Promises

Chapter 5.2

Turns out my chapter 5 was incomplete. Sorry for the confusion! This should be chapter 5.2: the judo incident

It was the last period and Marco was gazing over at Star, who had her head resting against her palm, listening to the class. Soon after, the last bell rang, and everyone motioned themselves to get ready to leave. Marco, however, quickly got up from his seat and walked over to Star, who was standing by her desk, packing up.

"Hey Star, You free after six? We can start early since we have other assignments to do."

Star stopped what she was doing and glanced over to Marco. She looked out the window and hummed a tune.

"Sure, but why six?" Star asked and continued packing, stuffing her pencil case into her bag.

"I have karate practice later, you mind waiting?"

Star turned her head to Marco, who was watching with a smile. She narrowed her eyes before looking out the window again. She then tilted her head down, resting her chin on her hand. Marco held his breath as he looked over to Jackie, who was watching the event play out from their desks.

"Sure. Where is it?"

Marco whipped his head and was met with her usual unamused expression.

"Oh, I'll show you." Marco replied, walking to the back door. Star raised an eyebrow and zipped her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and followed.

As Marco put on his karate gi, he checked himself in the mirror one last time, before heading out to the dojo.

The dojo was about the size of an indoor basketball and it was shared with the other sport co-curriculum activities. There were free standing punching bags and hanging punching bags. Beside it were metal closets that stored sparring gloves, focus mitts, makiwara and kick shields. On the other end, there was a trophy case, which was where Star is at.

Her eyes wandered from one trophy to another then to the many achievements that the Echo Creek's Karate club had obtained. As she browsed, she spotted a newspaper cut-out.

"Echo Creek Academy regains its throne after many years." Star narrated and glanced down to a black-and-white picture below the headline. It was of Marco being lifted into the air by his teammates. She smiled and stood up straight.

She looked over her shoulder to see Marco chatting happily with his mates. The front door opened and Star looked to see a man, in a gi as well, walking into the dojo. A bunch of footsteps alerted her to look over as everyone scurried and took a seat around two giant light blue mats at the center.

"Alright guys! Let's do some mini sparring, to find out where we need to work on," The coach said, circling behind his students. He stopped and looked around. "Of course, I would like my presidents to begin," the coach looked over to the students. "Marco and Jason, please step onto the mat." The coach ordered, gesturing to the mat.

Marco and a blonde haired student, who is presumably Jason, stepped onto the mat and bowed to each other, before going into their stance. Star raised her eyebrows and walked over to a vacant wall beside the trophy case. She rested her back against the wall, watching with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Begin!" The coach exclaimed and the boys started circling each other.

After a while, Jason lunged his left fist to Marco's face, but he dodged it by shifting his head to the left and lowering himself. He quickly grabbed Jason's forearm with his right hand and lifted his right leg to Jason's face.

Jason immediately closed his eyes tightly and braced, but was met with a puff of wind. He slowly opened them and shifted over to Marco's feet hovering near his cheek. He looked back at Marco; He had a smirk on his face and taped Jason's cheek with the top of his feet.

"Hahaha. Marco, don't taunt your new vice president like that. At ease guys."

The other members chuckled as Marco and Jason quickly retracted their hands to their side and stood upright. They took a few steps back and bowed to each other.

"Huh. Not bad for a teacher's pet. Guess I'm too soft on him." Star remarked to herself before smirking.

After every member had their chance to spar, the coach dismissed them for self-training. The students bowed to the coach and walked over to the punching bags. After chatting with the students, Marco looked over to Star on her phone sitting criss-crossed. He smiled and jogged over to her.

"Hey Star, you good?" Marco asked, looking down at her.

"Oh ya, don't worry about me," She looked up from her phone. "That was good just now." Star complimented, earning a chuckle from Marco.

"Thanks. I learnt that recently and wanted to test it." Marco said with his head up and chest puffed out. Star raised an eyebrow then hummed a tune.

"No wonder you didn't hit him. But you aren't that good."

Marco's face went blank and looked down at Star; She was now focusing on her phone.

"Really? You know Karate?" Marco asked with an eyebrow raised.

"A little. Now get lost, I'm about to hit a new record." Star said bluntly, staring intently at her phone, swaying side-to-side. Marco squinted at her and scoffed. He turned around and walked over to the punching bag.

It's been an hour and Star still had her eyes glued onto her phone. As she tapped vigorously on the screen, she had her tongue stuck out from the corner of her lips.

"Aren't you that Butterfly girl?"

Star looked up to see Jason with his hands on his hips. She turned her attention to her phone again.

"Yup. You Jason, right?"

After Marco landed his last kick, he started to walk in a circle, panting, till he spotted Jason with Star. He narrowed his eyes and noticed Jason was talking while Star was on her phone.

As he held his stare at them, Star began to stand and put her phone away. Jason took a few steps back till Star lunged forward. She grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder, echoing a loud thud throughout the dojo.

Marco had his hand covering his mouth and ran up to Star and Jason in long strides, along with everyone else.

"You little prick, say that again to my f**king face!" Star roared as she repeatedly stomped her right foot onto Jason's chest.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Jason cried out in agony.

Before Star could land another stomp, Marco grabbed her by locking his arms under her armpits.

"Marco, let me go! He deserves this!" Star growled, swinging her legs as Marco walked backwards.

"Even if he does, you don't have to hit him." Marco reasoned, holding her back. Star stopped struggling and pushed his arms forward, getting out of his grip. She turned and glared at him as Marco held his stare, panting.

"What's going on here, Marco? What happened to Jason?"

Marco turned around to face his coach, who had his eyebrows knitted at him. He looked over to see some of his mates were either checking on Jason or awaiting an answer as well.

Before Marco could say anything, Star stomped away, making him look over. She picked up her bag and started making her way to the front door of the dojo. His eyes followed as she took a few steps and stopped, with her back still facing him.

"I'm going to take a rain check on that assignment, Diaz. Stay away from me from now on." Star ordered before walking away.

As Marco watched her walk out the opened door and slammed it closed, he slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh, furrowing his eyebrows.

He was startled by a throat being cleared loudly and looked over his shoulder. His coach was glaring at him with his arms crossed, making Marco slumped his shoulders even further.