The Fragile the Broken and the Brave

29. Combat Class

8.13.20

"I am extremely sorry for the results of what I have done. I will make certain that it will never happen again," I announced in front of the eyes of the whole school. The senior that had taken me to class on the first day scoffed loudly while rolling his eyes, and I could hear the general disapproval from the student body. Standing up in front of them all, I felt the horrifying truth deep in my chest that I've replaced my good reputation with a bad one. I'm not the amazingly powerful warlock anymore; I'm the kid that forced a lock down for an entire weekend.

"Thank you, Benjamin. Everyone go back to class!" The hall emptied out, and I finally let my shoulders relax quite a bit. "You too, kid."

"I don't know where to go still."

"Oh right, you've only been here for a few days. Follow me."  Mr. Sequiz, the head of section for gold, lead me out of the attendence hall, and I followed him still feeling awful for what I did to everyone. The atmosphere is much colder around me than it was before, and I felt a small feeling of claustrophobia come over me.

"Here it is. This is going to be a physical combat class. Here's your clothing." I jumped when he swapped out my clothes for the uniform Michael showed me a few days ago, and he pushed my shoulders gently towards the classroom.

"Thank you." I walked into the room, and the entire place went dead silent. All eyes were cast upon me, and I felt a blush of embarassment come rushing to my face.

"Nice of you to join us," the teacher that happened to be the blue guy, Demasicus, I think, opened coldly, and the first thing I noticed was that everyone was mixed in this class. The differently colored stripes were usually never seen together, as Mikey had told me, but here everyone was getting along and hanging out together. It would have been nice to meet new people had I not alienated and made a fool out of myself. Pretty much everyone around me was an unknown person, and I felt the pressure weigh heavily on my mind.

"Apologies, sir," I responded formally with a dip of my head, and I could see the whites of his eyes when they rolled dramatically. I've only ever talked to this guy three times and I can already tell that he would make a great highschool theater kid. All of his actions are so overdramatic that it hurts deep in my chest just watching him.

"Well, get in line!" I swiftly scampered into the line of students that had formed while we spoke, and Demasicus, whose last name I didn't know nor cared to know, began to speak words that went right over my head. I'm still tired, and his monotone voice wasn't helping me at all. "Does everyone understand the rules?"

"Yes!" the entire class chorused; well, except for me. I was lost in some different realm of reality in my brain.

"Benjamin?" Nothing. "Hello?" Nada. "WAKE UP THERE'S A FIRE!"

"FIRE!?" I shouted back, and the entire class shared a laugh.

"Did you hear a single word I said?"

"No sir."

"Why not?"

"Because your voice sounds like one of those meditation apps where they try and put you to sleep. It works."

"You are the most frustrating teenager I've ever seen! I can't start if you don't know the rules, so now the whole class is going to wait while I repeat all 26 of them for your dumbass ears."

"I don't think you can call me a dumbass–"

"I can do whatever I want if I think it will help you learn. Now focus or I'm going to throw you into the ring with bubble wrap on your hands!" I listened a bit closer as he continued reciting the rules, and I realized how unimportant they were. Don't beat each other into smithereens, don't use magic, and don't hurt someone outside of the protected area. Simple as that. I don't know why we needed 26 rules for this.

"Alright folks. First match up is to rank Benjamin in this list, so... Mikey, you're the top in our class, so do your worst."

"But sir–"

"Whatever you're about to say, I can guarantee I don't care. Places."

"Sir he's untrained. This is dangerous."

"Pfft. Who ever lived without a bit of danger in their life."

"Sir, I don't want to hurt him. You know how mad Gonzalez would get if you had another death in one of your classes."

"Death is part of life! Now I want to see you fight. No holding back or you'll be bummed to the bottom of the list."

"You cannot be serious."

"Oh, I am. Fight!"

Mikey's eyes were the only thing that betrayed his true reluctance to hurt me when he squared up, and I put my own fists up. My dad had taught me a bit about fighting, but I've never had a reason to use my skills up until now. My arms protected my face while we circled around, and I made sure that my base, as he called it back then, was solid. My feet were about shoulder width apart, and my legs were tense but not locked.

I saw Mikey rush forward, and I took a couple of seconds to watch his pattern before stepping to the side and grabbing onto his arm. The result was a loud crack, and I was initially worried until I saw a bit of pasta fall from between his teeth. He's trying to trick me into stopping to check if he's okay so he can blind side me. Well I'll play along now. "Oh my God are you okay!?" I feignted my concern, and he totally fell for it.

"Ow ow ow why did you break my arm!?" The teacher just watched our theatre production, and I could tell he knew that Mikey's ploy wasn't real. However, no one knew that I was also aware.

"I don't know! I thought it would stop you from attacking me more!"

I saw his left leg tense in the corner of my eye, and I just knew he was going to punch right. I was prepared when I saw the hit fly, and I easily ducked under the blow before hitting him in the stomach. The apology in his eyes from before died down, and he stood up with more fight in his eyes than ever. He threw a kick at my gut with a lot of velocity, and I didn't have time to move before the force sent me flying backwards. I coughed loudly with a lack of air in my lungs, but I stood back up quickly once I could breathe again. His dark brown eyes observed my current look, and a small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. Suddenly, he was flying at me again, and I only had a few milliseconds to register block and hit in the stomach once again.

He doubled over in pain, and I took that opportunity to push him out of the main arena, meaning I won. Well, almost won. I have a wheeze in my chest and it hurts like a bitch.

"I guess Benji wins. I can't tell honestly."

"Yay!"