Embellished With Lies

Chapter Nineteen

"Back straight, Matthew!" Drizella shouted from behind me, her arms crossed in annoyance. "And more power, while you're at it! You're not going to be able to defend yourself by carelessly tossing the knife, alright? You have to throw it with a great amount of force in order to do some damage. I'm not impressed by your scrawny little arms."

I glanced at my biceps. I had worked out every single day back home in order to stay fit for baseball season. I lifted and benched and made sure that I was always in the best shape. Coach wouldn't let me, or anyone else on the team, start if they didn't work out every day all year. I did not work out every day for two years to have my arms be called scrawny.

"Do these look scrawny to you?" I snapped, flexing my arms as I did so. "Yeah. Neither did I."

She smirked, rolling her eyes. "It would be very wise for you to keep your trap shut, wouldn't it?"

I turned back around, facing the target I was previously throwing at. I didn't say anything; that would most definitely get me a longer lecture.

"You cannot be an amateur," Drizella muttered, pacing back and forth behind me. "You have to be the best. If you are not the best, well, then consider yourself dead. Are we clear?"

For a minute, she reminded me of Coach.

Of my dad.

Of myself.

I nodded my head. "We're clear."

"Good."

---

Training had lasted two weeks, and those two weeks were incredibly grueling and exhausting.

And there was no sign of Cinderella.

I hadn't expected that.

Tessa and I woke up every day at five o'clock, practiced until nine-thirty, and then ate breakfast. After that, we trained until two, then we ate lunch, practiced until seven, ate dinner, and were done for the day.

I took baseball seriously, but I didn't think that I ever had to practice this much for this amount of time.

At the beginning of the third week, I approached Lady Tremaine during our lunch.

"Yes, Matthew? May I help you?" She inquired, sliding some type of meat my way.

I nodded my head, but no words came out of my mouth. I didn't know why, exactly, but Lady Tremaine had such a strong, authoritative vibe about her, and it made me extremely nervous. It was not a negative, gut-wrenching feeling that I got when I was around Cinderella; however it made me want to succeed in everything I did.

She was almost like a motherly figure, if I was being complete honest, and with Tessa and me being away from home for so long, it was what we needed.

"Matthew," she began, "I certainly do hope that you are not here to waste my time. I am a very busy woman, am I not?"

I shook off the incoming flood of thoughts. "I'm sorry."

"Matthew?"

"Yes?"

"May I help you with anything? You seem to be troubled."