Starting Over

Chapter 38

Tobias is still angry at me for fighting Uriah earlier today. He tries to say he's fine with it but he's been in a bad mood ever since so I don't believe him. We're still working with the initiates on technique and strategy when I overhear one of the girls talking.

"I bet she couldn't beat him. That other guy looked less muscular than Four. I bet he could knock her out in one punch!"

It makes my blood boil even though the part about me not being able to beat Tobias is true. I don't think he could knock me out in one punch, but he hasn't tried either. I grit my teeth and go back to helping Ty.

"Throw your weight behind your punches; you'll get more power," I tell him.

"I am!" he insists.

"No, you're not. If you were you would be moving the bag, not the other way around!"

"Can you show me?"

I sigh in frustration and punch the bag as hard as I can, taking it all out  on the bag. I meant to throw one punch but one turns into two which turns into three. I alternate punching and kicking the bag. I punch the bag until my knuckles bleed and don't even stop then. I don't stop until I hear a snap and see the bag fall. I turn around and see all the initiates staring, their mouths open in shock.

"You're dismissed," I say as I walk toward the supply closet. Nobody moves. "I said you're dismissed! Get out before I change my mind!" I shout. They jump and scramble out of the door.

I jerk the door to the supply room open and search for the extra cord that we use to tie up the punching bags. I find it up on a top shelf and have to stand on my tip toes to get it. When I pull it down something heavy falls with it and lands right on my foot.

"Damn it!" I scream as I jump back and slam the door.

"What did you do?" Tobias sighs.

"What did I do? I didn't do anything! I wasn't the one who decided it was a good idea to put something heavy on top of the cord!" I yell and throw the cord at him. I walk over to the punching bag and try not to limp.

Tobias walks over to the closet and picks up the cord cutters that are laying on the floor. I guess that's what fell on my foot.

"If you would have let me get it that wouldn't have happened."

I don't answer him. Instead I pick up the punching bag and wait for Tobias. When he gets over to me we hang it back up. It doesn't take long but it's longer than I'd like to spend on it. When we're done I hear Tobias sigh.

"What did you do to your hands?"

I look down and see that I have three split knuckles on my left hand and four split knuckles on my right. There's a decent amount of blood on my hands, but it doesn't really bother me. It was worth it.

When I don't answer Tobias takes my arm and leads me back to our apartment. We walk in silence. When we get there he sits me down on the toilet lid and starts cleaning my knuckles. He doesn't look angry anymore.

Twenty minutes later there's no more blood on my hands, my knuckles are bandaged, and my foot is being iced.

"Why did you do it?"

I sigh. I guess I need to tell him sooner or later. "One of the girls was talking about how I couldn't possibly win a fight against you and how you could knock me out in one punch. While that was going on Ty was trying, and failing miserably, to flirt with me." When I talk about Ty trying to flirt with me I see Tobias's jaw clench. "I just got so frustrated that when he asked me to demonstrate how to throw a punch I just lost it. On the up side I think I scared them."

"Tris, you scared me. You most definitely scared them."

I laugh. "Sure, I scared you, Four!"

He laughs with me. "Okay, so maybe it wasn't fear so much as it was concern."

We sit and look at each other for a second before he finally leans in and kisses me. I wanted to kiss him so badly but I wasn't sure if he was still mad at me. I guess he's not.

He picks me up and walks to the bedroom. When we get there he sits me down on the bed before he lays down next to me and kisses me again. We kiss for a few minutes.

"Tobias, I'm tired," I yawn.

"Then let's go to sleep. It's been a long day."

I nod in agreement and I get up to put on different clothes to sleep in. I decide on one of Tobias' T-shirts that he doesn't wear anymore. I crawl into bed and feel Tobias wrap his strong arms around me. I may not be able to beat him in a fight, but that's okay. I'll always win the war.

"I love you, Tris."

"I love you too, Tobias."

<<<•>>>

"Today's fights are Ty vs. Madison, Audrey vs. Lila, and Vince vs. Kaden," Tobias announces. "Ty and Madison are up first."

Ty beats Madison, Audrey beats Lila, and Kaden beats Vince. After the last fight we dismiss them for lunch and head toward the cafeteria. We meet Uriah, Christina, and Zeke there. Everyone else is still busy at work.

"How did your fights go?" Christina asks.

We explain what happened with ours and they explain what happened with theirs. Apparently Max beat Kali, Emma beat Eli, Dimitri beat Samantha, Serena beat Heath, Micah beat Quentin, and Rowan beat Ross. Uriah says that Max, Micah, Dimitri, and Rowan are the best fighters. Christina says that Ross is pretty good too but that Rowan is better. The best fighters in our group are Audrey and Kaden.

Pretty soon lunch is over and we have to go back to the training room. Instead of letting the initiates have the rest of the day off we decided to do more conditioning. After lunch they have two hours of conditioning, and then they have the rest of the day off.

In their two hours of conditioning we alternate their exercises so they're not working the same muscles over and over again. We start out by leading them through stretches. When they're done with that the run a mile. Next they do 30 push-ups. After that they do 30 crunches. Then they run suicides for 20 minutes. When that's done they do planks, Russian twists, bicycles, and sit-ups. And last they do lunges and squats before they do cool down stretches. In between each set of exercises they get a water break.

All through conditioning the initiates complain. Most of them try to keep it hidden but Audrey and Lila either don't try or are very bad whisperers. I would guess that they just don't keep it hidden. I'm so relieved when we're finally done.

"You're dismissed! Be sure to be on time tomorrow!" I tell them. I can hear them grumbling under their breath as they leave.