Jack's POV
Kim, Jerry, Milton and I are walking through the mall courtyard, our usual way of getting to the Dojo. When we reach the dojo, we head inside, and find Rudy watching the news.
"Hey Ru-" I start to say before Rudy shushes me.
"I'm trying to listen!" he says. I turn my attention to the television.
"In other news, this upcoming weekend is the annual Seaford most-fit contest. There are already dozens of people signed up for the tough competition that will prove who is the toughest, fittest person in Seaford. You can sign up ahead of time online. Come try it out. It's always a great experience! We may even have a new champion this year!" The announcer on the TV says. I groan. Rudy turns towards me.
"Jack, you have to enter!" He exclaims, "You're the best at this dojo!"
"Yeah, but I've never made it to the final event before, and besides, this guy named Toni Gardner beats me every year."
"I've heard that Toni's been winning ever since he was seven!" Milton adds on. "That will be Seven years ago after this competition! And he's still the champion!"
"How come you didn't ask me to sign up Rudy? I'm second best here." Kim asks.
"Because, this contest is tough. No girl has ever won it. It's just too tough."
"Oh, so you're saying girls aren't tough enough? That I'm not tough enough?" Kim challenges.
"No, that's not what I mean-I just think that Jack has a better shot at it."
"Why don't we all just sign up, just for fun?" Milton asks.
"Because, Milton, you probably won't even make it past the 1st round." Rudy explains. Milton nods.
"That's probably true."
"And Jerry, well-" we ll turn to face Jerry. He's watching some silly kid cartoon on the TV.
"Get him! Get him! Oh come on!" Jerry says, before shouting in Spanish, which I don't feel like translating. Not even Milton wants to do that.
"You see my point." Rudy says. We nod.
"You know what? I will sign up this year! I'll train even harder, I know I can win this time." I say.
"YES!" Rudy cries. "ANOTHER TROPHY FOR MY DOJO!" We turn and stare at him. "I mean, go Jack, heh heh." he laughs nervously. I roll my eyes.
"Does anyone else wonder why we never see Toni except this competition? We never see him at school, and during the competition, he never takes off his hood." Kim wonders. "Has anyone ever even seen his face?" I look around the room, everyone is shaking their heads.
"Some people say that his hood is lucky." Jerry finally joins the conversation. Rudy, seizing his opportunity, grabs the remote from Jerry and turns the news back on.
"Since we're on the topic of the Most-Fit contest, The mysterious champion, Toni Gardner, says that if they win again, this will be seven years, and that Toni will show us who's under the hood!" The announcer announces.
"What coincidence!" Milton exclaims. "We'll finally see who's under the hood! And the best part is, guess what?" He doesn't even let us respond. "It's The Saturday after school starts! Well, kinda, they always have the first day on a Friday, just so we can get to know the freshmen and get to find out where our classes are!"
"I could care less about where my classes are," Jerry says, "But at least after Friday I'll know how to avoid them."
"And guys, guess what tomorrow is?" Milton practically jumps up and down. "FRIDAY! The first day! Isn't it exciting?" Everyone groans. I totally forgot about our first day tomorrow. This sucks.
The Next Day
"Hey guys!" I call out, running after my friends. "I'm all signed up!" I signed up during first period, which was only ten minutes long, since school ends at noon today. It's 11;45 now, and that's when we get our new lockers. We found ours, and now were just talking in front of a random section of lockers.
"That's great!" Kim says, surprising happy since Rudy didn't want her to sign up. We keep chatting about the competition until we're interrupted by someone clearing their throat behind us. I turn around. It's a girl, obviously a freshman, holding her books. She's about 5.6, has dirty blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She looks irritated.
"Can I help you?" I ask, annoyed.
"You're in front of my locker genius." she snaps, pointing at the locker I'm leaning against.
"Oh." I move out of the way. She unlocks her locker and drops her books inside.
"So, I heard you talking about the Most-Fit contest." She jumps into our conversation, shutting her locker and turning to face us.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna win this year."
"I'm sorry, I've never heard of you or seen you before-" she says, not really caring.
"Jack Brewer." I say, interrupting her.
"Whatever. In fact, I go the competition every year, and I've never heard or seen you before. Never made it the final round, I presume."
"Well, yeah, but that's gonna change this year. I'm going to win-"
"No you're not." She interrupts me. I hear Milton gasp.
"What did you just say?" I ask angrily.
"I said you're not gonna win Mr. Ponytail. Toni Gardner is, like always."
"Well, maybe that will change this year. Jack is a black belt and world champion-"
"At karate?" she asks, not impressed. "That has nothing to do with winning the contest. And besides, I've never seen one person come close to beating Toni. What makes you think that you can win this year Goldilocks?" she asks me.
"First of all, stop with the names, it's pissing me off." I say, "And second, how do you know Toni will win?"
"Because, the best always wins. Now, excuse me, but I can't take anymore of you weird friends," she gestures towards Jerry and Milton "or you, and seriously dude, Get a haircut!" she walks away. I look after her.
"Wow, that little freshman is really something," Milton says, "No one has ever talked to Jack like that before."
"Jack not winning, that's crazy talk!" Kim cries.
"She really doesn't know what she's talking about." Milton concludes.
I know!" I exclaim. "Get a haircut? What world is she living in?"
