Free Fight by Helen Chapman

‘Whooo-yaaahhh’ yelled Aaron Farmer. He had one eye shut and was holding both hands up. He was ready to do a double karate chop. If he had been in a sports class nobody would have minded, but he wasn’t. He was at morning assembly!
    At morning assembly students got the chance to be on stage and sing the school song. Aaron came up with a great idea to make this more interesting. He would sing but he would also do some martial arts moves. Aaron was dressed like a ninja. He wore a ninja hood and mask, drawstring trousers and jacket. Aaron thought he looked great. The students thought he looked great too. Principal Blake thought Aaron looked ridiculous and sent him off stage after only one ‘whooo-yaaahhh’.
    Aaron was into martial arts in a big way and knew he could defend himself if someone attacked him. To Aaron’s surprise, All Star High’s drama and singing teachers did not share his interest in martial arts.
    Claire Stevens was into ballet in a big way. She wanted to become a famous ballerina. Claire took her ballet classes very seriously. When she got to dance class and saw Aaron there, still wearing his ninja outfit, she sighed. What a loser!
    Aaron and Claire’s dance class was going to be different today because they were getting a new dance teacher. Aaron practised his martial arts moves in front of the wall of mirrors. He knew he would have to stop practising when the teacher got there. Aaron sighed. It felt like he was the only one at All Star High who liked the things he did.
    Claire stood in front of the mirrors too and checked that she looked just how a ballerina should look. Her hair was in a neat bun and her pink tights had no holes. She put one hand on the handrail and did some warm-up exercises. Claire thought about the new teacher. ‘I hope we get a famous ballerina,’ she thought. ‘That would be perfect.’
    The door opened and their new teacher came into the room. He was definitely not a famous ballerina! He wore black tracksuit trousers, a tight red T-shirt and trainers.
    â€˜Haw-ar-ya?’ he said. His voice sounded as if it came out of his nose.
    The students all looked at each other. They had no idea what he’d just said. It must be his name.
    â€˜Good afternoon, Mr Hawarya,’ they politely replied.
    The new ballet teacher burst out laughing. ‘I asked “how are you?”’ he explained.
    Nobody knew what to say. No teacher had ever asked them how they were.
    Claire finally spoke up. ‘We’re fine, thank you,’ she said.
    The teacher took out a photo from his bag. It was the school photo of the dance class students, with all their names on. He looked down at the photo to find out Claire’s name. ‘Thank you, Claire,’ he said. ‘I’m Mr Jay from New York City in the USA. And I want to see you guys DANCE!’
    He went over to the music system and put in a CD. It was wild bongo music. The students just stared at Mr Jay.
    â€˜What do you want us to do?’ Claire asked.
    â€˜Anything you like,’ said Mr Jay. ‘I just want to see you guys move.’
    The class shuffled their feet and looked at each other. They were used to being told how to dance but one by one they started to move. They did jumps, leaps, flips, spins and every dance move that they ever wanted to do.
    Now that Mr Jay had given him a free choice, Aaron took the chance to do some wild dance steps, using his martial arts moves. He did a big leap that nobody had ever seen him do before. In the middle of the leap, he kicked his legs like a kickboxer, then went into some ninja poses when he landed.
    Claire was shocked. Aaron shouldn’t be messing about in front of their new teacher. What would Mr Jay think of them? Claire knew Aaron well because they were members of the same gang. The Gang-Stars always helped each other. They had first met at an under-12s Music Club. It was so great to meet up again at high school that