Day 1: Let's Get This Over With

"Ow, that hurt!" Alex said, rubbing his forearm, which had already developed a red mark on it.

"Yeah, it's supposed to hurt. Banging forearms together kills those pesky, wimpy, little nerves and makes you tough!" Sherri said, still in a wide stance and holding out her arm.

Alex timidly held out his arm, and in unison they both took wide stances before slamming their arms together. They made it to three this time before Alex felt a pain rattle down his bone.

"Ow!" Alex yelped as Sherri let out an annoyed sigh.

"You shouldn't be fighting anybody..." she said as she sipped her beer.

"I don't want to fight anybody..." Alex replied with tears in his eyes.

"Then why did you?" Sherri asked as she turned her back to him and walked over to the chair to sit.

"W-Well, they were hitting a kid! My school is a school for rich kids, but recently they started a program to let in kids who are smart, but underprivileged, with donations!" Alex exclaimed as Sherri pulled out yet another beer and sipped it, seemingly paying very little attention.

"It was okay before Ivan and the other kids started figuring out who was poor and bullying them all day..." Alex explained as Sherri eyed the inside of the last beer bottle.

"So what? You aren't poor and you can't fight, so why do you wanna get involved?" Sherri asked as she tossed the bottle on the tile floors with a clatter.

Alex looked at the house he had lived in all his life and the neighborhood he called home. By no means was it as big or posh as the other houses in the gated community, but it was also by no means small. Alex also looked at himself in the mirror and took note of his skinny arms and neck from his baggy tank top and of his baggy dress pants and shoes left on from school that fit even more baggy than usual due to his time in the hospital.

It was hardly the look of a fighter.

"I don't know..." Alex mumbled shyly as he grabbed a dust pan and broom to start sweeping up the mess.

"Yes, you do, so spit it out!" Sherri said, annoyed by the lack of will in Alex's answer.

"Well, we have this principal named Mr. Travis and he is this goofy, skinny guy who always wears funny, bright colored suits and was very nice to the kids, but lately he seems different, like he dresses bland, and tries to act tough, and lets Ivan and his friends get away with anything! Even if it hurts people!" Alex blurted out, putting the cleaning supplies away.

"Mr. Travis this, Ivan that, you sure do like to blame people for your shitty problems, kid," Sherri rolled her eyes and let out a loud belch, closing her eyes in the reclined chair.

"You asked why I was fighting..." Alex said.

"Yeah, why you were fighting, not your life story," Sherri scoffed, half asleep.

"Well, these kids have a hard life, that's not their fault and it seems wrong that their one break in life is ruined by people who don't have any idea how hard their lives are!" Alex exclaimed again with a furrowed brow.

Sherri shrugged and just responds with an incoherent grumble.

"So if they can't help themselves and principal Travis won't help them, then somebody should, right?!" Alex asked with a light growing in his gaze.

"Mmmh... You really mean that, don't you...?" Sherri mumbled.

"Yes, I do!" Alex nodded in a firm, confident way. Sherri sighs and opened her eyes before standing up.

"Your stance is crap," she said.

"Huh...?'

"Your stance. It's not firmly planted because of your stick legs, so your arms take the full impact of the blow," Sherri said as she demonstrated the proper technique.

"Thanks!" Alex grinned.

"Oh, don't thank me. It's still gunna hurt like hell."

Day 2: I Miss Video Games...Is That A Knife?!

"Is that a pull up bar?" Sherri asked, pointing to the bar that was set up in the doorway of the rec room.

"Yeah, Dad put it up this past new year, but only used it once," Alex responded before pain filled his face as he realized what Sherri was planning.

"Come on, move it!" Sherri barked as Alex struggled to rise his chin pass the bar.

"Another!" Sherri yelled louder as Alex dropped on his rear, unable to do a second chin up.

"I can't, the bar is too high and I'm too short!" Alex complained through heavy pants. Sherri got on her knees so she was at eye level with Alex, placing her hand gently on his cheek. Alex couldn't help but notice her calming brown eyes.

Suddenly, the same hand shoved Alex backwards and in one quick motion, Sherri grabbed the bar and effortlessly performed ten chin ups without getting up.

As Alex looked at her back muscles contracting from his position on the floor, he couldn't help but feel even smaller and weaker than before. As Sherri finished her chin ups and stood up over Alex, she cast a dark shadow and an even darker scowl that made her young face seem aged and worn.

"I'm gunna make a guess about you, Alex."

At hearing his name come from Sherri's pursed lips, Alex flinched a little.

"You have always done as you are told and never step out of line," Sherri said.

"I-I'm supposed to though, right...?" Alex mumbled fearfully.

"You don't have any friends because you're too shy."

"So?" Alex questioned, slightly offended.

"You never had to work for anything in your life and whenever something goes wrong you always have an excuse ready."

Sherri started to come closer to Alex, who said nothing.

"That's the easy life and you're welcome to take it, hell, I would if I could, but if you want to help people it involves stepping out of your comfort zone and letting go of Mommy's hand. If you wanna take that life, you need to get stronger," Sherri said as she reached her hand out. Alex took it without hesitation.

"Good, now try again," Sherri commanded and Alex again grabbed the bar and did two chin ups.

"I won't fail this time, Sherri!" Alex exclaimed as he struggled to do another chin up.

"Oh, I know you won't..." Sherri smirked as she pulled something out of her pocket.

"Is...ugh...that a knife?!" Alex cried out, still struggling to do a third chin up.

"This blade is called a karambit. It is a blade that is designed with a long curve in it," Sherri explained, admiring it.

"Very...ugh...cool..."

"This kind of karambit is my favorite because it has a blade on both sides," she smiled and tossed the knife at the ground right beneath Alex. The sharp edge goes right through the hard tile while the opposite edge rests just inches from Alex's groin.

"Make sure not to hang too low," Sherri smirked, cracking a beer as she watched Alex do eight flawless chin ups.

Day 3: It's Not As Easy As It Looks On TV. Maybe It's Because Of Those Cool 80s Montages.

"Okay, now hit this with everything you've got," Sherri said holding two pads up. Alex, hesitant at first until he saw the serious look in Sherri's eyes, does as he is told and as his fist makes contact with the pads, a jolt of pain shoots through his wrist and up his arm.

"Ow!" Alex exclaimed as he looked at his thumb, which was already swollen in size.

"Now tell me why you felt pain," Sherri asked.

"Because punching hurts?" he answered with a question.

"Exactly! Punching does hurt and that's why we condition our bodies not to feel that pain and our minds not to care," Sherri said, placing her pads against a large tree in the backyard. "You can't wind up like you did because any fighter worth a damn will see it coming."

Sherri placed her feet shoulder width apart and threw a lightning fast punch at the pad without any warning.

"A punch is the usual go to for people, but for you, however, it shouldn't be an immediate strike," she warned.

"Why not?" Alex asked.

"Because you have tiny wrists and hit like a girl."

Alex looked at his small, built wrists, that he had never noticed, in distain.

"But if you're a girl, shouldn't you hit like one, too?" Alex asked mockingly to Sherri, who in return, raised an eyebrow and lowered the pads from the tree.

'Oh, boy, now I've done it!" Alex thought as he braced for the slap or choice words to come...but to his shock they didn't.

Instead, Sherri smiled her cheery, bright smile and in an angelic voice said, "You are absolutely right, Alex. When I started training my punching like a girl was a real problem."

"How did you fix it...?" He asked, being drawn by her voice and sudden story.

Without warning, Sherri quickly twitched and curled her hand into a fist, only instead of punching normally, she struck the tree with the end of her hand like a hammer and then struck it with the palm of her other. Both strikes left an mark in the rough bark.

Sherri looked at a trembling Alex with demented eyes.

"I learned to work around it."

Alex was deciding whether he was brave enough to ask who taught her that when she said the two words he had been dreading.

"Your turn."

Day 4: Ummm...

Alex woke up and walked to the mirror before looking down at his bandaged hands.

"Hopefully we don't do anymore hand exercises today..." he whispered to himself, unable to come up with a story to tell his parents about two damaged hands.

As he walked downstairs, he noticed the big, empty house devoid of his parents or Sherri, but Alex knew his mother and father wouldn't have left him alone and Sherri must have been in the backyard.

He let out a sigh and rubbed his bandaged hands, dreading yet another day of pounding pads or sacks of rice and sand with no gloves on, but when he got to his backyard, he was surprised to see a huge blue mat placed on the ground.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as Sherri crept up from behind.

"Don't want you to hurt anymore bones when we grapple," she said much to his surprise.

"We are going to do what?!"

Alex didn't like the sound of that, but he instinctively started to warm up and stretch anyway, a practice that he had learned the hard way, thanks to Sherri.

"Well, technically, we aren't going to grapple, since fighting on the ground is for idiots, but if the opponent uses his size to put your tiny ass down, you need to know how to get back up, so I'm teaching you a few counters," she said as she laid down in a vulnerable position.

"Okay, so you've fallen or been thrown down, the other guy will try to kick you," Sherri said, motioning for Alex to attempt the kick.

As Alex goes in for it, Sherri blocks it and sweeps him to the ground before standing up.

"Always stand back up after! Remember on the ground you and your opponent are equal," she added, taking a now even less opportunistic position and motioning for Alex to try to attack again. Alex's face turns red as he timidly begins to inch toward Sherri who is now annoyed.

"WILL YOU JUST ATTACK ALREADY!" she yelled and he plops on top of her before he feels two feet under his chest. Before he knows it, he's being flipped to his back and his arm is being locked out in a painful manner.

Sherri takes a stern look as she lets go of Alex's arm.

"Good, but I feel you will do better if I actually show you how to do these moves."

Day 5: Almost Over...So Much Pain

Alex moved his head slightly to the left, dodging Sherri's punch by mere inches. He then grabbed her arm and flipped her over his shoulder and onto the mat, but before he could capitalize, Sherri kicked upward and her boot connected with his eye, that swells upon contact.

"Come on, you have to attack back or the opponent will keep coming," Sherri said and Alex does, charging at her, but she easily steps to the side. She scrapes her fingers across the top of Alex's nonswollen eye and soon he began seeing red, but he quickly noticed it came from his good eye, making the young boy realize he had been cut, the blood blocking his sight.

"I can't see!" Alex cried as Sherri drove her foot down on his knee, just hard enough to stiffen it up.

"And you can't stand if your opponent has advantages on you, so you have to give yourself more of one by taking theirs away!" she said as she lined up a strike with the blinded boy's throat, but stopped when her exceptional hearing catches the sound of the front door opening.

"Shit!" Sherri hissed as Alex wiped the blood from his eye, temporarily letting him see Sherri changing from her usual drill sergeant apparel and back into her brightly colored sundress. When she noticed Alex staring, she instinctively poked his eyes with her fingers.

"Ow!" he yelled as his face turns as red as the blood on his forehead.

"Oh, fuck! Sorry!" Sherri said, panicking about how she will explain the bloody and bruised child to his parents.

"Um...here! Take this!" Sherri commanded as she shoved a pill into Alex's hand.

"What is it...?" Alex asked, feeling the pill in his wet, bloody hands.

"Take it!" she hissed, not wanting to be heard by whoever had gotten home. She then nervously applied make up to her neck scar to lessen it's appearance.

Alex quickly took the pill, despite what all of those school presentations told him not to do.

Sherri ran in through the back door just in time to block Alex's mother from going into the backyard.

"Oh, hi, Alison! What brings you home so soon?" Sherri asked, trying to sound cheery and not like she was talking to the mother of the bloody pile of broken meat behind her.

"I was going to get some work done during lunch, but I forgot my laptop here, so I have to spend my whole break coming here to get it..." his mother replied with clear annoyance.

"Oh, that's those end of the week brain toots for you!" Sherri laughed nervously.

"Where's Alex...?" his mother asked, trying to subtly push Sherri backwards into the yard.

"Oh, Alex, um...I don't how to tell you this, but--" Sherri started before Alex walks in, completely unharmed.

"Alex has been stealing the beer from your fridge!"

"What?!" Both Alex and his mother exclaimed in unison.

"Alex Tyler! When I tell your father about this you will never see that television again! Until that however, you are grounded for another week! After school you are to report home to Miss Sherri, is that understood?" his mother yelled at Alex, who only uttered a confused shutter.

"Don't take that tone with me, young man! Make it two weeks! If that's alright with you, Sherri."

"No, that's fine!" Sherri replied, hiding an evil smirk as Alison stormed to the front door.

"I am late now, but you bet we will discuss this when we get home!" she glared at her son before walking through the door and slamming it shut.

"How...? Huh...?! Why?!" Alex spluttered more to himself than anyone.

"Relax, kid. You needed more work anyway," Sherri shrugged nonchalantly as she changed back.