Having Mel on my mind completely erased the memory of my black eye, so when I walked inside my house my mom’s sudden screech startled me.

“Adrian, what the hell happened to you?” I froze.

“Oh. This?” I pointed to my eye.

“Yes. That,” Mom said, unimpressed with me trying to play stupid.

I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t tell her about Lewis. That would make it worse. She would show up at my school, talk to the principal, Lewis would get in more trouble, and of course everyone would find out it was because of me and I’d be called a snitch. So, I lied.

“Oh . . . it happened at kickboxing last night. It was an accident.”

“Wait, Adrian. I don’t understand. Why kickboxing? Why now?”

I didn’t really want to tell my mom that I was trying to lose weight. It was embarrassing. I just wanted to do take the class, but I knew she wouldn’t let it go unless I was honest, so that’s when I decided to just tell her the truth.

“I’m trying to lose weight,” I sighed.

I was never open with my parents about my weight. I know they wanted me to get in shape, but never outwardly told me so. It was their open secret. I could tell by some subtle signs it was what they wanted. They would sometimes ask if I wanted to start drinking protein shakes or if I wanted to start jogging or eat healthier. So when I told my mom the truth, her body language changed. It went from being concerned and frustrated to sympathetic.

“Oh. You should have said so. But kickboxing, really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve always wanted to do a martial art. It’s a pretty intense workout, too.”

“I’m not here to police you, Adrian. You’re going to be a grown man soon. The decisions you make are yours, but I’m not too fond of this idea. Do it if you like it, but be more careful,” she told me.

“I will,” I replied as I made my way to my bedroom.

It had felt really awkward to open up to my mom about my weight, but it couldn’t have gone any smoother than that. I had most of what I needed. I had the money to pay for a few months of kickboxing classes. Now it was time to see if I could really keep up.

Chapter 3 New Life

I didn’t realize how much it would hurt. My legs felt like noodles so I laid down on the mats at King’s as I heard Ryan yell, “Thirty more seconds until break is over!”

Scarlett stood over me with a humorous grin. “Feeling down, big guy?”

“Everything hurts,” I moaned.

“It will. But over time your body will adjust to it.”

I hoped that was true. I felt so out of breath. Everyone else seemed to be keeping up with the class, and then there was me. I could attribute it to being the new guy, or I could be honest and say it was because I was out of shape.