"So I gave him a good night kiss and sent him home. He'd hoped to meet dad, but with Jade standing watch, I thought it would be better if I sent him on his way before I entered the house. No telling what an evening with Cat and her roommate would have done to Jade's cool." Trina said. "Speaking of Jade, she probably broke the overland speed record for how quickly she ran out of the house. Did I interrupt something?"
"So Scotty was a perfect gentleman? Too bad, I think your love life could use a little excitement." Tori replied.
"I'll have you know he was plenty exciting. We went to dinner, then played Baby Golf, and we talked the whole time. Learned all kinds of chiz about each other." The elder sister said. "So you gonna tell me what happened, or am I going to have to trick Jade into telling me?"
"Like you could trick her. Jade's the one who could be a serial killer, and no one would know." Tori said.
"And that's twice you've avoided the subject. Lets see, Dad was here, waiting upstairs for me to come home, so odds are he had some kind of surveillance device on. Since he wasn't waiting for me at the door, I'll assume it was inside, smart if you want to avoid one of your friends accidentally walking off with some of our stuff, even though we both know it was Sinjin who raided the laundry." Trina said, droning on. "Lets hope he recorded what was happening in the house."
"I almost kissed Jade." Tori blurted. "I was all assertive and dominant and I had here right were I wanted her. She was all submissive and defensive and I was going to kiss her."
"Defensive?" Trina asked. "Lets hope she wasn't too defensive, or you'd have wound up in the hospital. Look, why would Crystal tell you to do that?"
"Crystal didn't. I was tasking advice from Andre." Tori said.
"But Andre can't keep a girlfriend. Why listen to him?" The elder sister asked.
"Because he has no trouble getting girlfriends." Her younger sister replied. "Look, Trina, I know he isn't the best source of information on dealing with Jade. He was terrified of her before he learned she really could kill him with toilet paper. But as an authority on winning girls, he's the best person to talk to. He's not Beck, he doesn't just smile and have the girls come running. We went over the plan, and he's going to be here tomorrow to help me prepare. By the end of tomorrow, Jade's going to be my girlfriend, and I can finally figure out what color to make out kitchen."
"Getting ahead of ourselves?" The brown belt asked. "Look, I think the relationship will be good for you, but don't expect it to last forever. Just let it be for now, enjoy what you have, and if you grow closer, then that's a plus."
"And where is this coming from?" Tori asked.
"Scotty. He has an interesting view on unhealthy competition. Also, he's going to be there tomorrow, so I suspect it's going to be a little crowded. We need to figure out how we can make the whole thing organic with so many people hanging about." Trina said.
"I'm working with Andre, Scotty's come over for a date, and to meet Dad. Problem solved." Tori said.
"And how do we handle the whole almost kissed thing?" Trina asked.
"You tell me what she's like at class tomorrow, and we adjust our plan. I'll have Andre, and I can get Crystal on the phone. We just adjust out actions to her response." The singer said.
"And how are you going to handle your dad finding out?" Their fathers asked. Both sisters heads turned quickly, to find him standing in the doorway.
"Uh..." Tori tried to come up with something, thinking 'We're janked.'
Jade showed up bright and early for the Saturday morning class. This was the last class that Stan would be proctoring before he left for training. Jade was focused, not willing to let the growing chaos in her heart affect the first report her brother would get on her abilities as a teacher. She did the whole morning routine, getting the instructors planning and paperwork done, with a good half hour to spare. From there, she want to the room to warm up, only to find it was being used for an AM aerobics class scheduled to end ten minutes before her class was supposed to begin.
"I thought I'd find you here." Stan's voice cut through the consistent dance beat that fueled the various songs used for the aerobics class.
"Didn't look to see who was using the room before us." Jade said. "How does this affect turnout?"
"It draws a few guys who like to ogle the girls doing the class. Also, it's Saturday, so the class will be twice the size." Stan said.
"Forty people? How do you teach forty people?" Jade questioned not just the size, but his sanity.
"You do the best you can. Jade, this is not going to be like the other classes." The experienced Sensei warned her. "You teach what you can, and hope they're learning. I'm sure you'll do fine, but just don't expect them to master much today. Run basic drills, build the fundamentals, and then do that small group thing you've been doing. Also, don't put too much effort into sparring yet, most of these guys won't be able to keep up, and the size would make it chaotic."
"Hi Jade, Hi Stan." Trina almost sang as she walked up. "Whats up?"
"We're expecting maybe forty students today." Jade said.
"I know. That's been freaking me out all week." The Latina replied. Turning to Stan "Any advice."
"Already gave it. Look, I'll start the class, then announce I'm leaving, and introducing you and Jade. You take it from there. Any problems, Trina knows what to do." Stan said. "And good luck."
"Yea, we're going to need it." Jade said.
By the time the aerobics class ended, and the students started funneling out, a few experienced students were waiting to rush in and help set the room. Andy even showed up to help organize stuff. Stan told Trina that Andy usually isn't available Saturday mornings, and she'd need to find someone else to help get things organized. But Andy was motivated by his new position, and today he was out to make sure everything ran smoothly. So for the first time since they'd had Saturday classes, the room was set by the time class was supposed to start.
It didn't take Stan long to get the students organized and lined up. There were about fifty there that day, mostly younger students but with a few who had shown up just because they were inspired by Andy and Jade to take this seriously. The class ran differently than Jade had thought it would. They ran the fundamentals, but there were students who had trouble remembering even that. Of course, this caused problems since Jade was a perfectionist. She was not, however, helpless.
"Anyone having trouble keeping up with this, please go with Andy. Andy, drill the basic, get them so they can do the moves, and let me know how that goes. Trina, I want you to pull groups out as I tell you, and run some advanced stuff with them. The rest of you, it's not enough to kinda know the moves, and when I'm done with you, you'll have a foundation to build on that's solid." Jade instructed them. "Oh, and Andy, if you could stick around for just a few minutes after class, I'll go over what I want you to improve on today."
That was how class ran for most of the day, with Jade running the fundamentals like their lives depended on it. Trina would pull groups out at Jade's instruction, and work with them on whatever she told them to work on. Jade also made a point of having Trina run the large group while she worked with Andy's group, helping them learn and him learn to me a better teacher. Finally, Jade had them break into pairs and ran some basic sparring drills, while Trina called the steps, Jade took Andy aside and worked with him directly for the ten minutes the whole class was learning how to do basic called sparring.
Jade felt alive after the class was over. She'd gotten through the next big hurdle, and was beginning to get a feeling for teaching. She had her lesson with Trina later, and was looking forward to rewarding her brown belt for a weeks hard work, but at the same time had allowed her focus on the task to distract her from one reality. 'Tori was going to kiss me, and I was going to let her. What the holy chiz is wrong with me, I was like, upset when she didn't.' Jade knew she needed to get back to the present, her class was barely over and Andy was overseeing the tear down of the room for the next class. Jade watched, focusing on controlling her breathing to control her growing anxiety.
"Good class." The voice was dangerously familiar. She looked at him, standing next to Stan, wearing a Gucci suit, the man she'd known forever. He hadn't changed much since the last time she'd seen him. At twenty four years old, he stood six foot three inches tall, a solid two hundred and thirty five pounds, his dark hair and blue eyes added to his overall look, but Jade would never think of him as handsome.
"Adam!" Was all she could say.
:}
Okay, yea, I know, kinda a cheap way to end the chapter. So much left unsaid, and you'll have to wait until the next time to find out.