Head to Head by Matt Christopher

CHAPTER ONE
    “Hey, hey! It’s your birthday! Hey, hey! It’s your birthday!”
    Mark Goldstein heard his friends before he saw them. Xavier “X” McSweeney, Charlie Abbott, Savannah Smith, Belicia “Bizz”
     Juarez, and Jonas Malloy were singing at the top of their lungs as they trooped in to the kung-fu
kwoon
where Mark took lessons. He wasn’t there for a lesson this Saturday, however. He was having his birthday party at the martial-arts
     school.
    “Over here, guys!” Mark called. The kids greeted Mark’s parents, then surrounded Mark.
    “This is going to be awesome!” X said, rubbing his hands together.
    “You bet it is.” Sifu Eric Hale, Mark’s teacher, came out of his office. He led the children to a large, open room with red
     mats on the floor and mirrors along one wall. He motioned for Mark to step forward.
    “At our school,” the teacher said, “more experienced students help out those just starting to learn kung fu. Today Mark is
     the one with experience and you are the beginners. All set, Mark?”
    Mark got into the horse-riding stance — feet wide apart, toes pointed out, knees bent. He pulled his elbows tight into his
     sides, his fists turned upward.
    “Four punches, left-side kick, right block, leg sweep,” Sifu Hale said.
    Mark’s fists jabbed forward, one, two, one, two. His left leg flashed sideways. His right arm flew up to knock away an imaginary
     punch. He dropped to a crouch and swept his right leg around as if to trip an opponent. Then he hopped back up and returned
     to the horse-riding stance.
     

     
    “That was totally fluid!” Jonas cried. The other kids laughed.
    “Totally
what?”
Sifu Hale asked, smiling.
    “Fluid. You know, smooth, like waves in one of those wave-machine things!” Jonas rolled his arms up and down.
    As everyone laughed again, Mark glanced at his teacher. He knew Sifu Hale didn’t like kids clowning around during class.
Of course, this isn’t class, it’s a party
, Mark reminded himself.
    Sifu Hale interrupted them. “Actually, fluid is just what you want to be when practicing martial arts. Each move should flow
     into the next.” He motioned for them to stand. “Okay, time for the rest of you to be fluid, too. Copy Mark’s stance and try
     the punches first.”
    With Sifu Hale and Mark watching closely, the five friends did as instructed.
    “Not bad,” Sifu Hale said, “but, Bizz, put your thumbs on the outside of your fists. If you were really hitting something,
     they would be broken by now.”
    Bizz hurriedly shifted her thumbs to the correct position.
    “I did the same thing the first time I tried punches,” Mark admitted. She gave him a smile.
    “Next move: the side kick,” the teacher said. “Mark, show them again, in slow motion, please.”
    Mark went through the move in four parts: lifting his knee up in front of him to the chamber position, thrusting his leg out
     sideways, chambering it again, and putting his foot down. The others followed suit.
    “Good. Practice a few more times, then try to put the punches and the kick together. Nice and slow, then pick up momentum,”
     said Sifu Hale.
    For the next few minutes, the room was silent except for the sound of cloth moving — and of X murmuring “punch, punch, punch,
     punch, kick, get ready” over and over.
    Mark was doing the moves, too, when he heard Sifu Hale say, “Totally fluid, Jonas. You seem to have a knack for kung fu.”

CHAPTER TWO
    Mark looked at Jonas’s reflection in the mirror. He tried to remember if his teacher had ever told him that he had a knack
     for kung fu. He was pretty sure he hadn’t.
    Jonas caught Mark watching him. He grinned and did the punch-kick combination — then added the arm block and the leg sweep.
     Each move was perfect. Mark looked away with a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach.
    While they worked on the moves, Sifu Hale set up an obstacle course with tunnels, stacks of mats, and stationary punching
     bags. “Courses