Bruised Knuckles and Empty Lies

Chapter 9

"I don't know what you're talking about," I blushed.

"Hey, no judgement! She goes by Kai, by the way." Kai. Her name was Kai. Somehow, that three-letter name rang in my head on a loop. "Aw, does someone have a little crush?" Kenny teased, laughing.

"Shut up." I couldn't stop my face from flushing, so I just held tighter to my backpack strap as I walked away from Kenny, who was still chuckling to himself.

I kept my head facing forward all the way to the locker rooms. Pushing open the door to the women's locker room, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, I had some privacy. The locker room was small enough that I could tell I was alone in here, so I threw my bags onto the bench closest to me and started changing as fast as I could into my black leggings, loose black tank top, and a dark blue jacket. I shoved my old clothes into the bag while I pulled my actual tennis shoes out of the bag. Sure, they were pretty beat up, but they would hold up better than my converse would in here. I slipped off my shoes, revealing my mismatched socks, and put on the tennis shoes before lacing them up.

With one shoe on and laced, I began lacing up the other one as I heard the door swing open. I didn't pay too much attention to whoever just walked in, until both my shoes were tied. I grabbed my water bottle before shoving both of my bags into a tall locker and shut it, not bothering to lock it. Hopefully someone would steal my backpack so I didn't have to do my Calc homework. I left my phone in the locker too, and I hoped that Derek wouldn't try to text me. He was probably already here anyway. I turned around and saw Kai there, slipping on a loose black hoodie then chugging some of her water. Shit. I caught myself staring for a few seconds, then shook myself out of it and headed for the door.

"Hey, wait!" a voice called after me. Kai. I spun around, and there she was, handing me my water bottle that I forgot to grab from the bench. I hadn't even realized I set it down.

"Oh, thanks," I replied with a small smile dancing on my lips. She nodded, her deep brown eyes, almost black, gazed at me. Kai had some of the kindest eyes I had ever seen. Before I could say anything stupid, I walked right out the door.

Looking around, I saw Derek already starting to stretch, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, so I made a b-line over to him. He saw me when I got closer and shot me a smile.

"Hey, kid. You ready to jump right in?" he asked.

"Yup!" I replied, my stomach filling with butterflies.

"Don't be nervous, sweetheart," Derek reassured me. "We'll ease into it. Just do what I do, okay?" I nodded, putting my water bottle down next to his and started doing lunges with him. It hurt like a bitch, but I knew it would help in the end. Derek seemed to sense my discomfort, so he started distracting me. "So today's mainly going to be learning. Learning how to wrap your hands the right way, conditioning, terminology, that kind of stuff." As he talked, discussing basic terminology and stretching techniques, we stretched everything: arms, calves, hamstrings, back, anything we needed to be stretched was stretched. What I really enjoyed was having someone to do it with me. Both of us were in some discomfort while stretching, but we were in it together, so it made it easier and more fun to do.

"Okay, kid. Core is going to be brutal, but ninety percent of kickboxing is using your core," Derek explained.

"What's the other ten percent?" I asked, then I sipped some water while he answered.

"Your mind." I drank some more water until I felt more cooled down. Derek noticed that I was getting hot, so he mentioned, "You know, you don't have to wear that jacket. There's no judgement here." I wonder if that's their motto or something.

"Are you sure?" I really wanted to ditch this jacket before we got into the actual workout, but I was still nervous.

"Positive, babygirl." I took a deep breath before taking off the jacket, exposing my bruised, scarred arms. I hadn't cut myself in a month, which I was immensely proud of myself for, so now, all that remained were thin white lines and what remained of the pink scabs.

"Let's see how long you can hold a plank. Elbows on the ground, not hands." I took a deep breath before joining Derek in doing the plank. "Butt down, sweetheart," he commented. I forced my butt to be in line with my back, or as close as I could get. It was way harder this way, which is probably why he wanted me to do it. My hands curled into fists as my arms began to shake a little. Not enough to be noticed, thankfully. Derek looked completely relaxed, as if this was nothing for him.

We were facing toward the front desk, which didn't bother me, until I saw Kai approach Kenny. They started talking about who knows what with Kenny. Her shorter hair was now down, out of the bun, and she carried a faded red dufflebag. Kenny said something that made her laugh. Her face lit up. She had a truly genuine laugh. I had to force myself not to smile. Derek chuckled next to me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, kid. Whatever keeps you working hard." I blushed, knowing he saw me staring at Kai.

"You suck," I groaned. I balanced on one arm as I used the other to try to push him over, but this guy must've been made of stone, because I bounced right back and I was the one who fell over. We both started laughing.

"Let's go for some crunches," Derek decided, flipping over on his back. Now that really made me groan. I better have killer abs after this.