M3RG3

Chapter 16

Friday

I rubbed my temples and pinched my fingers together to emphasize the little amount of patience I had for studying. "I am this close to dying. How did you even memorize the periodic table?"

"When you have time and patience, anything is possible." Lyla smiled. 

"Right now, I'm really impatient for my dinner to arrive. I need some serious sugar," Natasha groaned before clutching her stomach again. "I burned so many calories after building a makeshift tent. Not to mention one that collapsed in a matter of 3 minutes!"

"Hey guys, mind if we sit here?" Jamie asked, holding his plate awkwardly. Kyle stood behind him, burning holes into his meal.

"Yeah sure, scoot over." Natasha grinned, waving them over. Kyle and Jamie wiggled in next to Natasha, sitting across me and Lyla.

"And here comes my food!" Natasha clapped her hands in delight. "I can finally regain the calories that I lost!"

Jamie coughed, eyeing Natasha suspiciously. "You're weird."

"Says the one who paid so much attention in Science class but still managed to fail his classwork," I smirked as Jamie stabbed another piece of his chicken viciously in response.

Natasha and Jamie's endless chatter filled in most of the awkward silence. Kyle sneaked a few glances at me, but I glued my eyes on my plate to ignore him as much as possible.

30 minutes later, Kyle whispered something in Natasha's ear that made her eyes instantly light up in interest. After sending me a devious smirk, I knew what he said wasn't the exact definition of 'appropriate'.

"It seems like," Natasha winked at me suggestively. "We have to leave because Kyle and Arista have some errands to do." She emphasized the word 'errands' to make the entire phrase sounded suggestive and overly dirty.

"I see." Jamie grinned, understanding 'the joke'.

"Have fun doing your thing!" Natasha waved before sashaying out of the room.

"Yeah, sure," I rolled my eyes before noticing Kyle's blatant stare. "What?"

"Nothing," He shrugged. "Just not used to seeing you being so normal."

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"Are we there yet?" I whined. Kyle's face was indifferent even as we journeyed deeper into the Merging Institute.

Soon, he shoved a door open and flickered the lights on. The gym was a bare room with an outdated yoga mat rolled over the floor. Targets with faded colours were hastily nailed onto the walls.

"Let's just make it simple. No punching, kicking or violently assaulting your opponent. The match ends when anyone taps out or manages to hold down the opponent for more than 10 seconds." He began to do some general stretches and warm-ups, flexing his arms, showing off some rather strong muscle that I couldn't help but stare at.

"It's just practice, right?" I did my best to mimic what he was doing.

"Yeah, so you can tap out the moment you feel uncomfortable." Gradually, we fell into a lapse of silence. It was awkward, but not uncomfortable since we weren't people that talked excessively like Natasha or Jamie.

Ten minutes later, we were done. He twisted his head slightly to meet me with a challenging stare.

"Ready?" He smirked, his fighting stance firm and confident. 

"Go!" The two of us began moving, but not towards each other. He was measuring out my weaknesses while I was anticipating him to strike. Suddenly, he lunged, his arms outstretched to wrap around my waist and topple me to the ground. My arms were raised in self-defence before he hurtled straight towards me like a meteorite, striking me down.