Chapter 69

As soon as the classes ended, I started gathering my stuff. I said to Elle that I will contact her as soon as I finish making my schedule.

There were a lot of things I needed to do. Match Reid's schedule with my appearances in school. Match it with my training schedule, learn my fight dates, and wedge them into my list. There was also a time that I must spend with Mara, my parents, and if anything goes wrong, I would be in deep trouble.

My eyebrows creased on their own after thinking about this. But, there was nothing I could do about this.

Seeing off Elle as she went to the hospital, I trotted off towards the branch gym. Texting Jessie, I made my way through crowds of students.

There were already a few guys and girls doing different kinds of exercises.

"Achoo!" Sneezing once, I went to the changing room and comfortably changed my clothes.

Walking out of the changing room, I flailed my arms a few times to get into shape. Now the only thing that is left for me to do is to wait for Jessie.

Looking around the training students, I got a wild idea of striking a conversation with one of them. I needed allies, right? But doing and thinking were two different things.

In the end, I simply went after dumbbells and picked the lightest ones to warm up.

"Erlig!" Doing a few sets of the exercise was enough for me to get my blood flowing faster. It also stalled enough time for me to hear the familiar voice.

Placing dumbbells down, I turned around to greet Jessie.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Talk about me later. We should talk about you!" She crossed the whole room and came straight to me. She still had her outdoor clothes consisting of a hoodie with team logo, a yellow puffer jacket, and black jeans. Her hairline got slightly damp from sweat.

Her face was adorned with a slightly new piercing. It was in the same place, but the accessory itself looked different. Apart from this, and her eyes glowing with fire, her face looked pretty much the same.

"Whatever you wanted to say, maybe you should change your clothes first?" Seeing her with a large gym bag the shape of a barrel behind her back I thought it wasn't appropriate to talk like this.

"Gah! You're right. I need to change!"

What got her so excited? I sighed and stretched my neck until I felt this satisfying crack.

"You are ready?" No longer than five minutes passed, and I saw Jessie walking quickly... No, walking QUICKLY towards me. She was still adjusting her sport's top, making her well maintained and nicely shaped…

"Ehem!" I looked upwards. "What's the hurry?" I counted to thirty in my mind and looked back down. An overly excited girl appeared right before my eyes.

"What happened to you!?" She puffed her chest, and her foot started tapping impatiently. Jessie looked at me with a mixture of excitement, vigilance, and nervousness.

"What do you mean what happened to me?" My eyes spun around hearing this question.

"You suddenly asked dad to organize you as many matches as he can, you asked Tatiana to personally train you, I was appointed as your head coach!" She said all of this in one breath and sucked a mouthful of air. "Ssss… Why are you acting so impulsively? You took your training rather lazily previously."

Her eyes kept scanning my every movement, and I didn't even know where to put my hands. As soon as I lifted my left arm and opened my mouth, she continued.

"Is it Reid? Or was it Mara? Tell me honestly, I will help you. I've given you a promise to drag you out of that pit of despair and help you change. If some external force is messing with you, I will help you deal with them!" She stomped with her feet and placed her hands on her sides. Right now, she felt overbearing with the sheer passion and eagerness she exerted.

"Cough…" I awkwardly coughed and scratched the back of my neck. "It's not like that. Can you perhaps listen to what I have to say?"

"Hum!" She nodded and puffed a stream of air through her nose.

"It's true that I still have problems, a lot of them… But I wanted to take the training seriously because I wanted to finally grow by myself." I rubbed my sweating left palm with my right-hand thumb. Though I wasn't telling straight lies, phrasing everything like that left me quite distressed. Seeing how eager Jessie was to help me…"

"Sigh…" I steeled my resolve and looked at her eyes that were currently blazing. "I can't hide away from the world. Instead of using your help, I started depending on you. I got used to my current lifestyle waaay too much. I want my independence back. I want to grow rather than stagnate and degrade. I don't want to simply say these things, but I want to actually do this. There was indeed something that made me change the way I am. I don't want to tell you the exact reason, but I believe it's a just one!"

It was almost as if time stopped between us. Jessie kept still, her eyes looking at mine, and I did the same.

"It's about time!" finally she broke into a splendid smile. "I hoped you would get into this faster." With her expression mellowing, the tension I felt reduced a hundredth fold.

"Sorry that it took me so long."

"Still, you can't go from one extreme to another!" She wagged her finger before my face. "You can't overexert yourself and carry everything on your back. I was forced to talk with my father about this. He was seeing if it was me forcing you, hmph."

"You argued with him again?" I winced.

"No, but he strongly reminded me that I should talk you out if I see you can't keep up with the tempo."

"I've got my fair share of a lackadaisical life. And if anything happens and I lose my brakes, I have you, right?" I smiled.

Stunned for a second, she returned me a smile, "You bet! You got me, and a whole team of Brave and Bold!" after slapping my shoulder, she shook her hands as if they were burnt, "Phew, honestly, I was nervous going into this discussion with you. I was afraid that something really bad happened…" By the end, her voice trailed farther and turned into a fleeting whisper. "Anyway, what happened between you and Mara Sobol?" her voice grew boisterous once again. "That girl is a no-good one."

"From where did you hear that she met me?" I tried to stiffen my expression.

"Well... you know… Gossip flies fast here."

"She confessed for the third time," Jessie held her breath, "But I rejected her. I don't have time for dating."

"Hum. Right!"

"By the way, if you were afraid, why were you acting so excited?"

"Why? You are asking WHY?" She rolled her eyes, "It's because tomorrow you have your official fight, and I will coach you!"

"Tomorrow!?" Paul was acting fast.

"Exactly, tomorrow in the daytime. I will send you the exact date and location by the evening. We don't have enough time to prepare. That's why today we will spend all the time we can get into preparing!"

"Oh, okay." What exactly will I do? I was somewhat interested in this.

"This guy isn't far from your rating, but we should still be careful."

"My rating?"

"You were officially assessed. You got your own rating and a place in the world's fighting list."

"Oh, right... I've never actually looked into it."

"You what?" Her eyes rounded up.

"Look, I've never got the time? I was pressured with something personal."

"Hooo," taking a deep breath, Jessie returned into her excited state, "Look into it this evening, got it?"

"I will do it."

"Back to business!" Her eyes gleamed. I knew I would be back home late.

It was soon the closing time of Birchland High when I got the message from Rose, telling me to visit her. It came along with her new office number.

As we were busily discussing the strategy, the so-called game plan for the next fight, Rose's message came in timely.

"Look into everything as soon as you get back home. You got me?" She was giving me last-minute advice.

"I thought you needed to send me something. How will I be able to look into everything if you are still here?" I hoisted two bags onto my shoulders.

"Ah! You are right. Damn, I need to hurry back home! I will call you as soon as I get home!" Changed back into her outdoor clothing, she hastily ran away.

I shook my head and went to meet Rose. As I walked, the things Jessie told me started settling down in my mind.

Making my way into the main building, I started getting up. Going one floor above the place Rose's office used to be, I navigated around hallways and found the right one.

On a wooden door, a paper slip was planted with some tape. Rose Carr was written on it. I guess they didn't have enough time to change the nameplate.

"Knock-knock." I lightly struck the door with my knuckles.

"Come in!" Hearing the permission issued, I entered the office.

Before my eyes was the office of average size. As an example, Violetta's office was at least twice as big. It was almost the same as Rose's old office if I remembered it correctly. The furniture looked slightly more expensive and convenient to use. With the interior being made in soft, light colors, it gave a more cozy feeling.

As I looked around, I saw big piles of papers, boxes full of books, and other miscellaneous office supplies. Around this mess, Rose was rummaging through one of the boxes.

"Erlig, you are finally here." She changed her posture from squatting to staying upright. In the process, she pulled her pencil skirt down. She had a frilly shirt on top with decorated cuffs and a rose-colored bolero blazer.

"Sorry, I had my training," I readjusted my bags and jerked my chin backward, "I will have my next official fight tomorrow. And what about you? Still busy moving your stuff?"

"Mmhm," she spread her arms, "We had the teacher's annual meeting a few days ago, and I got promoted." There was a fleeting smile on her lips.

"Congratulations." Though why did she get suddenly promoted? "Is it because the higher-ups finally took notice of the high quality of your work?"

Her lips opened up slightly as she licked the left side of her mouth. "I guess? I don't know the exact reasons, but I'm sure it's something along these lines." she smiled.

"Sorry that I don't have any presents on me. How about buying you a present when I get my first paycheck from fighting?"

"It's a deal." she swiped the air with her stretched-out finger.

"Was that the reason you asked me here?" I readjusted the bags again and walked towards the window. Looking outside, Kibryn was already being illuminated with the manmade light.

"Ah! You misled me! I remember now!" She pouted slightly, and her eyebrows furrowed. "We should have a serious talk!"

"Yes?" Looking at her, I blinked. What exactly might've happened for her to get angry?

"I heard you started a fight not so long ago!"

"What?" I blinked once.

"Don't act stupid." With her hands aligned with her body, she stomped her tiny foot. Her lips puckered as if she ate something bitter. "You gave me a promise, and yet you are breaking it already!"

"No-no, wait a second." I rubbed the scar on my nose and looked around, trying to put my eyes onto something except Rose herself. "I STARTED A FIGHT?" I emphasized each word.

"Who else?"

"No-no-no… No…Hah… It can't be true." I didn't know how to react to this. "I was here with my team members. We were having a spar, and as we got hungry, we went towards the canteen.” She kept drilling a hole in me, but I had nothing to hide from her. "There, I was assaulted. It's not me who started a fight, and It's not a fight in the first place. Bill and Johnny, they are the guys from my team. They held me, and they can acquit my every word. It was me getting picked on."

"Hmm." Rose's face darkened as she looked down and hugged herself.

"Mara Sobol was the one who stopped the fight. You can ask her as well. I honestly don't know how the hell a rumor like that started and how come you actually believed in it." I tried to maintain my voice, but by the end, it turned fully reproaching. "I think I should go now, TEACHER Rose." I started making my way towards the exit through the piles of her stuff.

"I'm sorry." But as I closed on to the door, my hand was tugged onto. "I shouldn't have believed in this one-sidedly without listening to your explanation." her face was still dark as she bit her lip.

Turning around, I pinched my glabella as I gritted my teeth.

"Look, Rose… I said this before, but I seriously intend on bettering myself. I don't think I will ever find assaulting anyone physically pleasant." I straightened up and let go of my face. "Look, I made a mistake of baselessly believing the rumors as well. And I guess it's my karma…But I hope you will have more faith in me in the future, okay?" If I wanted to gather info about Birchland High, having someone except Violetta might turn out useful. I might as well use Rose's 'helping hand' when it comes to studying. I couldn't alienate her.

"Mmhm."

"Good, now, I need to go back home and have a good night's rest. If you still want to visit my fight and have the time, I will send you the info tomorrow morning. Is it acceptable?"

"Yes…"

"Then I will excuse myself." I went into the hallway when I heard a few clicking sounds.

"I'm sorry Erlig!"

Waving back to Rose, I went home.