Rebel

Chapter Fourty One

"Yeah, from what Eliza told me, there's a lot more Rebel's around here like us, but they are usually on missions or training late, so we hardly ever see them."

"Oh really? Did she happen to tell you what powers they have? I think all of your powers are ridiculously cool!"

"No she didn't. But she did say that if we could time it right, we might be able to catch them returning to their dorms and be able to meet them!"

I was only half listening to the conversation my friends were having. I was busy stuffing my food into my mouth and trying to finish it as fast as I could. The faster I ate, the more time I'd have to train before I had to sit through another lecture session with my stupid training instructor. I've been training as much as possible for four days now, and I was seeing fast results. My punch was significantly harder than before, and I was stronger.

I stuffed the last bite of food in my mouth and was standing up with my food when I noticed the silence. I looked up to see all of my friends staring at me.

"Whot?" I asked around a mouthful of food.

Everyone glanced at each other until Alexsandra scooted forward in her chair and cleared her throat. "Where've you been the past few days?"

I swallowed my food, "What do you mean?"

"You've been eating like a pig and then disappearing for the rest of the day," Olwyn said.

"I'm a hungry human," I said. "And... I've found a new hobby that I like and I've been doing that." It technically wasn't a lie, because you could count training as a hobby.

"And that hobby is...?" Aiden asked.

I bit my bottom lip. What's my hobby? Something tells me that telling my friends the truth would only worry them more. "Um... I've been... acting as a... therapist."

The moment the words left my mouth I knew it was a mistake. Me? A therapist? That was one of the last jobs I would ever get. But it's too late to go back now.

"A... therapist?" Dario asked skeptically.

"Yes," I said, raising my eyebrows. "You've got a problem with that?"

"No," Aiden said. "It's just... not something we would expect you to do."

"Hm," I said dryly. "Well anyway, I gotta go, er, help a person with their issues. So if you'd excuse me..." I pulled my empty food tray higher into my arms, spun around, and walked out of the cafeteria, making sure to drop my tray into the pile.

Wow, I'm an idiot, I thought, walking down the hall to the training room. All the hobbies out there and I chose a therapist! I really gotta work on my improv lying.

I walked into the training room and to the far corner on the left. I pulled out a loose panel on the wall and pulled out a roll of fancy athletic tape I stole from someone. I've been using it to tape up my knuckles, but I didn't have a place to store it, until one day, I was getting frustrated and I kicked the panel on this wall. It came loose and I turned it into my secret storage compartment.

I wrapped my hands with the tape, broke off the end with my teeth, and returned the roll into the wall. I made sure to put the panel back on the wall before walking to the punching bag hanging from the ceiling.

"Now the only thing I need is music," I muttered before punching the bag. I work better with music; I always have. Back at the compound I was provided with a holo that I could play music on, but they would not let me use technology here. I just had to settle for humming and singing in my head.

"You punch like a girl."

I jumped right out of my skin and spun around to face the source of the voice. Eliza was standing in the doorway looking unimpressed.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"The question is, what are you doin' here?" Eliza countered. "You do realize that you're not allowed to use this room unless you pass trainin'?"

"Yeah," I said, straightening. "But no one knows that I haven't passed training besides my friends and my training instructor. Oh, and I guess you."

"Ha," Eliza said, stepping out of the doorway and walking towards me. "You think you can get away with this?" She paused, scratching the back of her head with a black gloved hand. "Well, you're probably right, people hardly use this room."

I laughed dryly. I knew that already. I've been coming to this room every chance I got for the past three days. "Seriously though, why are you here Eliza?"

Eliza ignored me completely. She kept walking until she stood right next to me, facing the punching bag. "You know," She said. "You'd get a lot more power behind your punches if you follow through and bring your shoulder more into it."

I glanced at her sideways. Was she... giving me advice? Is she kidding me right now? I mean, she sounds sincere, so I guess I'll just go with it.

I cleared my throat. "Like this?" I then turned to the bag and threw a punch at it, making sure to follow through and turn my body slightly while punching.

"Yes, yes, that's much better," Eliza said, nodding. "Although, if you spread your legs more, and bend your knees slightly, it'll be better."

Now I was really confused. Was this girl seriously giving me advice? I thought she hated me! But her advice really seemed to be working. After trying out the new tricks, I could tell that I was hitting harder and faster.

I cleared my throat, "Hm. Nice advice. Got anything else, Two Face?"

"Please, if you wanna master hand to hand combat, I'm gonna be here givin' you advice for hours."