The Forgotten Goddess

Chapter Seven

Mila

"Hey Mila! I thought I saw you!" David says.

"Hey David, yeah! Pack rules, so, here I am", I say with a smile. "Sorry I didn’t get to you before. The line is huge at this time and I just wanted to get my information as fast as I could."

"Yeah, it’s all good. I just got mine too. Hey, yours is 1549. Mine is 1540. How about we head there together?" David willingly offers. "Dad brought us here last week to show us around".

"That’d be great! Thanks, David."

We leave, leaving his annoying brother and friends behind.

"So, you’ve finally ‘met’ my twin brother?" David asks, making quotation marks as he says it.

"David, I’ve known him my entire life" I say with a major eye roll and laughing with him.

"Okay, so, your first period is … seriously Mila?" David asks in disbelief and with a slick smile.

"What?" I say, as I stare at my schedule.

But, here it is. How come I didn’t notice it before? I roll my eyes, look at David and say, "Evelyn put this together! I’ll definitely need to have a talk to Emily later."

"Well, maybe she thought your skills needed some leveling up", David says, trying to keep a straight face. We both burst into laughter.

"I really have no idea why she put me in this class" I tell David, laughing, trying to understand what grandma was thinking.

All of a sudden, Milo is in front of us and asking, "So you two seem very friendly. May I know how this happened?"

I look at David, intrigued, trying to understand when Milo has lost his brain, because that’s the case here. What on earth was happening to this boy? David and I just go around him continuing our conversation, forgetting all about his brother.

"Okay, I'm here", David says. "So, you're probably just a couple more down that way". He points in the opposite direction. "We'll be close, so we'll see each other almost everyday", he says with a big smile.

"Yeah", I chuckle. "Thanks David! I'll see you later". I wave at him and head to my locker.

"Maybe this first period is actually what I need right now" I say to myself.

Nanna had scheduled two periods of Advanced Combat Skills for me, and, for the first time, I was glad I was going to be allowed to punch someone. As soon as I enter the gym, I can see the students in this class. The boys seem big - I’m pretty sure we’re not only first-year students here. That’s when I hear a very familiar whistle and everyone falls in line according to our last name.

"Okay boys and girls, my name is Major Knowles, and I will be your instructor for the Advanced Combat Skills class this year. Let me tell you something, this isn't going to be easy. I was trained by the most vicious and ruthless warrior in our pack, and I'll make sure that you raise to his standards.

I'm pretty sure you know who I am talking about and, looking at the bunch of you, I can see at least 2 who are very familiar with his type of training".

Major Knowles was definitely looking at me, and apparently he was also looking at someone else. When I followed his gaze, there he was, the Alpha's first son.

"Honestly, how on Earth could Nanna do this to me? How on Earth would I endure 2 periods with mister ‘I'm sorry I have no idea who you are’?" I think, as I stiffen.

"Since this is our first class, we are going to start slow. I'm going to pair you all, so you can show each other what you can do. Based on the grades I give you today, that's how you will be paired for the rest of the year.

You can either go up or down and your pair will change accordingly. If you start slacking off, then you go down; and, if you are in the bottom 5, you are out of my class after the first evaluation.

This is Advanced Combat Skills and NO, I repeat, NO, this is NOT going to be easy. So, when I call your names, you find your pair, and you wait for my signal to start sparing. AGAIN, YOU WAIT FOR MY SIGNAL! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Major Knowles shouts.

"YES SIR!" we all respond in unison.

Okay, this is what I was needing anyway. I needed to fight with someone, I needed to punch something, so this was my chance and if it allowed me to be number one in this class, that's what I was going to do now.

Major Knowles started calling each teenager according to their last name and pairing those at the beginning of his list to those at the bottom.

"Anderson, Nina and Willards, James. Brown, Milo and Walters, Mila."

"What?" Milo and I screamed at the same time.

"Do both of you have a problem with my designation?"

"I'm sorry Major Knowles", Milo says, "it's just that she's a girl and I won't fight a girl."

"Honestly? This is your excuse?" I said.

"This is not an excuse, it's just that I don't think it will be fair to you", Milo said, with a smirk on his face.

I can’t believe it. Is this for real?!

"Well, I'm not worried about fighting you, even though I know it’s not fair to you", I made sure to speak loud enough for the whole gym to listen.

“Ooooooooohhhh!!!" All the kids go.

"Look, Milo. It doesn't matter if she's a girl, if she's a boy, if she's something in between. I don't care if she's a goat, you are going to fight her because the enemy has no gender. Mr. Willards has no problem sparing with a girl. How about you do that too? Huh? Now let me continue with assigning everyone their pairs", Major Knowles said in an authoritative manner, making sure no one would question his orders.

I continued staring at major Knowles while he was assigning the rest of the kids their pairs. I made sure to make no eye contact to Milo Brown because, if I did so, I would definitely not wait for Major Knowles’ sign and that would cause me great loss, especially if I'm hoping to be number one in this class.

"OK, now that you are assigned to your pairs, you can go to the designated areas I marked with the mattresses and start sparring. REMEMBER, this is just our first class so try not to break anyone's bones!” Major Knowles yells, trying to hide a laugh that was creeping in.

"Yes, Miss Walters, what is it?" He says to me as soon as I raised my arm.

"Is that the only rule for today's class: don’t break anyone's bones?"

"You heard me right, don't break anyone's limbs. You'll have the whole year to do it, so I just want to make sure how far your guys can go", Major Knowles said, with a crooked smile, eyeing every kid in the gym.

Okay, that's exactly what I needed to hear. This is going to be payback in the most cruel way that he has ever faced. I c***k my neck to both sides and with a circle to each side.

"Are you worried that you might break a nail or something?" Milo asks.

I flip him my middle finger adn then open my hands, showing him that tere are no nails to be broken here.

"I’m nothing like the girls you know. So no, there are no nails to be broken here. But I can't promise that blood won't be shed today", I say in an innocent tone.

"Bring it on!" Milo said with a snare.

I make sure to stay away from Milo, trying to channel his power and predict his moves. Neither of us is talking. We know better than to provoke each other. We are studying each other's movement, breathing and pacing. We know that the moment we understand our opponent, it's showtime.

A lunge forward, making sure he goes left, and then I kick him. Milo goes flying and coughing, but he's right up on his feet gasping for air but not complaining. He wipes the blood from his mouth, gives me a slick smile and then he goes:

"You know what, I shouldn't have forgotten that you are your Uncle Carlos’ granddaughter. But I'm pretty sure that this is going to be over soon".

He calls me in, but I don't give in. He starts running in my direction. That's when I see my grandfather's signature move. I know he's trying to trick me. But I know this move far too well. In fact, I have been hit by this move countless times, so I know exactly what to expect.

And he does just as I thought he would. He runs to my direction, starts throwing punches and kicks and then starts elbowing me. And I block every single attack.

He’s getting tired and that's when I start punching and hitting him back. I go for his stomach and then his face and I make sure that there's blood there.

That’s when I hear Major Knowels shouting in the back:

"Walters knock it off, it's enough! Boys, please take Mister Brown to the infirmary; and I believe we have our number one student for this class" he says, and starts clapping, signaling for everyone to do the same.

Milo slaps the hands that tried helping him and says, "No! We're doing this until I'm not able to stand up."

"Look Milo. I know you've been training with Grandpa since you were a pup. But I was raised by him", I say, looking at him as he stands up, spits some blood and gets ready to continue. "I don't get 3 times a week sparring and training with him. I do it every single day, twice a day. I know ALL of his moves. So there's no reason to continue with this. I'm pretty sure you can catch up once you're feeling better."

"NO!" he shouts. "We're doing it until I can't stand on my feet all by myself."

He's angry, but there's honestly no reason for that. I've already beaten him in his own game. I'm better than him, so I'm just gonna let him throw some punches. Maybe that will quiet him down a little bit.

"I'm not asking you for pity. I'm telling you we're fighting, and I'm not holding back anymore" he says, as if reading my mind.

That's when I see him throwing punches and coming at me as we start fighting like never before. We are both hitting and being hit. We are both trying to make sure neither one is able to stand at the end of this.

I definitely didn't see it coming because somehow he got my ribs and everyone could hear the cracking sound. I groan and get out of breath for a while. I look around, and we’re the only ones fighting. Everyone else is watching.

"OK, that's enough!" Major Knowels shouted. "I've heard bones breaking, and I made sure the rules were simple: NO BONES BREAKING."

"I didn’t hear it", I say, as normal as I can. Grandpa taught me how to make sure no one knows I'm injured. I even do some burpees to show I'm good.

"Yup, I'm good too, Major Knowles. Let's just finish this please." Milo says, looking at me, knowing he just broke my ribs.

Major Knowles rolls his eyes and says, "Okay, but it's your funeral."

It takes us about 10 more minutes of sparing. We’ve been fighting like our lives depend on this. We are both out of breath, not knowing how to finish this.

"Okay, that's enough" Major Knowles says. "Congratulations both of you. You are tied for number one. We still got one more period to go so we are doing some gym training. I want the top half of you to do some laps and the bottom half of you on burpees.

Brown and Walter, to the infirmary. And don’t even start by saying that you’re okay! Now go! And I don’t want to see either of you back. Make sure Doc sees ALL your injuries."

"S***", I say, under my breath, trying to figure out how on Earth he broke my guard and hit my ribs

I know it’s bad because I can barely breathe, but I keep my face as if I’m all good. Milo walks just right in front of me, glancing behind to make sure I’m still following him.