Taurus (Stray Kids Bang Chan)

Three

Sweat, pain, blood and tears. That's what she meant by practice. Too bad Alyssa had to find that out the hard way.

"Come on, come on, come on! Faster! Faster!" Mr Tanner, her fitness teacher yelled as he clapped his hands hastily. 

She glared at him through her peripheral vision. Was he just oblivious to her pain? Or did he actually want to kill her? Either way, she really detested him at that moment.

Her muscles were sore, she was tired and she lacked energy because she had missed breakfast that morning.

She felt horrible. She wanted to stop. No, she wanted to die. Was every morning going to be like that?

"Miss Kent! Faster! Faster! Harder! Harder!" Mr Tanner yelled in her ear. She tried. Underline the word 'tired'. The sand bag in front of her failed to move even a centimetre. It stayed in it's place, intimidating her. She felt so weak and with the glare Mr Tanner was giving her, she knew it wouldn't be long until she just melted into the ground. In fact, she would have preferred it that way.

Instead, she had just fallen down as she held her head. Her vision swirled and shifted from too bright to too dim every second. She felt like dying. She wanted to die. It all hurt so much. And yet Mr Tanner showed her no mercy.

"Get up!" He yelled, his voice sounding distant to her even though he was by her side.

"I can't," she replied quietly.

"I said GET UP!"

"Mr Tanner," a deep voice suddenly spoke. Alyssa looked in that direction only to see a boy with brown hair approaching them. "Let her be. It's her first day after all. She wasn't at breakfast this morning so she lacks energy. Give her a couple minutes of rest then let her continue."

Mr Tanner glanced at Alyssa then back to the boy before sighing.

"Take her to the back," he told the boy before continuing to shout at the other teenagers in the room.

"Thanks," Alyssa whispered weakly to the boy who was carrying her bridal style to the back corner of the room.

"It's nothing. We've all been in your shoes," he replied with a shrug as he placed her on the ground. "I'm Felix by the way."

She smiled weakly, "Alyssa."

"Well, Alyssa, you might want to get used to the pain of practice. We do it every single day from six a.m to ten a.m then two p.m to six p.m. Also, remember to eat."

"Why do we have to practice anyway?" She asked.

"Has no one told you about the fight?"

"The fight?"

"On the sixth of October?"

"Oh that, yeah. I've heard of it."

"So what? Did you expect us to just go without knowing how to fight?"

"Well...now that I think about it I did...although it's kinda stupid."

"FELIX! I told you to help her get there not take a break yourself!" Mr Tanner yelled.

"Got to go," Felix said. "It was nice meeting you, Alyssa."

"You too," she replied before he ran back to his punch bag.

***

"Alyssa?" BamBam asked from the door frame as he watched her grab all of her belongings and stuff them into a bag. "What are you doing?"

"Running away, what does it look like I'm doing?" She questioned.

"Why are you running away?"

"I just finished the first half of today's practice and I'm not sure I can survive the other half...or do this everyday until either the day I die or the day I get out of this place."

"Practice is nothing at your level, Alyssa. Just imagine practicing in the same room with an enemy that wants you dead everyday, now that is both painful and stressful."

"Yeah, but you don't have Mr Tanner as your fitness teacher...wait, who do you have anyway?"

"At my level, you don't have anyone. You are your own coach. I'd rather have a teacher though, because then at least Chris and I would have similar skills. He's a lot stronger that me now, I can tell he practices even when we're on break. This year is my last in this place and yet I worry that I won't be able to get out."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Chris has wanted me dead for a while now. I worry this time round when we're in the arena, he'll finally succeed in killing me...I am his only threat after all."

***

"Harder! Harder! Faster, Alexei! Faster! Zhi Ruo, stronger! Hit it harder! Good job, Felix! Good job! Pixie, faster! Faster!" Mr Tanner yelled, clapping again.

Alyssa watched Felix in her peripheral vision, surprised at how strong he actually was and how the aura he gave off now was opposite of when he was talking to her.

His punching bag was flying all over the place due to the force he hit it with. At times, it hit the ceiling and Alyssa could have sworn at some point she had seen some sand come out of it.

"Faster! Harder! Alyssa, faster!" Mr Tanner yelled, making her focus once again on the punching bag in front of her. Practice was actually bearable this time around since she had actually eaten and her arms were a bit numb to the pain.

She would frequently gaze at Felix, secretly hoping the bandana around his left wrist would just move a little bit or fall off all because she wanted to see his zodiac.

'He was so nice to me,' she thought as she looked at how he almost completely demolished the punching bag. If it her a person, it would have been dead long ago. 'But I wonder how he'd be if we were enemies. What if he's a Taurus? Or what if he's not and finds out that I'm a Taurus? Would he kill me?' She wondered to herself, so swept away by the thought she hadn't even realised it was six o'clock.

"Get some rest, everyone. I need you to be strong and energetic for tomorrow. You may leave...everyone except Alyssa," Mr Tanner said before glancing at her. "I need to talk to you."

She bit her lip hard as she watched everyone leave the room. Soon it was just Mr Tanner and her left.

"Be careful of Felix," he suddenly spoke up, taking her by surprise.

"What?"

"I saw you looking at him throughout the whole practice lesson. Be careful of him. He's a nice fella, I admit, but everything changes when you have to fight for survival. You aren't the first girl he has helped and was nice to but when the sixth of October came, they all died by his hands. Then again, you two could be allies, I don't know. Just be careful."

She gulped just thinking of it before nodding at the man.

"Thank you," she told him before grabbing her belongings and heading to the door.

However, as soon as she left the room, she bumped into someone but before she fell, he pulled her arm, to help her.

His eyes widened. At first she though he was looking at her but then she realised her sleeve had gone up. Her tattoo was revealed.

Immediately, she tugged her arm out of his hand and pulled her sleeve down as her heart began to race.

He slowly removed his gaze from her wrist, to look at her, a wide smirk across his face as he uttered, "taurus, huh?"