By evening, Jade was getting nervous. She was about to be judged, and while the performer in her wasn't nervous, she was a talented and trained actress, her skills and a teacher were in doubt. Jade hated the thought of being judged inadequate for a position she wasn't sure she wanted, even if she kinda needed it. So she did what she could to help her calm down. She showed up to the center early, parking in the staff lot in back this time, and once she was inside she helped set up for the class. As soon as everything was ready, she decided to work out her stress on the heavy bag. She slowly wrapped her hand. 'No sense in bleeding.' She thought. 'yet.'
Trina got to the center a little early. She was there to see if Stan still let the guys in early to play around with the safer training equipment. She'd found out that the guys liked to take turns beating in the old heavy bag. It was both a chance to practice what they'd learned, and a contest to see who hit the hardest. The police allowed it, since no one was hurting anything more than their hands while hitting the bag. Trina had wanted to supervise it for a while. It was sweaty guys acting macho, just what Trina's ego needed after the last guy who stood her up. 'What's wrong with those guys?' she thought.
She headed through the door that led into the staff area, looking for Stan. She found him in his office, going over his notes. It was where she'd expect to find him, except he'd need to head over to the room soon to set up. He never seemed to have enough time for everything. There were always a lot of notes. He might have twenty people in a class, but that was out of almost eighty students. Some showed up religiously, while others might not show up for weeks. Stan liked to be ready to work with whomever was there.
"Hi Stan. I thought I'd drop by and help set the room." Trina said.
"No need. Jade's here." He said, then glanced at the clock in the office. "She's probably done by now. Why don't you go let the guys in." Stan handed her the keys.
"You ready for tonight?" Trina asked.
"Yea, just a little nervous. Jade can be unpredictable." He smiled. Trina was struck by the warmth of that smile. Jade's history with the dojo couldn't be all bad if Stan had such warm feelings for her. "Let the officer on duty know your going to be in there. I don't want to put anyone at risk."
"I think Jade an I can take care of our...You meant them, didn't you?" Trina was uncomfortable. Most of the guys would respect a woman's right to choose who they were with. However, there was always a danger of something happening when a girl is alone with a group of teenage boys trying to act macho as hell. There was always the possibility that this group might not be so controlled, or they might have their machismo insulted. No guy liked to lose face, especially in front of his buddies. While Jade probably could take any one of them apart, half a dozen was a threat. Even one guy was, if they got lucky. Guys tend to be physically stronger. Worse, if one of the guys lets their attitude run their actions, or mouth, it could get bad. Trina knew the style, and it's self defense training taught the practitioners how to disable someone quickly. And Jade was close to mastering that part of the style. Jade might seriously hurt any one guy if she felt pressed, or even half a dozen or more. Trina was worried that things could get bad quickly.
After a quick stop at the office of the officer on duty, she headed towards class, planning on changing on route. That was when she saw Andy, one of the students. She couldn't help the smile that crept across her face. Andy was trying to get out of the lifestyle, but was hampered by his position in his gang. A charismatic young man of eighteen, he had some small rank in his group. That made it so much harder to give up his spot in the gang. However, Andy was also one of the better behaved students, and his presence would keep the others in line. Trina liked him. She smiled again as Andy walked up to her.
"Trina, my god it's so good to see you. Tell me you'll run away with me." He smiled. He was always flirting, but she knew he never meant anything by it. In his own strange way, he was better than Beck. Not as good looking, he was direct when he needed to be, and his hamming up the lines left no doubt in anyone's mind the difference between his flirting, and when he was really interested in a girl. Trina's problem with him was he was interested in her. Despite the joking manner, he wanted to date her. Trina just didn't feel that way about him, and so she kept the flirting superficial. Still, he almost always made her smile, if for no other reason he had a way of making her feel special. Trina guessed he could make any girl feel special. He was just that kind of flirt.
"Andy, please, you know my father won't let me run away with anyone below green belt." She chirped back. He looked confused, but only for a moment. "I'm a brown belt. I'll be helping Stan tonight..." She smiled. She'd been walking to the girls locker room. Trina's intent was to get changed quickly and let the guys in to the classroom.
It took her less than five minutes to get changed, and Andy took that time to get in his uniform. Not all the students had training uniforms, but the league tried to help them get appropriate dress. Trina smiled at him as she led the way to the class. The door was blocked by a mass of humanity. Beyond the door, something was happening, with only the muffled sounds of blows against a giving surface alerting them as too what. The guys were trying to peek through the small window to see what was going on in the room.
Trina again wondered why there were so few girls interested in the self defense classes, but it was probably the same reasons she was worried about the wrong crew showing up. At least they kept the center neutral. No one wore colors in the community center. Trina motioned them aside, opened the door and walked in, guys following her in. Andy was the first to see what they were trying to get a better look at. It was Jade.
Jade was practicing on the heavy bag, only that didn't describe what the boys were seeing. Jade wasn't just throwing blows at the bag, those blows were doing things to the heavy bag that none of the guys had ever seen done. They probably never would have guessed that the bag could bend if hit hard enough, just rock back and forth from force of their blows. Jade would strike it, usually with a hard kick, and the bag would fold over, almost completely. Each blow shook the bag, and Trina was starting to worry that the bag would burst from the impact of Jade's blows. All too quickly, Jade stopped. She turned, dropping into a defensive stance while looking to see who'd interrupted her, and noticed Trina and the guys, staring.
"I thought we had.." Jade looked at the clock. "Twenty minutes before class. I didn't think you let them in for another ten."
"I'm not sure, but I think we usually let them in this early to help set up. You know, roll out the mats, hang the heavy bag..." Trina stopped. Despite only weighing about a hundred and twenty pounds, for one person to hang the bag required holding it with one arm while using the other to fasten the hook. Trina was in good shape, but usually they let a couple of the boys hang it. Trina knew, or rather hoped Jade wasn't THAT strong, or maybe Beck was. Either way, she'd hung the bag. 'Maybe she knows some Shaolin secret that let her move the weight.'
"It's okay, I got it. So what do they do once they've set up? Stretch? Maybe we should lead them in some basic stretching?" Jade asked.
"Stan does that. We let them play with the heavy bag. It's a contest to see who can hit it the hardest." Trina said.
"Yea, but today, maybe, we should check the place over. It's not like we think you'd make a mistake, but Stan likes things a certain way. So why don't we do that." Andy said. Several boys seemed to agree. Most of the boys seemed to agree. Jade was mildly offended, but it was best not to step on Stan's toes before she took over.
Jade's inner monologue, however, had already figured out what was wrong. 'Stupid stupid stupid! Trina told me not to bruise their male egos. Now how will I earn their respect.'