“No.”
“I was volunteering you.”
“I know.”
That exchange caught Logan’s attention.
He walked toward them.
“What’s happening over here?”
“Nothing,” Naomi said.
“You volunteering her?”
Lila froze.
Naomi shook her head.
“No.”
Logan smiled.
“You’ve been watching me all afternoon.”
“I’ve been sitting in a chair facing the mat.”
“You train?”
“Used to.”
“What belt?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters if you’re studying everybody.”
Naomi looked at him.
“I’m not studying you.”
He gestured toward the mat.
“One round.”
“No, thank you.”
“Light.”
“No.”
“You said you trained.”
“I did.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“No problem.”
Naomi stood.
“Lila, coat.”
Erin looked uncomfortable.
Logan laughed.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Because I asked you to roll?”
“No.”
“Then stay.”
“No.”
Malcolm noticed the conversation.
He began moving toward them.
Logan looked at Naomi’s clothing.
Earlier, Lila had spilled sports drink across Naomi’s blouse. Erin had loaned her an old white gi jacket while the fabric dried in the staff room.
No belt.
No academy patch.
No visible rank.
Logan smiled.
“You’re a beginner.”
Naomi looked down.
Then understood.
“You think I’m a white belt.”
“Aren’t you?”
“No.”
“What are you?”
Naomi picked up her coat.
“Leaving.”
Several nearby people laughed.
Not cruelly.
Logan heard it as humiliation anyway.
“Five minutes.”
“No.”
“Thirty seconds.”
“No.”
“I’ll give you position.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“Scared?”
Naomi looked at him.
“No.”
“Then prove it.”
“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
That should have ended everything.
It did not.
One of Logan’s teammates called from the mat.
“Maybe auntie knows the advanced class isn’t for everybody.”
A few people laughed.
Lila went still.
Naomi saw it.
The same expression from school.
You don’t belong.
Different building.
Same message.
Naomi could have left.
She would later spend weeks wondering whether she should have.
Then Lila whispered, “Can we go?”
Her cheeks were red.
Naomi realized the girl was not embarrassed because of Logan.
She was absorbing a lesson.
That belonging could be granted or removed by whoever seemed most powerful in the room.
Naomi took her coat off.
Erin looked at her.
“Naomi.”
“It’s okay.”
“No.”
Naomi appreciated that.
Erin was not encouraging spectacle.
Naomi handed Lila the coat.
“I know.”