Broken

14: Jack

Jordyn

I tuck my thumb under my fingers, not taking my eye off the dummy that is hung up in front of me.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Aidan says.
"Do what? Aim before I throw a punch?" I break my stare from the dummy and focus it on Aidan.
"No, the way you formed your fist," Aidan laughs a bit. "Put your thumb on top of your fingers, like under your knuckles,"
"Wouldn't that hurt when you punch?"
"Maybe, but not as much as the way you did it. If you kept your thumb under your fingers, when you punch hard, you can break it,"

I sigh and do as he says.

"Good, now do couple of midsection punches," Aidan says.

I barely hear him because I've already started focusing on the target. I punch as hard as I can towards the stomach of the dummy. I don't feel my eyes close, but after a couple of punches, I begin to loose my focus on where I'm punching.

"Stop," Aidan says after a couple more hits.

I realize that my eyes were closed, so I open them quickly pretending like they weren't. I put my hands to my sides and rub them against my sides, removing some sweat from them.

"Okay, well at first, you on target, but then after a couple of more punches, you started to get off target. I know you're good at aiming, I think you were to focused on hitting hard, which is good. So punch the bag, wherever you want, but try to hit hard," Aidan says.

I barely wait for him to finish his sentence before I start to punch the dummy. As I hit, the dummy barely moves, its blank face staring at me carelessly. This starts to make me slightly angry. I start throwing harder punches, a bit of anger attached to each fist. The dummy's face still staring at me. I grimace as I go even harder, harder than I ever thought I could go. All the sounds in the room disappear, I loose control of my fists. But then I feel a soft hand fall on my shoulder. It wakes me back up. I stop abruptly and look at Aidan, his eyes wide. I suddenly feel my face go warm.
"Do you-?" Aidan shakes his head, "Never mind... Why don't we call it a day,"

***

I stab my fork into a potato.
"How's training?" Tay says with her mouth full of salad.
"Someone's hungry," I put a fork of food into my mouth.
Tay punches my arm lightly.
"Hello ladies," An Asian boy around our age sits across from us.
"What do you want?" I narrow my eyes at him.
"You're friendly," He smirks. "I'm Jack."
"Well, Jack, I asked you a question," I say.
"I'm just trying to make some friends, so I guess I'm at the wrong table," He tilts his head.
"Yeah, you are," I say.
Tay steps on my foot.
"So, I was wondering if you two would like to meet me in room 13 tonight at 10:00," Jack leans in.
"To do what?" Tay lowers her voice.
"A little game of paintball," Jack says.
"With three people?"
"You two, and a couple of my friends,"

I glance at Tay; I don't think that's a good idea.

"What makes you think that we're gonna trust you?" I say.
"Aidan'll be there," Jack says.
"Aidan?" I exclaim.
"Yeah, you think he doesn't have any friends?" Jack snorts.
"No, it's just..." I've never really thought about that before.
"So are you coming or not?" Jack raises an eyebrow at me.
"I'll think about it," I say.

***

"Do you know Jack?" I ask Aidan after dinner.
"Yeah, why?" Aidan narrows his eyes a bit.
"Well he asked me if Tay and I wanted to meet him tonight and play paintball," I say, keeping my voice casual. "and he said you were gonna be there."
"Okay," Aidan says. "but are you sure you want to play paintball with them?"
"You think I'm no good?" I look up at him.
"No, it's just that they're a little... different." Aidan smiles.
"What do you mean?" I wonder.
"Never mind," Aidan sighs. "you can go if you want. Will I see you there?"
"Yes," I smile. Then I skip back to my dorm.