Head to Head by Matt Christopher Page B

our moves together. It’ll be cool.” Jonas tugged on his coat. “Hey, get back to your
     broom, bro. I want this place
     

     
    spic and span for my first lesson on Monday!” He gave a wave and followed his father out the door.
    “Yeah. Right.” But Mark didn’t immediately start sweeping. Instead, he closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths. When he
     opened his eyes again, he felt better. He got to work.
    Sifu Hale came out of his office. “Did you have a good time today, Mark?” he asked.
    Mark nodded. “It was great, Sifu.”
    “Your friend Jonas has a lot of energy,” Sifu Hale went on. “I’m sure he’ll be able to use it when he starts next week.”
    Mark swept up the last of the cake crumbs and emptied the dustpan into the trash without saying a word. He could feel his
     teacher’s eyes on him.
    “Everything okay, Mark?”
    “Everything’s fine,” he said.
    His teacher started to leave the room, then turned back. “By the way, I’m having an open house here next month. You know,
     to show people in the community what our kung-fu school is all about. I needtwo students from each level to demonstrate different moves. Would you be interested in helping out?”
    “Sure!” Mark said.
    “Great. Have your parents stop in before you leave to sign the permission form. Then I’ll call to let you know when practices
     are.”
    As Mark put the broom away and turned off the lights to the party room, his heart felt light again.
Well, what do you know!
he thought.
(If he wants me in the demonstration, I must have some sort of knack for kung fu, after all!

CHAPTER FOUR
    Monday afternoon, Mark and Jonas got to the
kwoon
at the same time. Class began when all the other beginner students arrived.
    Sifu Hale had them stretch out and do some jumping jacks to warm up. Then he broke them into two groups, one made up of new
     students, the other of advanced beginners. Jonas was in the first; Mark, in the second. Sifu Hale went through basic moves
     with Jonas’s group. Another instructor ran Mark and his bunch through more complicated combinations.
    Mark watched Jonas out of the corner of his eye. Sifu Hale corrected Jonas’s position a few times, but after that Jonas seemed
     to do everything just right.Mark tried not to remember how long it had taken him to learn those same moves. Even now he sometimes faltered.
    At the end of class, Mark found a place to sit on the mats. This was his favorite part, the time when students were asked
     to close their eyes and quiet their minds. Usually he had no trouble doing that. But today, it took him longer because the
     person behind him kept fidgeting. He had finally managed to block out the noises when Sifu Hale announced that class was over.
    Mark glanced behind him to identify the squirmer, but whoever it was had already gone.
    Over the next few weeks, Mark was busy with homework and kung-fu lessons. His spare time was spent preparing for the demonstration.
     He was so wrapped up in those preparations that he didn’t even have time to spend with his friends — except Jonas, of course,
     whom he saw at the
kwoon
regularly. Jonas was making great progress. In fact, his moves werebetter than those of a few students who had been taking lessons for months. That included Mark.
    Other than Jonas, though, Mark didn’t see much of anyone. On the Friday a week before the demonstration, X pulled Mark aside.
    “Dude, you have been missed at the skatepark. Two weekends and no show! Come tomorrow morning, okay?”
    “I will,” Mark promised.
    True to his word, Mark met up with his friends when the park opened at ten the next morning. Alison Lee, the teenager who
     supervised the park, bumped fists with him as he entered.
    “My uncle Eric tells me you’re in the demonstration at the school,” she said. Sifu Hale was Alison’s uncle. She had introduced
     him — and kung fu — to Mark back in September.
    “You are?” Jonas was right behind Mark. “Flow come you