The Unseen World

Chapter 2: Bella's POV

Chapter 2: Bella

  It'd been a couple months since Jared Wright came to our school. Not long after the first day he was at our school, Jared and Jackie told me about what happened with the attacker. Since then, Jared has been teaching us how to fight. He'd taught Jackie with a sword, me with daggers because I'm shorter and faster or something, and both of us with fists.

  Every day after school, we would come to a forest clearing, hidden in the woodlands around the lake. He would use nature to teach us things, like logs or fallen trees to teach us how to keep our footing when the ground was unstable. He also used the lake to teach us things, like how to keep our footing on slippery rocks. Apparently stability is key.

  Back in the clearing, the ground was patched in beautiful streams of sunlight around noon. (We would go there on Saturdays, like today.) At the moment, I was sitting on a tree stump next to a make-shift practice sword holder, watching the two fight. All this training had gotten Jackie and me really toned.

  A squirrel scurried in front of my line of vision, since I was staring at the ground, and interrupted my daydreaming. The squirrel stared at me, its tail twitching as if it was so ADHD that it couldn't even be still for a moment. It turned to the ground, started burrowing, and soon unearthed an acorn and shoved it in its mouth to scurry up the nearest tree.

  I heard the thud of a body hitting the ground and looked up to see Jackie standing over Jared with a wooden practice sword resting on his well-built (not steroid-built, mind you) chest. They were both breathing hard and sweating from the effort.

  Jackie was beautiful, though she hid it with her tom-boy clothes. She always wore a regular T-shirt that was on the edge of too big for her and jeans that were almost baggy along with beat up black skater shoes. On cold days she'd wear a sweater or a sweatshirt that was too baggy for her. In PE, they made everyone wear shorts, so she showed off her naturally tanned and toned legs and her black hair that ran halfway to her knees was pulled up into a tight, high ponytail. That's what her hair looked like now. She had forest green eyes that always had a sparkle of life, kindness, and innocence in them.

   Today she wore a baggy flowered tank and three-quarter-length exercise pants. She wore black and white tennis shoes on her feet with socks that hid just below her ankles.

  Back on Jared's second day at our humble high school, I had decided to let Jackie have Jared. Now that its been a few months, I'm not sure I can hold to that promise. He's so good looking, and it's not like Jackie has made a move. But I might as well give up, since it's obvious that he likes her and she likes him. They look made for eachother, almost.

  "Jackie," Jared grinned as she let him up. "Go grab a water and rest. You deserve it." She grinned, a slight blush appearing on her slightly tanned cheeks, nodded, and went to get a water bottle from the little cooler we always brought with us. Jared watched her as she went, his sapphire eyes full of pride and something else I couldn't quite place. Affection? You shouldn't be surprised. I sighed. I know, I really shouldn't. "Your turn, Bella."

  I grinned eagerly, grabbed my wooden "practice daggers" and walked toward where Jared stood in the center of the clearing. I stopped about six feet away and took up my fighting stance. He nodded in approval and did the same. I lifted an eyebrow and we circled each other. He knows I wasn't stupid enough to attack first. I was small and fast, so it was to my advantage to be patient and use those qualities to help me win.

  He smirked and quickly charged me, hoping to get in an upward slash but I caught his sword with my daggers and shoved it. I slashed his sword arm and on his abdomen.

  "You're armless," I teased.

  "Technically." He laughed.

  "Now," I giggled as I jabbed him in the chest gently with my practice sword. "You're dead." He falls playfully to the ground in a play faint. I walked closer and poke him in the chest with the tip of my shoe. In a flash, his fingers are around my ankle.