Chapter 7 Bonnie dodged swiftly and punched his chest. Milo stumbled backwards and stared at her in shock. The park was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. “What a punch!” Orson shouted excitedly. Scott gaped stupidly at her. The other elderly men were stupefied as well. They had sparred among themselves before, but Bonnie had applied her techniques in a real fight! “That’s impossible! She must have just hit him by accident!” Kay couldn’t believe that a young girl like Bonnie could get the best of Milo. After all, her grandfather had hand picked him from among the best fighters! “Milo, what are you waiting for? Attack!” “Yes, ma’am!” Pulling himself together, Milo took a quick step and delivered a jab at his opponent. Bonnie blocked it and landed a strike on his ribcage with her left knee. Milo groaned loudly in pain. The old men gasped. “That knee strike must have hurt like hell!” Milo growled through clenched teeth and charged at Bonnie. But no matter how he tried, he couldn’t land any hits on her. In the end, Bonnie threw a roundhouse kick, knocking Milo to the ground. Every muscle in his body ached, and he could not get back up. Everyone else was dumbstruck. Orson approached Bonnie. “May I know your name?” “I’m Bonnie Shepard.” She added, “I’m not a kickboxing expert. I just do this for fun.” What the hell? Astonished, Orson caught himself and looked at Kay. “Apologize to Ms. Bonnie.” Chapter 7 2/3 Kay was silent. Orson frowned. He thought Kay was being stubborn. Suddenly, Kay walked up to Bonnie and earnestly held out her hands. “Please teach me how to fight like you, ma’am!” Orson was taken aback. ‘Huh?” Bonnie was surprised as she saw Kay’s eyes shining with admiration for her. “I want to be just like you!” She was now Bonnie’s number one fan. She liked watching superhero movies and longed to be like Wonder Woman or Black Widow. So she was awed when she saw Bonnie beat Milo down like it was nothing. Bonnie checked the time and saw it was already 8:00 a.m. She was late for school. “If you’re interested in learning kickboxing, you can get anyone to teach you. I need to go now.” She turned and left. 1 Kay stared after her and told Milo, “Get someone to look into her, but don’t let her find out about it or cause her any trouble. And you need to treat her respectfully the next time you see her, okay?” *** Bonnie didn’t realize that Kay would start to investigate her. When she reached school, it was already 8:15 a.m. Mr. Rios, the math teacher, was livid. He glared at Bonnie as she stood in the doorway. “You’re late for my class again! Is my class not good enough for you?” A student raised her hand. “I don’t think she did it to upset you, Mr. Rios. She’s always late to other classes too. Sometimes, she doesn’t even show up for days!” But that information did not make him feel any better. “You’re old enough to know that you should take school seriously, Bonnie. “How will you graduate from high school if you keep acting like this? If I were your dad-” “Can I go in now, Mr. Rios? I’ve been standing here for two minutes.” Bonnie glanced at her seat. Mr. Rios was furious, but he couldn’t resort to corporal punishment. Chapter 7 3/3 So he tried another method. “Don’t sit down yet, Bonnie. Solve the question on the blackboard.” The system of equations with two variables wasn’t too difficult, but it also wasn’t easy. He thought a bad student like Bonnie would never be able to solve it. “Okay.” Bonnie picked up the chalk and wrote down the answer without hesitation. “Done.” Mr. Rios‘ eyes went wide. The answer was correct. She must have gotten it right by chance! “Solve all the other questions.” He was convinced that Bonnie wouldn’t be able to solve these math questions. Bonnie glanced at them and frowned. Mr. Rios sneered. “What is it? You can’t solve them, huh? This is why you shouldn’t be late to school or skip class!” “It’s not that.” Bonnie picked up the chalk again and solved the equations without thinking. She answered five questions correctly. Mr. Rios was exasperated. “If you knew how to do it, why did you hesitate?” “Because they’re too easy. Answering them would just be a waste of time,” Bonnie replied truthfully. Mr. Rios felt his blood pressure rise. “Okay, since you think my questions are too easy, why don’t you try to solve this one? If you can’t, I’m sending you to detention!” He then wrote a difficult question on the blackboard. Some students recognized it. “That looks like an Olympiad math problem. We studied it in math club, but no one could solve it.” “How’s Bonnie supposed to solve that?” “Didn’t you hear what she said? If I were Mr. Rios, I’d be upset too.” “Bonnie had it coming!” As the students murmured among themselves, Mr. Ross suddenly gaped at the blackboard in disbelief.