Black Belt Called MMA Champion A Fake In Front Of 200 People — 2s Later, Everyone Regretted It
Chapter 39
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Emily stood at the center of it, now dressed simply, her father parked in his wheelchair near the front row, a proud, quiet smile fixed in place."First class of the Reeves Community Program," Pauline announced, her voice bright with the kind of joy that had been missing from her since the night everything unraveled. "Free forever, thanks to Emily, and thanks to every one of you brave enough to show up and learn something new."Ruth Palmer sat in the front row, notebook in her lap, ready to take notes like she was back in school. Bill Sorenson stood near the back, stretching his shoulders with the cautious optimism of a man who hadn't done much stretching in several decades. Dorothy Klene had brought her daughter along this time, both of them signing up together.Walt stood near the door, no longer a participant exactly, but something closer to a co-teacher, having spent the past week working with Emily on the practical side of things: situational awareness, how to spot trouble before it started—the kind of quiet, useful knowledge 31 years on the job had left him more than qualified to share."All right, everybody," Emily said, her voice warm, patient, nothing at all like the sharp, controlled voice that had ended a fight in two seconds the week before. "Today, we're just going to talk about balance. Not fighting—balance. Everything else comes after that, and most days, you won't need anything else at all."She walked the group through something simple first: how to stand with weight evenly distributed, knees soft, so a sudden pull or push couldn't topple them the way it might if they stood stiff and flat-footed.Bill Sorenson tried it, shifting his weight experimentally, and grinned when Emily gently nudged his shoulder and he barely moved."That's it," Emily said. "That's most of the battle right there. Most falls, most scares, most close calls—they start with somebody caught off balance before anything else even happens."Ruth Palmer wrote it down carefully in her notebook, underlining the word balance twice.Frank Dunlap, standing near the back with his arms crossed, allowed himself a small, satisfied nod. He'd spent the week helping Pauline sort through the final paperwork on Derek Vance's academy—now formally shut down, its assets frozen pending an investigation that, thanks to Cory's cooperation, had already turned up three more towns with similar complaints stretching back years.Derek himself was somewhere else entirely that morning: sitting across a table from an attorney he could no longer really afford, facing charges for assault and consumer fraud that would follow him for a long while yet. The academy's sign had already come down from the strip mall two towns over, the space sitting empty, a police notice taped crookedly to the glass door. Cedar Falls rarely came up in his thoughts anymore, except as the town where the story he'd told himself for nine years had finally, completely come apart.