Karate Katie (6 page)

As Katie stepped back from the board, she caught a glimpse of her friends. They were all in the stands watching her. The pressure was really on now! Katie’s hands were shaking. Her heart was pounding. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

Just kick hard,
Katie told herself.
Kick as hard as you can
.

Katie stared at the wood. Then she lifted her leg, leaped up high, and kicked hard.

“Keeyah!”
she yelped.

BAM!
The next thing Katie knew, she was sitting on the ground. And it wasn’t her foot that hurt her. It was her rear end. Katie had completely missed the wood.

Instead, she’d gone flying through the air and landed on the hard floor.

It was a really strong leap. She’d flown pretty far. In fact, that would have been a really great long jump. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a track meet. It didn’t matter how far you jumped if you didn’t break the board.

For a minute, there was silence in the gym. And then, suddenly, Katie heard George’s loud laugh coming from the bleachers.

“Some champion,” George shouted.

Oh, no! Katie had ruined everything for Kevin!

Tears began to form in her eyes. But Katie refused to let George see her cry. That would just make things worse for Kevin.

She had to get out of there!

Quickly, Katie turned and ran toward the door at the back of the gym.

Katie stood alone in the lobby outside the gym. She wiped the tears from her eyes. That had been just awful. She’d been so embarrassed.

She was also amazed. Karate was hard to do. Really hard! Kevin had made it seem so easy. Of course, that was because he practiced a lot.

Now Katie understood why Kevin had to spend so much time working on his karate. He’d given up everything for it—the track team, soccer, even his best friend.

Just then, Katie felt a cool breeze blowing on the back of her neck. She knew right away that this was no ordinary wind. The magic wind was back!

Sure enough, a second later, the breeze had turned into a tornado. It circled around Katie wildly, lifting her up and spinning her around in midair.

And then it was gone. Just like that.

Katie Carew was back.

And so was Kevin. He was standing right next to her. But he had no idea how he had gotten there.

“What happened?” he asked Katie. “Why are we out here?”

“Well,” Katie began nervously. How was she going to explain this?

“After the board-breaking competition,” she began, “you, I mean, I . . . uh, er . . .”

“The board-breaking competition. Oh man,” Kevin interrupted her with a groan. “Now I remember. I missed the board. I mean, I
think
I did. I’m not really sure. It’s all kind of fuzzy.”

“That’s pretty much what happened,” Katie told him.

Kevin shook his head. “I don’t know how I could have done that. I
never
miss the board.”

“Everybody makes mistakes,” Katie told him.

“Not me. I’m always right on target. But not today,” Kevin said sadly. “Of all days for me to mess up. Now I’ll never be a champion.”

“Well, you could still get a medal,” Katie told him.

“They don’t give you a medal for missing the board, Katie,” he told her impatiently.

“I know that,” Katie answered. “But there are two other events. You still can get a medal for sparring, or for doing your karate moves.”

“They’re called forms,” Kevin said quietly.

“Okay
forms
,” Katie repeated. “You know those really well. You should go back in there and show everyone.”

Kevin shook his head. “No way. I’m done with karate. I quit!”

Now Katie felt really terrible. Kevin had loved karate—until she ruined it for him. She couldn’t let him quit. She just couldn’t.

“Kevin, you’ve got to go out there. And you’ve got to win a medal,” she told him.

“Why?” Kevin asked her.

“Because you can’t let George think he was right! He’ll brag about it forever,” Katie told him. “And being around someone who brags all the time is really awful.”

Kevin blushed. “I guess I acted kind of stuck-up this week,” he admitted.

Katie shrugged. “Kind of. But it’s okay. You were just excited about the tournament.”

“Yeah,” Kevin said with a frown. “I thought I would win.”

“You could still win something,” Katie told him. “Besides, it’s not about winning.”

“Sure it is,” Kevin insisted.

“No way,” Katie said, shaking her head. “It’s about doing something you love. It’s about getting better and better at karate. Medals aren’t important.”

“I sure would like to have one, though,” Kevin murmured.

“You’re not going to get one standing here,” she pointed out. “You’ve got to go in there and try.”

Kevin nodded. “I guess you’re right,” he agreed. “Besides, I can’t make a bigger fool out of myself than I already have.”

“You won’t make a fool out of yourself,” Katie assured him. “You know this stuff. Just do what you’ve been showing us all week.”

“Wow, Kevin, your silver medal is huge,” Jeremy said. The tournament was over, and the kids were all standing around Kevin in the gym lobby.

“It’s heavy, too. You want to feel it?” Kevin asked. He lifted the medal from around his neck, and handed it to Jeremy.

“You really beat up that other yellow belt,” Manny said.

“I didn’t
really
beat him up,” Kevin said. “That’s not the point of sparring. You’re just supposed to show how well you can defend yourself. I guess I did better than he did.”

“Yeah, well, the guy who won the gold medal did better than you did,” George reminded him.

Katie sighed. She couldn’t believe George was starting another fight.

But Kevin had had enough sparring for one day. “I guess so,” he agreed with George. “But I’ll get him next time.”

“Yay!” Katie cheered Kevin, before George could say anything else.

“Can I try on your bronze medal?” Becky asked Kevin. “The one you got for doing your karate forms?”

“Sure,” Kevin said. He lifted the other medal from around his neck. “Just don’t drop it.”

“I don’t know what everybody’s making such a big deal about,” George grumbled. “It’s not like this is the Olympics or anything.”

“It’s still pretty cool,” Jeremy told him. “
You’ve
never won anything like this before.”

George frowned.

“Yeah, but maybe he will,” Kevin said. “I mean, he could win a track medal, if he tries hard enough.” Kevin was really trying hard to be nice.

“And if he ties his shoelace tighter,” Jeremy said with a laugh.

George blushed. “I’m not letting that happen again. I’m getting Velcro sneakers for track.”

“Are you going to wear your medals to school?” Andrew asked Kevin.

Kevin almost nodded. Then he looked over at Katie. He shook his head instead. “Nah. That would be like bragging. It’s just good knowing I won them.”

At that moment, Mrs. Camilleri walked over to where the kids were. “Do you all want to go out for ice cream to celebrate?” she asked them.

Of course everyone did. Even George. He never gave up a chance to have ice cream.

“Hey, George, will you show me how you suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone?” Kevin asked.

“You want
me
to teach
you
something?” George asked. He sounded surprised.

Kevin nodded. “Every time I try it, the ice cream spills all over my shirt. You’re the champion of ice-cream-cone-sucking.”

George grinned. “Yeah, I guess I am. Too bad they don’t give medals for that. I’d definitely get a gold medal. Or at the very least, a chocolate-chip-mint one!”

Katie giggled. It was good to see George and Kevin getting along again.

“Hey, George, do you want to practice running the relay with me at recess tomorrow?” Emma W. asked him. “Maybe you and I could try again at next week’s track meet.”

“Um, well, I . . .” George seemed kind of embarrassed. He and Emma didn’t hang out together very much.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Kevin said. “And I’ll time you guys. I could be like your coach. That way, I could help the team, even though I’m not on it anymore.”

“Great idea!” George said. “I’ll let you use my new stopwatch.”

“Cool,” Kevin said.

George turned to Katie. “You want to practice, too, Katie Kazoo? You could work on your long jump.”

“Sure,” Katie said happily. She was so glad everybody was friends again.