Supernatural Abilities

Chapter Nine - The Training

I gently pulled at the ends of my newly cut ponytail in lieu of being nervous.

            "Oh, just relax, Taylor!" Claire said while reaching down to tie her shoes. "Right now is just our sit-down training course. There's not going to be a pop quiz or anything!"

            "But you guys know so much more than I do. I'm basically like a third grader who is entering high school," I grumbled the truth. I know everyone starts out this way, but I hated not knowing what to expect or going into something with little to no information on a topic. I might have the power to be at this level, but definitely not the brains.

            Claire laughed and reached over to pat my shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll catch on quickly."

            I groaned and followed her out of our room. Several others were also heading out for the day and would peek glances as the two of us walked down and out of our building.

            "When are they going to stop with the staring?" I mumbled to Claire who shrugged in response.

            "They'll stop when something more exciting happens here, which is rare."

            I sighed in defeat and continued walking to the buildings around the arena area of Supernatural Abilities. There were several doors all marked with numbers one through five on them.

            "I'm only level four so I'm in a different room than you. However, Cole, Vanessa, and Alex are all in five so you're not alone. If you don't want to sit with the couple, Alex would be more than happy to be with you."

            I thanked her and said goodbye before heading in. Sure enough, the three mentioned were all sitting together in the third row. In some ways the room reminded me of a college lecture hall. There was a variety of stadium-like seating and a whiteboard, computer, projector, and screen all at the front. With my head ducked low, I made my way over to them and sat down next to Alex.

            "Hey!" Alex said while straightening up from where he was practically falling asleep. "Glad you made it here okay."

            "That's only because Claire drags me along and shows me everywhere."

            Alex laughed. "That won't change even after you get used to this place. You're stuck with her for the long run."

            I smiled and soon the whole room hushed down once a woman stepped out to the front and began talking about the importance of and how to be one step ahead of your opponent. While the information was interesting, I couldn't help but not understand some of the diction she used. Unlike most of the people in this room, I was bumped to the top. They had the previous training and knowledge while I was being thrown to the fishes.

            We sat there for two hours while the woman demonstrated various techniques and talked how and why each would be important to utilize when fighting to kill someone. When it was finally noon, we were able to stretch our limbs and leave to go get some lunch.

            "So how was your first lesson?" Alex asked while we waiting for the swarms of people to leave ahead of us."

            "Confusing," I muttered under my breath.

            "You'll learn quickly like we all did. It's going to suck the first few days but I know you'll catch on."

            When we got to the lunch room and got food, I followed Alex to the same table we sat at yesterday where Vanessa and Cole were already there. Vanessa was clinging onto him as if her life depended on it while he was trying to take a bite of his sandwich.