Restart ✔️

13 | Shape of You

Training is intense. It's been a week since Sage and I started, and every day I've woken up feeling like a 3,000 year old mummy. It's still better than school, though. I told Sandy I had decided to switch to doing online school from now on, and she just said ok. So everyday I tell her I'm going to the library with Sage to work on our online school when really I go to training. Problem is, I actually have to do something for online school.

We train in pairs, but Ms. Smith mixed me and Sage up. I don't know why, but it's probably a good thing. I think she wants to make sure we don't hold back when practicing.

Our sessions consist of three parts: warm up, lifting, and sparring. Our warm up is harsh, usually an 8 mile run. Then we go to the weight room and lift about 50lbs. And lastly, we fight. My partner is Nick, and with him having been in the Four longer and practically raised by Ms. Smith (according to him), I get my ass handed to me every time. But it has been a good bonding time for us. And I think that goes for everyone because Sage and her partner, Mark, have been getting really close. Like intimately close...I even walked in on them once. And to think it's only been a week since we joined.

Today is Evaluations Day. Ms. Smith checks on our progress and rates everyone from better to worse. It's my first one, so I'm kind of nervous. Nick says I'll do great and that I'm a born fighter, but we'll see about that.

First is our endurance test. We get an hour to run as far as we can. I run 11 miles, and Nick says I did pretty good even though he ran 15. We'll see what he says when I start beating him. Because I will start beating him. I'm determined to.

Second, we lift 25lbs. The amount of sets and reps in each one that we do is what Ms. Smith checks. I don't do that well, just 6 sets of 8. Nick says I did perfectly fine. But again, that's coming from someone who lifted 10 sets of 10. More than twice my score.

Lastly, we fight. Ms. Smith sets it up in the form of a tournament. It's single elimination, so as soon as you lose once, you're out. My first opponent is a girl named Laney Love. She's as thin as a board and definitely not a born fighter. It's an easy win.

My second match is a bit harder. I'm matched up against one of the guys from the group, so his punches hurt like hell. Brady Bong's his name, and man, he actually kind of knows what he's doing.

But I still kick his ass. *Hair flip*

I have time until my next fight, so I watch the others. Sage is fighting Nick and clearly doesn't have a chance. Nick is like an undercover ninja.

My next fight is the one everyone watches. There's only four rounds, so I'm really surprised I've gotten this far. Since Nick won against Sage, he's placed to fight me now...awesome.

We take our places on the mat and shake hands.

"I'll try not to beat you too bad," he whispers in my ear.

"Thanks."

When Ms. Smith blows the whistle for a que to start, Nick lunges at me with a right hook. I dodge it and knee him in the stomach. He staggers back only for a second and says, "Good one, Cass."

He gets back in position and we circle each other. He takes a step forward and jabs with his right then lands a left hook on my cheek. Being the stupid idiot I am, I don't see it coming and fall face down on the mat. Nick turns me over and pins my arms to the ground. When I look up at him, he had a huge grin on his face. I, however, am going to be very sore tomorrow morning.

Nick leans down and whispers, "You ok?"

I nod, and when he lifts his face back up, we're only a centimeter apart. And even though Ms. Smith keeps her basement colder than one can imagine, I'm burning up from the chemistry between us. And then all of a sudden I feel like I'm floating in the air from the feel of Nick's lips touching mine.