Read Girl Fights Back (Go No Sen) (Emily Kane Adventures) for Free Online

there, and fast. He could hit hard and his balance was good. It was very
difficult to get him down. He picked up shotokan quickly. It appealed to his aggressive instincts. He was pretty good in
sparring. He usually beat the other boys. Sensei seemed to think he had
potential. His name was Danny Rincon.
    He asked her if she wanted to go to
a concert at the local armory on the weekend. She had just finished him off in
the ring. What an odd response to defeat. He was lying flat on his back on the
mat. Just as she had expected to see that look of perplexity and embarrassment,
he asked her out. This one’s at least a little bit different from the others,
she thought. But not that different. Sensei snorted. She said “okay” at
least partly for the pleasure of surprising Sensei.
    He picked her up that evening in an
old pickup truck. The ride over was disconcerting. Neither of them knew what to
say. A lot of irrelevant, semi-personal information came out of his mouth in
nervous spasms. She was a lot harder to talk to than the other girls. Nothing
seemed to impress her. He was afraid of the silence, didn’t want her to
discover she didn’t like him. So he filled up the space with conversation. He
told her how he loved football (she seemed unimpressed), admired his coach
(who?), wanted to go to college on a scholarship, but did not really want to
study anything in particular. His parents were separated. He lived with his
mom. She was an ER nurse at the local hospital. His dad came to all the games
and yelled from the stands. He was afraid to talk about the dojo with her.
    The music was loud and irritating.
She liked to be able to listen to herself, and that was impossible here. But
everyone was swaying together, moving with the beat. That was interesting. It
felt almost as if she was connected to all these people, an experience of a
primal synergy. They were all open to the same suggestion. It was almost
communal. But, of course, they were all really alone. The music had brought
them all together, but in the end it kept them all isolated.
    They danced. It was almost possible
to see something different in him; if only it weren’t so loud. In between songs
they were jostled by some other kids. They tried to move to the side, to make
way, but the crush was persistent. It was getting oppressively hot on the
floor. Danny suggested they step outside to cool off. He got a couple of ices
from a vendor by the door and they headed out to the patio.
    It was crowded out there, too. They
made their way to a bench on the far side where they could be alone. A large
guy with a short stubble on his face and a leather jacket asked her if she had
any matches. “No,” she said, sizing him up. He seemed too old for this music,
but not exactly an adult, at least not her father’s age. He didn’t quite fit
in. Maybe he worked at the armory. His hands looked strong. His eyes were
bright, but unsympathetic, as if he meant to be intrusive. As they sat down,
the same guy called out to Danny to watch himself. Just then, three men jumped
him from out of the shadows and began to work him over. As she turned to look,
the guy in the jacket grabbed Emily from behind and tried to pull her around
the corner to the loading dock. She saw Danny punch one of the men in the cheek
and shove another back into the wall. But they were too big for him, and they
seemed to know how to handle themselves in a scrap. They had been hit before.
Danny was in over his head.
    Emily’s assailant was much larger
than her, by at least six inches and seventy pounds. He held her in a bear hug
from behind and tried to keep her feet off the ground as he carried her away.
She wondered what he had prepared for her around the corner. His hands and arms
were strong, much stronger than hers. She was oddly calm. As he took an
uncertain step backwards she shifted her shoulders ever so slightly. He tried
to adjust his balance, but in the process he let her touch the pavement. Just
then, she