Colton chuckles at me, “Here, have the rest of mine.” I gratefully take it from him and drink the rest. I am still thirsty when I finish his, but I know that I shouldn’t drink too much, because we still have more training to do.
I fall back onto my back, gazing up at the ceiling. I close my eyes, waiting for Tom to come back into the room and start the weapons training.
“I think you killed Ryanne, Emma,” says David.
“Not likely. I’ll think twice before I call someone small again. She’s feisty.” She says with a laugh and everyone follows suit.
Without opening my eyes, I point in the direction of the guys sitting across from me and warn, “Yeah, that’s right. Think twice before bringing out another short joke. David. Logan.”
“Okay, are you guys all prepared to start again?” David, Colton, and Logan jump up, eager to start. Emma and I remain on the ground, still tired from the earlier sparring. David reaches down to help Emma while Colton and Logan both extend a hand for me. I glance between both of them, before taking both hands in mine and letting them pull me up.
“I know you haven’t Ryanne, but have you ever fought with a sword before, Emma?” She shakes her head. “Ok, I want you two to sit back and just watch for now; get a feel for what is involved. We’ll start your training some other time.”
“Oh, thank goodness. I’m pooped.”
I fall to the ground at Tom’s feet. All eyes land on me. I shrug, not caring. Soon, Emma follows my example and sits beside me.
“David, you sit out for now too. I have a feeling these guys will give us a good show,” says Tom.
“Yeah, jealously vs. arrogance,” David murmurs under his breath. I turn towards him, my brow furrowing in confusion, waiting for him to elaborate. He pats me on the shoulder and shakes his head. I think about reading his mind, but decide against it.
Colton and Logan walk over to the wall, where an assortment of weaponry is located and pick out two similar looking swords. The only difference I notice is the color of the handles. Logan’s is black, while Colton’s is gold.
They walk to the center of a mat and face each other, swords pointed out, crossed in an x formation.
“Begin,” says Tom.
Logan reacts first, swinging his sword out towards Colton. Colton steps back, out of the sword’s range. Lunging forward, he retaliates, swinging the sword in the opposite direction. Logan deflects the blow. The sound of metal on metal resonates through the room and I flinch each time the swords connect. I don’t like watching them fight. I’m afraid one of them is going to get hurt. Instead, I watch their feet: always apart, one usually in front of the other. This sort of fighting requires fancy footwork.
Which means it’s not for those of us who are clumsy.
Uh oh.
They start incorporating kicks and punches into the fight. I can tell by their expressions, that this isn’t just a practice. I lean towards David to ask him about it.
“Are they mad at each other or something?”
“I don’t know, Ryanne.”
I can tell by his tone that he isn’t telling me something. He can’t look me in the eyes. I close my eyes and reach into my thought box, and searching for David.
I can’t believe she doesn’t know. She’s so oblivious.
“Oblivious to what?” I ask.
“What?” Realization dawns in his eyes. “Are you reading my mind?”
“Well, you won’t tell me anything!”
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEF… He’s screaming the alphabet at me? Who screams the alphabet at someone? I push his thoughts back and lock them up. Spoil sport.
“Fine, fine. I can’t hear you anymore. You’re obnoxious, do you know that?”
I hear the sound of a whistle blow behind me. Tom steps over me and moves between the two boys, stopping the fight and separating them.
“Ok, that’s enough for now.” The boys continue to glare at each other. Logan walks away first, puts his weapon up, and walks out of the room. Colton follows soon after.
David gets up and helps Emma and me to our feet before walking us down the stairs, towards our room, to change out of our work-out clothing. Emma’s room is right next to mine. We smile at each other before entering our rooms. I grab a pair of khaki shorts and a green sweat jacket and walk to the bathroom. Five minutes later, we both come out in clean