by Jae Choguk
side of the gym where all the eyes followed us. I don’t think I would ever get used to everyone watching me; a gymnastics meet is a little different than this.
“Try to attack me.” He said after dropping my arm from the painful grip he had it in. I rubbed my arm and glared at him.
“Alright, but don’t forget you asked me to.” He smirked and then it all happened in a blur. I ran at him with my fist up, he grabbed it and turned around, flipping me over his back, just like Mr. Cain did. I scrambled up again feeling a flush across my face.
“You sounded a lot more confident that you acted, is that the best you can do?” He asked with a smirk.
“Again.” I ran at him again, just to have him repeat the process. I groaned as I landed hard on the mat, over and over again. All I could say was again, and he didn’t seem to mind kicking my ass. No one has ever made me lose my calm like he did. To make things better a crowd had enclosed us, I felt like a lion being tamed (no irony there).
“Again!” I yelled and I heard a few cheers for me, making it seem like no one has beat Jeremy. He yanked my raised arm throwing me to the ground and putting a knee on my chest. He was barely breaking a sweat, and here I was covered in it.
“Aren’t you done yet? I don’t know if I can be your trainer if you can’t even land one hit on me.” He mocked.
“I’m not done yet.” I panted. From the routine I did manage to see how he was doing the maneuvers. This time I raised my arm so he would think I was going to do the same thing again, but before he could grab my arm I dropped my right arm. At the same time I raised my left and grabbed his arm bringing it over my shoulder, flipping him just as he had done too many times to count. The look of hatred and disbelief was almost satisfying, but the way his eyes seemed to have no emotion unsettled me. He quickly knocked me off him and glared at me.
“Was that good enough for you?” I said more confidently than I felt.
“You’re a fast learner; I guess it won’t be too bad to be your trainer after all.” He said with a smile that said otherwise.
“You’re my trainer?” I asked with disbelief.
“Yes ma’am. Sensei specifically asked me in fact.”
“Great” I muttered.
We did multiple self-defense maneuvers, like attacks from behind to frontal assaults. I haven’t been so exhausted in my life, if I thought gymnastics was hard (which it is) this was worse. Maybe it was because it was Jeremy, and he was defiantly not the normal type of teacher. He wasn’t at all affected by hurting a girl, which I guess is fine by me ‘cause I don’t want to be treated like a piece of glass. A frail, and incapable girl, who can’t do anything without help is the exact type of girl I won’t become. My mom was fine by herself, and I will be too.
“We’re done for today, go to your next class, I’ll see you again in martial arts class” He said with an evil smile.
“Can’t wait.” I said with no emotion.
“Me either,” He said walking closer and whispered in my ear “It’s my specialty after all.” I watched him saunter off with his ice shield, as I glared fire at his back. I could practically feel myself bristling just like a cat would. And the irony sets in.
Five
As you can imagine, it was horrible. I haven’t been so sore or infuriated like I was from one person before. I walked into the dorm and was instantly surrounded by girls. I answered all their questions despite how unbearably exhausted I was. I told them that I was from here, I was supposedly a lion, but I haven’t transformed yet to know for sure and yes, this was my natural hair color.
“Is it true you landed a hit on Jeremy?” Mai asked when the crowd dispersed. Alice was laughing at the whole thing, despite my glares at her.
“Once.” I clarified since all throughout martial arts class I was landing on my ass, and getting jabbed, punched, and kicked in every available area. He had no conscience, so that made the blows ten times worse than what other people were getting. Mr. Zander who was the teacher for that class just watched with curiosity, which I did not understand why.
“That’s more than anyone else has! That’s actually fighting seriously anyways.” She said excitedly and I just shrugged, wondering who would play fight with him. I told them I was going to take a shower and Alice laughed saying that this was only the beginning. I could hardly wait; then again I always was one for a challenge.
I woke up with warm ice packs from the night before for three months. I trained harder than I knew possible, and I was growing more and more comfortable around everyone. Well almost anyone. I was still having problems with Jeremy, but his strict tutoring has helped me learn a lot faster than other kids. Unfortunately I also had 16 years to make up for. I loved the self-defense class, and was finally able to knock Jeremy over more than once in a class period. He seemed to lose some of his ice exterior when I did; which was a big difference from before. Ice eyes that could kill are still his number one trait, but I was used to him glaring at me by now.
“Wake up!” I heard someone yell to close for comfort. I cracked open my eyes to see Alice and Mai on my bed leaning over me.
“I can’t get over how much I love this room!” Mai said bouncing on my stomach; she was so small it felt like a kitten. When I found out she was a black cat, it makes sense since she has the bright mischievous eyes, and short black hair. Alice on the other hand had long chestnut-brown hair, and warm brown eyes, perfect for a brown bear.
I realized that I was the only one who hasn’t changed yet, but I wasn’t all that far behind. I had already felt my instincts in the back of my mind, a constant throbbing of things I should be aware of. I learned to rely on them since everything is not always as it seems; a life motto here.
“Yeah I like that there aren’t any people around.” I say while rolling my eyes. They both just smile and jump on me pinching my cheeks and petting my hair. I hissed, and they just bellowed with laughter.
“It’s just too easy to piss cats off.” Alice remarked shaking her head.
“I’m a lion,” I muttered.
“Same difference!” Mai chimed in.
“I’m pretty sure you are about the size of my foot… or paw.”
“Well since I haven’t changed yet, I guess we’ll never know!” She said with her cheeky smile. I bonked them on the head and stretched, getting out of my bed.
“You ready for your assessment?” Alice said after I changed and had a muffin in my hand.
“Not really, but I can’t get out of it, not even faking cramps works with him!” I yelled throwing my hands up.
“Well if it makes you feel better, he shows more emotion to you than anyone else, other than Lucas of course.” Alice said stealing a bite out of my muffin as we walked downstairs.
I slapped her hand away when she reached for it again and said, “I still don’t understand their relationship.”
“No one does, except for them, I could say it’s a guy thing, but there’s something deeper than meets the eye.” Lucas was Jeremy’s best friend, only friend, almost like brothers. No one understands their relationship, and they seem just fine that way.
“Just like everything else in this school…” I muttered and they nodded their silent agreement.
“Well anyways; strong and swift, quiet and quick!” Mai said pumping her fist. I didn’t understand this either; it’s their way of encouraging people instead of saying ‘good luck’, its ‘strong and swift, quiet and quick’. In a way it does make me feel better though.
“Aw, you waited for me?” I asked sarcastically when I saw Jeremy with his arms crossed, feet shoulder-width apart, and grimace on his face. It was his usual stance every time he saw me. At least it wasn’t full-on hatred anymore. Lucas was behind him and I smiled and waved. I liked him ever since I met him. It was during my personal training, and I just got knocked flat on my butt, and I was in a particularly bad mood. So obviously I lashed out and Jeremy did the same back, we snarled at each other. That was the day that I saw what animal he was. A white tiger, the
only one left in fact. His family was the last clan of white tigers, but I heard they all died in a slaughter by the hunters. That’s where his hatred comes from, and his revenge against them won’t end until they are all gone, every single one of them.
“Jeremy!” is what Lucas yelled out as he grabbed onto the tigers back. Jeremy was the only person who could change fully into an animal in our class. But I was the only one who hadn’t even had my claws come out yet. Jeremy slowly lowered himself to the ground and Lucas pets his head. I would literally get bit if I did that, but Jeremy remained passive. He slowly reverted to his human form and glared blue fire at me, a look that was even more fierce than normal.
“Sorry ‘bout that, he hasn’t learned how to control his temper yet.” Lucas said with an easy smile. I found myself almost smiling back into his angelic features. Light wavy blonde hair, and pretty light grey eyes. It should have only made sense that his animal was a panda. I could almost see him eating bamboo and making it look normal. And besides me, there isn’t much that’s unusual here.
“Ready?” Lucas asked as I got myself out of my memory cloud.
“As I’ll ever be.” I replied drily. Lucas smiled and punched Jeremy’s arm giving him a look that only they, themselves could understand. Jeremy just snorted and said, “Don’t make me look bad.” Now it was my time to snort, and roll my eyes. We walked to the assessment