"What was high school like for you?" I asked as Dad moved around the kitchen, cooking his "Secret Spaghetti Sauce" as he called it.
He lifted his eyes to mine. "It was a little different."
"Well you went to a boarding school, right?"
He nodded as he slowed down his movements. It was like he was apprehensive about the question.
"You had to live there, right?"
He lifted his eyes from his chopping. "Yes."
"What was that like?"
"Different."
"Dad!" I smiled at him. "Come on!"
He smiled and went back to his chopping. "It was weird. You saw your friends more than you saw your family. You spent every single day with the same people," he leaned towards me, "even the ones you didn't like."
"So if you had a girlfriend and you broke up...?"
He put the knife down and emphasized his words. "Every. Single. Day."
"Sounds like hell." I said.
"Oh, Wrenny, you have no idea. But, it also was nice because you were with your friends constantly."
"Did you always want to be an accountant?" I asked.
He began cutting again. "No. I wanted to do other things."
"Like what?"
He shrugged as he added some onion to his special sauce and moved on to cutting peppers. "I wanted to be..." He thought about it. "A cop."
"A cop?" I asked with a smile. "You?"
His eyes slid to mine. "Why are you saying it like that? You don't think I could be a cop?"
"I dunno, I don't see you wearing a uniform and pulling people over."
"Think of it more like SWAT and not patrol."
"Okay," I considered it, "I could see that. Is that why you train so much?"
"It's good to stay sharp, Wrenny."
I nodded. "Is that why we train?"
"I want you guys to be able to protect yourself. It's important. You never know what's out there or what could happen. I mean someone could snatch you on the street, you have to know how to defend yourself to get away."
Isla let out a squeal and hurried into the kitchen. We both stared at her and her best friend Jasmine who followed behind. "Drake just texted me!" She said as she and Jasmine jumped up and down. "Do you think he likes me? Do you think we'd be cute together? What do you think his best feature is? I think it's his eyes. He has to like me right? That's why he's texting me?"
"What did he say?" Jasmine asked.
Isla held up a hand and cleared her throat, reading from her phone she said, "he said, 'Sup?'"
Dad and I shared a look as he mouthed the word, "'Sup."
I smiled at him.
The room quieted for a few brief moments. I watched the two girls lean over Isla's phone hanging on to every minute that it took Drake to text her back. Dad slipped and almost cut himself when they started squealing again.
"Okay! Homecoming is coming up, we'll have to figure this out!" Jasmine said as Isla hurried to the fridge, pulled out two bottles of water, handed one to Jasmine, and then turned to us.
"What?" She asked as her eyes went from Dad to me and then back again.
Dad shrugged. I shrugged. She moved on.
Once she was gone, their feet on the stairs, I turned back to Dad. "I think if anyone took Isla, they'd bring her back willingly."
Dad smiled, pointed the knife at me, and nodded. "I wonder sometimes where parts of me are hiding within my children and then you open your mouth and I just know, you are my kid."
I smiled back at him. "Sometimes I think I'm more like you than Mom."
He went back to cutting. "Oh, Wren, you're all your old man."
"I thought I was in the wrong house with all that screeching." Fremont said as he swung into the room.
"Hey, Greg!" Dad laughed as he rounded the Island and hugged his best friend. "What are you doing here?"
Fremont raptured me up into a wrestling move and then placed a kiss on my forehead. "Thought I'd stop by to see my girls! How's school?"
I shrugged and rolled my eyes.
"How's training?"
"My only reason for living."
He winked at me. "My girl." He turned to Dad. "When are you gonna get this girl into MMA or something?"
"You see that right hook on her?"
"Oh, it's good!" Fremont said. "Real good!"
I stole a piece of pepper. "Mom won't let me."
"Well, that's horseshit."
"She said fighters get a lot of concussions."
"Yeah, but if you love it, you should do it."
I slid my eyes to Dad.
Dad held up his hand in surrender before he added the peppers. "I think you should be doing it too, but I'm being a solid husband who is supportive and understanding." He thought about it and then rushed out, "until you're eighteen then we're going to the MMA."
I laughed.
"Oh!" Fremont said. "I almost forgot." He handed Dad his phone.
Dad chuckled, confused. "Is there someone waiting on this?" He lifted the phone to his ear. "Hello?" He paused, listening on the other side. "Silas, how are you?" He said. "I'm good. I'm sitting here with my Wren talking about her right hook." He laughed at the caller's response. "Oh, it's too good, Si. It's so good. She was born for it." He waited. "Yeah, Fremont just said something similar." He swung his eyes to Fremont. "How's it going over there? What's the latest?" He paused, his smile falling a little. "Stop it, don't start this shit." Dad chuckled and then paused, emotion filling his features. "Silas," he was trying his best to stay composed, "I would do it all over again tenfold." He said and then his features faltered. "I'm sorry, you what?"
Fremont smiled.
"No," Dad said in shock, "no way!" Dad laughed. "You're lying!" He glanced at Fremont who was grinning, ear to ear. "They-" Dad put a fist over his mouth. "They made you Chi-" He grinned, choking on tears. "Silas! This is great! I'm so proud of you, man!" He waited, his smile falling a little. "I wish I could be there to see it." He listened. "Thank you for calling, I'll be in touch. We'll get lunch or something soon. I'm proud of you, Si. You worked so hard for this. You deserve it." He nodded. "We'll talk soon. Bye."
"He did it." Fremont smiled.
"Our boy is a Chief." Dad said to him as they hugged again.
I stole another pepper since I had no clue what they were talking about. They remembered I was in the room and then turned to me.
Fremont leaned on the Island beside me. "What was the screeching?"
I glanced up at the ceiling. "Isla's probably going to have a boyfriend."
Fremont slid his eyes to Dad who couldn't stop smiling. "Who?"
"The captain of Dad's football team." I said. "Drake Milford. He's a quarterback. Total scholarship potential."
"Mmm." Fremont said.
"He's a good kid." Dad added.
I raised my brows. "You're okay with it?"
He shrugged.
"He's going to break her heart."
Little did I know... Drake Milford was the least of our concerns. He also wasn't going to have time to break Isla's heart.
"Alright," Reaper Warren grinned at all of us as we sat down on the bleachers. "Look at this fine bunch!"
I glanced around the bleachers. It wasn't just Briarwood students. There were more. Fifteen in total and other than the students I went to school with, I didn't know any of them. I didn't even recognize any of them.
"For those of you who don't know me, my name is Reaper." He said. "Well my name is Ray, but they call me Reaper. I'm an alma mater from Briarwood."
Emmet and our boys cheered.
"I graduated eight years ago with early acceptance. Spent one year with The Chosen and moved up to Dragon Tribe not long after that. I am going to be your Lead Trainer this year." He said. "These classes are to be taken very seriously. This isn't your typical training that you've gone through the last several years of your life, this is preparing you for the next step. This is your career. Your training through this will be the toughest of your career. You're going to find yourself very sore, very tired, and mentally drained. That's normal. However, as members of the Tribe, " he gestured to the catwalk, "we highly recommend that you guys seek out Dr. Harden the moment your brain is feeling overworked. We are not superheroes. We are human. It's important to remember that. We do the job, we are not the job. Do I make myself clear?"
Members of Dragon Tribe were on the catwalk, looking down at us. Mitchel was there, walking across and joining them. I didn't think he'd show up. I was surprised to see him. He usually promoted people and left or he promoted people and sporadically returned to check in on training. I didn't expect to see him on day one.
"There's probably some people here you don't know." Reaper gestured to the different groups. "If you're from Briarwood, please raise your hand." Slowly I lifted my hand. "Belleview?" A group to my left raised their hands and only one person in their group concerned me.
A blonde in the top left corner had her eyes on me from the second she entered the building. Not a nice friendly face either. She was trying to intimidate me and I wasn't sure why. Maybe she'd heard about me and thought I was a threat.
"And Dean?" A group to my right raised their hand.
There were two females in their group. They didn't strike me as anything to be worried about though.
"So here's how day one works, you guys are going to be called out here to spar. You're gonna give it all you got nothing less. I want to see what you're good at and so do they." He pointed up at the catwalk. "If they see something they like they're going to sponsor you. You want sponsors. It's a private one-on-one where they can train you up to make you even better. Let me stress how important it is to have a sponsor in this training session. A good sponsor from the Tribe can put you leaps and bounds in front of another trainee. You can learn things that others won't. Being part of the Tribe we do a lot of field work. We see things and we have to learn and adjust on the fly. Those are things that can be taught. You want a sponsor. So come out on this mat give it your all and leave it here. Beat the shit out of someone today." He smiled at us. "Make it a damn good day. Mason and Brennan. You're up first."
The room clapped as the boys got up and headed out to the mat.
"Let's go, Em." I said.
Emmet looked good out there. He took little hits if any and held his own. He had the guy from Dean flat on his back within a matter of minutes. The win only made him cockier. I wasn't sure if that was possible, but it seemed to be. I glanced back up at the catwalk as Mitchel was taking notes in a notebook. He lifted his eyes from his notebook to the mats below to watch the next fight. Slowly his eyes slid to mine and our gazes held for a few moments before he returned his attention to the fight.
"Alright, let's get some ladies out here." Reaper said as he glanced down at his notepad. "Simon anddd," he paused, "Grayson."
I stood and headed for the mat as a girl from Dean stood and followed. I rolled my shoulders back and squared up to her. She held out her knuckles and I bumped mine against hers. She pulled away and I sent a kick straight into the side of her head catching her completely off guard.
"Damn!" Emmet said, jumping to his feet. "Let's goooo, Wren!"
I followed up with a second that she deflected this time. She tried for a left punch, but I blocked it and sent a right into her ribs. She grunted at the impact and I hit her again in the same spot. She doubled over and backed away, resetting herself. She waited for me so I moved forward. I swung a left- she blocked, I swung a right- she blocked, so I surged my right knee into her stomach. She winced and doubled over. I threw my right fist as it connected with her cheek. She stumbled backward and I kept on her. Punch after punch and she took every one like a champ until she couldn't anymore. One last right hook to her jaw. Her head snapped back and she fell to the mat.
"Yeah, Wren!" Emmet cheered, clapping his hands together. "That's what I'm talking about!"
The room cheered around us as I made my way over to the girl.
"I'm sorry." I whispered, breathlessly, as I held a hand out to help her.
She glared at me. "Yeah, right." She said as she slapped my hand away and pushed herself up to her feet. She left me standing there on the mat by myself as she returned to the bleachers.
Reaper shrugged. "Sore loser. Nice job, Grayson." He whispered as I passed him for the bleachers.
"Thanks." I whispered back as I climbed up the bleachers to where Emmet was waiting.
"That's my girl!" He yelled as he held both hands out for a high-five.
I smiled at him as I slapped my hands against his and then sat down. I tended to my right knuckles which were split and starting to bruise already. Heavy punches. Hard punches. A light throb started under the skin and splintered along the bones. I reached over with my left and started to rub the friction out of my hand.
A few more spars went as I babied my right hand without anyone else seeing it. I watched the fights, clapping at the appropriate times and then returning to my sore knuckles. I risked another glance at the catwalk. Mitchel was leaning on his left arm which was propped up on the railing. His eyes were on me, a questioning look in them as he watched me rub the pain out of my right knuckles. I paused realizing he'd seen it, flexed out my hand, and then stopped touching it all together. His eyes met mine once he realized I'd stopped. The question was still there in his eyes, but he moved on, returning his gaze to the fight.
Barrett was the name of the blonde girl. She went last and her fight started and ended a lot like mine did. With her on top. She was a contender and by the looks of both of our fights, we were the only two females worth noting. This was The Chosen, all of us were good. But being first seat in your training class was imperative and it looked like Barrett and I were just stronger. It also looked like we were both gunning for the same spot. She jumped in the air and kicked her girl hard. Her boot connected with the other girl's jaw. The girl went down and Barrett stalked off the mats, her school cheering her on as she returned to the bleachers. Not even so much as a second glance at her prey.
"She's tough." Emmet whispered. "Can't wait to see you guys fight."
"She might be my match." I said quietly.
Norris glanced back at us, overhearing our conversation. "Not a chance."
"I don't think so either."
"Watch her hips, Grayson." Coyer added. "She drops it every time she kicks. It's like she has a habit of having to ready her hip to swing wide."
I nodded. "I'll look for it."
"She's got a lot riding on her kicks, but you can do more than just one move." Norris said.
"Wait till she feels Superman." Emmet said as the boys grimaced and shook their heads referring to my airborne right fist much like I'd done to Torenson days earlier.
"Last one for the day. Coyer and Griffith." Reaper said.
Coyer pointed something out for me, I would do the same for him.
"Coyer," I said just as he stood, he glanced back at me, "before you punch you step back on your heel and do this little juke. Don't do that. You're giving yourself away."
He nodded and then smiled at me. "Thanks, Grayson." He lifted a fist and I bumped it.
"Wow, solid teamwork over here from Briarwood. We might have to do a school showdown." Reaper said clearly, overhearing us, his eyes went to me and he smiled.
Coyer hit the mat and he came back victorious. We cheered for him as he returned.
"Alright, I'm sure you're dying to know who is getting sponsorships and whatnot." Reaper said as we all waited. "You'll have to wait until tonight." He smiled. "They'll be posted on the gym door by eight." Everyone groaned. "Get out of here."
"Thanks for that, Grayson." Coyer said as we gathered our things.
"No problem. Thanks for the notes on blondie." I whispered.
"Grayson," Reaper said as he crossed the mats to where Emmet and I stood, "nice job today."
"Thank you."
"What you did for Coyer showed strong teamwork." He said. "We don't just look for people who are strong on the mats. We look for people who are strong with their team."
"He gave me advice too." I said. "I was just returning the favor."
He smiled. "You'll be great with The Chosen, Grayson. I'll see you guys later."
Emmet squeezed my shoulder and smiled at me as we headed outside.
~*~
I was waiting on a table outside of the gym doors at 7:30. A sponsor would be huge for my training. A sponsor guarantees you a mentor for life. I needed that. I wanted that. It was important to me and it was imperative. I'd missed time at Briarwood, having someone who could teach me how to fill in the gaps and learn on the fly. That was such a huge benefit for me. My knee was bouncing the entire time as I waited. The groups from Dean and Belleview were heading my way, clearly staying on campus until the end of their training. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. The one girl I fought hated me and Barrett saw me as a threat so I didn't have a great track record thus far.
I glanced back at the group as they waited back a little way, Barrett's eyes glaring holes into me. Emmet "accidentally" bumped into her and feigned an apology as he made his way over to me.
"Don't do that." I told him with a smile as he climbed on top of the table with me.
"Do what?" He asked, smiling back. "I didn't do anything."
I laughed. "Yes, you did. Stop making my battles your battles."
"Listen, muffin, I'm trying to make a lot of things that are yours mine so if that means I gotta be mean to the pretty girl from Belleview," he gestured to himself, "I'm going to do that. Because that's how much I love you. If she threatens you, she threatens me."
I smiled, shoving him away from me a little.
"So what do you think?" He asked. "You think we both got one?"
"God, I hope so." I sighed. "I could use one."
He nodded. "I know, me too."
We waited as Reaper stepped out of the gym and smiled at us. "Oh, wow, hello everyone."
The group mumbled a hello as he taped a piece of paper to the door and slid back into the safety of the gym. Emmet and I glanced at each other and then took off in a sprint for the door just as the group made their way to it. Emmet ran his finger along the paper as I looked for mine.
"Fuck yeah!" He yelled. "Reaper!"
"Sweet." I smiled at him as I dragged my finger down the lines.
The group pushed forward against me a little trying to see. I found my name and ran my finger across praying that the square wasn't blank.
"I got Davenport." Barrett smiled at her group. "Solid." She high-fived a guy from her school.
"Wren?" Emmet asked.
"Did you get one?" Norris asked. "You had to."
"Oh, I got one." I said as the boys waited for me. "My sponsor is Chief Mitchel."
"NO WAY!" Emmet laughed as he ran his finger along my name to Mitchel's. "It is! That's insane!"
Dellaway surged forward, knocking both Emmet and me back a step. "Holy shit, Grayson! That's awesome! He never sponsors anyone, he doesn't have the time normally!"
I glanced over at Barrett who was staring at me like we could brawl right then and there. I went to push through the crowd, but they immediately parted for me. I was Public Enemy No. 1.
"What are you doing?" Emmet asked. "We have to go celebrate."
"I have to... I have to go." I said. "I'll catch up with you later."
"Wren," he said as I slipped through the crowd with my head down, "don't..." Worry is what he was going to say, but he didn't want to add to anything that was currently happening.
"Yeah, I'm not." I said as Emmet slid his eyes to Barrett and then slowly brought them back to me.
"We'll celebrate later." He said.
"Yeah, definitely," I said as I backed away from the group, "I'll catch up with you." I turned and headed towards the dorms.
Intending to go home and figure my head out, I stopped just shy of my building and turned left. I jogged down the pathway to the back apartments where faculty and The Chosen lived and dodged teachers on their way back to their apartment for the evening. I bumped into Dr. Harden as I slipped through the door.
"Oh!" She said, surprised by the collision. "Wren!"
"I'm sorry." I breathed. "I was trying to get to Mr. Fremont's room."
She glanced over her shoulder at the stairs. "Oh, do you know where you're going?"
I frowned at her. "Yeah, he's upstairs." The man was practically my Uncle who turned into my father figure after the death of my parents. I knew where his apartment was.
"Oh, okay." She whispered. "Are you okay?"
"Yes." I said. "Thank you."
"Wren," she stopped me on my walk to the stairs.
"Yeah?" I asked, slightly annoyed.
"If you need someone to talk to, I'm here."
I slid my eyes around the room and then returned them to her. "Yeah, thank you. I'll come see you... soon."
She perked up a little. "I hope you do."
"I will." I said as I started to back away. "Bye, thank you!" My feet on the stairs drowned out her goodbye.
"Wren?" Mr. Wheeler- my math professor was on the stairs.
"Hi!" I said. "I know this is strange, I'm just looking for Fremont."
He frowned at me. "It's after hours and you're not supposed to be in here. You're still technically a student."
"I know, but I really need to talk to him." I said as I passed him.
"Wren, are you okay? Do you need some help?"
"Loaded question." I told him as I paused and turned back.
"Well I can help, maybe so you can get back to your own dorm?"
I sighed. "I don't think so, Mr. Wheeler."
"Try me."
"I'm an orphan who keeps to herself and is hated by virtually everyone in her combat class that's training for The Chosen, except for the five students from this school. To make it worse, I just got a sponsor that's going to make me a huge target. I have a parental unit who works on campus and is in this building and can seriously give me some much-needed Dad Advice right now. So I appreciate you being very supportive and here for me, but I need to see Fremont right now." I started up the stairs again, but stopped and turned back. "So to answer your question, yeah I probably need help, but who doesn't have issues?" I rushed up the stairs before he could say another word and slipped through the door to the third floor.
I dodged two female youth teachers, who paused to make sense of what I was doing as I banged my fist against Fremont's door. I was winded completely. The talking and the running and the stair climbing.
Fremont threw his door open and angrily stared out at me. Once he realized it was me, his face softened. "Wren?"
"I got a sponsor." I said.
His brows rose. "What! That's great! A sponsor is so good for you. That's a mentor for life. They'll-"
I cut him off. "It's Chief Mitchel."
He froze. "What?"
"Chief Mitchel is my sponsor."
It took a minute for everything to click and then he glanced over his shoulder into his apartment. Now I was frozen in a state of surprise. Mitchel was there, sitting on the arm of Fremont's couch with a beer bottle in his hand and his eyes on me.
Fremont glanced between us as Mitchel downed the rest of his beer.
"I'm sorry. We'll talk later." I pushed away from the door.
"Wait, Wren," Fremont said as he glanced back at Mitchel at the same time that I headed back down the hall, "Wre- Wren, wait!" He called once he realized I was gone.
I took the steps two at a time and jogged through the common area and out the front door. The cool night air met me as I jogged down the steps and a little ways down the path.
"Grayson," Mitchel's voice called from behind.
I glanced over my shoulder.
"You're mad?" He asked, confused.
I stopped walking and turned to face him. "No. I'm thoroughly confused, but I'm not mad."
"Why are you confused?" He asked.
"Why did you pick me?"
He lifted his brows.
I shrugged. "There's a huge target on my back already and it only got bigger with this."
"You can handle it."
"Story of my life. Give it to Wren, it's heavy but she can handle it. That's what everyone says up until the moment that I crack. Famous last words."
"I did it because you deserved it." He said. "If I didn't think you could handle it, I wouldn't have done it. This is a huge opportunity for you. Why are you fighting it? I thought you'd be happy. The things I can show you? I can teach you things that you've missed out on... I can show you how to do them better than they would have."
"I am thankful for that part of it."
"Then why are you fighting it?"
"I'm not fighting it."
"If you're going to be the best, you should be trained by the best." He said. "That's what your Dad said when he chose me."
I nodded understanding. "This is for him."
"No."
"Did he make you promise that too?" I asked. "Something else you'll end up regretting?"
"Regret-" he paused, "you think I regret saving you?"
"If you wouldn't have saved me, you would have saved him." I said.
His eyes searched mine.
"Come on, Chief, you can't even talk to me on campus. You've been avoiding coming here at all costs."
"You think that's because I regret saving your life?" He chuckled.
"Yes. So I'm confused why you would choose to sponsor me if you regret saving my life."
"I have zero regrets." He said calmly. "I was doing my job. I chose to save you and that's that. Jeff died and I'm forever saddened by that. He was to me what I hope to be for you one day. I looked up to him, I wanted to be like him, I wanted to learn from him and because of that, I got promoted very quickly in my ranks. I want that same thing for you. I want you to take these abilities you have and these skills that you have and be something great. I see something in you and that's why I did it. You have the potential to be something so strong and I want to help you get there."
"It has nothing to do with my Dad?"
He shook his head. "It's just a coincidence that you're his daughter."
I stared at him.
"It won't be easy for you though, Wren. You're right about that. You'll have to work twice as hard. They'll be all over you gunning for that spot."
"I have no problems working hard as long as I know it's for the right intentions."
"I only want the best for you."
"Thank you." I whispered.
"I would never regret rescuing anyone even if it costs me at the end of the day." He said. "I miss your Dad. I miss him very much and there are days, lots of them, that I wish I could call him and ask him for advice. Ask him if I'm doing a good job. If he'd be proud. But I can't and I know you feel that too." He whispered. "But I would never do this, even for him, if I thought you weren't ready for it or that you couldn't benefit from it."
I nodded.
"I wasn't trying to screw with your head or anything either. I simply wanted to do the best for you. For Wren. Not for Jeff."
I swallowed tears that were threatening to spill. "Thank you."
"Get sleep, Grayson." He said.
I turned and started for my dorm when he called me back, I stopped and turned to face him once again.
"People love your Dad, Wren, but there's plenty of separate reasons why they would love you too."