Ch.20: Old Face! Bad Memories

"Welcome back to Combat Training! I'm the Combat Training instructor, Mr.Bruce, for any new faces out there! The goal of this course is not to abuse your powers but to use them to protect yourself and promote peace. Even with the list of the supernaturals that signed the peace treaties, some wish to destroy this peace, and others, ignorant of our world, must not be aware that other beings besides themselves exist as it will risk stirring up a lot of trouble that will be troublesome to clean up."

Standing before them was a big muscular man with a bushy brown beard and fierce gray eyes.

The students stood outside on an empty soccer field for the next lesson, all dressed in tracksuits.

"To test your skills and promote bonding between each of you, I'm going to personally put you in pairs." An usher of groans echoed across the field as Alice and Dia shared a nervous look.

"Your assignment is a spar!" Holding a clipboard in his hand, the teacher began calling out names of students, pairing them together. Dia was standing by herself since Alice, due to her injury, was pulled aside, having to sit this one out.

'What am I going to do? I never fought a day in my life! Except for that night, and it was only because my friends were in danger! What am I going to do!?' A bundle of nerves made Dia's stomach cramp, hearing footsteps come her way, but she was too shy and afraid to look up.

"For this assignment, I am pairing you two together. Remember, this is only a sparring test. Try not to injure each other too severely, and absolutely no killing," their instructor, Mr. Bruce, told them before making his way to the other students who still needed pairing.

Dia kept her head down for a while, too shy to meet her partner's gaze, when a burst of laughter entered her ears.

"I wasn't too sure at first, but by the way you're quivering and the reek of fear that's coming off you, it's you, Alex's ugly little ex-girlfriend." This statement made Dia's eyes go wide, slowly picking up her head. She could hear her heart beating inside her chest.

'It can't be! I know that voice!' Finally lifting her head, Dia's eyes clashed with the person standing across from her, and she couldn't help but gasp.

"W-W-What are you doing here?" Dia's voice stuttered while watching those strawberry-pink luscious lips lift into a smirk.

"I go to school here, dummy. Besides, I think I should be the one asking you that! First day back at school, I heard about you trying to go for something that is out of your reach. Now that I think about it, what are you doing in Night Class?"

The girl with the flawless face and dark pink jeweled eyes twinkled with confusion, but it only lasted for a split second.

"Well, who cares. This little sparing test gives me the perfect opportunity to put you in your place." The girl analyzed her nails before disappearing, but Dia had no time to think as a knee punched her stomach, leaving her unable to breathe.

She could not stand due to the excruciating pain in her stomach. Gasping for breath, she coughed up saliva. The girl's jewel eyes gleamed with glee. Bending down on one knee, she reached out her hands and buried them in Dia's hair. Dia winced from the pain of her hair being pulled from her scalp and from her stomach that hadn't recovered from the girl's first attack.

"Still a crybaby, I see."

The girl forced Dia's head back so she could stare at those terrifying brown orbs watering with tears and smiled cruelly. Dia took in the girl's face through the tears that threatened to fall, which was still as flawless and perfect as she last remembered. A gentle wave of ink-black hair flowed down her back, leaving two streaks in the front dyed a raspberry pink color.

The girl was beautiful with looks that could rival popular female idols. So seductive that she didn't even have to lift a finger as men and women would gladfully fall at her feet and listen to her every command.

Dia struggled to wrench her head away, not wanting to reopen old wounds. She didn't want to recall the awful humiliation, the pitying eyes, and the taunting words that had rained down on her 'that night'. The night the two first met and the night Dia was painfully brought back to reality.

--

Six Months Ago

"I... I really like you!" It was Valentine's Day, and Dia summoned her courage to confess to her crush. Held in her trembling hands was a pink heart-shaped box with homemade goodies that she had stayed up all hours of the night preparing.

The boy she confessed her feelings to had a tall, athletic build with short raven hair. He was very handsome, the sexy masculine type. The star of their school's basketball team and the most popular boy at their school.

'Oh god, I can't believe I am really doing this!' Dia screamed inside her head, sweating bullets and now regretting her stupid decision to confess her feelings.

'Surely numerous girls must have confessed to him! What will I do when the popular girls find out I confessed to their prime target? What if he laughs at me? If he's going to turn me down, please let it be gentle.'

Dia prayed as the seconds of silence that ticked by felt like hours until finally, the boy took her gift into his hands. A finger lifted her chin, and the boy's wolfish grin met her.

"You're way cuter than I expected. Okay, I accept your feelings, munchkin~!" The boy pressed his lips against Dia's cheek, and the girl embarrassedly passed out in the boy's arms, oblivious to his laughter.

During the time they dated, Dia felt like the main character in those cheesy romance mangas she would spend hours reading and fantasizing about. For so long, she dreamt of those fairytale moments of going out on dates and holding hands with a handsome boy, and now that it finally happened, she was on cloud nine.

Yeah, Alex could be a tease sometimes and even reckless, often fueled by his emotions. But he could also be sweet, like when he walked her home every day after school, got her favorite snacks whenever she was feeling down, or kissed her cheeks at random, even though he would do this just to get a rise out of her.

"Alex, stop kissing me out of nowhere! What if someone sees?!" She fussed at him, only for him to grin, swinging his long muscular arm around her shoulder and squishing her to his side.

"But my munchkin is just too cute! Besides, let them see! That way, they'll know you're mine!" He would hug her tight to his chest, covering her face in kisses, relishing in her delightful giggles.

While Dia found her relationship wonderful, some didn't approve, having overheard some of his basketball teammates make fun of her boyfriend for choosing a plain, geeky girl like her.

"Hey, you know what they say about geeky girls? That they are freaks in bed!" The sound of their laughter, after declaring such lewd comments, forced her to walk away, no longer wanting to hear anymore.

The popular girls at school did not like that her boyfriend had chosen her. A few even bullied Dia and pulled cruel pranks, stating that she wasn't good or pretty enough for him. Only for Lisa to come to the rescue and get into a big fight with the girls, which summoned them all to the principal's office for a three-day suspension.

When all that was over, Lisa sat down and told her not to take any of the words those jealous girls said to heart, but it was hard. Part of Dia began to really believe that she wasn't good enough for him.

Her insecurities only worsened when she noticed the spark in their relationship began to die out. Her boyfriend had been acting weird the last two weeks before his birthday party. He wasn't paying much attention to her anymore, and his mind seemed elsewhere.

If that wasn't odd, he would also snap at her for the strangest things like her clothes being too childish or her personality being too weak. At first, Dia thought he was just stressed because of final exams and nationals for basketball team looming around the corner, which was why she tried to soothe him by apologizing and appealing to his needs.

She even began to redo her closet. She no longer favored dressing up in her usual cute apparel and tried wearing some of the sexy and mature styles that Lisa could effortlessly pull off, but it only made him madder.

When exams were finally over, and the boy's basketball team won, Dia thought her boyfriend would return to his sweet and loving self, but what greeted her was a pair of cold eyes that no longer looked at her with warmth and love. Their relationship lasted six blissful weeks before it finally ended at his sixteenth birthday party.