𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 ⎯ 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐢¹

𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐲

     "Well, I know a few guys who act just—"

      "Quiet!" Mara and Aisha both flinched, automatically standing straighter at the sensei's outburst. He started to pace back in forth in front of them and the two girls followed him with their eyes. "My student tells me you've both been harassed at school."

    "Yeah. Mostly online. I get mean texts and e-mails sent to me. Makes me not want to go." Aisha confessed.

     Sensei nodded then moved his attention to Mara. "What about you?"

"Well I get my things thrown in the trash and people like to send me mean texts and call me names. They um even cut most of my hair off one time."

He nodded slightly frowning at the girl's words. He turned to Aisha. "Now who sends you these messages?"

     "Well, they're mostly anonymous. These kids create fake accounts, and they tell me things like I'm ugly and that I should kill myself."

Sensei stopped in front of Aisha his mouth dropped in horror. "Oh my God. What a bunch of pussies!"

Aisha and Mara looked at each other in confusion and then back at sensei. This man was crazy.

"Back in my day, if you wanted to tease someone, you did it to their face. It was honor, respect. These geeks hiding behind their computers, what a bunch of spineless losers." He turned to Mara and pointed his finger at her. "And not to mention messing with someone's hair. You never mess with the locks. You're not afraid of these losers, are you," he asked Aisha.

"No."

"You gonna take shit from these losers?" He directed the question at Mara.

"No." She answered confidently.

"Good, because when I'm done with you, you're gonna be sending a message back. Only it's not gonna be with your keyboard. It's gonna be with your fists."

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Mara stood off to the side with sensei Lawrence as Miguel and Aisha prepared to fight against each other. "Ok, let's see what you got, Ms. Robinson. Face me. Bow. Face each other. Bow. Mr. Diaz, show her everything you've learned."

Miguel backed up a little and looked at sensei Lawrence worriedly. "I don't think this is right, Sensei."

"You don't think what's right."

"She's a girl. I'm not gonna..." he gestured to her with his hands and made little fighting movements.

"And? I thought you said women were equal to men."

"I did say that. I didn't mean it like that. I meant—"

"Then show her women are equal, give her everything you got."

"Wait. I just wanna remind everyone this is my first day." Aisha spoke up in a nervous tone.

"Your enemies don't care what day it is. They prey on weakness." Sensei corrected her. "If you want to beat them, you gotta conquer your fears and jump face-first into the fire. Are you ready Ms. Robinson?"

Aisha still looked nervous and Sensei rolled his eyes. He looked beside him to see Mara looking at the ceiling bored. She had zoned out halfway through their conversation. "You know what. Ms. Robinson switch with short-stack here."