Chapter 66 - 66. Asher's Signature Breakfast
The week went by in a flurry of training and practice. The three watched the video which taught them numerous amounts when it came to body language. They were able to learn certain characteristics of someone who was lying. The idea that someone would hold their arms closer to themselves and often shift from foot to foot was really easy to understand and look for. They even started to test each other by throwing little white lies in to their training. The two truths and one lie game came in handy here.
Seeing that there were also ways to focus on the feet and body position to see what way the person could move would help immensely in a fight. They could predict what foot or fist their opponent could strike with. The instructor in the video even described how they could see the different muscle movements to figure out if the opponent would retreat.
Normally these things would take years of practice and training to catch on to naturally. With the instructional video from coach Winters, the trio was able to grasp the idea and begin to put it in to use. Their sparring matches and games of foot work tag became much tougher.
The fact that the three got better at foot work tag every day was not bringing the combat class much joy. The simple fact was that coach Winters had loved the idea so much she had added it to the warm up before class started. In her words, it was, "The best way to get blood moving and learn how to react in a fast paced situation."
Jane had taken her words to heart and made it a personal goal to face off against everyone in the class every day. Most days the other students went out of their way to avoid her since the only two that could combat her were Art and Asher. The fact that Art only won two out of ten times was not important, at least he would win.
Asher on the other hand was really hitting his stride as the moves they practiced had become muscle memory. The repetitive practice every night before bed with Art was really paying off. On top of that, the three had explored some of the other moves in the video game and chosen some favorites. This was the start of their own personal styles even if they did not realize it themselves.
When Friday morning finally rolled around Asher had just started to head downstairs to go out of the usual work out with Art and Cara. The only problem was that Cara was standing in front of the door refusing to let him out. "Why can\'t I go work out with you two today? It\'s just like any other day."
Cara\'s face was filled with confusing emotions. She shifted from concern to stress, and back to stubborn coldness. "I said no, you will understand later. Art is fine since he will head to camp Monday, but you need to eat a really big breakfast. No work ut at all, if you even think about practicing I will make sure you don\'t get dessert when you get back." She had steel in her voice and Asher knew that he wouldn\'t get away from her if he went against her will.
"But Art said he is making angel food cake with a strawberry mousse! You can\'t take that away from me, my life will be incomplete without it." He could feel his heart breaking hearing the threat of no dessert.
"Bro, if your sister says no work out just go with it. She has to have a good reason." Art was right there supporting Cara. \'Weird, Art keeps backing her up more and more lately. He even made cheddar stuffed burgers when she asked for them the other night.\' Asher had noticed these coincidences but hadn\'t noticed them all lining up until now. The last week had been full of them. Even more so, his sister wasn\'t calling Art a monkey as much anymore and even used his name sometimes.
"That\'s that, no go make something with a lot of carbs and protein." Cara gave him another harsh glare to show she meant business. The two left on the work out leaving Asher alone to cook in the kitchen. This was a grave mistake.
\'Fine, if I can\'t go with you two I will make the best breakfast ever and make them suffer through watching me eat it.\' His devilish smile showed that he would do his best to make them jealous.
Asher was quick to pull out the box pancake mix and bacon. \'Bacon is the meaning of life so bacon with pancakes will make them crazy jealous.\' He was already mixing milk in to the pancake flour mixture making a thick crumbly batter. The amount of lumps was more than anyone would think possible. "Perfect, this will keep it from being too basic, add some texture." Asher started to talk out loud as he cooked. He had picked this habit up from his mother who likes to sing to herself while she made dinner.
The bacon hit a scalding hot frying pan with a loud hiss. The smell soon started to permeate the house. He had managed to find some eggs and cracked them on top of the bacon. Not a master chef moves, but to him, it was. \'The bacon will cook with the eggs and make the perfect sandwich shape.\' His goal may not have been bad, however, the look of the half-cooked bacon mixed in to the raw eggs would make any chef cry.
The smell of cooking was quick to awaken his sleeping mother, luckily his father had already left for work. "Asher honey, why are you cooking now?" His mother stopped at the entrance to the kitchen seeping the eggshells that covered the counter and the pancake mix that was covering Asher\'s shirt. Her voice became unsteady as she turned around, "Clean up when you\'re finished or you won\'t be making it to camp today." Her words struck fear in to his heart as he started to clean as he waited for his pancakes to cook.