The Academy: Ashland

Training and Creepy Little Kids

            The next morning, I woke up, dressed in a plain black muscle shirt, black jeans, a black hoodie, black beanie and black converse, skipped breakfast and hit the shooting range. Ten minutes later, Seth came down, dressed in almost the same outfit as me, and joined me in the range with the .45 he used the other night.

            “Sleep well?” he yelled to me over the sound of the shooting.

            I stopped shooting and shrugged, “Decently enough.”

            Seth gave me a half smile and tossed me two bananas, “Eat.”

            “Yes sir,” I said as I put my gun down and caught the bananas. “Did you sleep?”

            “For a while,” Seth said, shrugging.

            I walked over to a little couch that was pressed up against the wall and sat down, pulling my legs up to my chest and pressing my back into the crevice, between the arm and the back of the couch. “Square your feet a little more,” I said absently as I unpeeled a banana. Seth did as I told him and fired twice. “Relax,” I shoved a piece of banana into my mouth. “It's a loaded gun, not a grenade.”

            Seth grinned sheepishly and said, “I know, Taven says I need to relax too.”

            “He's not wrong. You're going to end up hurting yourself,” I said, finishing the first banana and tossing the peel into the trash can.

            “She shoots... she scores!” Trip yelled from the doorway.

             I looked over to Trip, “Thank you, thank you. Hold the applause,” I said.

            Seth looked over to me and smirked, “Oh, good. I wasn't going to anyway,” he said to me.

            Trip laughed and bounced onto the couch next to me, “Where's Taven?” he asked, tossing an arm over my shoulder.

            “In bed, I think,” Seth said, “When I went down to the lab to see Jack, he wasn't there so I'm guessing Taven dragged him away for a few hours.”

            “That or your dad kicked him out,” Kelsey said as she walked in with Amber and Justin, “But I hope it was Taven, they both need some sleep.”

            “They need more than some sleep,” Seth said.

            I finished my second banana and tossed it into the trashcan as Trip turned to Kelsey and said, “Fight me.”

            “No. You fight dirty and you cheat,” Kelsey said.

            “So do you,” Trip argued.

            “Shut up,” Kelsey said.

            I looked over, “I'll fight you,” I said.

            Trip jumped up, “Fun,” he said, pulling me up and dragging me over to the mats.

            I looked over to Kelsey, Amber, Justin and Seth, who followed us over to the mats, then back over to Trip who took a stance. “Kelsey, say go,” he said.

            Kelsey smiled mischievously and said, “5... 4... 3... Go.”

            Trip lunged for me and I dodged him before sweeping his feet out from under him. Trip, who stumbled, but maintained his balance, turned and punched me in the ribs. I planted a round house kick in Trip's stomach and, when he moved to kick me,  I grabbed his leg. Then, I turned Trip's leg until he was forced to turn his back to me and I swept his leg out from under him. When he hit the ground, Trip turned to stand but I spun him onto his back and sat on his stomach.