One Of Them

Chapter 6

The next few days go by slowly with more intense muscle-building, training, and some awkward-filled encounters with Ezra. Those moments pain me since I can see the disappointment in his eyes for me even thinking of giving up.

But I didn't Ezra. I'm still here.

"Today we're graduating onto something new."

I stare at Bruno with drowsy eyes. "What is it?"

"Get onto the red mat," is all he says.

I walk onto the largest mat in the room and stand firm in the center.

"Do you know any techniques for hand-to-hand combat?"

I nod slowly.

With that, he walks onto the mat, coming to a stop right before me. "Show me."

"Okay."

I close my eyes for a moment, trying to remember all the movies I've watched on boxing. Opening my eyes, I lash out with a punch to his chest.

He blocks it by grabbing onto my arm and twisting it behind my back, causing me to release a soft cry from pain.

"Try again," he says, releasing my arm and pushing me away.

I rub at my sore arm as I glower at him, fists raised before me.

"Bring it on Sunshine." He smiles.

I punch at him—missing of course. Frustrated, I try again, and again, and again, but he keeps on blocking them, making it look so simple and making me look like a weakling.

I attempt one more time, now adding a small surprise. Bruno blocks my punch, but doesn't expect my leg sweep. He falls backward onto the soft mat.

"Good job," he smiles as I give him a hand.

I smile back. "Thanks."

For the rest of the session, he shows me more techniques, going through each one until I have them figured out.

At last, I think I might be getting somewhere. Maybe I'm not going to be a failure after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey there," Alex grins as she takes the seat beside me.

"Hi," I say with a forced smile.

She begins to blabber on about something, but I'm not really paying much attention.

I'm watching him sitting beside Ashton and Matt, his head tilted back as he laughs. He notices me staring, his caramel-brown eyes locking on mine. I look away.

"So what's the deal between you and Ezra?"

I squint at Alex. "What do you mean?"

"You tell me." She raises a dark eyebrow.

Sighing, I prop my chin on my hand with my elbow on the table. "We got into an argument."

"Ooh seems like Mom and Dad are fighting again."

I glare at her. "We're not a couple. He's like a brother to me. That's all."

Her eyes flit back between me and Ezra. "But he doesn't feel that way, does he?"

I just shrug.

"What was the argument about?" she continues.

"Something stupid," I mumble.

She touches my arm. Her touch is light and gentle. "So fix it. Go and talk to him."

My conscience screams at me. "I can't. At least not yet."