Freerunner

Chapter 2

Two weeks passed and my ankle finally healed itself. Then it was another week until I started sneaking off again since Stevie refused to let me continue training until I got the nuns to think I was in class some of the time. So, as a rational, understanding and reasonable person, I listened to him and attended school.

After I lost a hand-to-hand combat with him.

Of course I wasn't happy with that. I was fit and ready to get back into action and my best friend, my partner in crime, my comrade since school who got up at 0300 and had a paintball gun fight with me only to end up having to hide in the vents for five hours while the Officers hunted for us was going to make me go to school like the rest of the suffocating children.

I wasn't for that. So I challenged him to a fist-fight, not only to allow me to continue skipping school to attend course but also because I wanted to test out the skills we'd learned before he crushed my foot. That's the problem with training in secret; you only got a dummy to practice with and that's not particularly realistic since it doesn't fight back.

So, engaging in battle was a blast from the past. We used to fight all the time but we'd never had the proper instruction since we used to only go vent-crawling to play tricks, not learn content. Because I used to win sometimes since I was a lot quicker and smaller than him, I reckoned I had a pretty good chance.

I was wrong.

He had the unfair advantage of having a partner who fought back during practice. Also, we'd learned to use weight to our advantage, not our speed or size yet. I argued this point but lost the verbal fight as well since I initiated the physical challenge in the first place.

I'm not entirely sure how I managed to hide most of my bruises from my parents but I'm pretty sure Stevie took pity on me and made up an excuse to explain it all. I'd made a narrow escape, only having to cop table-cleaning in the mess hall for two nights. Of course, Stevie was there to refill the bucket with soap and throw the sponge at me when I missed a spot.

Still, the torturous week ended, slowly, but it ended. I got back into the vents and back into the shipping container next to the yard. I concentrated so hard on combat that I was actually sleeping the entire night instead of waking up after midnight to fail convincing Stevie to replace the paintball gun's paint with fire extinguisher foam. I had a partner to combat with now, Stevie of course, so I was no longer punching a dummy. We tried out new moves on each other during break at the watch tower canopy.

Finally, the day came when I challenged him to another fight. This time, we were evenly matched. He had the weight advantage but I was a lot more agile than him since he didn't do vent-crawling anymore.

We faced off, daring the other to make the first move.

"So Rose, you reckon you've got the skill to beat me now?" He teased.

"Shut up and fight me already," I snorted.

He nodded and ran at me. He launched a kick at my kidneys but I managed to grab his foot and used his momentum to throw him forward. He faltered slightly but kept his balance. I jumped immediately and aimed a punch at his temple but alas, he blocked my arm with his. He tried to twist my arm behind my back but I pulled away from the loop before he could complete the movement. I ducked behind him and went to kick the back of his knees but I missed and hit his calf instead. He turned and brought his elbow down on my head. I dodged at the last second. Making my way in front of him again, I dodged his right hook and slammed my palms into his chest. I couldn't push him over but was able to momentarily stun him. I took this opportunity to pin him and hopefully win the fight. However, as I ran forward, he landed a lucky kick to my side.