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THE YOUNG GODS
CHAPTER FIVE
" DEEP DOWN, HE WANTS THE BEST "
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ROSIE STOOD IN FRONT of the tall builder who motioned his hand to come at him. They were in the beginning of Gally teaching her a few moves for her own safety. Gally felt it was necessary after the incident with Nick two days ago. He figured just in case any other boy in here would try something, she'd be able to handle herself. She crossed her arms standing firm shaking her head, "absolutely not." Rosie stated not wanting to train, well she didn't want to make a fool out of herself more than she already felt she was.
"C'mon, take a hit." Gally replied, "close your fist like this and hit me."
The girl stood still looking around to see if anyone was watching them, but lucky for her everyone was focused on their tasks. "Here goes nothing." She muttered her hands squeezing into fists, Rosie used all of her strength aiming at the boy's chest. An awkward silence rose in between them as the punch had no momentum and no effect. Instead of pushing the boy, Rosie was the one to pull back grabbing onto her hurting hand. A chuckle erupted from the boy in front of her, "oh god, shut up!"
"You're doing it all wrong!" Gally explained walking towards her positioning himself next to her. "Tuck your chin in and bring up your first in front of your face."
The boy raised his eyebrow as the girl stayed still not doing as she was told, "Gally, this isn't going to work—"
"Lesson number one! Do as I say." Gally demanded receiving a dramatic loud sigh from the girl who raised her fists up. "Keep your fists level with your cheeks and your elbows slightly bent. This helps to protect your face and to protect your sides." Rosie bent her elbows receiving a thumbs up from Gally as he kept talking, "your stance is the most important part before taking a punch. It's where most of your energy should come from."
Rosie nodded creating the stance she suppose she thought would be the best. "This okay?" Gally looked down at her legs stance, he immediately saw a mistake. Before Rosie knew it, the girl flew down to the ground, face first as he had swept her leg causing her to lose her balance. "What the hell was that!?" She asked spitting out whatever dirt she might have gotten in her mouth.
"Lesson number two! Your legs were too wide apart." Gally pointed out offering his hand to the girl who lifted herself up with the help of her friend.
She brushed off the dirt off her clothes, "and you couldn't of just said that?"
"Alright, again." Gally stated ignoring the girl's question as she got into her fighting position this time having her feet closer. "Bend your knees a little, put your right foot behind you, stand in a way that feels natural to you." The girl did as she was told listening closely to his next words of advice, "you're not very strong but you do move fast and have a fast reflex. Remember to use your whole body not just your upper body. Keep the tension by your hips. Don't ever let someone touch you. You're depending on your agility not your strength."
Ander watched from the open door, he studied their closeness and wondered if Gally was a possibility for the girl. Especially when he sort of took her under his wing to teach her moves. Gally wasn't a bad person, he was loyal to everyone and cared deeply. He followed the rules, maybe sometimes a bit too much but he was the type to want the best for everyone.
"Push off on your left foot and slide—not stepping now with your right hand, throw the punch. You should also be pulling your left shoulder back, twist your hips slightly to the left—" Gally nodded as she followed all of his tips, "—twist your right shoulder forward. Once you bring your arm forward, squeeze your hand right before you're about to hit. It is always right before, do not tense your arm or shoulder and do not squeeze your first before the swing begins. You'll lose energy and your hit will be less effective."
Without any warning the girl threw a punch at the boy who was taken aback when her hit had him lose balance for a split second. It wasn't anything impressive but a big achievement coming from not knowing how to curl a fist correctly to getting Gally to lose balance for the split second. But before Rosie could cheer for her achievement, the girl fell to her knees as the boy had thrown a punch himself directly at her lower stomach. It wasn't anything hurtful it had just caused her to lose balance and some air. He had used the lowest of strength to not actually hurt her. Gasping for the little air that he had blown out of her, she looked up at him, "let me guess lesson number three?"
A smile tugged on his lips offering his hand again which she took as he got her up on two feet. "Lesson number three! Don't stay frozen if you do succeed to punch someone. If you wait to long before pulling your arm back it'll be easier for someone to attack you back. Always, I mean always keep your hands up to defend against people's hits. Never turn your back until you know he's completely out. Okay, let's keep going."
ROSIE SIPPED OUT OF HER cup of water with the littlest energy she had remaining from the training with Gally. "So how was it?" Ander asked as he had her sitting in a chair inside the kitchen while he cooked her part since he had noticed how tired she was. Everyone had decided she would make a perfect fit as a Cook and a Med-jack whenever they needed more assistance.
"Tiring," Rosie replied lifting up her shirt to see if any bruise was forming in her stomach area but there was only a bit of red from the impact she took earlier. "But, I actually learned a few things so you better not try anything on me because I can kick your ass now."
Ander chuckled putting in the ingredients in the pot, "Oh can you, now?" He asked sarcastically glancing at her as she nodded confidently.
"Yup!" Rosie replied with a devious grin on her lips knowing one thing that could scare the boy, "since you know I'm learning to fight or whatever—I think I want to sleep by myself from now on."
The boy turned around with a big gasp coming out of his mouth pointing at her, "you wouldn't!"
The girl wiggled her eyebrows, "I'm kidding. I like waking up to your loud snores."
Frypan walked into the kitchen noticing Ander was the only one cooking, "why aren't you doing your part?"
Ander butted in, "I told her to sit down to rest since she's been working with Gally the whole day."
The boy with the overalls looked excited once Ander mentioned her training with Gally, "how did I miss that? How many times did he drop you?" Frypan asked heading to finish cutting some ingredients.
Rosie stuck her hand out counting the amount of times Gally had made her fall with quick movement she was supposed to dodge. "Like a lot." The girl muttered embarrassed by the fact that it was more than 10 times.
Frypan nodded keeping the conversation going, "yeah, he's a bit tough on us. But, he does it so we can also be prepared for the pain."
"You've trained with Gally?" Rosie asked
Frypan nodded, "yeah, there was this day where Winston had gotten in an argument with one of the guys and he got beat. Real bad. So Gally offered Winston and asked me if I also wanted to."
"Oh, that's nice of him." Rosie replied wondering in the back of her head who the guy was that beat up the kind, nice-looking boy working in the Blood House.
"Gally's a really good guy. He just has a quick temper sometimes. But, deep down I know he wants the best for us." Frypan insisted wanting the girl to befriend Gally, he didn't want her on his bad side.
Rosie asked a question that brought sudden fear into her and Ander's bodies, "who was the guy that beat Wins?"
"His name's Justin." Frypan answered not thinking anything about it as the two friends looked at one another. "He literally almost killed him. Winston was in the Med-hut for days. Only reason why Justin's not gone is because he's close with Minho and he's his runner partner. But yeah, I would've kicked that guy out along time ago."
Ander and Rosie shared a glance that meant they were going to talk about it later. "Food's ready, you can bring the plates. C'mon." Ander spoke uneasy after what Frypan told them about the boy he liked. Rosie did as she was told grabbing the tray of plates and walking it outside to the main table.
The girl helped serve most of the boys noticing how most of them lined up to her station while Frypan stood right next to her with the same food. She turned to him giving him a weird look about why they were lining up for her when they were serving the same food. Frypan shrugged his shoulders before realizing it was because most wanted to talk to her. Many of them thought it would be the only chance they would get.
"You guys do understand, there's a shorter line here right?" Alby asked as he let Frypan serve him his dish. It didn't take him a long time before he figured it out. "Ander, switch with Rosie." Ander stood straight switching positions with the girl as some of the boys groaned under their breath, half moving to Frypan's station. "You guys are unbelievable."
Rosie crossed her arms trying to make her look small as she didn't want that type of attention. She didn't want guy after guy running after her. Not when her eyes always skimmed through the crowd always curious about the specific blonde. It wasn't intentional, she just always found herself looking for him even though they rarely ever even held a conversation. The one time they did it was cut off rather quickly and him having to leave her alone. She also wondered why he wasn't one of the boys trying to grab her attention, when his attention was one of the few she wanted.
Rosie was always one of the last to serve herself so she wouldn't be one of the first and have to sit with guys who invited themselves to sit with her. She preferred the group of boys she befriended and didn't want that to change. "Over here loser!" Rosie heard Ander from afar waving at her a smile tugging on her lips as she headed to them.
The girl sat on the edge of the table noticing Newt was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Newt?" She asked innocently to the boys who looked at one another but none of them spoke. Rosie's left eyebrow went up in more curiosity, "why are you guys looking so suspicious?"
Frypan scratched the back of his head being the one to reply to her, "he's probably in his room."
"Well, shouldn't he be here to eat?"
The boy shook his head not knowing if it was his place to talk about his friend but Frypan figured she should know some of it, "You can ask him yourself but we're not allowed to talk about it." Rosie wondered what the boys meant but none of them were willing to tell her what was going on with him.
"Rosie," a voice behind her spoke gaining the whole table's attention, sudden goosebumps ran down her spine, "can we talk?" Nick asked
The girl turned to Ander not knowing what to say so she stayed quiet giving Ander the permission to speak for her, "she doesn't want to talk to you, man." Ander turned around to get a spoonful of the corn on his plate.
"I just want to apologize—"
In a swift motion, Ander stood up facing Nick causing the rest of the boys to also stand up not wanting another fight break out in the same day. "You need me to say it again? She doesn't want to talk."
Anger started rising inside Nick as he had a small temper many were intimidated by. Nick pointed at Ander getting close to him, "You tempt me again, I will beat the shit out of you. I've done it once, I could do it again."
Rosie stood up hearing what Nick said which helped Rosie connect the dots. Every time Ander was near Nick, he would fumble with something as if he was scared of him. "You put a hand on him, I will make sure you're gone." A voice behind them all, spoke causing everyone to look back to see Alby.
"Nick, c'mon." Justin spoke motioning to sit with him and a few other boys. Nick took a last glance at the group of friends before heading to the other table.
Ander stayed silent after Alby sat back down being a table behind them, grabbing his plate he muttered a few words, "I'm done eating."
Rosie glanced to his food noticing it wasn't even halfway done. "Andy—" but before the girl could interfere the friend walked away to throw it away. Turning to the rest of the boys they all gave her the same look, to go after him. "Ander." Rosie rushed to the boy who headed to their shared room. He didn't bother to look back since he knew it was her who was following him. She was a few steps behind so he could clearly hear her. The pair were about to reach the room, "Ander, look at me when I speak to you!"
The boy turned around, his eyes flooding with tears, sadness had clouded his features. Rose's heart broke for the boy as she engulfed him into a hug as he hid his face in her shoulder. A quiet sob left his mouth as he clung onto her. "I don't want to be here."
Rosie let a few tears roll down her face, "I know honey. I know."