I sat slouched at my school desk. It was almost the end of the day and it couldn't come soon enough.

Tiffany stood up front talking to the class. I liked Tiffany. In fact, she was my best friend, but I couldn't care less about her topic. Worst yet, I already was in two other classes with Tiffany, so I already heard her speech twice today.

"So where is this class?" asked Mr. Ellis, our math teacher, to make sure the students heard it.

"Right here at the school gym," answered Tiffany.

"And when?"

"Nine o'clock on Saturday."

"Great. Thank you, Tiffany," said Mr. Ellis. "I hope everyone takes advantage of this. It's good to learn a few basic self-defense techniques."

The school bell rang. At last! I was free!

I was out of the classroom quickly. I waited for Tiffany. She always took longer. Girls were always the last ones out. Yak, yak, yak!

Tiffany and I walked side-by-side on the sidewalk as we headed away from school. We never talked much on the walk until we reached Juniper Park. Juniper Street was our splitting point. Tiffany lived five minutes walking distance west on Juniper while I lived ten minutes to the east. We headed for the concrete table and benches that we always sat at. We tossed our backpacks on the top and sat on opposite sides.

"Did you see Julia today?" immediately asked Tiffany. She brushed a brunette tress out of her eyes. She was always doing that. She should just wear a headband.

"Uh-huh," I replied.

"She was hanging all over Matt. I thought she was going to go down on him right there!"

I laughed then thought about the image of Julia going down on Matt but quickly changed it to the thought of Julia going down on me. I smiled.

"Matt's cute," continued Tiffany, "but show a little restraint. You don't have to have his baby before the first date."

"You want to have his baby?" I teased.

"No!" she said sternly. "You know what I mean."

"I only know what you said."

"Stop it, Josh! It's not funny. Matt is nice, but I'm not interested in him."

"Would you go out with him if he asked you?"

"No," she said, but she paused first like she did last week when I asked the same question. I think she liked him a little but didn't want to admit it.

"Julia's just a sophomore like we are," I said. "You said Matt doesn't notice a girl unless she's at least a junior."

Tiffany glared at me. She so didn't want to talk about Matt right now. Hey, she brought it up!

"So how did you do on the history test?" I asked, changing the subject and letting her off the hook.

"I got a B."

"So did I."

"Are you going to the self-defense class?" she asked.

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's for girls," I said.

"No, it's not. Everybody needs to know a little self-defense."

"I don't need it." I was a guy. What could happen? I didn't need to fend off jerks like girls did.

She wrinkled her face disapprovingly.

"So why do you spend so much time looking at Matt?" I asked to put the conversation back on her and off of me.

"I don't!" she protested.

"You sure seem to notice everything he does."

"How could someone not notice today?"

I laughed. I had her riled up again.

"You're so mean," she said.

"It's a self-defense technique," I joked.

"I see Matt's available," I teased at the park. It was two days later.

"So you're watching Matt now?" she shot back.

Not taking the bait I replied, "So you finally admit that you watch Matt."

"I'm just wondering why you..."

"Hey!" said a male voice from behind me. "Can you spare some change?"

I looked back. It was a bum. The park didn't have too many problems but there was the occasional beggar.

"No," I said and faced Tiffany again.

"Come on. Help me out!" he insisted.

"I don't have anything," I said.

"You kids always have something."

"I don't."

"Come on."

He touched my shoulder, so I stood and faced him.

"You rich kids always have money," he said.

"Leave us alone," I said firmly.

"You know what it will take to get me to leave," he said putting his dirty palm out.

Tiffany came around the table and said, "Just go away."

"Can't you show a human being some kindness?" he said now trying to draw sympathy.

"Not to you!" I said.

"What?" he said becoming indignant. "I'm not good enough?"

He gave me a shove.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Give me some fucking money!" he said angrily.

"No!" I said resolutely. There was absolutely no way I would consider giving him money now.

The man charged. We grappled with each other. I desperately tried to fend him off. He was strong.

"Ow!" I cried out when his fist hit my jaw.

The man suddenly stopped. He was on the ground and his nose was bloody. Tiffany stood above him.

"Just go!" she commanded.

The man scrambled away and ran off.

"Are you okay?" Tiffany asked turning toward me.

"Did you knock him down?" I asked.

"Sure," she said shrugging. She looked at my hand which was rubbing my jaw. "Did he hurt you?"

"It was just a lucky punch," I joked. However it did hurt pretty bad.

"I'll walk home with you and we'll put some ice on it," she said.

"I know how to put ice on it," I replied annoyed. I didn't need Tiffany to fix me up. I was capable.

"Just trying to help," she mumbled. "Sorry for caring."

Unfortunately, a couple of students saw the incident as they walked home from school, so by fourth period of the next day the word had spread throughout the whole campus and I was getting teased.

"I heard a girl has to do your fighting for you," someone said.

"So is Tiffany your bodyguard?" said another.

It was a depressing day.

"What's wrong?" asked Tiffany at the park.

"Nothing," I muttered.

"Is it about yesterday?" she asked. "I heard some guys were teasing you."

"I can handle it. You don't have to beat them up for me."

"Should I have let that guy beat you up?"

"No," I said. "I don't know. Leave me alone."

"I know a few self-defense moves. Why don't you go to the class on Saturday? It will be helpful. If someone threatens you then you can stop him and if need be drop him to the ground."

"I don't know," I said quietly. I mulled the idea. Maybe it would help. "Okay."

"Great! I'll see you there."

I showed up at the school gym on Saturday. The wrestling mats covered the floor. I took my shoes off as instructed by the person at the registration table and claimed a spot in the middle back.

There were about 30 people here and it wasn't all girls. William was here, too. Yep, William and me, so not all girls.

As start time neared, there was no sign of Tiffany. I wanted her here. If we were taking the class together, it would look like we were both here to learn considering the incident that happened in the park. If I was alone then it would look like I was taking this class to try to eliminate my unfairly given wimp reputation.

When it was only a minute before start time, Tiffany still hadn't shown. A girl in a white martial arts uniform with a brown belt was lining up students in rows and columns. The small brunette was kind of pretty.

"Hi, Josh!" the girl said. She approached with a very friendly smile.

It was Tiffany! I didn't recognize her with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and with her dressed in the uniform.

"Hi," I said after recovering from my surprise.

"We'll start in a second."

"So you're not doing it with me?" I asked. I was quickly under that impression.

"I am but I'll be helping my sensei."

"Sensei?' I questioned.

"My teacher. Once you become a black belt then you can be a sensei."

"You're almost there," I commented.

"I still have a long way to go. I just got my brown belt a few months ago."

"Black belt is next," I encouraged.

"No" she corrected. "There are three levels of brown and three levels of red before I can test for black belt."

"Red is after brown?" I said confused. Brown was a lot closer in color to black.

Tiffany shrugged and said, "That's just the way it is. Talk to you later."

I stood at the position she placed me and watched her position the rest of the students. She brought William over and had him stand near me.

"You two can team up when we practice," she explained.

An adult man appeared wearing a similar uniform to Tiffany's but his uniform was black and he had a black belt. Tiffany bowed toward him then stood at the edge of the mats.

"Welcome," the man said enthusiastically. "I hope that after today you will feel more confident in your everyday situations. Today you will learn a few basic techniques to defend yourself in case of any incidents."

As the class progressed, the teacher would use Tiffany to demonstrate what to do. He would "attack" and Tiffany would do a counter move or vice versa where she would "attack" and he would counter. After each demonstration he had us try it on each other. I was teamed up with William as Tiffany planned. The teacher and Tiffany would walk around giving corrections and assistance.

Class was supposed to end at noon but it continued until 12:30.

"So how was it?" Tiffany asked me afterward.

"It was alright," I said.

"Did you learn something?"

"Sure," I said with a shrug. This morning was pretty cool and I learned a lot of good things, but I didn't want to admit it. "There were a couple of things that were helpful."

Tiffany smirked. "A couple of things?"

"Sure. Like some of the blocks."

Before I knew it, Tiffany's fist was against my chest. She didn't hit hard but it was so sudden that I was shocked.

"It takes a lot of practice before you get good," she said with a smile.

"Uh ... yeah."

"Do you want to walk home together? I have to help clean up first. If you have to go I understand."

"How can I help?"

I helped Tiffany drag the mats back into the storage room. I didn't realize they were so heavy. Tiffany was very thankful for my help.

On the walk home, I admitted, "I did like it. Those are pretty neat tricks."

"They aren't tricks. It takes time to get good at it like I said."

"I see," I said feeling discouraged.

"Do you want to come over to my house so you can practice more? We have a room just for practice. It has mats on the floor."

"Well..." I hedged.

"What? You can't learn from a girl?" she said gently teasing.

"I was just trying to remember if I had something I needed to do this afternoon," I lied. "But I don't have anything so I can come over."

"Oh," Tiffany said with relief. "Okay. Good. Sorry."

"No problem."

The room Tiffany mentioned was wall-to-wall mats. In the corner stood a kicking bag and a long fighting stick.

"Ready?" asked Tiffany.

"What?" I replied turning toward her.

She punched me firmly in the stomach.

"Oof!" I exhaled and grunted. It hurt. Not bad but it still hurt.

"You said you were ready," she said laughing.

Tiffany did things slowly to give me a chance to improve on my responses. I was amazed at how fluid she was with her hands and arms. She was very good. It made me feel like I didn't even know Tiffany.

"Do you want to come over to my place after school and practice your self-defense again?" Tiffany asked during lunch on Monday.

"I think I know it now," I said.

"You need to keep practicing until it's a reflex."

"I think I know enough."

"I can teach you other moves like how to attack or you can practice kicking the bag or I can teach you some basic kicks."

Tiffany seemed to really want me to go over to her house. I didn't have to be home right away so I said, "Okay."

"Great!" she said excitedly. "I won't take it easy on you this time."

"So I'm going to get my butt kicked by a girl," I joked.

"It's okay. I won't tell."

"You are a brown belt."

"And don't you forget it!"

We were alone in Tiffany's house. Both her parents worked and she was the youngest of three sisters. Tanya was off to college this year and Tara was a college senior.

"Here," she said handing me a padded vest.

The vest had a bull's-eye on the front which didn't appeal to me, but it would protect from a hard punch or a strong kick so that was a plus. Tiffany put on a second vest.

She motioned me to the middle of the room.

"When we spar we first bow to each other," she explained.

"Okay," I said bowing.

She didn't take her eyes off me as she bowed.

"Say 'Go' when you're ready," she instructed.

I stood up straight and waited a second in an attempt to take Tiffany by surprise.

"Go!" I said.

She went into some kind of fighting stance. I put my hands up to box. I planned to give her a few solid punches dead center on her vest's bull's eye but nothing too strong. I took a step forward and suddenly I was kicked in the side. I was so surprised that I was completely unprepared for a second kick that hit me dead center on my bull's eye. I became off-balanced and fell abruptly backwards onto my butt. As I sat up, Tiffany moved forward and stood over me.

She yelled out and her fist stopped inches from my face.

I was disconcerted by Tiffany's fury. It was controlled fury, but it was another part of her I never knew about. I wouldn't admit it, but she briefly intimidated me.

"Kill!" she said jovially and backed away.

I exhaled. I realized I had been holding my breath.

"Wow!" I said complimenting. I stood.

"Don't be afraid to hit me," Tiffany said.

"I'm not," I said.

"I let you have an opening but you didn't take it."

"Oh," I said. I wasn't sure what she meant.

"Again?" she asked.

"Sure."

We returned to the center of the room and faced each other.

"You can start it again," she said as we bowed.

"Go!" I said.

I didn't hesitate this time. I immediately rushed her. I was able to grab both her upper arms and tried to pull her down to the mat. She put her arms in-between my arms to attempt to break my hold, but I remembered that from the self-defense class. I moved closer and wrapped my arms around her back pulling her up against me. Sudden pressure to the back of my leg caused my stance to buckle. I started to fall but I didn't let go of her. I was determined to win this time no matter what it took. Within reason, of course.

With a thud and mutual hard exhales, we landed on the mat. I ended up on top of Tiffany. My hands hurt from the fall, but I was happy that I still had a firm hold on her.

I looked down into her eyes. I said softly while feeling very pleased, "Kill!"

Suddenly I was in the air. She had flipped me over and I landed roughly on my back. In a second, Tiffany sat on top of my stomach with her fist in my face.

"Kill!" she said gleefully.

"Yeah," I said with resignation putting my empty hands out.

My surrender was a fake. I grabbed her extended arm and pulled her down. I was going to wrap her up again, roll her to her back, and claim kill. That was my plan anyway. What happened was that our noses roughly collided.

"Ow!" said Tiffany.

I immediately let my arms fall to the ground. I didn't want to hurt Tiffany. The game was over.

"Are you okay?" I asked as she carefully rubbed her nose.

"Yeah, it just stings a little."

"Is it broken?"

"We didn't hit THAT hard," she replied. She continued to rub her nose. "It still hurts though."

"Maybe you should put some ice on it?" I said.

"On my nose?"

"Why not? What do you usually do when you get hurt?"

"I don't know. I guess my mom kisses it." She turned a little red in embarrassment.

"My mom still kisses my ow-ies," I admitted.

Tiffany laughed.

She had such a pretty smile, but what stunned me was that for the first time I noticed how beautiful her eyes were. They weren't exotic eyes like green or blue or even blue-green. They were only brown eyes, but this close up I could see the exact shade of brown and I didn't know there was such a shade of brown. It was amazing and I could honestly say her eyes were exotic. At least to me.

"What are you looking at?" she asked noticing my distant stare. I was unaware I was doing it.

"I..." I stammered. Impulsively, I lifted my head up and kissed her nose. "All better?"