It’s the day of the tournament and the start of my master plan. The bus ride to the hotel had been a long one and because we were around everyone Chang had to treat me like one of the guys. Which of course I hated, but I moved on. When we got the stadium where the competition was to take place I was surprised how big it was and how many people were there. The hours went on and I watched all of my teammates and friends take their turns on the mats, all of them winning their matches. When it was my turn I squared my shoulders and walked out onto the mat and bowed to my opponent. He’s a big guy who looked like he ate trucks for breakfast. He has long black hair that hung around his face, his dark eyes almost looked black. I took my stance. The fight began and I took all my frustration out on this guy. Over the past few days, I avoided Chang. Only seeing him in club meetings. Sharing the same room made it hard but I did it. I haven’t really talked to him since our so called date. I’ve been too focused on putting my plan together. Mushu liked to call it my coming out party.

This guy is tough. He blocked all of my kicks and punches and managed to land a few of his own. I looked him over, he’s tall, not fast, and he’s all strength, with little arm and leg movement. That’s when it hit me I knew exactly what to do. We were circling each other. I stopped in my tracks, I knew exactly what he would do. He ran at me and I let him. I let him get as close to me as possible before I dropped to the floor and slid through his legs. I took both hands to his right ankle and pulled it back with me. He landed on his face, I jumped up to my feet and pulled his arm behind his back.

“Kayah,” I yelled and punched the mat right next to his face. The tone rang and the match was over. I won. I won! I ran over to my group and was picked up by everyone while they cheered for me. They all hugged me and clapped me on the back. We stood in our group waiting for the winners to be called.

“And in first place.” We crossed our fingers and waited while one of the judges opened an envelope with the winner written on it.

“S.S.R.K!” we cheered and jumped. Chang ran over to the announcer and got our trophy. Once everything was over we headed back to our hotel rooms. There was four of us to a room and I shared mine with Chang, Hercules, and Phoebus. I closed myself into the bathroom and called Mushu. I told him everything, how I beat the guy who was bigger than me and we won the whole competition. We went over the next part of our plan before we said good night. The next morning we boarded the bus and headed back to the school. It was a long drive home and when we arrived the winter ball had already started.