Love...Always. Book One of the Witchhazel Chronicles.

Chapter 4- So What Do I Do?

Chapter 4

On the left hand side the whole wall was full of bleachers, 6 or 7 rows I think. At the far end of the room there were three doors, 2 of them I suspected to be changing rooms and the other one I thought would be some kind of storage room. In the middle of the bleachers there was a gap, within that was a fire exit. There was a huge mat, which I figured was for the wrestling, smack bang in the centre of the gym. The masses of fluorescent lights assaulted my eyes but gave a nice glow to the room. Or should I call it a house? It could fit one in that's for sure.

A tall well built man emerged from the far end of the room; well actually from behind the bleachers at the far end of the room but hey ho it's still the other side right? He had a full head of black curls, the kind that is scrunched together and it reminded me of a mini Afro. Wait black hair? Hmmm at least Cilia weren't on her own in the outcast wagon. His face seemed fixed in a frown. I wonder why. If I'm honest, he looked hot, for a teacher. I'm guessing late 20's early 30's. He was wearing joggers and a sports top, it had an emblem on it but I was terrible with team names. Don't get me wrong I liked sport I'm just not like those sad people who go on and on about them.

"Good morning class." His voice had an edge to it that said 'don't mess with me'. The class mumbled 'morning' back to him.

"Today we are going to do some wrestling." Most of the guys in the gym started 'whooping' and smirking at a chance to show how manly they are. I looked around to see who was in my class and saw Steve, Karla and Gregorio. They were in their little click group to my left. I didn't really take much notice of anybody else because I hadn't met them and they hadn't met me and I wasn't going to interfere when I've got my own company. None.

Sir looked at me and said "It seems we have new meat in the slaughter house." He gave a sly grin which sent shivers down my spine. He motioned towards me and I froze. "Why don't you introduce yourself, then we can all get changed and make a start."

Everyone turned to stare at me and I shifted uneasy. Come on Beth, you've done this a million times. Why is this time so different? "Hi, my name is Bethany. I just transferred from Canada." I gave a little wave at the beginning. Sir nodded and introduced himself.

"And I am Mr Banes. Now everyone get ready, we've got a lot to get through today." Mr Banes exclaimed and everyone was off. I just followed the girls to the changing rooms.

They were like any other changing room I'd been in; lockers were in rows and benches were in the middle. The lockers were separated so people could walk in-between them. The lockers all had a handle on them so you could open them and lock them, I think. I picked the one by the front so that once we'd finished I could make a bee line for, well anywhere.

So I got changed into my epic trackies, tank top and flat trainers. I waited for a bit so that I wasn't the first to go back into the gym. I followed a small group of girls that were talking about what moves they would be doing today and what they would love to learn. I didn't think I was hearing right; girls, wrestling, enjoyment? Has the world gone mad?! Or was it just me? Probably was me.

But still once we were back in the gym Mr Banes told us to stand in a line in front of the bleachers. I took resident's at the end nearest the changing rooms, hoping he would start at the other end first.

Once everyone was in the line Mr Banes started pairing people up, thankfully at the other end of the line. Phew. He put Gregorio with a guy called Scaphio. Poor guy. I mean the names cool and all but it didn't suit the guy. He had squared shoulders, big muscles and tree trunk legs. Even through his top you could see his 6 pack and his pecks. I noticed the smell of him and it was like treacle, sweet treacle. He was fair folk, fairy.

When sir got to me he said "so have you wrestled before Beth?" I shook my head in reply which he replied with a sigh. "Alright." He turned to the other pairs and pointed at a blond boy. Steve? I frowned confused on where this was going. "Steve, come here for a minute. Tyler you work with Sachrissa." He motioned for them to move, and they did. Steve jogged towards us and stopped next to Mr Banes.

"Yes sir? What's up?" I could see Steve's mouth twitch, keeping himself from smirking.

"Could you teach newbie here the basic moves we use in wrestling?" Steve thought about this, giving me a once over as he did.

"Well she's a little small, doesn't seem to be that strong..." Excuse me!!! My mouth fell open at his stupid, stupid mistake. "But yeah I'll give it a go." This time he let his mouth turn up into a mischievous grin directed at me. Mr Banes nodded in approval then left Steve to teach me some wrestling.

"Come on err... Sorry what's your name again?"

"Beth." I said through clenched teeth as I followed him to a place upon the huge mat. I'll show him, I thought to myself.

"Right I want you to copy everything I do, got it?" Steve asked me in a completely serious tone.

"Yeah. I got it."

"Good. Now, the starting position in wrestling is simple." He began. "You crouch down slightly." He bent his back forward as he said it and I copied. "You bend your knees so you can bounce on them." He started bouncing from one knee to the other to prove his point. I, of course followed his every movement. "And you keep your arms bent in front of you." He finished explaining and did as he said.

"Good, but you gotta relax your knees a bit more or you'll end up hurting yourself, OK." I nodded back to him trying to relax more.

"Okay, so I'm gunna show you a basic shot. Same again, copy my every move." He was so serious it made me nervous. "So with your lead leg, the one that's in front, your gunna go down on it. Slowly so I can explain." He went down on his left leg; so that he was on 1 knee and his other leg was flat on the floor next to him. I did the same and he nodded. "Then you gotta bring your other leg forward so you're lifting yourself back up with it, OK." He did exactly that so that he stood up after. I followed suit and was stood next to him.

"That was good; now let's practice that a bit faster so you get the feel of it." And we did this for around 10-20 minutes.

"Alright now what we're going to do is, you're going to do what we've just been practicing on me okay. So I'm gunna stand here." He stood in front of me in his stance. "And your gonna go down on that lead leg." He went down on his lead leg. "Then you're going to grab round my waist, kinda like a tackle really." He grabbed round my waist and pushed me down onto the mat. Okay I get it, I thought to myself. He got off me and helped me up.

"You think you could do that?" Oh I could do more than that. I nodded and we stood in our positions.

We kept swapping roles and taking each other down. There was about 5 minutes left of the lesson and Steve insisted that we do it 1 more time.

I took my position opposite him, getting ready to go down and take him down. OK, last one of the day.

However, little did I know, Steve had a trick up his sleeve. Once I was about to grab his waist he pushed me down onto the mat, moved so that he was behind me, grabbed my arms, and turned me over onto my back. he was near enough on top of me at this point. I felt his breath on my face he shifted me onto my back.

"Rule number 1; never underestimate your opponent." he said with a small grin on his face. I was panting from all of the moving around and tackling I've been doing.

"Well maybe next time then hey." I replied with a smile of my own. "Now Steve, can I get up please. I actually have places to go at lunch." I chuckled at my own bit of humour, Steve chuckled to while letting go of me and helping me up.

"Thanks Steve. That was fun, maybe we could do it again next time?" He nodded with the smile still on his face. i made my way towards the changing rooms just as Steve said "You did really well ya know. For a newbie." I could hear him softly chuckle to himself. Hmm Steve was actually very nice.