A Miniscule Friendship

Light shone brightly through the enormous windows of the Tae Kwon Do center. People sat in chairs lined up against the windows, shielding their eyes from the beams of light with their palms and with pamphlets as they watched the to-be black-belts kick, punch, and scream. The beams of light only added to the immense heat of the room. Sweat trickled down my brow, but I couldn't wipe it away. I kicked.

"HYAHH!!!" I yelled.

My throat was dry. My voice was hoarse and cracked.

"HYAHHHH!!!" I kicked again, sending the red bag flying an inch back.

But the person behind it held strong.

Suddenly, she pushed the bag away, revealing herself. I stared into the face of a young girl. Panting, I warned her to bring the bag back up before Master Mun walked over to lecture us.

"You've got to breathe," She interrupted me. "When you kick. Breathe."

I glared at her and waited for her to shift the red bag back into place. My face burned red. My body shook from the exhileration of kicking non-stop for an hour. I kicked again and again. My legs felt like jello. My breaths came in short gasps.

Remembering what the girl had said, I stopped and took a deep, shuddering breath. She looked up from the red bag and smiled, watching me breathe. Embarrassed, I kicked as hard as I could. She wasn't prepared for that. She slid back a few inches this time. I grinned toothily. She glared up at me. I kicked again.

"Boiiiing!" She squealed as I kicked.

The sudden sound effect knocked me off guard. I looked at her for a long time. It was an intense staredown, from me to her. Her to me. And, finally, we both bust into an unbreakable laughter. I held my sides to keep myself from doubling over backward in laughter. The girl dropped the bag in her hands and giggled. Master Mun walked over after aiding some of the other students. He looked at the girl and I and glared.

"You can't quit so soon! Persist!" He urged. "Miley," He turned to me and sighed. "You take over Tohru's position and we'll head off from there."

I took a deep breath and grabbed the red bag that Tohru had held earlier. Tohru resumed my position, preparing herself to kick. I took a look at her belt. She was a yellow belt, just like me. I smiled. Maybe I'd found a friend. Who knew? But, then again, I couldn't be sure. I was having issues with friends lately. I couldn't be sure who was and who wasn't...'friendly'.

Tohru kicked. She remained quiet as she did so. I decided to do the same thing she'd done to me and intervene. I held the bag aside and faced her.

"Yell while you kick. It helps you release more energy into the kick." I guided.

Tohru rolled her eyes and resumed kicking. Finally, she KYAHH'd. An enormous force was exerted into the bag, knocking me back. I grinned.

"See?" I asked.

Tohru grinned as well. I waited as she kicked a few more times.

"Shwooooo!" I spoke as she kicked the bag. "BAM!"

Tohru stopped and stared at me, taken aback by my own sound effects. She started giggling and resumed kicking the back.

"Boing!" She laughed.

"Wham!" I chortled.

"What's going on here?" Master Mun critisized.

Just as I was preparing a long, over-dramatic speech about why we were creating sound effects and how it was neither of our faults but actually the faults of a tumor-like dinosaur inhabiting my brain, Master Mun turned around and glanced at the clock. He clapped his hands together and stepped into the middle of the room.

"That was a good workout!" He chided. "I'll see you all Wednesday!"

With that, he stepped off the mat, leaving the rest of us to clean up. I turned to some of the people I already knew. I shook a few hands, bowed a few times, helped pick up the red bags and return them to their proper shelves, and stepped off the mat. I turned around, bowing to the Korean and American flags on the wall and turned back around, heading to the bathroom to change out of my sweaty uniform. The bathroom was occupied, as usual. We all had the same idea--to get out of our sweaty, nasty uniforms as quickly as possible and into our crisp, clean clothes before we had to present ourselves in front of our families again. There was a line of about four people waiting to use the bathroom. I sighed and dug through my cubby, taking out my clothes and throwing them on a nearby bench. I sat on the bench next to them and breathed deeply.

It was hard to breathe lately. My asthma was getting to me again, and I'd left my inhaler at my mother's house when I'd moved out to live with Dad. In fact, I'd lost a lot of things in my hurried one-night-pack-and-move scurry away from my mother. I closed my eyes and shook my head. I didn't want to think about that. I was taking Tae Kwon Do to escape that drama in the first place.

Suddenly, I felt a warm presence beside me. I opened my eyes and looked to the side, to see Tohru sitting next to me with her clothes in her lap.

"My name's Tohru," She smiled. But she wasn't looking at me. She stared out the door, back toward the mat.

I followed her gaze, but all I saw were people sitting in those chairs by the windows and an instructor cleaning the floor with a dried mop, picking up remnants of sweat and blood and tears. I wondered how many teeth he'd found in his years of cleaning that place...

I turned to Tohru.

"I'm Miley," I grinned. "And I like...anime, people, writing, drawing, and just about everything else."

It was a quick introduction, and to the point. I thought it'd suit her fancy if anything. I'd decided that I could just be myself here, because this place, this Tae Kwon Do center, was the place I was going to to escape my life.

So why not escape it while I had the chance?

"What's your favorite anime?" Tohru's face perked up. She stared at me, as though trying to decide whether or not I was a friend.

It was as though the same things that were going through mine were going through hers.

"Well, I didn't enjoy the anime very much but the manga, Fruits Basket, was adorable. So it's my favorite right now." I informed her happily.

We were having a geekazoid party, in the back of a Tae Kwon Do center, on a hot autumn Friday night. It was a dream come true for me. I'd been struggling so much with school and with friends lately that a newfound companion in a place like this with similar interests was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

It didn't take long for us to delve ourselves into conversations of which anime was cutest, filled with the most gore, had the best soundtrack, which mangas had the sweetest endings and which ones made us cry. And, before we knew it, the back room had cleared and the bathroom was no longer occupied.

I gathered my clothes and stood up.

"I'm gonna change real quickly and I'll be back out. I'm sweaty and gross!" I told her.

I rushed into the stall and locked the door behind me. I leaned against it, sighing contentedly. If ever I'd believe in a God, it was times like these.

When I was in most need of a friend, suddenly I made one. And in the place I least thought I'd make one.