Amanda turned to Derik and smiled weakly. The blood around her eye and the cut on her bare back showed the effort that she had put into the fight. The effort which had paid off because she won, and now she was the champion of a game, an art that nobody ever thought she’d be able to do.

Amanda had been thirteen when she began Karate, Taekwondo, and any other Marshall Art you can think of. The reason she was such an amazing story, was because of how she had grown up. Her mother had been on an airplane with her sisters when it crashed in Seattle when she was eight. Emma, her mother, died, along with Amanda’s five younger sisters. The next week, Amanda was being driven to homecoming, since hanging out with her friends was the way she dealt with the news, and the driver of the car lost control of the car and they crashed into an empty school bus.

Amanda lost all use of her lower body and right half of her upper body. Through many, many months and two years of painstaking therapy and rehabilitation she regained use of her entire body. Amanda still could not walk unaided though and was bound to rely on a wheelchair and walker or crutches the rest of her life. Through the help of Derik, her 16 year old trainer and her best friend Michael, she was a walking, athletic, brilliant 16 year old girl who was now the champion of seven Karate contests and four Tykwondo contests. She even beat most of the guys that were four years older than her.

“Great job Amanda, that was great. The only thing you should watch for next time is the fact that, some of these chicks have really sharp nails, hands and feet,” Derik said laughing. The cut on her back was from the girl she had fought nearly two fights ago. It was deep and bloody; the chick had taken her nails and drove them deep into Amanda’s skin, ripping up the back of her shirt. The blood around her eye was from another girl trying to scratch her and from a direct punch which almost got her kicked out of the contest by Derik who was getting worried. Now he was glad Amanda had convinced him not to pull her out.

“Yeah, ya think. That should be illegal. I think I could donate enough of my blood I lost here, to start and fill an entire blood bank. HaHa!” she replied, also laughing.  Her final fight was next against a boy she had never seen and didn’t know what his name was.

“Let’s go kid, you can do this. Good luck,” Derik’s older brother Tyler said, wrapping her hand up in a bandage to cover the scratches she had from the chicks before.

“Alright great job! Only one more win to get you into the World Wide Championship! Never thought I’d see this happen. Keep it up Amanda, I know you can do this. Now listen…” Amanda didn’t hear the rest of what Derik said because she was staring at her opponent. He was tall with dark hair and dark brown eyes.

The fight began and Amanda looked into the boy’s eyes to see his next move. For a moment neither of them moved, they just stared at each other, in love with the other’s gaze. Finally snapping back to attention, Amanda made a swing and a round-house-kick, hitting him in the ribs, hard. The boy fought back hard, nailing Amanda in the back and chest with such a powerful kick, that nobody thought a boy his size could have. Amanda made a great come-back. Wrapping her left leg around his ankle, she made him lose his balance and then took her free leg and nailed him in the back. The boy fell and didn’t get up for thirty seconds. The crowds cheered. She couldn’t believe it. She had won! She was the champion of the Nationals. She was going to the World Wide Championship!

“Awesome!” Derik shouted, whooping and jumping up and down, hugging Tyler who was laughing at Amanda’s best friend Michael who had the same reaction as Derik.

“Now, where did you learn that move?” Michael asked.

“Um… how about I tell you when you tell me who you are going to ask to marry you.” The two kids laughed. Michael, Amanda’s best friend, had been joking around with her about a girl at school that he was going to ask to marry. At first Amanda had actually believed him, along with his parents and the girl he was joking about. It was funny how much trouble his little joke got him into. Michael never tried that again, but, brining up the subject wasn’t too bad. It just made everyone who understood laugh at it and the people that didn’t understand it, get laughed at. It was all in fun.

Tyler and Derik laughed as Michael shook his head, gave Amanda a pat on the back and a smile.

“See ya Amanda,” he said as he walked out. Amanda looked at him, hoping in her mind, but not showing, that he would give her a hug as he did with all his other friends that were girls. But, as usual, he didn’t. To him it was too weird.

“Bye,” she whispered back.

“He’ll figure it out soon Amanda, I promise. Us boys get smarter as we get older. Really,” Tyler said, understanding exactly what Amanda was thinking about. The two of them were like older brother to younger sister. Tyler and Derik watched out for Amanda, but, usually, Amanda consoled in Tyler more than Derik.

Tyler and Derik helped her off the mat and out of the crowded space they were in.  She limped into the locker room and winced as she sat down. In fight thirteen, she had been kicked in the ribs, leaving a nasty bruise. In fight seventeen, she had most likely dislocated her knee, but she fought anyways, through the pain, and through three more fights, winning her the title of Champion.

“You alright kid?” Tyler asked, looking at the foot shaped bruise that covered the entire right side of her rib cage. “That looks like it hurt pretty badly, huh?” Amanda nodded, wincing as Tyler began wrapping her waist in a white bandage.

“Not as bad as it did when my dad punched me in the ribs. Right?” Tyler shook his head and Derik grimaced. Just the thought of her father made him mad. Her father beat her and almost killed her just three months ago. She was in the hospital till one month ago. Within that month she had recovered mostly and told Derik and Tyler that she would go back and live with her father if they didn’t let her enter the contest. They accepted the offer, reluctantly, but only because they didn’t want her to go live with there father again, afraid that he would end up killing her if she did.

“Sorry, shouldn’t have brought that up should I?” Tyler nodded and patted her shoulder gently.

“Tyler, I don’t get it. Michael’s been my best friend since sixth grade. Why, this year, is he starting to act like I don’t exist. I mean, it’s like he’s embarrassed by being my friend. He won’t give me a hug, he never jokes about much anymore, except his marriage proposal, and even that doesn’t make him laugh as hard as we used to. What did I do?” Amanda asked. Tyler looked into her green eyes.

“I don’t know what to tell you Amanda,” Tyler said. Derik looked up from what he was doing and gasped. Tyler always knew what to say. There was never a question he couldn’t answer or a problem he couldn’t fix. What did he mean he didn’t know what to say to her?

“Tyler,” Amanda replied, “Do you think I’m taking this too far and looking at it and pushing it way out of perspective?” Tyler shook his head, because honestly he didn’t. Michael had been acting weird lately, and he couldn’t understand why. It was like he was embarrassed to be Amanda’s friend, it truly was. Tyler couldn’t see why he would be, Amanda was a sight to see, she was a beautiful young girl. Her Irish decent was obvious with her red hair and big emerald green eyes.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore. I mean we were best friend, but, now it seems like I don’t even matter to him anymore. He used to be with me and love hanging around with my family on my mother’s side.” Suddenly Michael walked back in. His mouth still hanging wide open. Derik laughed and tossed Michael his keys.

“I might need those,” he growled at Derik. Before she could stop herself, Amanda threw herself on the ground.

“What do I have to do to make you understand what you mean to me? What do I have to do to get you to stay here and still talk to me? Michael, tell me the truth, do you think we will always be friends?”

 They all laughed as they watched the trainer of Sai Uzumaki screaming and having a raging tantrum at his student. Sai looked over at Amanda and smiled. Amanda returned the smile and felt her heart pumping faster as she continued to stare out the locker room window.

The boy came over and knocked on the door.

“May I possibly come in?” he asked kindly. Tyler and Derik let him in, he seemed to hold no threat against Amanda.

“Great job out there in the ring. Never thought I’d say this to a girl, but I’m pretty impressed. Who’s your sensei? Your father?” Sai asked, not realizing what he was about to bring on. Amanda’s eyes filled with tears.

“My sensei? MY SENSEI!? Unless beating the shit out of me counts as being my master, my teacher, my friend, no, and he never will be!” she shouted, letting all the feelings of the past four years and her earlier life, flood through her veins like a river to a waterfall.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a bad subject,” Sai replied with his soft, Chinese accented voice. His brown eyes lingered up to Amanda’s green ones. Sai could tell that she was confused as she spoke and as he continued to look into her eyes.

“He was wonderful sir, he really was. I remember long walks on Chrystal Lake beach and camping trips up there. I remember walking to a waterfall near my house and I remember laughing and playing with him and my sisters and mother,” Amanda replied, suddenly very quietly. “He was a good man, a great husband, but most of all, a wonderful, loving father. My mother said that no matter what happened to her, my father would always be there for us. But she was wrong, as soon as she passed away. I love my father, and I know my father loves me, which makes this doubly hard, because I don’t know where my father is right now.”

“What do you mean you don’t know where your father is? I thought you said you lived with him,” Sai replied.

“Yeah, I did, at one point. Now I live with the man who killed my father,” Amanda said, choking on the old, but oh so familiar words.

“Oh, I see, I’m sorry I brought it up. Good luck at the World Wide Tournament. Who knows, maybe I’ll see you there. Awesome job tonight, I mean it. Hey, maybe you could call sometime, here,” he said, grabbing her small hand and writing his number on it. Amanda smiled and nodded.

“Okay, I will. Thanks.” Sai started to walk away, but Amanda caught him quickly.

“Hey, I didn’t get your name,” she said. He turned around and smiled mysteriously.

“Sai Uzumaki,” he said impishly, with a wink.

“Okay, Sai, I’ll call you. By the way, I’m Amanda Bernacausky,” she replied. And with that, the two of them walked away with smiles the size of Texas on their faces.