Jasper found himself skipping breakfast, opting to spend his morning in the gym. Barely past sunrise, he was the only one there and took advantage of the peaceful moment; not having to worry about a crowd of observers who were probably dying to ask him what it was like being friends with a "terrorist".
He was sweating profusely as he punched the sand-filled bag that hung from the ceiling.
Four days. Four excruciatingly long days with no progress!
Each hit resulted in small streams of sand escaping through cracks of the leather-cased punching bag.
What hope do I have? Whoever is responsible for this probably had the footage deleted.
Grains stuck to his sweat drenched chest as he moved.
What was I thinking, giving her false hope that I could clear her name?!
Jasper kept throwing jabs until he let out all his built up frustration.
The sound of loud clapping filled the empty gym, causing Jasper to turn around.
"Nice effort, Pierce. But, there's always room for improvement when it comes to you."
Jasper fought back the urge to respond, not wanting to waste a minute of his free day on Baron.
"Maybe I could give you some lessons. You know, teach you how to throw a real punch," Baron taunted, throwing jabs and hooks into the air with perfect form.
Jasper shook his head, gathering his things so he could leave as soon as possible. He could sense Baron getting edgy at being ignored, but Jasper had more important things to worry about.
He was walking past Baron, almost to the door when he froze mid-step at what Baron said next.
"It's a real shame Sydney's not here. Even she could teach you a thing or two. I'm sure you would have liked that," he said suggestively with a wicked grin on his face. "Rabbit's are hard to catch, but I hear they're delicious. Even I'd let her show me some...moves."
Everything in Jasper told him not to react; he knew Baron was just trying to get a reaction out of him, but he couldn't help himself. Hearing him talk about Sydney like that pushed him over the edge.
He turned around and marched right over to Baron; each step making Baron's victorious smile grow bigger.
Without saying a word, Jasper connected his fist to Baron's face.
"I warned you not to mention them! I told you that if I heard you say even one of their names I'd-"
The wind was knocked out of him before he could finish his sentence when Baron tackled him to the ground. All of Baron's weight landed on him, causing his vision to blur from the force.
Jasper ended up taking three punches to the side before he was able to land one on Baron's jaw.
Dangit!
He was extremely disappointed when he didn't hear the cracking of bones upon impact, but realized he needed to focus. Unfortunatley, he was too late and caught a knee to the stomach.
"Hey, hey, hey!" a man yelled from a distance.
Jasper recognized that the voice belonged to Mick, the gym owner.
"You two, knock it off!" Mick yelled.
Jasper froze, but Baron got one last punch in before doing the same.
Honor-less prick.
It took less than ten minutes before Sergeant Payne arrived. Jasper tried to convince Mick not to call him, but the old man wasn't cooperative.
Sergeant Payne walked in with a blank expression on his face, but even that was enough to make a grown man wary of his presence.
"What do you need?" he asked Mick.
"What I need is for you to keep your soldiers out of my gym if they don't know how to behave. I walk in on them in a fist fight. A fist fight!" Mick yelled. "How can they protect our country when they're too busy attacking each other?!"
Wow. Way to tattle on us, Mick.
"I see," Sergeant Payne said calmly. "Don't worry. I'll deal with them."
His demeanor made Jasper uneasy as he followed the sergeant out of the gym. When they got to the training field, Jasper knew there was some kind of punishment waiting for them.
"This is all your fault," he muttered in a whisper to Baron.
His lack of response surprised Jasper, until he realized why.
"MAGGOT PIERCE!" Sergeant yelled. "IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR YOU TO PAY ATTENTION?!"
"No, Sergeant, sir!"
"ARE YOU SURE!?"
"Yes, Sergeant, sir!" Jasper replied.
"Alright, then," Sergeant said, no longer screaming at him. "If you two want to behave like maggots, then I'll treat you like one."
Don't you already do that?
"Fight," he continued, pointing at the two of them. "You're not going anywhere until one of you is eating dirt."
Jasper refrained from commenting, but harbored more and more hatred for Sergeant Payne. He got lucky in the gym when he sucker punched Baron, and that was probably the only reason he wasn't badly beaten up. Jasper knew that same thing wouldn't happen twice; not when Baron was prepared.
"I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY, MAGGOTS!"
As soon as the words left the sergeant's mouth, Jasper felt a strong force hit his shoulder. Gritting his teeth in pain, he stepped back, immediately putting his guard up.
You may win, but I'm not going down easily.
Jasper faked as if he was going for a punch, but slyly switched to a sweeper kick. He was successful, thanks to his lengthy legs, but Baron easily recovered.
"Ha! Is that the best you can do?!" he taunted, putting a smirk on Sergeant Payne's face.
Well, it's obvious who he's rooting for.
They sparred for ten minutes, each one of them landing and taking blows to the face, chest, and arms. Jasper knew he was losing the brawl, but he refused to give up in front of the two of them. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
Another five minutes came and went, and so did Jasper's endurance. Baron was not going easy on him.
"Ah!" Jasper hissed in pain.
Baron had managed to land a left hook to his face. The warm liquid pooling in his mouth was recognizable as blood, and Jasper could feel the stinging sensation of a busted lip.
"Come on, Pierce! I've seen punching bags do more damage!" Baron heckled.
After a second of hesitation, Jasper charged at him, wanting to tackle him to the ground. When he made contact, it felt as if he had run into a wall. Before he knew it, he was lying flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him.
A solid two hundred pounds landed on him, elbow first into his stomach. It forced him to spit out some of the blood still filling his mouth, and Jasper struggled to breathe.
"I think it's safe to say that I won," Baron said, rubbing it in.
"I don't see anyone eating dirt," Sergeant Payne said, sounding unimpressed.
You have got to be kidding me.
"Oh, come on, Sergeant. He's spitting up blood. Isn't that-"
"IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL SOMEONE IS EATING DIRT, CADET!" Sergeant shouted, silencing Baron's protests. "NOW WHO IS IT GOING TO BE?! HIM OR YOU!?"
"Him, Sergeant, sir!" Baron answered.
Jasper was still laying on the ground, trying to recover. Breathing was already a challenge for him, and the thought of having his face shoved in the mud was the last thing he wanted to think about...but it was happening.
Baron knelt down beside his face and lifted him up. Jasper shot daggers full of contempt at him, but was shocked to see what looked like sympathy in his eyes. He looked away, convincing himself he wasn't seeing clearly because of all the blows he took to the head.
"Today, Rowe," Sergeant huffed in impatience.
It didn't take another second for Baron to follow orders. Jasper kept his mouth closed, not letting anything enter it.
I just have to wait this out.
It was hard to breathe clearly with his nose shoved in the ground, but he hoped the moment wouldn't last long.
"Hold him down. This maggot thinks he's slick," Jasper heard Sergeant say. "You'll stay there until you're blue in the face if that's what it takes. But, I'm not going to be made a fool of. I suggest you start chewing."
His words stung like venom as Jasper accepted reality. Opening his mouth, he gagged at the dirt and grass that repulsed his taste buds.
A low chuckle came from Sergeant Payne as he visibly could see Jasper shake as he tried not to vomit.
"Good. You're dismissed, Cadet Rowe," he said. "And, as for you, Pierce. I want ten laps around the perimeter before you go. If you cheat me out of even one of them, I'll know."
Jasper turned over on his back, coughing up the mud forming in his mouth now that Baron was no longer holding him down. He relaxed against the ground, relieved he could breathe clearly again.
As Sergeant Payne walked away, Jasper muttered a stream of curse words at him. Every lap he ran stirred up a need for rebellion inside of him. Only time would tell if that bubble would pop.
Jasper's legs, chest, arms, and face hurt. His whole body ached as he stumbled into his dorm room. In a matter of seconds, he was in tge shower, trying to wash away the faint bruises that were already starting to form.
Closing his eyes as he let the hot water cascade down his head, he found himself going through his mind and stumbling upon a simple memory he didn't realize he remembered.
"Hey! Slow down! It's not like this is our eligibility test!" Jasper shouted as he hastened to keep up with Sydney.
Stares from their peers followed them as they sprinted through the campus. Jasper normally loved the attention, but not when he was losing a foot race to a girl significantly shorter than him.
He could hear her bright laughs as she maintained her lead. She didn't stop running until she got to the other end of campus. He followed her into an old building that was no longer used for anything, and ran all the way up two flights of stairs.
"Next time, we're walking here," Jasper said through ragged breaths when he finally stood beside her.
"Sure thing, Jasp," Sydney chuckled, lightly punching him on the arm.
Her gaze went to his eyes and she smiled, causing Jasper's heart to swell. He looked away, not wanting to spill his true feelings out to his best friend; her smile always tempted him to do so.
"So, what is it about this place that you like so much?" Jasper asked. "It's pretty old and dusty in here. Not exactly worth the trip."
Sydney looked down, shaking her head in amusement.
"It's not the building I like, you dummy," she teased. "It's that."
Jasper's eyes looked in the direction Sydney was pointing in, and it led to him noticing an old balcony that overlooked the untouched grassy fields of Galdon.
"Woah," he said walking closer.
"Careful," Sydney warned. "The balcony's not stable. I only look from here."
Jasper took her advice and stood as close as he could to her and the view.
"If you look closely, you can see the old castle just over that hill."
Jasper strained his sight, trying to see what Sydney saw, and sure enough, in the distance he saw the old structure that held so much of his nation's history.
"It's crazy to think about how long that's been there," she said, looking out in complete awe. "It's just beautiful."
Jasper fought the urge to tell her that the castle dulled in comparison to what he was looking at. Everything about her made his world brighter; but, he feared telling her would force it to crumble.
"I've seen better," he joked, pulling himself out of the deeper things going on in his mind.
Fresh out of the shower, Jasper dried himself off and wrapped his towel around his waist as he looked for some clothes to wear. When he was just about to drop his towel and change, his door burst open.
"Jasper! I found something!"
"What the heck, Brenan!?" Jasper shouted, tightly gripping his towel to keep from revealing himself.
"Right, my bad. I should have knocked, whatever," he said, blowing off Jasper's question. "I said I found something!"
Letting the words fully sink in, Jasper's eyes widened with hope.
He found something.
"Show me."