The teacher called the class to attention forcing Riley to be quiet and face forward. We spent the rest of class learning about what to expect over the next couple of months and the next class he said we would work on our breathing techniques. He also handed out a ton of paper work and two large books about the history of vampire powers. With all the books and paper work they’ve been giving me I’d need a wagon to cart all this stuff around.
Once class was over, Riley automatically picked up the conversation. I didn’t mind. I knew being new it wasn’t always easy to make friends so I thought I would give her a chance. “So where you off to next?” she asked.
“Self-defense.”
“Me too, mind if I walk with you?” she asked sheepishly.
“No.”
“So what do you think about the school so far? I was so excited when I found out I was coming here. I knew since I was born I was a vampire so it was no surprise about the school, but to come to a place with people like you where you didn’t have to hide what you are…” she went on and on. She talked all the way to the gym. I learned she had five siblings; three brothers, two sisters, and her parents had another on the way making this one lucky number seven as she called it. I thought having two older brothers was enough, but man I couldn’t imagine having three brothers plus two sisters. I also learned she was from Ohio so the cold weather didn’t bother her. They had three dogs, two cats, and a huge aquarium tank filled with exotic fish. Her favorite color was yellow and favorite music was pop. She told me her favorite TV show, movie, and even the type of car she wishes to buy in the future. She told me all of this in the short time it took us to walk to the gym. I half expected her to be out of breath at how fast she was talking. Not to mention her having to walk twice as fast to keep up with the stride of my long legs.
I didn’t mind her chatter – too much. It helped keep me distracted and frankly she was kind of nice. I could tell despite her jabber jaw that she was shy and didn’t make friends easily. I didn’t know why, but in a way I felt sort of protective of her. It was strange this feeling I got, but I knew I couldn’t ignore it. I made a call to keep a close eye on her even though I somehow knew that wouldn’t be an issue. I could tell she was the type to get easily attached.
We headed into the gym locker room to change and since I didn’t have my own lock, Riley offered to share hers with me. Rambling on about always being prepared and you could always count on her. Apparently the one thing I couldn’t count on her for was shutting up anytime soon. “So what kind of self-defense do you think they’re going to teach us?’ she asked.
“I’m not sure, but I guess we’re about to find out,” I said as we joined the rest of our classmates on the bleachers.
Two very large teachers in track pants and sweatshirts made their way out into the middle of the gym. The male teacher looked like he was over seven feet tall with short, light brown hair. He was big enough to be a pro wrestler and if his size wasn’t intimidating enough the serious scowl on his face would make anyone want to back down.
The female teacher had dark blond hair that was pulled back into a tight bun. Her face showed signs of wear and tear, probably from spending a lot of time in the sun. She was only about a foot shorter than the male teacher, but looked like she was built like a brick house. Her expression wasn’t any less frightening than the male teacher’s. I would definitely not want to bump into these two in a dark alley.
The male teacher blew his whistle quieting the class. “For those of you who are new I’m Mr. Miller and this is Mrs. Daniels. Now everybody up and let’s start stretching.”
After we all climbed down the bleachers and onto the gym floor I noticed Dean was in this class and so was Roman.
The teachers led us through a series of stretches then made us do ten laps around the gym. By my second lap I caught up to Dean who was lagging pathetically behind. “You should lay off the booze, maybe than you wouldn’t get so winded,” I teased.
“Whatever, I could beat you. I just don’t want to show off,” he said.
“Pick up the pace!” Mr. Miller yelled.
“Yeah come on McCallister, my grandmother can run faster than you,” Roman said to Dean.
“The only running your grandmother does is to the local Dunkin Doughnuts,” Dean laughed. Roman pushed Dean into the wall causing me to almost run into them. Annoyed with their goofing around, I rolled my eyes, and picked up the pace, passing them.
Roman caught up to me by the fifth lap. “If you’re as slow as your brother this will be an easy race to finish,” he said with a taunting smile.
“I wasn’t aware this was a race?”
“Care to make it one?”
“What do I get if I win?” I asked.
“Who says you’re going to win?” he smiled, picking up the pace.
I pushed a little harder and caught up to him. “Are you always like this?” I asked and he looked at me confused. “Confident?”
“Just offering some friendly competition,” he said, pushing himself in front of me again.
Friendly competition my ass.
I picked up the pace, passing him, and then it began. We raced each other for the last few laps. I even passed Riley and teased her about being a slow poke. She responded with a slow wheeze. “Are you okay?” I asked her.
“Asthma,” she replied.
“Giving up already?” Roman said, keeping stride with us.
I looked over at Riley and she waved me away. “I was just slowing down to give you a chance to catch up,” I said, hoping he hadn’t noticed how out of breath I was. I was not a runner, but I could manage a few laps around a gym. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t pushed myself to race Roman who was clearly in better shape than I was, but I needed to shut him up.
We kept pace with each other as we came up on the last lap. We were neck and neck until I passed Riley again. She looked worse than before. Her face was bright red and she was gasping for air. Roman flew by me when I stopped to check on Riley. She was walking and had her hand on the wall for balance.
“No stopping,” Mr. Miller yelled.
“Riley, you don’t look so good,” I said concerned.
“I’ll be…fine…I just…need…to…” her eyes rolled into the back of her head and I caught her before she hit the floor.
“Mr. Miller Mrs. Daniels!” I called.
Both of them came rushing over. “What happened?” Mrs. Daniels asked.
“She has asthma,” I said.
The rest of the class came over to see what was going on. “Everyone back up! She needs air!” Mr. Miller shouted. “Does she have an inhaler?”
“Riley, where’s your inhaler?”
“Locker,” she whispered.
I hauled ass into the girls’ locker room, but it never occurred to me that I didn’t know the combination to the lock. “Shit!” I shouted as I tried number after number but was coming up empty.
“Move,” Roman said, pushing me out of the way. He put his hand on the lock and bent it back and forth until it broke.
I stared at him eyes wide. “How’d you?”
“Ask questions later,” he said, pointing to the locker.
I tore through Riley’s backpack and found her inhaler inside the small pocket. “Got it,” I said as we ran back out into the gym. I handed Riley her inhaler. She reached for it with a shaky hand and took two puffs. Her breathing started to come back slowly as they gently helped her up.
“Take her to the nurse’s office,” Mrs. Daniels said.
“I’m okay,” Riley breathed.
“Just to make sure you should go to the nurse’s office,” Mr. Miller said. I started to walk with her when Mr. Miller yelled at me. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.
“I was helping her to the nurse’s office,” I said.
“It’s only down the hall. She’ll be fine getting there on her own.” I looked at Riley and she told me she would be okay so I headed back over to the rest of the class.
Mr. Miller had two students set up mats on the gym floor and frankly I was a little worried as to what he would have us do next.
As we waited for them to finish setting up, I bit my nails wondering about Riley, hoping she was okay. I was too distracted worrying about Riley that I didn’t even hear the teacher call my name. “Earth to Miss McCallister,” he grunted, looking up from his clipboard. His eyes scanned the bleachers for the disobedient child.
“Ella pay attention!” Dean squawked in my head.
“Yes,” I stuttered, receiving snickers from my classmates.
“Front and center,” Mr. Miller demanded.
I nervously walked down the bleachers and stood in front of all the students next to the teacher feeling very small. “Today we’re going to go over our defense moves. Want to make sure you didn’t completely fry your brains while you were on vacation and forget everything we taught you.”
Great, how am I supposed to go over something I didn’t even learn? “Um, excuse me, but I just started and I don’t know anything,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine. Instinct will kick in,” Mr. Miller said, not making me feel any better.
“Ashby!” Mr. Miller called signaling for Roman to join us on the mats.
Oh fan-freakin-tastic.
“Alright Ashby, let’s see what you remember,” Mr. Miller said, then turned to me. “McCallister, strike.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, making sure I heard him right.
“You heard me, attack him.”
“Like, hit him?”
This earned me more laughs from my classmates and an impatient teacher growing more impatient. “Yes, hit him,” he said.
I looked at Roman who was smiling smugly and enjoying every minute of this. I was about to ask the teacher that maybe he should choose someone else to demonstrate, but the look on his face told me if I didn’t he might demonstrate on me. Sighing, I took a deep breath, and swung at Roman. He waved off my punch like he was swatting away a fly. “That was pathetic. Do it again and put some weight behind it,” Mr. Miller shouted, making my cheeks turn red. I tried again, harder this time. “That’s good, but I know you can do better,” he said.
“Stand shoulder width apart and bend your knees,” Mrs. Daniels instructed me while demonstrating.
I followed her lead. I pulled my arm back and swung, putting weight behind it like Mr. Miller had told me. Not satisfied. I swung again and again. Roman blocked every punch with ease like this was boring him. He kept a smile on his face the whole time mocking me. “Is that all you got?” Roman taunted.
Not amused, I tried harder. I was starting to get winded which made him taunt me even more. “Mr. Miller, this really isn’t fair you know. She’s just a girl.”
Now that really pissed me off. All that frustration and anger that was building up I put into my swing. The look on Roman’s face as my fist made contact with his eye was priceless. I knocked him to the ground, surprising myself as well as Roman and the teachers. “Well Mr. Ashby, I believe next time you’ll think before you speak,” Mr. Miller chuckled, helping him up. Roman glared at me as he held his hand to his eye. “Seeing as Mr. Ashby can’t remember some basic moves I think we need a review.”
Everyone groaned as we made our way back to join our classmates. “Spread out,” Mrs. Daniels shouted. They demonstrated basic blocking moves then had us fan out and partner off to practice. I didn’t know anyone so Dean volunteered to be my partner. Although I think he just picked me because he knew I wouldn’t hit as hard as everyone else.
We spent the next hour learning how to punch properly and then block those punches. I was glad this was my last class of the day. By the time we were done I was sweating like a pig, tired, and starving. I hopped in the shower in the girls’ locker room then went to check on Riley.
When I arrived in the nurse’s office, Riley was still there and lying down on one of the beds. “Riley?”
“Oh, hey Ella,” she said, sitting up, and looking much better than she did about an hour ago.
“How are you doing?” I asked, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Oh, I’m fine. The nurse made me stay, but good as new,” she said cheery as ever.
“Good, I’m glad…Do you mind if I ask what happened?”
“Oh, it’s no biggie. I just get winded easily because of my asthma. Not supposed to push that hard. I guess I just over did it,” she shrugged.
“Maybe you should ask –”
She cut me off before I could finish. “No, I don’t want any special treatment. That’s why I never said anything in the first place. I know if they think I can’t keep up because of my condition then I’ll constantly be asked to sit out on things and…and well I just don’t want to do that. I know I just have to be more careful, that’s all,” she said smiling.
I could tell there was more to this story, but I didn’t want to pry. “Well, I brought your stuff,” I said, setting her bag down on the end of the bed.
“Thanks, how’d you get the lock open?”
“I can answer that,” Roman said, peeking his head around the curtain.
“What happened to your eye?” Riley asked, automatically noticing the bruise that had developed.
I looked down, picking at my nails. Roman wouldn’t even look at me. “An accident. Wasn’t paying attention,” was all he said. I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to admit what really happened either. “I had to break your lock to get the locker open. Sorry, I’ll buy you a new one.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Riley blushed.
“I just wanted to come by and see if you were okay and get some ice for my eye,” he said, glaring at me from his good eye.
“Thank you. That was very nice of you,” Riley said.
“Yeah well…I guess I’ll see you.” Roman said to Riley and ignoring me.
I quickly chased after him. “Roman wait.” He stopped and turned to face me with his arms crossed. “I’m sorry. It was an accident. You know that, right?”
He let out a breath. “I know. I guess I sort of deserved it. I was being a jerk.”
“Yeah, you were,” I agreed. He raised a brow at me. “Well you were.”
“That’s…fair, I guess,” he choked out. “Call it even?”
“I think I can manage that,” I said, giving him a slight smile. Not knowing what else to say I stood there, shuffling my feet.
“I’ll see ya around,” Roman said, making a quick getaway. I wondered about his abrupt departure before I remembered I left Riley hanging. I walked back in to let her know I would wait outside while she changed out of her gym clothes. I invited her to sit with me at dinner. I thought I’d introduce her to the group and help her feel more welcome.
Everyone was already at the usual table. “Hey guys, this is Riley,” I said, taking a seat.
Dixon, the gentleman he was, pulled out a chair for her as everyone introduced themselves.
I dug into my dinner, starved. I paused, mid-bite when the table went silent, and looked up to see Roman take a seat with Mackenzie. They all stared at Roman waiting for an explanation. “Dude, what happened to your eye?” Blake asked, having no patience.
“Accident. Wasn’t paying attention,” was all he said.
So accident was his story and he was sticking to it. I didn’t bother to correct him. I’m sure he was embarrassed enough as it was. After Roman’s explanation, the table went back to their normal conversations, and digging into their dinners. Riley took this opportunity to introduce herself to Mackenzie before I had a chance to warn her. “Hi, I’m Riley.”
Mackenzie gave her a, ‘why are you talking’ to me look and then turned her back to her. “Since when did this turn into the rejects table,” Mackenzie said.
“Why do you always have to be such a bitch,” Cameron snapped.
“Because someone has to fill in for your mom,” Mackenzie smirked.
Cameron’s face turned bright red and I half expected her to bitch slap her, b
ut she kept her cool and held herself back.
I spent the rest of dinner trying to help Riley feel included. Thankfully Cameron, Dixon, and Sienna did a good job of making her feel welcome. Mackenzie glared at us the whole time whispering snide comments to her bitch friends and laughing. I ignored her like I always did knowing this was something she wasn’t going to stop doing anytime soon.
chapter eleven
I woke up dreading the day ahead. I had royal politics and economics – bore – then art and dance. I counted down the minutes until art and dance knowing I would at least like those classes. Cameron was in my first class and saved me a seat next to her. I was glad for the companion. If I didn’t have Cameron to throw me an elbow every now and then I would have fallen asleep from the incredibly boring lecture. I was forced to take this class as part of my compromise to my dad. He reminded me every day before I left that I was a royal and needed to learn how to act like one. I also decided this was one secret I was going to keep to myself. As far as I knew no one knew and even Dean was keeping our royal status under wraps.
After two hours of listening to the teacher go on and on about the importance of good leadership, I was never so happy to have art next. My fingers were itching to paint. To my unlucky surprise we had to study a specific artist first before we were allowed to paint, making this another long, drawn out class.
I wasn’t looking forward to dance anymore, afraid we’d have to study the history of dancers before we did anything. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. Sienna was in this class and let me know before it started that we indeed did dance. For once I wasn’t scared jumping in where everyone left off. Back in high school I was head cheerleader and on the dance team. Not to mention all the dance classes my mom had stuck me in. I was dancing since I was five so today I was grateful for the training. We did a hip hop routine which was a nice change from my lyrical training. I ended up really liking this class and was looking forward to the next one.
After class, Sienna walked with me back to the dorms to change for lunch. On our way there I spotted a large dog with light brown hair running along the perimeter of the school. I couldn’t tell what kind of dog it was considering his size was bigger than any dog I’ve ever seen. He had a fierce look in his eye as he ran and that frightened me.
The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven Page 55