Chapter 29

"Harder!" Wesley yelled in my ear, and I gritted my teeth in annoyance. I did as told and punched the punching bag even harder, my arms screaming at me in protest. I was pretty sure if they weren't attached to my body, they would be all over the floor. I was panting heavily, and my shirt stuck to me due to the sweat. After punching the bag several more times, Wesley instructed me to stop and I gladly did so.

"You're going over the line with this," I grumbled at him, and he crossed his arms over his chest with an eyebrow raised.

"That's your punishment for getting here almost fifteen minutes late, Amelia," he retorted, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"First of all, I was at the hospital visiting my mother. Second, there's no need to go overboard with me, considering I've fought them before and I certainly know all their moves. This is worthless right now. The one you should be training like this is Brownie over there," I said as I pointed toward Chase, who was currently fiddling with some knives. 

He tried throwing one to the target, but failed miserably since it went straight to the floor. I gave Wesley a pointed look—as if to prove my point—and he sighed.

"Alright, alright. Chase! Come over here," he called out and Chase's head snapped to us. 

He put the knives aside and walked toward us. He looked at my slightly panting form and furrowed his brows in concern, but I evaded his gaze and trained my eyes on Wesley instead.

"What is it?" Chase asked.

"I want you to fight Amelia," he instructed, and I groaned at him.

"Are you serious right now? Give me a break already!" I exclaimed, tossing my hands up in the air. "It's barely our first day of training, jeez. I don't even know why I'm following your orders."

"Because if it weren't for me, you would be dead meat by now." he snapped at me.

"If I made it out alive, it was by my own will. The only thing you helped with was lending me this place for training. And even if you didn't do that, I would've survived on my own." I snapped right back at him.

"Guys—"

"Oh, are you sure about that? If I remember correctly, thanks to me, you didn't have the police right on your tail after murdering all those people! You would be in jail right now!"

"Well, I didn't ask for your damn help, Wesley! Even if they were on my back, they wouldn't be able to track me down. Being in that stupid gang taught me all of that."

"Just how selfish can you be?"

"Guys—"

"I can be as selfish as I want, mind you. I don't even need all this training. I can take you or anyone down in an instant."

"Oh really, Amelia? Want to give it a shot?"

"Damn right I do. Come at me you big—"

"Guys!"

"Shut up!" both Wesley and I shouted at Chase. He staggered back in surprise, and I sighed. 

Pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration, I grabbed a bottle of water before squeezing the water all over my head. The cold water showered me and dampened my shirt, but I honestly couldn't care less at the moment.

"Sorry," Chase apologized. "I just don't see the point in you two bickering right now."

"Chase is right," I sighed, glaring at Wesley. "We should be focused on training him instead of bickering."

"Sometimes I wonder why I even decided to help you," Wesley huffed.

"Because, like me, you want Bryce and the gang thing to be over with," I retorted, and he rolled his eyes at me.

"Right, but I was serious about what I said about Chase fighting you," Wesley said, and it was my turn to roll my eyes. 

Nevertheless, I walked toward the middle of the room and into the boxing ring, positioning myself in a fighting stance.

"Alright. Come here, Brownie. Just so that the big boy finally shuts up," I said, and Chase nodded reluctantly. 

He walked a few feet in front of me and positioned himself. Chase's fist came straight towards me while I was still in a daze thinking about punching Wesley, but I easily dodged it. I kicked both my legs upwards--one after the other--and he blocked them both, preventing them from hitting his stomach.

I didn't stop at that, though. I instantly sent a roundhouse kick to his face, but he ducked down and dodged it. I followed it by a back kick, and successfully hit him in the stomach. 

He wheezed and fell to the ground because of the impact, and I smirked down at him. He recovered quickly and used my lowered guard as an advantage to kick my legs from under me. 

I felt the breath leave my lungs as my back made contact with the floor, but stood up before Chase could make another move.

He did a right hook, which I blocked with my left arm, but he punched my free side with his left fist. I staggered a bit, but quickly recovered and used his right arm to twist it behind his back. I kicked his legs from under him and pushed him forward, so he would fall on his chest. As he fell, I moved quickly to wrap my legs around his arm, holding him down in an arm lock. He grunted in pain and slapped the ground repeatedly—a sign of surrender—and I let go of him.

He cradled his arm against his chest and sat up with a grimace. "A little mercy next time?"

"Bryce's men won't have any sort of mercy on you. If you expect me to go easy on you while training, then you're completely wrong," I said and looked at Wesley. 

He had his arms crossed over his chest as I bowed mockingly at him, sending him one final glare before walking away. I grabbed my towel on my way out and dried my body with it, realizing that probably drenching myself in cold water wasn't such a great idea.

Wesley called out for me, but I ignored him as I walked out of the training room and into the gym. I stopped dead in my tracks once I saw two people standing at the entrance, looking around. 

Once they took notice of me, they started walking over to me hurriedly, and I sighed in annoyance.

"Lily." Kenneth sighed in relief. 

I didn't dare move and decided to glare at them instead. "What are you both doing here?" I asked them defensively.

"Chase called. He told us what was happening." Danielle said. It was settled then, I was going to kill the guy. Though, he didn't know what happened between my friends and I, so I guess he wasn't really at fault. "We want to train too."

Did I hear that right?

"Yes, you heard right. We're here to train as well," Kenneth answered. 

Oh, I must be asking that out loud.

I gave them both a hard stare and they returned it, standing tall. I rolled my eyes for like the fifth time this day and walked back inside the training room without another word. 

They followed suit and I opened the door to the dressing room, descending the flight of stairs that led to the shooting range. Wesley and Chase turned to see us, and Chase lowered his headphones to his neck. 

I was only gone for two minutes and they were already down here.

"What are they doing here?" Wesley asked, squaring his shoulders.

"Apparently, Brownie here had to butt dial these people and tell them about our training," I said, giving Chase a pointed look.

"I just thought that we could use more people. They're your best friends and they already know about the bad stuff, so I thought it would help," he explained with an innocent look. 

My eyes hardened once he mentioned the "best friend" part, and the couple noticed it.

"And we will gladly help," Danielle said. "It's the least we can do for Lily."

Oh, they wanted to play best friends now? Alright, I would play it too then.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you," I warned them, and they nodded slowly. 

Chase, oblivious to the tension between us, smiled. "Great! Come on, we have three more hours," Chase chirped, and I sighed. 

Wesley took Chase and Kenneth to the shooting range and handed them some guns, while I stood in the middle of the room with Danielle. 

I glared at her and squared my shoulders, bringing my arms up and closing my hands in fists. I didn't need a boxing ring to fight her. "Let's see how good you are in hand in hand combat, Dan," I drawled out her nickname, making her sigh. 

She pulled her hair up in a high ponytail and positioned herself in her own fighting stance. "We both know I'm good at it. I'm a red belt in karate, after all," she reminded me.

"Then talk less and fight more," I growled out and leaped at her. 

She immediately responded and dodged my punch skillfully. She brought her feet up in a swift kick to the chin and I wrapped my arm around it. Then, I pulled the leg I was holding and kicked the back of the leg that had her standing, making her fall awkwardly on the ground. Before I could lock the joint of her knee, she kicked her leg free and stood up. She threw a set of punches and I managed to block them all, until she randomly pulled one of her karate moves, sending a sharp pain through my jaw.

I groaned a bit in pain and kicked her side, then she grabbed my leg and twisted it, before elbowing the top of my knee. I winced and dropped myself on my back, kicking upwards to free my leg from her hold, then rolled backward. Ignoring the pain on my knee, I charged at her with all my force. 

She didn't respond on time, so she ended up being tackled.

I stood up and grabbed her arm in a tight grip, forcing her on her stomach. I twisted her arm behind her back and took hold of her ponytail, pulling it back. 

She yelped out in pain, but my hold on her didn't falter. "You may be a red belt on karate, but you've never beaten me in hand combat," I seethed in her ear and tightened my grip even more.

"Amelia, my arm." She gasped in pain.

"Amelia!" Wesley called in a warning.

"I'm sorry, does it hurt?" I mocked and twisted her arm harder. "I told you I wouldn't go easy on you."

"Let her go! You're going to break her arm!" Kenneth shouted but I ignored him, leaning forward until my lips were mere centimeters away from her ear.

"You should've thought better than to betray me," I whispered. 

She cried out in pain as I was about to break her arm, but before I could do so, a strong pair of arms pulled me away from her. Kenneth quickly rushed to her side to help her, and Wesley gave me a disapproving look. 

That only meant one thing; the one holding me back was none other than the nerd.

His arms were tight around me, yet not tight enough to hurt me. I could feel his hot breathing at the back of my head and I had to calm my erratic heart at the lack of space between us.

"Amelia," he whispered in my ear, and I tensed. His voice somewhat calmed me and I slowly relaxed against him. He was making me feel things I didn't want to feel, and that alone angered me.

So, I did the only thing I knew best... I ran away.

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[Edited: September 5th, 2020 by michh_44]

Why does Amelia have to treat Danielle so bad? She should give her a break, at least she's trying! I wouldn't have been so harsh, honestly. Mad? Yeah, but not to that extent. Well, enough of my rambling. Vote if you liked and thank you for dedicating some of your time to read my book! xx