CHERUB: Heatwave

2: Drills

When George reached the cafeteria later, feeling tired and ready for an evening of dashing through the most urgent bits of his mountain of homework and then relaxing, there was more than the usual level of hubbub. A small crowd had formed around the noticeboard, but George ignored it in favour of actually getting some food. Someone would tell him about whatever it was, anyway.

"What's all the commotion?" George asked, when he sat down with his plate of shepherd's pie at the usual table, which was already full of his friends.

"Martial arts tournament," Rex told him, his mouth full of mashed potato. He swallowed before continuing. "Takada says that every year, everyone comes back from the hostel slow and lazy, so they've let her organise a campus-wide tournament to whip everyone into shape before then."

George had a confused expression. "But it's only a couple of weeks before we go to the hostel, when is this going to happen?"

"Day after tomorrow," Ed cut in. "I overheard one of the training instructors saying it's supposed to be a wake-up call for everyone who's out of practice."

"I'm out of practice!" George complained, ramming his fork into a mouthful of mince. "I'm gonna get slaughtered."

"Apparently they're going to try and match everyone against opponents of the same skill level," Rex said. "So, you'll probably get a six year old girl, George."

George rolled his eyes as everyone laughed. "I literally had this same conversation earlier with Rhonda Martin," he told them. "Maybe it's best to just throw the first match."

Letty arrived at the table and interrupted. "What's going on?" she asked, looking over at the noticeboard.

"Martial arts tournament," Rex said, sounding tired of repeating himself.

"George is in trouble, then" Letty said, looking at him and smirking.

"Why does everyone feel the need to remind me?" George whinged, shaking his head. "I'm in good shape, it's just all the technical stuff I've forgotten."

"Plus," Rex continued, "It says on the poster that if the judges suspect you lose deliberately, you get automatically put on the next intensive combat course."

"Perfect," George said, sourly. "I get to be humiliated by some grey shirt."

Letty patted his arm. "Don't worry," she said, sweetly. "I'm sure they can find a red shirt who can kick your butt."

After he'd eaten, George went over to examine the poster for himself. It was true: a martial arts tournament the day after tomorrow, attendance compulsory. At least lessons would be cancelled, which was something. At the bottom it said there was a celebrity judge, but George couldn't work out who on earth would count as a celebrity judge. Maybe one of the instructors was having a joke. In any case, he'd need to put in some serious extra time practicing his moves to get up to a good standard. Being humiliated in front of the whole of campus wasn't something you could get over quickly.

The tournament was the only topic of conversation on campus the next day, and as much as George told himself it didn't really matter, he started to get in his own head about it. He'd struggled during his sessions in the dojo recently, since he'd been sparring Cherubs who'd been on campus, drilling, for the past few months, whilst George had barely done any drills since the start of the year. When he got the upper hand, he could hold his own with his decent physical strength, but karate and judo were more about skill and technique, something he was forcibly reminded of every time a smaller opponent smacked him into the mat.

After his lessons, George went back to his room to get changed and grab a towel, rather than going to the cafeteria as usual. He had guessed that the gym would be chock-a-block, so he decided to eat in his room later, and face his fears and go to the dojo instead. Best case, he might find a friendly face willing to go through some drills with him, but if not, he'd be able to find a mat somewhere to practice. He didn't usually like to go above and beyond with his training, but in this case, if it kept him from being knocked out of the tournament easily, it was worth it.