It's Raining Not Pouring

Chapter 04

When Xena wakes up, she can smell the lovely aroma of scrambled eggs and bacon. She sits up, and as she does so, Beatrice brings her a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and some milk. "Thanks, did you make this?"
"Nah, they brought it in early this morning and we only needed to make the toast. Figured you'd like to eat in bed since you stayed up so late last night taking a walk."
"Why does it bother you so much? I am telling you the truth!"
"Because no person in the right mind takes a four hour long walk in a THUNDER STORM!!"
Xena laughs at Beatrice's unbelief. "Well, then maybe i am not in the right mind!" She says, standing up and walking over to the closet where she had organised her clothes the day before.
"Well anyways, for training today we are going to learn aim." Beatrice says, the unbelief still making traces in her face. Xena cant believe she is making such a big deal out of this, she just went for a walk! "What type of things will we do to learn aim?"
Beatrice answers, now with a smile on her face, clearly excited, "You know, things like shooting, target practise, the guy also mentioned that we will have an obstacle course tommorow, including everything that we'll learn today."
The building complex where they are staying has three buildings. The one on the north side is where the initiates are sleeping, the south building is an office building, and the west is a training arena.
Later that morning, they go to the west building, where Abigor is already waiting.
"Alright, initiates! We will be practising aim today! You will each be given a dagger, a gun and a target. We will be giving points, based off of your round one, aim and round two, time, and then round three, which is tommorow, problem solving, aim, direction and time."
As the day goes on, for round one they practise shooting their guns at the targets, and Xena gets scored third, Iris fourth, and Beatrice first. Amity unfortunately scores nineteenth out of the group of twenty seven.
They start round two with throwing their daggers towards their target, and are scored on the amount of rounds that it takes them to hit the middle of the target.
After a few minutes of practising, a young boy named Pedro, who Xena recognises as the boy who introduced himself first, hasnt hit the target even once. "Raminarez!" Abigor scolds Pedro, obviously frustrated. "Are you blind? You haven't hit the target even once in almost a dozen throws! Throw again! And this time you better hit the target!" Abigor steps away and watches Pedro closely.
As Pedro gets in posision to throw the knife, his hands are shaking, and he takes deep breaths.
When he finally throws the knife, everyone is watching him. The knife soars through the air, in a straight line, making a very faint noise as it flies toward the target.
Xena closes her eyes as it nears the target, fearing what would happen if the knife missed.
She hears a faint thump as it hits the wooden target, and when she opens her eyes, joy surges through her heart, relief drowning her anxiety! The knife hit the target. Not a bullseye, but it hit one of the outer circles of the target.
She struggles to hold back a laugh as Abigor's face changes from pride to dissapointment.
"Uhm, well done, I guess." He says, in a tone as if he is tasting something sour in his mouth. He walks away without saying another word while everyone smiles at Pedro. That evening Xena is lying in bed when Iris and Beatrice come storming in.
"Xena! Abigor just put up the list of people who passed! Two people failed, and Abigor said they need to find another potential career, or join the outcasts." "Ugh, outcasts sounds so cheesy. They should be called something more exciting." Xena says.
"Oh shut up! They are outcasts! They failed! What else should we call them??" Iris says in an irritated tone.
"I don't know, anyway, who failed?"
Beatrice sighs before replying. "Pedro and that Irish boy. They both dont really do well under pressure."
Xena is not surprised. After Pedro showed Abigor that he could throw yesterday, and took away his opportunity of bullying, of course Abigor would get unnecessary revenge and ruin someone's life.
"Abigor is a real asshole." She says, without thinking. "As soon as someone takes away his chance of bullying, he wants revenge. And look, now Pedro's life is ruined. Do you realise that Abigor just ruined Pedro's life?"
There is a short moment of silence before Iris speaks. "Well, why dont we take a walk in the forest? It'll be fun, we can get to know the area."
Beatrice and Xena agree and they walk out the front door towards the forest.