All people was Kung Fu preventing…apart from Chester Rambo Zephaniac. The boy was clumsy, lazy, and never in my class out of free will. “Come take a karate mat,” I instructed him for the second time, as the remainder of the category waited for him. He lugged his drooping physique to the entrance and slowly….slowly…walked again. The mat fell on the bottom and made a slapping noise on the linoleum ground. Regular people counting mats would have calmly lowered themselves on the karate mat, after which proceeded to cross their legs, however not Chester Rambo Zephaniac. You would virtually hear the bottom grunt as he plummeted his physique downward like a gravity loving meteor. By no means will you see somebody sit down so painfully.

“Okay let’s simply begin off with some leg stretches,” I prolonged my proper leg, and positioned my left foot on my proper thigh, the category mirroring me. I stretched my arms out and grabbed my toes. “One…” I began counting.

“Why aren’t you doing all of your stretches?” I heard a uninteresting voice ask. Oh no. Peter Buck was sitting subsequent to Chester. I may deal with elbow strikes, palm heel strikes, entrance kicks, and again kicks all aimed toward me, however Chester and Peter inside ten ft of one another? I would fairly take a groin kick. I regarded on the clock, and realized that getting our karate mats had not taken up an hour, however solely 5 minutes. Fifty-five extra to go. “Two…” I counted. Fifty-five minutes and thirty-nine seconds to go, to be precise. “As a result of karate is silly, and I solely come right here as a result of my dad makes me,” Chester retorted. “This is not Karate, it is Kung Fu,” Peter said abruptly however calmly. “Three…” my voice strained. “Then why are we sitting on karate mats?” Chester snapped. Peter Buck mentioned monotonously, “They’re solely referred to as karate mats. They’re truly used for a wide range of various things. Karate, Kung Fu, Judo, Tai Kwon Do, Jujitsu-” “And cheerleading!” Chester interrupted. I switched legs and counted one other three lengthy seconds, and my shouts echoing within the room appeared quieter than Peter’s silence in that point. “Sure, additionally for cheerleading,” Peter sighed, “As a result of cheerleaders want mats additionally.” “What do you imply additionally?” Chester mentioned, “We do not even want mats, and we’re in Kung Fu.” ” The mats assist us in order that we do not slip, have shock absorbers, and have affect resilience however aren’t so spongy that our ft fall into them. We want them,” Peter said dryly. I stood up and the category adopted me. I regarded down at my ft and seen that they had been snug on the padded mat however nonetheless safe, which I had by no means seen earlier than. “You would possibly even say,” Peter smiled, “That Mat is my finest buddy.”

Chester laughed and I forgot that I used to be main a category, fully dumbfounded that Chester and Peter had a second of friendliness. I stared, together with the remainder of the category. Chester turned his snigger right into a cough, after which said “If everybody hates you a lot that you need to begin making pals with inanimate objects, that is your individual enterprise Foul Toes Pete. Gosh! His ft actually do stink. I do know these karate mats are valuable to you and every little thing, however cannot you make an exception and require Peter to put on sneakers?” Chester Rambo Zephaniac mentioned to me. I regarded on the clock. Fifty-four minutes to go…