"Damn my noodle arms," I mumbled as I wrestled my fists out of their gloves.
Anna and I were at the first mixed martial arts session of the term. It was a small group, made up of mostly seniors with a few younger students including Jane, the principal's daughter. She was a spunky girl, very tomboyish with short brown hair and an expression that seemed permanently defiant. Coach Pelekai doubled as our instructor, with Mulan acting as a teaching assistant and club president.
We had been over punches and dodging, each of us learning how to properly punch the pads held by our partner safely, as well as dodge the punches our partner could throw at us at a moments notice. While some of the girls were returning members, many were new to the club like me, which was comforting for me to know.
"You'll get used to the burn. Muay Thai is one of the most high intensity variants we do here, but damn is it fun."
Since it was an extracurricular, wearing the school gym uniform wasn't mandatory, and many girls opted to work out in tank tops or just sports bras. I did my best not to stare, and took a moment to thank my lucky stars that my shorts made it so I was rather inconspicuous. Hey, I'm a teenager with raging hormones. Can you blame me?
"Can I just say these school gloves are nasty," I remarked, the scent of other people's sweat strong on my palms.
Anna looked at me sympathetically. "Well, if you decide you like this, you can get your own because you'll be doing it often enough for it to be worth the money. I know a place."
"Final round, girls!" Coach Pelekai clapped her hands twice. "Same pairs as before, but swapped over. Those who wore gloves will now wear pads and vice versa. Three minutes, no aiming for the face." Anna and I exchanged a glance before I put on the school punching pads and she wore her own gloves, pine green with a pink floral design.
"Try not to kill me?" I asked nervously.
"No promises," she teased, widening her stance to keep her balance. Noticing my very obvious nerves, her expression softened. "Don't worry. I'll tell you before I throw a punch, and I'll start off slow. Promise."
"Remember, girls. Safety is everything. Any unfair play will result in glove cleaning duty, and no one wants glove cleaning duty." We all gave a unanimous groan at Coach's threat. "Communication is key. Make sure there's constant communication with your partner to avoid any injuries. Those of you with pads, remember you're catching the punches, not punching back. On my whistle."
The shrill sound of her whistle rang in my ears and I immediately brace myself to be knocked off my feet. But Anna kept her eyes locked on mine, firmly directing me.
"Left punch coming at ya." Her left arm extended quickly and I let out a soft squeak as I caught her fist with the punching pad. The punch was firm but not overly forceful. Nothing to knock me off my feet entirely.
"Right!"
"Woah!"
Anna was right handed so her punch was stronger. I was left handed so the catch was weaker, and I did stumble back a bit. "I'm okay," I assured her when I regained my balance. "Keep going."
"Don't be afraid to throw swings my way too," she reminded me. "I need to brush up on my dodging."
Over the next few minutes, I got better at anticipating Anna's punches, catching her left ones with ease and her right ones with only minimal slip ups. It got to the point where she wasn't afraid to put more strength into each hit so that every punch that landed caused a reverberating thud sound, something I noticed not many other pairs achieved. I occasionally took swings at Anna, my arm extending and fanning out in a circular motion before pulling back. While she was a bit shaky from being out of practise over the summer, she quickly got back into the swing of things and dodged every hit with ease. Sweat dripped down my face, tasting salty on my upper lip. I was hyper focused, so intent on not getting unintentionally beaten up by my best friend that I nearly didn't hear the final whistle blow indicating the end of the round.
"Not bad, Punz," she panted, taking off her gloves and wiping the sweat from her brow. I watched on in fascination as she began to undo the long cloth ties that wrapped her hands. They were the same colour as her gloves.
"Why do you have to wear those?" I asked.
"They secure your hands. Makes it less likely for you to break any knuckles or wrists." She must have noticed my mortified expression, and was quick to reassure me. "But that's more likely the harder you punch. If you're just starting out, you should be fine."
"You girls are dismissed, see you next week!" Coach said, collecting all the gloves and pads from those who borrowed them. "Rapunzel, Anna, can I see you for a moment?" The two of us exchanged a glance.
"Do you think we're in trouble?" I said under my breath as the rest of the club filed out.
"I knew I should have punched you harder. This is what I get for going easy on you," she joked, trying to lighten the mood.
When we got to her, I couldn't tell from her face what her reason for seeing us was, but her words took a huge weight off my shoulders. "I wanted to commend you both for your effort today," she commented, eyeing us up and down. "Anna, you made a good teacher, especially seeing as Rapunzel is new to this. And Rapunzel, with you being very new to sport in general, the progress you've made in a single session is really exceptional. Your form is near flawless, we just need to build up your strength and balance."
"Thank you, Coach," we said in unison.
Coach Pelekai let out a cute laugh. "Rapunzel, I'd suggest you get your own pair of gloves and hand wraps if you enjoyed today. I think you have potential to go far."
I nodded eagerly. "I'll definitely consider it."
She was about to open her mouth when her phone rang. "Sorry, give me a second to take this," she apologised, quickly bringing the phone to her ear. "What is it, David?" Her voice sounded slightly exasperated. I couldn't hear the other end of the line, but there was a frantic male voice which must have belonged to whoever David was. Coach Pelekai's expression morphed from one of mild annoyance and irritation to one of concern. "What do you mean? Did you try her phone?" She tried to anxiously run a hand through her hair, but tangled it instead because it was tied in a bun on her head. "And you've checked around the whole place? … Right, right, I know, sorry. Okay okay okay, I'm coming, and don't stop calling her." Coach hung up and began frantically packing away the gear that some of the girls had left behind.
"Is everything okay?" Anna asked.
She looked up, as if just remembering we were there. I could practically see the gears turning in her head before she spoke. "Yeah, yeah, one of my friends is visiting and he took Lilo to the fair but that girl is just the living personification of trouble. She's run off somewhere and isn't picking up her phone. It's probably nothing… hopefully, but I still need to rush downtown. In case." Her voice was trembling a little.
"We can help you clear up if you want, if you need to go," I offered. Coach's eyes went from me to Anna and back to me again.
"You would need to turn off all the lights and the AC and lock up the sports hall and leave the keys on my desk in the main office. Do you know where that is?"
Anna nodded. "I've done it before last year. You should go find your sister, that's more important right now."
Coach hesitated again, but after a few moments of internal monologue, she handed her keys to Anna. "You girls can change in the locker rooms at the main school if it's easier. Thank you both so much!"
"No problem!" I called after her as she grabbed her bag and bolted towards the door, her long limbs propelling her so fast I didn't even think she heard me. I turned back to Anna, who was already loading the gear into the cloth basket it came in. Together, we packed everything up and began loading it into the equipment closet.
"I don't understand why we need to get changed back into those blazers if we have sport as a last period," I grumbled as I locked the equipment closet, trying each key in turn until I found the one that fit. "We're going home anyway. It just makes the uniform even more stuffy with added sweat."
Anna shrugged, re-tying her hair into a neater ponytail after her bun had gotten knocked out of place while sparring. "Not all of Ms Darling's rules make sense. Maybe it's all a conspiracy and the school is sponsored by a detergent company. The more times we need to wash the sweat stains out of the school blazer, the more they profit."
"You're crazy," I giggled as we grabbed our bags from the locker room.
"You love it," she rebutted. "Let's change in the main building. The locker room is much nicer."
As we locked up the big hall doors, I asked something out of curiosity. "Have you ever seen her sister?"
"Coach Pelekai?" I nodded. "I saw her at the school carnival a few years ago. Coach was a new teacher, she came in at the same time as me. Her sister… I think her name is Lilo? She couldn't have been older than ten."
"That would mean she'd be coming here next year, wouldn't it?"
"I guess so. Why do you ask?"
"I was just curious. Coach and her sister used to be under Cass' care, my old social worker. When I first got here, I noticed the name, one I had seen on the wall of her office before, so I asked. It seems they're doing far better now, and I'm glad for them."
"That's great!" Anna chirped before turning a corner to the main office. "It's in here." She did the same rhythmic knock she did when I was hiding in the bathroom on the first day, five sharp taps.
Dum dum da dum dum.
We poked our heads into the staff office to see a woman with brown hair styled in a short bob cut typing away at her computer, her desk nearest to the door.
Ms Tatou was the home economics teacher. I don't take the class but had sat in during one of my free periods to hang out with Tiana while she worked on a recipe. The school kitchens were a sight to behold, always full of girls with such passion for food.
"Can I help you girls?" she asked, her French accent slightly nasally with a guttural "R" sound.
"Good afternoon, Ms Tatou," Anna greeted her for the both of us while I held back awkwardly, staying silent. "We need to leave Coach Pelekai's keys on her desk for her. She had to run off early, something about her sister."
"Ah, yes, I remember Lilo. Quite the trouble maker. Very well, her desk is over there." Ms Tatou gestured to the desk in the corner. I could see that her hands were covered with scars that looked like cuts and burns that had healed over.
Coach Pelekai's corner of the office was decorated with posters of surfers along with the flag of the school's sports team. The Willow Warthogs. Not my choice in mascot, but we don't argue with tradition. Come to think of it, I should have guessed that was her desk with all the sports decorations around. We left the keys on her desk and they made a soft clinking sound when they hit the wood. Thanking Ms Tatou quickly, we left and headed towards the locker rooms to change.
"Did you see her hand?" I asked as Anna led me to the changing rooms.
She nodded. "Ms Tatou used to be a professional chef all the way in Paris! What used to be a five star restaurant. She moved here with her husband and their son."
"I wonder why she decided to teach home ec then," I thought aloud as we got into the locker room and began to change. "Being in a restaurant seems more fun than having to teach hormonal teenagers all day."
"I hear it can be stressful, especially for her. Apparently she was the only female in an otherwise male dominated team. The industry is arguably quite patriarchal today, despite some people holding the belief that women belong in the kitchen."
My shorts were around my ankles and I stepped out of them, folding them up to go back into my bag. Before I could grab my skirt, I suddenly realised the position I had found myself in. There I was, standing in my blouse and blazer… and my boxers. With Anna. In a locker room. Which anyone could walk into at any time. Anna turned to face me as she pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her in a sports bra which frankly had me twitching down below. Very visibly growing.
Shit.
I fumbled through my duffle bag. Where the hell is my skirt? As I wrestled out the crumpled piece of cloth, Anna turned to face me, pulling on her regular skirt, still in her sports bra. The words coming out of her mouth were muffled by the blood rushing behind my ears. Don't look down don't look down don't look down don't look-
She looked down.
"Hey, I didn't know you wore boxers," she said casually, turning to take something from her bag. It took her a few seconds to realise it wasn't just the boxers, and when she did, she did a double take.
Any other situation and it would have been comedic.
For a few suffocating moments, neither of us moved. It couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but it felt like hours. I didn't even dare to breathe, worried that a single sound or action could pop the silent bubble leaving room for hell to break loose.
Her eyes grew slightly larger as I quickly wrestled myself into my skirt, smoothing it out and shoving everything else into my bag.
How could I forget to go into a cubicle?
It was very rare that I saw Anna at a loss for words, but this was one of those times.
My cheeks were red hot, and I was beginning to feel the familiar burning sensation behind my eyes. She wasn't supposed to find out like this.
"I'm sorry," I gasped.
I didn't dare look back at her, choosing instead to grab my stuff and run. I hadn't even bothered to change out of my track shoes which helped. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I raced to get myself home and away from Anna and her… knowing.
She yelled something after me but I couldn't tell what. Frankly, I was in too much of a rush to get away from her to care. Out the school gates, ignore the guard chiding me for not wearing the right shoes and not wearing the school tie, run, run, run.
I gained speed with every step. If you looked up the dictionary definition of tunnel vision, it probably would be me at that moment. All I could think was to get home. Three turns, then sprint to the end of the road. My lungs began to burn, sweat dripping into my eyes, but I wasn't stopping. I knew Anna could run fast, faster than me, but she didn't have keys to my house. Home was where she wouldn't reach me.
When I sprinted past Number 5 Crescent Road, Iduna was there, just beginning to unload groceries from her car. Thankfully, I was gone before she could see me and stop me to ask me any questions, especially why Anna and I hadn't walked back together.
I saw our house growing in the distance and ran while simultaneously trying to get my keys out of my pocket. Mom's car was in the garage. She would have likely been working in the studio, and I didn't want to have to face her. Not that I did anything wrong, I was just afraid that if I looked anyone in the eyes I would burst into tears.
My hands fumbled uselessly as I tried to force the key into the keyhole before realising I was using the wrong one. Trying to hold it together, I managed to get the key in and turn.
Congratulations, Rapunzel, you opened a door, I thought, my inner voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Rapunzel? Is that you?" There was soft music playing from Mom's studio and the door was slightly ajar.
"Yup." I tried to keep my voice from cracking. "Gonna take a shower. And rest. Super duper tired today. I feel like I could sleep for days," I babbled, quickly shutting myself in my room and locking the door before she could ask any follow up questions. Dumping my stuff onto the floor and tossing my keys on my desk, I reached into my pocket to empty it, only to realise it was already empty. It then occurred to me that that empty space of fabric was where my phone should have been.
God damn it.
In my rush, I must have left it on the bench in the changing room.
Great, I thought, face planting onto my bed in the hopes that I could just disappear forever into the billowy sheets. Just great.
XXX
This is it. She's going to tell everyone and I'm going to need to change schools. Right after I've gotten used to everything too.
I'm being irrational. Anna wouldn't do that.
I can't be sure. It's better to brace myself now and be pleasantly surprised than expect the best of her and be horribly disappointed.
It was my fault anyway. I went and got distracted and changed in the open.
She's probably so freaked out. She couldn't even think of anything to say.
God, she probably thought I was getting hard watching her change!
But I was, wasn't I?
No I wasn't. I'm hard most of the time. My boxers just give it away. I can hide it well otherwise. And it's not like I was coming on to her. It was just… like that.
Maybe I should have stayed to explain everything.
What good would that have done?
I don't know… maybe make me look like less of a freak?
She won't be able to see me as anything else now.
There was a soft knocking at the door. Not her dum dum da dum dum, thankfully. "Rapunzel?" Mom spoke into the wood. She tried the knob but it was locked, the soft clicking making that fact clear. I couldn't bear to let her see my red eyes and splotchy face, hidden from the world as I curled myself into a ball with my knees tucked under my chin.
"Yeah?" My voice was hoarse.
"Can I come in?"
Of course she couldn't. The door was locked. "Not right now."
I didn't hear movement on the other side of the door which made me think she hadn't moved. "Dinner's ready."
"Not hungry," I mumbled gloomily.
"It's hazelnut soup. Your favourite. Abigail was kind enough to give me her recipe. I thought it'd be a nice change." I stayed silent. "Anna came by just now." My heart stopped. "Only for a short while. Just to pass me your phone you left in the locker room." I didn't respond. "Honey, did something happen at school today?"
"Maybe." I felt like my throat was going to close up. My cheeks were wet again.
"And I'm guessing you'd rather not talk about it."
The sound that rose from my throat was an unintelligible strangled mess.
I could hear her footsteps fade before returning, the earthy scent of hazelnut soup wafting through the door.
"Your dinner and your phone are outside your door. You don't need to come out tonight if you're not ready. Just don't sleep with the door locked. It's not safe." Mom moved, probably leaving my things on the floor by my door. "Honey, you need to talk about it eventually, and when you're ready to, I'll be here to listen, okay?" I didn't want to ignore her, but I also didn't want to force her to untangle the speech from the sobs. Her shadow moved. From the way it moved, I imagined her leaning down to stick her face near the crack between the door and the floor.
"I love you."
A/N - Hello dear reader! I hope you're doing well wherever you are. Updates might be a bit delayed because my laptop has decided to stop working properly and it needs to be repaired. This is the last chapter I'll be able to get out before I send it in, but hopefully it won't take too long to get it back. What did you think of this chapter? It seems like Rapunzel finally has to start letting some secrets out. Until next chapter, stay safe and wear a mask :)
