OVERPOPULAS

Chapter 11

"Come on get up!" A familiar voice said to me. I was just now waking up from Slinca's blow. "Already the first day and you're already down for the count." The voice was muffled, as my vision was blurry. I'm pretty sure I have some serious damage to my neck as I felt it was very sore. My vision was starting to clear up when I saw Eric standing over me, bending down.

"Maybe it wasn't the best idea to send you to this school." Eric said, looking away from me.

"What?" Was all I could muster as I began to lift myself up.

"Oh, good you're awake." Eric said, sighing a sigh of relief. "I thought I was gonna stay here for longer than I wanted to."

I looked around and realized I was still in the fighting school, and the thing I've been laying on was a blue mat I used to see in my high school. Eric wasn't the only one there, Yurinami was there, although he was sitting in a corner looking at some papers. Out of all the people I thought would wait for me to get up, Slinca wasn't there at all. She was the one that did this to me. Maybe she felt embarrassed? Or sorry? Does she think I'm very angry at her? Well, I am a little bit. She really didn't need to go that far.

"Come on, get up." Eric demanded as he straightened his back. Eric reached his hand out to me and I took it. As I got to my feet I started to wobble, almost falling straight back down face first into the ground.

"Woah there buddy." Eric said, putting his elbow out and allowing me to use it as support to hold me up. "Man, did she really hit you that hard?"

"I-I guess so." My words slurred out like I was drunk.

"We need to get home, Alice, mom, and dad are worried sick about you." Eric said as he helped me walk towards the exit. "Once we get home, we have some medicine at home you can take and rest. You shouldn't push yourself to go to school tomorrow if you don't want to."

"NO!" I shouted. Eric stopped and looked at me. "Today was just a fluke, tomorrow I'll be fine. I'm sure of it. I can get through this, everything is fine." I said, almost entirely unintelligibly due to me still slurring and stumbling over my words.

"Don't push yourself Lee! It's overall not worth it." Eric responded to my mess of words.

"Weren't you the one that suggested I go to this school in the first place? Weren't you the one that was pushing me to do this!? Now you're saying that I should stop, only after one accident!?" I said, finally sounding not like a drunk.

"Look, I know what i said but i don't think you're up to the tas-"

"I AM!" I yelled, as I pushed Eric away. "I can do it! Stop saying I can't! You want me to grow stronger right? So don't take this opportunity from me. This is my one and only chance to prove myself, to get better! And now you want to strip that all away from me!?"

"That's not what I'm saying, I'm just worried about yo-"

"Well don't be! I'll be fine all by myself, look at me! I'm still standing straight up right? I'm fine."

"You still need my help."

"Do I? Because you sure as hell don't need mine!"

"What did you say?"

"God haven't you noticed!? Everyday of my fucking life I try to get you to notice me! And when I finally do, you want me to stray away from it! Remember the week before this when we trained? That was hell for me, I know, but it was also the most time we've ever spent together and I cherished every moment of it!"

"Lee I-"

"All I want is your respect! So, that's why I'm gonna stick to this! I'm gonna go to this school even if it kills me!"