My Own Destiny

By corset-rebellion-follower

Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda

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Chapter 13- The Rest of My Life Comes Crashing Down

You know how you think you're down so low that you can't go any lower? Trust me, you can go lower. Much lower. The next day at school Bryan and Tavy completely ignored me. And I ignored them. I hung out with Jing during first period, one of the few classes that we didn't have with Kim.

"Sounds like a rough fight. I remember Bryan. He didn't seem like that bad of a guy. He just was a little overbearing was all. But if Kim doesn't like someone, then you have to dislike them too, unless you want her to drop you. And besides, she's one of the few friends I have that I actually know, sort of. A lot of the other girls I don't know past their names. I kind of wish I had your friends, the kind that you know their parents, and all their favorite things, and celebrate each other's birthdays. I don't really have any friends like that," Jing explained.

"Well if you want to meet my parents, pop up at the Jade Palace anytime. I could use the break from constant drills," I offered.

Jing laughed. "Me, up at the Jade Palace? I'd be a fish out of water. I can barely do a push-up!"

I shrugged. "So? Po can barely do a push-up sometimes, and he's the Dragon Warrior," I said. She laughed again.

"You know, you're really funny. Maybe sometime I will pop up for a visit. But not for a while, it'll probably take my mom a while to give me permission. She's a bit of a worrywart."

"My dad's like that too. If I get one tiny cut he freaks out on me," I agreed.

"Our parents are insane" she laughed. We both laughed. Jing is really nice, and I like her as a real friend and not just because she hangs out with Kim. The bell rang. "Come on. Let's get out of here." We both left the classroom.

"Kim told me to meet her out in the back of the school. You coming?" Jing asked.

"The back of the school? Why does she want to meet us back there? It's not like there's anything there," I said. Jing shrugged. "Alright, I guess…"

I was a little curious as to why anyone would want to go back there. It's just the back wall one side, and a wooden fence on the other. But since there was nothing back there, there was no reason why we couldn't be there, right? So I followed Jing. I felt a little uneasy about it. I had newspaper next, and if Bryan wasn't kidding about Mr. Matsu, I couldn't afford to get caught skipping.

And my dad always told me that if I didn't feel right about something, then I shouldn't do it. I've never really listened to that particular piece of advice because I always knew better, but I really wished I had then. Because as it turns out, there is something on the back wall of the school.

There's Kim Deng, and a few of her friends. Smoking opium out of a decorative pipe.

I smelled the smoke before we actually got there, and I thought it was smoke from an open window and a lit fire inside the school. It was getting colder, and soon every room would need a fire to make sure there were no student-sicles.

But the smell was what really got to me. Smoke from a wood fire didn't smell like that. I couldn't tell it was opium until I actually saw the pipe.

Kim waved us over, and Jing shocked me when she went right away. Look, I know I've broken a lot of rules over the past few weeks. But this was different. WAY different. It's one thing for my mom and dad to find out that I've been lying to them. But if they found out I was doing drugs, or associating with people who are doing drugs, I would be past dead. Dad would probably take me out of school.

I don't think I would even be able to look at Mom. After all that she's been through, she's never even considered turning to drugs to get over it. I could disappoint them in a lot of ways, but doing drugs was out of the question. And I felt immense guilt about what Bryan had told me. Did Kim try to get him to do drugs? Did he take them?

Well whether he had or not, Kim was going to get a piece of my mind. She could make my life miserable, but I didn't care. I just wanted to yell. So I marched right over there and started my rant. "What's going on?" I demanded.

"Hey, Angel! What's up?" Kim asked. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her voice was slurred. She was high.

"What are you doing back here? Do you realize what would happen to you if you got caught?" I asked angrily.

"Whoa, relax! No one ever comes back here, that's why we never get caught," Kim replied.

I was starting to feel a lot better, just yelling at her. "No, I will not relax! You're smoking opium! Do you know how terrible that is for you?"

"It's not so bad, once you get used to it. Want some?" She offered me the pipe, and I tore it from her hands and used the jump kick that my dad and I had been working on to kick it over the wall and out of sight. "Hey, that is so not cool!" Kim yelled.

"Well maybe if you weren't high, you could have stopped me! Don't you see what you're doing to yourself?"

"Look, it's my life! I thought you were cool, Angel."

"At least I'm not addicted to opium!"

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes. "Hey, Jing, can you tell her to mellow out? You two talk and stuff, right?"

I turned my eyes to Jing. She looked scared and ashamed. "Why do you bother hanging around her if you know she's doing drugs? Are you addicted to them like she is?" I demanded.

"Angel, please don't yell. I swear, I've never smoked opium in my life!" Jing cried.

"Well you've inhaled the smoke, and you've let one of your 'friends' kill her brain! That's just as bad," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Hey, I said chill out!" Kim interceded.

"So what are you going to do to stop me? I'll scream all I want, and I'm going to tell someone that you guys are back here smoking!" I threatened.

"Look, Angel, I think you're a really cool girl with the whole music review thing, but if you tell anyone about this, then I'll tell someone about all the class that you've been skipping. Your daddy probably wouldn't like to hear about that very much," Kim spat.

My heart sunk. She was right. If Dad found out about all the stuff I've been doing, I would be in so much trouble. But that didn't damper my anger away completely. "Whatever! But I'm not going to waste my time with a bunch of opium addicts. I'm out of here." And I stormed right out of there.

"Angel! Angel!" Jing caught up to me. "Angel, please, don't rat us out! My dad would kill me if she found out!" I heard Kim's voice from back in the alley.

"Fine! You're just as bad as your loser friend Bryan!"

That did it. I broke out at a run. I knew Jing wouldn't be able to keep up. I ran right out of school and through the village, towards home. I could feel the tears burning at my eyes, and my clothes smelled like opium. I would have to get rid of them before I talked to Mom and Dad.

How could I have been so stupid? I should have listened to Bryan.

I was so grateful for all the speed training that Dad made me go through. I reached the Jade Palace in record timing, and split to the bunkhouse before anyone could notice me. I changed clothes and hid my school clothes out in the bushes near the back of the building.

Feeling the first tears coming down my cheeks, I slowly walked to the training hall. I was secretly hoping that someone was sparring outside, and I could just break down and not have to actually make an entrance when I was supposed to be in school. Mom would not appreciate this. She had to lobby really hard to convince my dad that me going to school was a good idea, and I could be kicked out for this.

But I pushed the training hall doors open anyway, not really caring anymore. My friends hated me, the people who I thought were my friends were fakes and they hated me, and I was missing newspaper, when Mr. Matsu would be handing out the new issue with my review on the front page, and I wouldn't be there to see it.

Everyone in that room was staring at me. I could feel the disappointment coming on. "Angel, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be in school," Mom said, jumping off the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion. There it was, the scolding and disappointment.

I felt my bottom lip quiver, and then I just started sobbing and fell to my knees. My mom knelt next to me and put a paw on my back. My dad rushed over. "Cherry blossom, what's wrong?" he asked quietly.

I threw my arms around him and continued crying. I resolved not to look any of them in the eye. He hugged me and patted my back. "Shh, shh, it's alright." It wasn't alright, there was no way this was ALRIGHT, how could he say that to me? Everything in my life was coming crashing down.

"No it's not! I hate school, I hate it!" I screamed.

"I told you sending her down there was a bad idea." I was about to ask what he was talking about, but then I realized that he was talking to Mom.

"Well she needs an education, Shifu!" I didn't want my parents to fight right now. I didn't think that either of them would bring that part of this up that quickly.

"Please, don't argue about this, I just… I can't go to school anymore," I said quietly, letting go of my dad and staring at the floor.

"Why not? Angel, what happened?" Mom asked.

I sniffled and wiped away any tears. "I just can't, Mom. I can't." I felt more tears, and didn't stop them from falling. She sighed and took me into her arms, hugging me tightly.

"I'm not going to force you to go back if you really don't want to. But I want you to think long and hard about if this is what you really want."

I actually managed to crack a smile. "Thank you."

"Come on, you need some rest. Did you run all the way up here?" she asked, wiping some sweat off my brow.

I nodded. She didn't reply, but she let me leave the training hall and whispered something to Po, who immediately went out after me. He didn't say anything as we walked to the bunkhouse, and he went into the kitchen instead of towards the bedrooms. I changed a second time, this time into my pajamas, and I crawled into bed and curled up, wanting to shut the world out.

Po came in about twenty minutes later, holding a steaming bowl which I immediately knew was noodle soup. "Hey. Your mom wanted me to bring you this." I only nodded. He put the bowl on my bedside table and sat down next to my bed. "Do you want to talk about it?" he whispered. I shook my head. "Does this have something to do with your music review?" I shook my head again. "Oh. Well, rest up, kiddo."

And he left. I eventually sat up and ate the soup, and then laid back down and fell fast asleep. I didn't wake up for several hours, around noon since the sun was near the top of the sky when I checked. I trudged to the bathhouse and took a long bath, wanting to get any smell of opium off of me.

After changing into my most comfortable training clothes, I started to the training hall to tell my mom that I never wanted to set foot in school again. But before I could get there, Viper stopped me. "Angel, your mom and dad want you to see you in the Hall of Warriors."

I felt my throat tighten. It was lecture time. So I went as slowly as possible before I forced myself to push the doors open and go inside. Both Mom and Dad were standing near the Moon Pool. They did not look very happy. Mom was frowning, and Dad looked very disappointed. But what I didn't see until I reached them was who else was with them. Mr. Matsu was standing off to the side. He was also frowning.

"Angel, you have a lot of explaining to do," Mom said angrily.

"Wh-what's going on?" I asked, not completely understanding the situation yet.

"One of your teachers says that you've been skipping class. Is this why you wanted to leave school? You were afraid we would find out?" Mom demanded.

Oh. Now I knew what this was about.

"And you've been lying to us about your newspaper article," Dad added, just as angry.

This was worse than I thought. "Well… I might have been lying about the article," I confessed.

"And about skipping class?" Dad asked.

"Um… yeah."

They both looked MUCH angrier. "Angel, how could you do something like this? We raised you better than this!" Mom yelled.

"I'm sorry!"

"Oh you're not sorry, not yet! You are in so much trouble, young lady!" Dad added.

"I'm sorry! I was going to tell you about the newspaper article… sooner or later." I cringed. That didn't sound the way I wanted it to.

"Oh, really? Clearly I haven't taught you well enough that lying is wrong. Maybe since you want to be taken out of school, I should intensify your training," my dad threatened.

"I knew it! I knew it! This is why I didn't tell you about my music review! You'd never understand!" I was screaming. I was still upset from my encounter the Kim, so I used up my extra anger and frustration on my parents.

"Of course we would have understood! We've always understood!" Mom yelled.

"No, Mom, no you wouldn't! You and Dad, you're both kung fu masters! And I don't want to be a kung fu master and inherit the Jade Palace! I don't want to be trapped in the Valley of Peace forever. I want to go out and see other parts of China, Japan, London, Paris! I want to go places, and see the sights and taste the food and smell the smells! You told Dad that you wanted to let me go to school so that I wouldn't be trapped. But I am trapped. I'm trapped in a world of dusty scrolls and lessons and I hate it! I want to live my own life!"

I tore out of there. I knew that no matter how I explained it to my parents that they wouldn't get it. I wouldn't belong anymore. I just didn't belong anywhere. So I used my newfound speed and ran down the steps and out of the village. I could hear my parents calling after me, and no doubt they were following me, but I didn't look back. I promised myself that I never would. The safe little Valley that I had always known wasn't so safe anymore.

There were people who did drugs, and stomped on people's dreams, and deceived and lied to those that they were supposed to care about. And I wanted no more to do with it. I was thirteen, I had no money and no food, and not even a spare change of clothes. But I didn't care, and I ran away from home anyway.

A/N: This is just one of those incidents that makes Chapter 13 so unlucky. Review! Holla!