42)

I tried out some of the basic moves from other traditions my Mom had shown me at a much slower speed on Austin and Ryan in Gym the rest of the week. I wanted to see how they worked as the one who was doing them rather than dealing with them.

The boys had obviously been practicing the moves I had shown them on each other, as they seemed to be using them more naturally rather than having to think about them as they did them.

“Are you two planning on joining my Dad’s Dojo?”

They glanced at each other, then nodded at me.

“Don’t try to use these moves, he’ll probably show you some stuff that is even more basic than this because he wants to see how you move and react so he knows the best way to teach you. You're almost going to have to unlearn anything you pick up from me before he can really train you."

That seemed to confuse the larger boy, but Ryan seemed to get it. "It's like in games, you got to learn what works for you, not just try to imitate someone else. Even if you do imitate them at first because that's how you figure out what works for you."

A confrontation with Neal resulted in him sharing with me that he was going to wear black slacks and a matching tie, but he may have outgrown the blue sports coat he had gotten for his uncle’s wedding three years back. Even if it had been big on him then.

“Try it on. Tonight. Send me a picture if it still fits.”

He seemed confused, and gave me a look like “Why are you making such a big deal about his.” Which made me want to grab him by the head with both hands while I explained. Instead, I told him. "Share this conversation with your Mom, she'll fill you in on why this is important and if I am being weird or not."

That weekend I was handed off into the merciless hands of my Aunt Rose.

She looked at a picture of Neal in his black slacks, white shirt, black tie, and a comically undersized blue sports coat. He had a hangdog look on his face as the text explained his mom had made him get fully dressed up, and he struggled into the coat as a way of complaining. Only to have his mom insist on taking the picture.

He also explained that he was being taken out on a shopping trick to buy a black sports coat so that I would be free to choose anything in the way of a dress since his mom said black matched anything.

Aunt Rose nodded at the text. “She’s right, black goes with anything. The boy is a little young isn’t he, shouldn’t you be dating seniors.”

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She tried to hold my phone up over her head with a grin like she was going to play keep away. I responded by making a fist and punching her in the stomach in slow motion. She frowned. “I guess you’re too old to play with like that anymore. Too bad, I’ll miss you being a kid.”

Then she grinned. “So I’ll have to be twice as mean to Ami.”

Sorry sis, we all got problems.

I think we spent the whole day in over a dozen boutiques in what may have been Paris, at least that would explain all the French people.

At first, trying on all the outfits that Aunt Rose suggested, even the ridiculous ones, was fun. But I got tired of being a dress up doll after an hour or so and started making some demands.

“I have to be able to kick.”

She tried to argue with me about it, but I shook my head. “No one can ever know what may happen. I might need to be able to fight.”

Aunt Rose crossed her arms. “It’s a high school dance, as long as no one dumps a bucket of pig’s blood on you, you aren't going to need to fight.”

I put my fists on my hips and leaned into her to whisper. “It’s a dance with werewolves, and high school boys, and mean girls. I want to be able to beat people up without ruining the dress I’m buying with my birthday money.”

My Aunt suddenly taunt with anger, and her face went blank. “There are girls being mean to you?”

I held my hands out. "I only called them that because it's a group of popular girls that hang up with each other, the one in charge is kind of a friend. And the mean one is… a learning experience. Trust me, Aunt Rose, I have to learn how to fight my own fights, even social ones, and some girl saying mean things to me is punching way below my level.”

She tilted her head at me, "I think I'm going to like the adult version of my niece, let’s try a place I know in L.A.”

The place in L.A. was at the end of an alleyway, around a corner, and had nothing at the rusty steel door to mark it as a store other than a button next to the door, and a camera above it.

Pressing it, all Aunt Rose said was, "It's me."

Inside… the place was huge, but more industrial looking than fashionable. And I got the feeling most of the staff was hiding as an older woman named Mary helped us.

My request for something nice I could fight in didn't even raise an eyebrow. "Of course."

My dress was made up of a shiny material which I was a little hesitant to wear since I didn’t want to show up anyone with something too expensive, no matter how much Aunt Rose urged me to do so.

Whispering “Give into the Dark Side, show them the power of a fully operational Debit card.” was not helping me with my composure in a shop that I had noticed had concealable guns behind a thick glass panel. As well as disguised miniature tasers, pepper spray lipsticks, and pens.

The Steel Corset provided tasteful bullet and stab resistant garments for security minded young ladies. Some of which, like the dress I had tried on, were not only stab resistant but were in my size and had discrete slits on the sides covered with an overlayer that would allow me to kick freely in all directions.

After turning from side to side to check myself from every angle, I finally decided "I'll take it. Thank you for the birthday present Aunt Rose. Both of them."

She waved my thanks away. “Are you talking about the sword spear ting? I worked on that to settle things between me and your Uncle, and to hit on him. I’m pretty sure at this point that he's gay."

I held up a finger and gave her a firm look. “I think a man not wanting to get involved with you only marks them as being smart, not gay.”

She gave me a brief little clap. “Three points for cattiness, one for accuracy. But too wordy.”

They packed up the dress, I would still have to pick out some shoes. And it turned out that it might have been better if I had worn it out.

The dress still ended up being useful even inside of the box, As we stepped out the door I moved forward and got it between me and the thrown knife as it went flying at Aunt Rose.

It turned out the dress really was stab resistant.

My Aunt had enemies, and some of them had caught up with her while we were inside.