M3RG3

Chapter 20

Wednesday

"Wake up, sleepyhead." Natasha crooned into my ear. "Kyle's waiting for you."

"Kyle's-" I was instantly awake. "He's what?"

"You have ten minutes. Go! Go! Go!" Natasha rolled her eyes with a teasing grin as she shoved me into the bathroom.

I hastily prepared myself, not bothering to tame my mane as I swiftly tied it up in a messy ponytail. The moment I was dressed up and ready to go, a soft knock resounded from the door. With a smirk on her face, Natasha danced her way to the front and opened the door for Kyle.

"Good morning to you as well, mister," She winked. "Your girlfriend's waiting for you."

"She's not my girlfriend," Kyle mumbled while I muttered, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Oh, aren't you two adorable?" Natasha cooed. "Now get along and do what you need to do." With that said, she ushered us out and shut the door behind us.

"That's not the first time she set me up," I sighed. "Anyways, what are we doing today?"

"Since we didn't practice much last time, I thought that some adequate training would suffice for today." He pointed at his Tabloid with an impish grin. "I checked your schedule. Your lessons don't start until 11 o'clock."

"Oh really?" I smirked, ignoring the twang in my heart at his somewhat sweet gesture as I shoved him playfully. "Stalker."

"Oh, it's on," He grinned, sending me a light-hearted punch. Instantly, all the bruises that Lauren had given me yesterday flared back to life, a throbbing and aching pain.

"You okay?" His expression instantly morphed into something of concern as he swiftly checked for any bruises and injuries.

"I'm fine." I smiled, gritting my teeth to swallow down the throbbing pain.

"No, you're not." He glared at me, his tone scarily assertive. "Show me."

"It's really unnecessary- "

"Show me." Reluctantly, I lifted a portion of my shirt, exposing the blue-black bruises that coloured my stomach and trailed upwards to my ribs. Kyle inhaled sharply as I quickly dropped my shirt back down, covering up my injuries once more.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped you." He sighed, lifting my shirt to examine the bruises again.

"How so? By returning the favour to Lauren?" Despite the unethical response, I couldn't help but smirk at the thought. "No thanks."

Kyle obviously wanted to do something else, but I blatantly refused. I couldn't afford to appear weak now when I was injured, and Lauren had the upper hand.

"Firstly, never get yourself cornered. Unless you can do a flip in midair, don't do it. However, the best option is to hit where it hurts hardest and slip from under your opponent's grip. Shimmy below if you need to, but when you're cornered, it's never good news."

He suddenly pounced, his hands outstretched to tackle me to the ground. Instantly, I tried to twist out of his grip, but he easily gripped me on my arm and twisted me down within seconds.

"In these circumstances, you must be faster than your opponent. Either step out of the way or injure them before they can." He took a few steps back, resuming his fighting stance. "Let's try again."

He pounced, but I was prepared this time. I rolled away, ready to stand up a few inches away from my spot. However, I was instantly pinned to the ground by Kyle.

"Staying on your feet is another important tactic. Most of your strength comes from standing up. It is difficult to project much strength in a fetal position. Once again, your best option here is to injure your opponent to loosen their grip. Then, you either push them off or shimmy out of the way."