Palinoia

Chapter 21

Two weeks.

Just two weeks until the exam. The exam. Things were pretty hectic as the time was rounding up. Everyone worked their absolute hardest to survive.

Chase wasn't joking around when he said he wanted to be my rival. For the first time, I saw that he actually had potential. He trained pretty hard and tackled some pretty hard obstacles. And each time he did so, he compared himself to me.

I wasn't interested in any rivalry if I had to be honest. All I wanted to do was get in the field and see where I truly belong. Passing the exam was just a stepping stone.

Nobody previously told us that he had no more piece of advice other than to 'not screw up'. He just watched by the side-lines while doing his own thing.

I was currently practising on my throwing skills and practised them on dummies. Velvet was there to help keep the dummies steady. I had not really seen her do any physical training but she sure was handy concerning the weaponry and aid. I didn't want to admit but she was pretty intelligent when it came to those sort of things.

I gave her a signal that I was done with the training to which she nodded in understanding. I picked up my face towel and wiped away any sweat on my face.

Velvet walked over to where Brie was training and I decided to check up on her just in case Peter was there.

I just found Brie in the hall inside of the building working on her punches. I also had to admit that she too was stronger. Maybe even stronger than Chase. She seemed to channel her aggression into her fighting because the way she beat up her punching bag made me hope that Peter never crossed her bad side.

Velvet gave her a friendly hug from behind, startling her friend completely. Brie glanced at her, breathing heavily.

"What brings you two here?" she asked.

Velvet pulled away and shrugged. "Well we're done training and wanted to see how you were doing."

Brie removed her gloves and placed them on the mat. "I'm done for the day. Sometimes I wonder how it'd feel like to really punch those fools."

"I thought you couldn't fight the demolishers through physical contact," Velvet said.

"As long as there's no skin contact, then it's fine," Brie countered. "Besides. I plan to take them down first." Brie suddenly paused to take a drink from her water bottle. "Prepared?"

I realised that the question was directed at the both of us. I gave a simple nod while Velvet thought for a moment.

"Ready as I'll ever be," was her answer.

Brie took in our answers and nodded slowly, running a hand through her hair. "It's crazy how we might actually have the opportunity to take back what's rightfully ours. Our homes; our freedom. No more will we have to live in fear."

Velvet smiled. "Yeah...I do miss Burrett sometimes. I do often worry how my family's doing. All because of them..." she admitted.

"Hey, they're probably fine," I whispered to her. Yeah, I did not expect to say that either but I really wanted them to stop talking about the Demolishers. I had no idea why.

Brie smiled smugly. "I hadn't thought that you two would ever be a couple."

I face-palmed. "Not a couple," I stated.

Brie raised her eyebrows. "Oh. It doesn't look like you aren't. You agree Velvet, right?"

Velvet grew flustered. "W-well we're not really going out and um, you know the exam. Not saying I have a problem dating Sebastian. Err, I mean, n-no. I consider him a good friend. I mean I think we are. Again, not saying being in a relationship with you is TERRIBLE. I'm going to stop talking."