𝑷𝑨𝑷𝑬𝑹 𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺 • 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧. 𝐦 (wolfblood)

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

Lia tugged her bottom lip between her teeth, instinctively grabbing Maddy and Shannon's hands tightly as she and the rest of the class watched as Tom got thrown down for at least the tenth time since this whole demonstration began. Jimi straightened back up with a cocky grin as Tom stumbled back onto his two feet.

"What's not to like?" Their gym teacher continued to the class in a poor attempt to get more students to join the Judo club. Lia almost snorted, A lot, apparently.

Jimi shoved Tom by the chest and the poor kid, being as weak and lean as he was, fell back onto the mat with a huff. Lia shook her head. She was certain that the mat was causing him more pain rather than trying to prevent it.

"Excellent for fitness, balance and coordination."

There didn't seem to be a lot of that going on. Tom attempted to get a hold of Jimi, only to be planted face first right back down on the mat. Lia winced.

"Judo club meets every Wednesday after school," Their gym teacher continued, then turned around when she heard Tom groan loudly, "Try and look like you're enjoying it, Tom. The point is to get more members, not scare them off."

Tom grumbled as he sat up, a pain in his side causing him to wince. He gave her a sarcastic smile, "Yes, Miss. Sorry." His smile dropped immediately and he stood up, meeting Lia's eyes. As their teacher had turned around and her back was to him, he comically threw fake punches at her which made Lia laugh a little, shaking off some of her worries about how badly hurt he was. Why Tom had volunteered to be a part of the demonstration after only being in the club for two weeks (against Jimi of all people, who had been trained in Judo his whole life), she had no idea. He was enjoying it though. Every Thursday morning he came and told them all about what they worked on in the previous session. And she had to give it to him, he was doing well. He said he wanted to try out more sports, although football was his primary concern.

"Right!" Their teacher clapped, "Groups of four - passing and tackling."

Lia sighed, tiredly turning to face her three friends as Tom made his walk of shame over to them. She looked up at Rhydian, a complaint about how tired she was already on the tip of her tongue, but she frowned when she saw him looking over toward the door that led to the changing rooms, a crease running between his brows. She tilted her head, looking in that direction, only fast enough to catch a flash of red hair as the door swung shut. Jana. They were all beginning to think that she'd bunked off for the day, and seeing her relieved her a little, knowing nothing was wrong. But why was she hiding?

She felt a hand run over her braid, and turned to face Rhydian, who was smiling down at her, "Back in a sec," then, looking at the other three, "You four carry on."

He jogged off toward the changing rooms, and Lia's lips twitched down into a small frown. Before she could start listing off questions and concerns inside her head, she shook them away, turning to playfully punch Tom in the arm, who grabbed his bicep and made a dramatic noise in pain. Lia stopped herself from laughing as Maddy rubbed his shoulder, "Maybe you should sit this one out, Tom." she soothed sarcastically. The only response she got was a stuck-out tongue.

After a few minutes of throwing a basketball around lazily in their pathetic square, they heard a loud tut, "Jana! You're late! Get changed and get moving." Lia turned her head in that direction a little, watching as Rhydian slipped past the teacher, back into the gym hall, "Sorry to interrupt and all that." she told him sarcastically. He mirrored the teacher's sarcasm with a too-wide smile and headed toward them. Shannon tossed their basketball to him, and he caught it easily, bouncing it once on the floor so that it landed back in Maddy's grip. 

Lia soon felt his presence at her side as she threw the ball somewhere in Tom's direction. She turned to look up at him, "Is Jana okay? She's usually the first one here, it's not like her to be this late." This was true - Jana, being used to waking up early to hunt back in the wild, was always the first one of them to be at school, so she found it odd that she would come in so late... unless something had happened.