The Academy (Part 2 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 8- Sparring

Rosine:

Isolation didn't suit me very well after the first week, it turned out. If I thought that I was stuck inside too much at home, then this was a whole different story. At home I had Blaise and my sister, and a huge building to wander and spend my days in. While I had my three new friends at the Academy, and the building was large, we had committed to not leaving Nyoka's room other than food, and it was starting to feel a little cramped. Phoenix's books helped with the boredom, and she had even started teaching me some russian, but I found the pronunciation a little more difficult than my native french and english.

The more time I spent with each of them, the more impressed I was. Daitan and Nyoka were both incredibly talented artists in their own ways, and it turned out that Nyoka wanted to study nursing or become an EMT someday. Daitan liked machines, putting things together and tinkering with them before assembling it one more time. I even watched Nyoka take apart a hair dryer, lay the pieces out in random order, just to see if Daitan could put it back together without seeing the original.

Phoenix was beyond smart, which I had started to realize before. It wasn't just book reading and facts, either. She would sit silently for hours, only to look up and drop a random fact into the conversation, then look away again. But she also had a penchant for puzzles and was gifted with logic. She had a whole book of logic puzzles that she would fly through in no time, but when I looked at them, I couldn't even figure out the first clue.

However kind and entertaining these girls were to be around, there was only so much time you could spend with the same people in a small room before you started to get a little stir crazy. I needed to go on a run or workout, something to stretch my muscles. The perfect opportunity arose the next day when I was walking back from lunch with the girls, and Forte was walking in the opposite direction.

He slowed as he neared me, lowering his voice briefly, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

I glanced at my friends and Nyoka gave me a quick nod, letting me know that they would wait for me off to the side of the hall. Stepping off to the side of the hall out of earshot, I still made sure that I stayed in view of my friends, only separated by the scattered people also going to and from their meal.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure I hadn't done something to offend you. I almost thought you were avoiding me, if something happened the last time we were sparring, I'm sorry-"

"No, it's nothing like that. Sorry if I've been distant, I just had some.... Family stuff to deal with, I guess. I've still got a couple bruises, but I'd be up to spar again."

"I didn't mean to pressure you if you're still on the mend," He urged, but a look of confusion passed over his face. The black eye had become glaringly obvious, and the most that Daitan have been able to do was tone it down by mixing different makeup together. A week after he last talked to me, most small bruises would have faded. Forte wasn't stupid, he knew that something was going on, and whatever had injured me was more than a little punch or slap.

"Not at all. It's probably best that I get moving again, but I have to ask," I grinned teasingly, "Do you ever actually work, or do you just hang around the gym all of the time?"

He laughed, but there was a rueful tone to his voice. "That's the downside of being twenty years old when there are substitutes available that are also older than you. They don't give you a lot of credit, and I'm usually the last one that they call."

I remembered that my friends had mentioned he was a recently returned student, but I didn't realize he was barely two years older than me. Maybe it was his demeanor or attitude, but something about him felt a little bit older, more mature.