“OK class,” Mr. Hanson called out as he tried to be heard over the bell and everyone’s chairs. “Remember that the rough draft for your short story is due on Tuesday. Have a good three-day weekend and remember not to do any of the things your characters might.” This overused joke was met with the usual chucking of a few as they probably recalled something stupid they had written in one story or another.

  Shaking my head, I dumped my notebook and pencil case into my bag and closed it as a soft voice on my left said, “Hey, Christian. What did you bring for lunch today?”

  Glancing at the women blocking the aisle between desks. Her amber eyes glinting as she waited for my reply, I threw my bag over my shoulder, replying, “Just a tuna fish sandwich. How about you?” All of the other students were going around us as they rushed out of the room. Racing to find an open microwave or to the front of the line for food.

  “My mom packed me some hamburger steak and a chicken burger.” She replied as she held her hand out for mine. Hand in hand we let ourselves get swept away by the river of students flowing through the halls.

  “Sounds tasty, but are you going to be able to handle waiting in line for the microwaves?” She always seemed hungry. Eating snacks throughout the day in addition to the rather large lunches she brought. Sometimes she ran out of snacks and would beg me for something. Even now I could hear the growling of her stomach over the cacophony filling the hallway.

  It wasn’t like she was overly large or anything. In fact, she was the opposite. She was skinny enough to worry me about her health and possible diseases. Every time I asked her about such things, she would say that it was nothing like that. Just that she had a high metabolism.

  “Nah, it should be fine.” As usual, she tried to get out of going to the microwaves.

  “No, you need to heat both of those up. Neither of us want you to get food poisoning.” Not that she ever took a sick day. Some people just seemed to be blessed with everything. Myself, I had to deal with the yearly flu as well as work off everything I ate. Though that wasn’t a problem given the training my parents had me doing.

  Quickly checking that the school minders were looking away, we ran to the microwaves. Lucky for us, one of my friends stood at the front of the line setting his plate inside. He looked up at us as we came to a stop next to him. “Hey, Chris. She need the microwave again?” What can I say? This wasn’t the first time I had had to do this.

  Without looking up from her bag, Victoria fished out her two containers and, as she answered for me, asked. “Do you mind, Bret?”

  Taking them, Bret chuckled “It’s not a problem.” He started the microwave as he continued, “So, are you ready for the math test?”

  I groaned at the reminder. Muttering “Hell no.”

  Beside me, Victoria’s voice rang out, filled with her confidence for all to hear, “Yes.”

  “Remind me who has better grades again?” Bret asked with a smirk on his face. He knew the answer as we all did.

  “Christian does. Or at least he did. Who knows what this test will bring.” Seeing her smile made my heart skip a beat while her challenge brought forth my competitiveness. Those two things were what had finally convinced me to ask her out back in middle school.

  “We will see,” was all I said as he passed over her reheated food. As a group, we made our way through the disjointed streams of students. Finally reaching the table we typically sat at. There was room at it for a fourth person but no one ever seemed to want to.

  “So, what story did you end up writing for Mr. Hanson’s class?” I asked Bret before taking a bite of my sandwich.

  “The world from a worm’s point of view. I didn’t realize just how hard that was going to be. Turns out they don’t have eyes and have to rely on all their other senses. How about you?” He said as he took a huge bite out of a pizza slice.

  “I chose to write about a fighter in a tournament and the challenges he had to face.”

  “That sounds like you,” Bret said as he swallowed. Turning to Victoria he asked, “Do I even want to know?”

  “I wrote about an elf fighting a dragon over and over again until the dragon demands to know why.” She says as she finishes her burger. I still don’t know how she manages to eat faster than both of us. It’s almost like magic.

  Both of our heads drop down towards the table. Mine nearly hits the table as Bret voices the question we both know the answer to. “You do remember that the story was supposed to be realistic, right?”

  “What? That is realistic. That story is based on one that my mother used to tell me as I grew up.” She was always like this. No matter how often someone told her that magic, dragons, and all that did not exist. Eventually, even our teachers had given up trying to convince her otherwise. Grading her on everything else.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Hey, Chris.” Gabriella interrupts as she passes our table. “Are you going to the competition this weekend with the team?”

  “Competition?” Victoria asks. I don’t have to see her face to know that she is narrowing her eyes at me.

  “The local Kali academy is participating in the regional competition this year,” I say before answering Gabriella’s question. “You know my parents won't let me.”

  “Did you even ask them? Do they know that you are the best in our academy? I mean, when was the last time any of us managed to take you down?”

  “Last week quite a few people took me down. Also, I did tell them. They simply do not care. Instead insisting that I am training for fighting in real life and not for some competition or to show off.”

  “Last week? You mean when everyone was practicing takedowns and you were the live dummy? That doesn’t count.” She turned to leave, throwing one last comment back as she walked towards another table. “Try asking them again. It would be nice to see you fight someone not from our academy.”

  “Does every girl in that academy look like that?” Victoria said through a mouthful of chicken.

  Lightly thumping her on the head, I said, “Don’t talk with your mouth full. Also, I didn’t notice.”

  “How do you not notice that ass when working out?” Brett asked. His head still looking in Gabriella’s direction.

  “Because I have a girlfriend unlike you. Whatever happened to Mindy? Or was it Louis?” I shot back. Passing Victoria the last of my sandwich as she gave me the last bite of her chicken fried steak. I know, it’s a bit of a weird tradition but every time I ask Victoria about it she says it's something every person in her family does when dating someone. I don’t get it either but what harm is there in trading food?

  “Nancy and I didn’t work out. She didn’t like how clingy I was becoming, or something.” He said before quickly changing the topic. “So, Christian, any plans for your birthday next weekend?”

  I glared at him. Making a point not to say anything for a second so that he understood that I knew what he was doing. “My parents say that I am not allowed to go out that weekend. Something about a family tradition when someone turns nineteen.” Not that I cared for such traditions. None of the rest of the family came to them and no outsiders were allowed. Not until they were married and probably went through a ceremony of their own.

  “So like every other weekend. Only this time they say it is for some tradition that cannot be done some other day. When will you admit that your parents lock you up on the weekends.” Bret said. He wasn't right but he also wasn’t wrong. My parents let me go to school, practice Kali at the academy, and practice with various weapons against both of them.

  One of the more series fights I had gotten into with them was when I wanted to take a weekend off to celebrate Victoria’s eighteenth birthday. It was over summer break so it wasn’t like I had to go to school that week or anything. But no, instead they locked me in my room. Too bad for them they trained me to escape such places. All it took was dropping down to the second-floor roof and climbing one tree before I was free. Bret’s parents were nice enough to let me stay over that weekend. It wasn’t like this was my first time escaping nor would it likely be my last while I stayed with them.

  A warning bell went off as all of us were gathering our trash and containers. “See you both Tuesday?” Bret said as he tossed his plastic bag into a nearby trash can.

  “Yeah, Have fun on your camping trip,” I said as Victoria waved with one hand. Her other grabbed mine as I swung my bag onto my shoulder.

  We let the turbulent flow of students pull us to Ms. Mitchel’s room. “Settle down, settle down.” Ms Mitchel called as we each found our seats. Conversations slowly died away as she continued, “As you all know, there is a test today.” A fair number of students groaned as she walked down the aisles, putting a small packet upside down on each desk. “I warned you about the test last week and even gave you a couple of days in class to study as well as ask questions. There is no reason you should fail. Not if you studied the material.” She returned to the front of the classroom saying, “You have the entirety of the period to do the test. Feel free to begin.”

  Looking across the aisle, I whispered to Victoria, “Good luck.”

  “You too.” She said before flipping her test over. I flipped mine over fractions of a second later. Reading through the questions, I found that they were easy. Disappointingly so. Even after going over the entire test a second time, the period was only half over. Shrugging, I stood up and turned it in. Victoria was done and walking up as I was walking back to my desk.

  I shot her a thumbs-up as she walked by. She returned it before grabbing a book out of her bag. It was one I had lent her set in space. At various points, she snorted or lightly chuckled at whatever she was reading. Myself, I read the book she had lent me in return. As you might expect, it was filled with magic and dragons.

  I was reading about an argument between the main character and the overprotective dragon when the bell rang. Quickly putting the book away, I asked Victoria, “How do you think you did on the test?”

  Walking together we moved down a classroom. The teacher was sitting at the desk grading papers. Seeing as this was our last class of the day and that it was self-study, she didn’t care what we did as long as it was not too disruptive. “Pretty good. All of the questions were easier than the ones you gave me to practice on.”

  Sitting down, I pulled out my notebook while I said, “That’s good. Hey, do you mind editing my short story?”

  “Sure. Can you edit mine?” she asked, offering her notebook in return. Taking it and my red pencil, I went to work. Not holding back as I made notes in the margin about scenes in addition to editing her grammar and spelling as I went. Time flew by, the bell ringing too soon. Before I had even made it halfway through her story. As we returned our notebooks, she looked up at me, hopeful. “See you this weekend?”

  I shook my head in resignation. “Not likely. You know how they are.” The look on her face told me her thoughts about my parents, even if she would never say anything. I knew they were overbearing and insisted on training every chance they could. Leaving little time for me to do anything else.

  We didn’t say anything as we flowed down the hallway. Just held each other's hands for as long as we could. Eventually, though, the hallway came to an end. Spilling us out onto the sidewalk where we needed to part ways. Without warning or hesitation, she pulled on my shirt, forcing my head down to her level. Her mouth meeting mine in a brief kiss before letting me go and running down the road toward her house.

  The sudden act coupled with her suddenly taking off left me stunned. My brain refusing to work as I stood there, watching her run in the direction of her house. Only when she was out of sight did I finally come back to myself. Giving my head a quick shake, I turned toward my home and resigned myself to the training in my immediate future.