mat. Despite the pain, this gives me the momentum I need. I reach my hands back behind me and swing me feet out, kicking him in the chest. As he falls backward, I kick my feet up and over my head, before straightening up and facing David, who is still lying on the ground.
“David. Out.” I hear Tom call.
I don’t have much time to prepare, before I hear the sound of someone landing behind me. I turn around just in time to see a fist coming straight for my face. I duck at the last second and kick my foot out, connecting with Colton’s shins. He staggers backwards, but remains standing. Eesh, this totally isn’t a fair fight. He swings another punch towards me, so I put my arm up like I learned yesterday to block the attack. I wince as his arm connects with mine. That is going to leave a bruise. I swing my foot up to kick him in the face, but he grabs my leg and throws me across the room. I twist my body, so I can land on my feet. Ten years of gymnastics is proving to be useful.
I decide to try and incorporate more of the moves I had learned. It’s been over a year, so I hope I’m not too rusty. I get a running start and jump, bringing my hands forward and over my head, connecting with the mat, giving myself enough momentum to swing my feet up. I’m able to flip twice before coming to a stop in front of Colton. He stares at me surprised, giving me enough time to swing around and kick him in the gut, similar to what I just did to David. When he falls to the ground, I jump on top of him, placing my knees on both side of his thighs, and hold down his arms. I know that he is strong enough to push me off, but he doesn’t.
I am already breathing heavy, but when I see him staring back at me in wonder, I have more trouble getting air into my lungs. Thankfully I’m not sweating as bad as I was yesterday. My heart, which is already racing from the exercise, starts beating faster. On the other side of the room, I hear someone clapping. Drawing my eyes away from Colton’s, I see David and Tom walking towards us. I look back at Colton briefly and find him smiling at me. Blushing, I push myself off of him and offer my hand to help him stand up.
David runs towards us, wraps his arms around my waist, and swings me in a circle. Placing me down, he says, “Where the heck did you learn how to do that?”
Trying to catch my breath still, I smile up at him and explain. “I was in gymnastics for ten years. I didn’t know I could still do any of that. It was a gamble, but it worked.”
Tom puts a hand on my shoulder. “That went way better than I thought it would. No offense, but I thought that the guys were going to annihilate you.” He looks towards both David and Colton, “But it turns out, she beat you.” He smiles mockingly and continues, “You got beat by a girl—a girl way smaller than you.”
He puts his hand up in front of me for a high five. I slap his hand, laughing. He hands me a bottle of water and I greedily drink half of it. I put my hand on my waist, finally able to breathe at a normal rate again.
Colton still hasn’t said anything yet, so I look over at him. He’s staring up at me, eyes wide and a slight awed smile on his face. He blinks quickly and looks away. “Well, I don’t think we really have to worry about you losing in an attack. Just do some of those flips. You’ll shock anyone enough to get the upper hand.” He smiles at me, “I lost all train of thought when I saw you coming towards me, flipping through the air. Of course, they all came back when you kicked me in the stomach. That hurt, by the way.”
I smile sheepishly at him, “Sorry.”
“Were you reading their minds at all during that?” Tom asks.
I look at him, my eyes widening. “No, I forgot that I could to that!” Of course, I can’t read Colton’s mind, but it would have been helpful against David.