Chapter 14

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" It was Jessie's voice. After shoving Reid, she stood there with her arms crossed.

"Who the fuck are you?" Reid didn't stand up immediately like I thought he would. Was he shocked? Because I am sure as hell shocked. Was Jessie so badass that she could go against the main villain?

After a moment of hesitation and confusion, murmurs started spreading across the crowd. I saw a lot more phones out, probably to record everything. All while Reid's goon helped him to stand up and started dusting him off.

"You better be ready…"

"Be ready for what?" Jessie cocked her head up. "Starting an unauthorized fight is prohibited while bullying a student who isn't a part of the martial course is punished with expulsion."

My initial stupor alongside fear started slowly going away after I heard her valiant voice.

I overheard students whispering if she was "THAT" Jessie, but I don't know what "that" means. Is she popular?

"You better go off, go on, and fill your attendance record, shoo, shoo." Jessie started waving her hand at Reid as if he was an annoying fly.

I don't understand if she is just brave and confident in her power or batshit crazy.

Finally, Reid's patience ran dry. He tried to close the distance between us, but Jessie was standing in front of me. Thwarting his attempt. How should I react to this? Should I hide behind her back? Although she was a girl who was smaller than me, and Reid, I was afraid of Reid.

My reflection was interrupted by a very light push from Jessie. She half-turned and looked me in the eyes. I felt that she wanted to tell me through her gaze to let her settle everything, so I took a step back.

I felt my cheeks grow hot. But no matter how ashamed I was feeling, I couldn't step up to Reid.

And now they were in a tense staredown. No matter how intimidating Reid looked, Jessie didn't lose an inch to him.

"Hah, and who do we have here," Reid was first to give up, "Some good samaritan, huh?"

"If you've got no official business here, you should return to your classroom. The bell has already rung." Jessie made an emphasis on the word official.

"And let me ask you what would happen if I didn't?" He smirked.

"Then you will receive punishment according to the rules."

"Ahahaha, punish me?" He clapped a few times, "If you know the rules so well, let me ask you one more thing then. What will happen if I take this wimp with me?"

"I will interfere."

"Heh, interfere, and who are you to interfere?"

"Jessie Arndt, representative of the team Brave and Bold in Birchland high."

After she said these words, Reid's face instantly turned ugly.

"So if you want to, we can always arrange a proper fight between our teams."

One of the guys behind him suddenly came close to him and started whispering something. As they finished talking, Reid finally backed off.

"You're safe for today. But don't you dare think that you can forever hide behind a woman." As he left, the crowd started thinning out until the only one left was me and Jessie.

All of this happened right before my eyes. Yet I couldn't do a thing. If Jessie wasn't here…

"Sorry for coming so late."

"No-no-no. You shouldn't apologize. You don't owe me anything." I didn't know how to react to this. All I could do was raise my hands up.

"I made a promise to help you!" she pointed at me with her slender fingers, "And I would do it properly from the beginning to the end." The way she looked at me was… unpleasant. Was she always so intimidating?

I held my hands even higher, "Alright, I give up."

To this, she smiled, "Good," And led me in the direction of the small red building.

There were many things that I wanted to ask. The first being, "What are you doing these days? And, uhm, why were you late?"

"Paperwork."

"Huh?" I didn't expect such an answer.

"You think it's so easy to switch courses?"

"It isn't?"

She stopped walking and looked at me, "I thought you were smarter."

I gave her a wry smile.

"Sigh, listen, first of all, I need to consult with our team."

"Oh, you mentioned it before. I think it was called something like Bald and something." I couldn't remember the name.

"Hey!" she flicked my forehead. "Don’t twist our team's name. It's Brave and Bold, you got it!?"

"Yeah, yeah, but what does it even mean? A team?" I rubbed the place she flicked. It hurt a lot.

"You can call it a fighting camp or a training gym. It's a gathering of professional athletes that help each other train and become better every day."

"Uh-huh."

"There was a fair share of champions from our team, and even right now, there are few fighters that are holding belts."

I didn't know why but she was overly enthusiastic when she talked about this "team".

"We dominate various MMA promotions and grappling tournaments. Our graduates are forever basked in the glory and fame as one of the very best."

She noticed that I wasn't impressed after hearing all of this, and her face changed. The smile of a mesmerized person warped into an angry expression, so she waited for me to speak up.

"I have one question, just why is the name so lame?" I couldn't help but wince while asking this. Yeah, it was good that this team was so badass and everything. But I couldn't hold myself from clenching my teeth out of cringe when hearing the name.

"Wha… wha..what?" Was I the first one to ask such a question? "What do you mean lame?!"

Yeah, I was the first one.

"It's one of the best names there is!" As she talked, I was observing her face from the side.

Today she didn't wear any of her piercings or makeup, at least not that I noticed. Her hair was gathered into two small half braids, half twin tails. And honestly, she looked cute, especially when she was confused. The way her eyebrows trembled and her petite mouth opened and closed from the shock.

There was a long rant about the history of the team and how great it was. How this team earned the right to name themselves like this and so on. When Jessie finally finished talking, we arrived at our point of destination.

"And that's why it's not a simple name. But it is as well a life creed to the ones who train in our team. To win, you always must be brave and bold."

"Great." I didn't want to listen to another overly long soliloquy. "By the way, you didn't tell me what else delayed your arrival."

"Ah, you're right. Sorry, I've got a little into talking about our team," her cheeks were flushed faintly, and she smiled, "I've got some authority in the team, and I may suggest new candidates."

"I remember you said that the admission rate was low?"

"That's where the problems start. There will be a trial for you. If you pass it, you will be officially a part of the team and thus enter a sports course at Birchland High."

I nodded. So far, it was logical.

"But what will happen if you don't pass? I bet you won't be joining the sport's course without our team?"

"Yeah, I guess?"

"Sigh, you didn't understand a thing, yes?"

I shook my head.

As we walked through the red building, we arrived near the door with a sign: "Team Brave and Bold." Standing in front of this door, she started explaining everything to me.

In simpler words, Birchland High had two courses: sports courses and regular study courses. Sports courses are further divided into two. The ones that were fully sponsored and gained stipend. And the ones that were branches of the independent gyms, it was done to obtain a small number of Birchland High's shares. It was also done to ease the scouting.

And now to my problem. I've had zero intentions to train under the supervision of the school. I didn't know what Reid would do to make my life worse, so the only option was to seek help from the branch of the independent gym. And If I failed the trial, I would return back to standard studying. But what will happen with the days I missed while the trial was ongoing? It required a lot of paperwork.

"That's why you should show your best and pass it without a hitch."

I rubbed my face and nodded to her. I must pass it.

She opened the door, and we entered. I was expecting a large room with tons of sports inventory and lots of people, but the reality proved to be a little bit disappointing.

This room, or gym, was tiny. Or maybe it was only the feeling this empty gym gave to me. There was a single ring, some basic sports equipment, mats, and a cage. Maybe it was because I've never been to the 'real' gym, but this one felt lacking.

There were two guys training. They were currently lifting weights. As we entered, they didn't even glimpse at us.

"This is our branch. You can change there." She pointed to a door with the sign M on it. "After you change into your gym clothes, we will start the trial."

"Wait, Jessie." Before she could get away to the women's changing room, I called her. "What about my head?" It totally flew right out of my head that I needed a check-up.

She looked surprised. "What about it?"

I came closer and whispered to her. "I was beaten down, remember?"

Jessie had a look of sudden realization, "How could I forget this?" she slapped her forehead, "Alright, leave your bag here and follow me to the infirmary. The quality of their check-up will be enough."

We ran to the infirmary, where I did all the necessary examinations. Physicians stated that I was alright. It surprised me. After all, I was hit in the face. Shouldn't I have a concussion or something like this?

Jessie was the first one to look at the papers then she handed them to me. I guess she knew something about health issues with her being a fighter.

She told me that there were no issues starting the trial right now, so we returned to the gym, and I went to change my clothes. Guys who were training before me had already finished training and were nowhere to be found.

"Okay, let's start with some basic stretching."

Jessie wore a tight-fitting top that looked more like a sports bra. I remember when I saw her in the park, she wore something similar to this but right now, her chest looked even smaller than before. She also had shorts with two slits on each side. It was probably easier to move in such clothes.

"Stretching?"

She snorted, "Of course stretching comes first, then I need to show you the exercises you need to repeat."

"I didn't think about it."

"Of course you didn't, you're an amateur. It's a mystery how you got a body like this while knowing absolutely nothing about working out."

"I've got good genes." I fake smiled to hide my embarrassment. It wasn't my body in the beginning. I've got control over it not so long ago.

Then we proceeded to the training. Jessie showed me a few stretching exercises and even helped with more complex ones. At first, I wasn’t feeling great about being in such close proximity to the girl. But, as I stretched more and more, these thoughts gradually left my head.

"I'm surprised."

"With what?" I was sitting on the mat, resting from the stretching.

"I thought that you would be much stiffer, but you stretched with ease like you were doing it from kindergarten." She took a water bottle and made a small gulp. "And you learn really fast as well."

"It's good genes, I told you."

"I hope it will continue like this."

After a short rest, she started showing me actual exercises and proper techniques to do them. Running in one place, skipping rope, dumbbells, barbells, pull-ups, squatting, etc.

It was a whole lot of different things to do, and everything had a way to do it. After showing it to me, Jessie proceeded to look over me. She watched over me, and if I did something wrong, she corrected every mistake I made.

I didn't know how long I was doing it and how hard it was for the others, but I didn't find it so difficult. Why was the admission rate so low?

"So, I did everything right?" I carefully put the barbell down.

"Yeah, you keep amazing me with how fast you learn," she was nodding approvingly, "But it was me seeing this potential in you after all."

"So did I pass the trial?" I was expecting good news.

"What? Pass? You haven't even started it yet." but my hope was brutally trampled.

"Cough, what do you mean didn't even start?"

Jessie went to her bag and took out a small stopwatch. "I only taught you the basics. Now you need to do an actual task from the trial."

I had a bad premonition.

"Now, do thirty burpees, then thirty pull-ups, twenty squats with weight, then…"

It felt like she would never stop.

"What are you waiting for?!" She gave me an amused look.

"The trial starts here!"