New Training Regime

Frozen where she was at the words of a classmate that she could easily appreciate for his own achievements, Clara's mind was filled with a single concept.

'How closely has he been paying attention to me?'

"Most of the guys in our class look at you and see something far different than me. They see the daughter of the High General. Most see you merely as a coldhearted beauty that they could never associate with. I see you as someone who isn't good at speaking her true feelings and would otherwise spend a lifetime chasing acceptance that may never come."

Clara's head hang low hearing his words. She couldn't sense any dishonesty in his voice and thought she had heard pity. For the first time in her life, someone had said the truth about her. Someone that she had never spoken that truth to. Yet, there he stood. The single person that seemed to understand her better than even she understood herself.

"Fine, if you teach me then I will teach you. The moment I feel that I would learn nothing from you, I will end our association and act as if we never had this conversation."

She was curious what she could learn from the single person that understood her without associating with her. In sixteen years, she had not once had someone she could have called a friend. Her father isolated her from those her own age to instill a sense of superiority within her. If he had paid her even the slightest amount of attention a father should, he would have seen that his actions had the opposite effect.

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After classes conclude for the week, Joe meets Shianne a good distance off campus. They decided to eat at a rather secluded family run restaurant and despite the lack of other customers, they both savored the quality of the food. Despite her attempts to pay for her portion of the bill, Joe was able to cover the entire cost with a single Merit Point.

With the economy always changing, the conversion rate between the Merit Points used by military personnel compared to the widely used civilian currency, Ruls, was always changing as well. At the moment, the rate was roughly one MP for thirty Ruls. This easily covered the inexpensive meal while also leaving an adequate tip to the owner.

Rather than returning straight to the Academy after they had paid, the two strolled through the streets. They talked about their pasts and their dreams. To any onlooker, they were nothing more than a young couple who had not seen the dark side of life. Had they dressed in their usual attire at the Academy, most would have believed them to be sheltered rich kids. They didn't understand the struggles both had faced in their short lives already.

At the end of their night, the two returned to the campus separately. Despite their desires to spend even more time together uninterrupted, they knew the risks that would follow if they were seen together. The night ended on a blissful note. Their relationship was no longer restricted to that secluded office and neither could have been happier in that moment.

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Saturday morning, Joe woke up at his usual time. He already instructed John to continue training the members of their squad on his own. After being awake for less than fifteen minutes, Joe found himself standing alone at the Eastern gate to campus. He was earlier than he had expected. After waiting another twenty minutes, a slender figure with waist long silver hair stopped beside him.

Even with her hair tied up, it still reached the midsection of her back. Like her flawless green eyes, light reflected off it is giving the impression that she was in fact glowing. Before he could catch himself, Joe realized he was staring a bit more intently than he should have been.

'Nobody else in our class has gotten to see her like this. I'll be crucified if the guys find out.'

"We'll start with running ten laps around the campus walls. I know that you're fast, but I want to see how long your stamina will hold up. Don't worry about my pace and just worry about your own. When you feel like you can't run any longer, run faster."

Without warning, Joe quickly took off with the inner section of the walls on his left.

Within a minute, Clara had overtaken his lead and was quickly increasing the gap. By the end of the second lap, her speed had begun to drop. Although she was two thirds further than Joe, he could clearly notice the difference in her pace. In total, they would be running almost twenty miles. After the first two, she was already facing the consequences of her impatience.

Nearly an hour and a half passed before they both finished. Joe had long been waiting in the same spot he started for the naïve girl to catch up. In the end, he overtook her again in the third lap. Steadily, his lead increased until he was right behind her on his final lap. Just after she had begun her final lap, Joe stopped in place and began to catch his ragged breath.

"You were impulsive. Simply because I told you to not worry about my pace, you tried to prove yourself better than me. I have been running at least this distance for almost two years. What were you expecting for your first attempt?"

Clara hung her head as she took in the meaning of his word with deep breaths. She was still winded from pushing herself farther than she ever had before. Realizing his point, shame covered her face, and she didn't want it to be notice by the one person who seems to notice everything about her.