassidy had taught me about absorbing a blow, being hit in the gut with a bat hurts, and I dropped down to avoid the worst of it.

I knew if I stayed on the ground, I’d be beaten to a pulp. So I threw my legs up and then down, snapping my back in a quick arch as I hurled myself to my feet. A single stride had me inside of Al’s bat, to his complete surprise. I used a palm strike to the chest to put him on his ass. Done with enough power, you could even kill a man with that strike. I hit Al hard enough that I heard a massive explosion of air leave his lungs and he began to gasp.

His two friends moved in to take their swings. I used what Fritz had taught me about disarming an assailant and soon had the one on the right in a wrist-lock. I spun him in between the other boy and me. The one I was holding onto received a solid hit in the upper back and cried out. He let go of his bat and landed on his face. I now had a bat in my hands to even things out, and I faced a single opponent. He’d recocked and caught me flush under my left arm. Luckily, he hadn’t the chance to take a full swing or I would’ve been in a world of hurt.

I thought again about running for it, but Al had stood up while I doubled over in pain. He took a swing at me; I parried his blow as if we were dueling with swords. My effort was enough to save me from being clocked and possibly at their mercy, but I could see they both saw blood in the water. Al charged me with his bat over his head as if he planned to pummel me. I thrust the end of my bat into his face like I would if I’d had my Bo staff. Al went down again.

The one who’d hit his friend took another swing at me; I was able to stagger back as it whistled by my head. I used the bat like a baton and hit him on the side of the knee. Then I came up across the bridge of his nose before he could recover from his swing. Blood flew from his face, and he dropped at my feet.

I turned in time to see Al climb back up to his feet. Would this idiot just stay down?

“Stop, just stop,” I said as I gave ground as he advanced.

“Screw you! You were supposed to make me popular. Instead, I’m a laughingstock at school. I’m going to kill you!”

He charged me again, and I was just able to get my bat up with my hands on each end of it to intercept his blow. I kept giving ground as he took full swings at me and I blocked each one. My back leg touched the bumper of the car; I had nowhere else to go.

Cassidy would have my head because I’d tried to reason with Al and hoped he would get over his fury. His breathing was labored from swinging the bat. I knew how tiring it could be from my work in the dojo. Cassidy preached to end it and not risk injury. Al left me no choice.

He swung again, and I used my bat to block his swing. Stepping forward, I kicked him in the upper thigh to unbalance his stance. Then I brought my foot up in one fluid motion and planted my heel in his temple. I’d practiced that move with Cassidy holding a pad low and then kicking a speed bag. When done right, it sounded like: ‘thump POW’!

The reason Cassidy worried about me sparring with other people was that she’d never allowed me to hold back. That was why I sometimes had ‘accidents,’ like when I practiced with Fritz and Coach Hope. Self-defense was only to be used if absolutely necessary. When it did happen, take them out.