Chapter 9: Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see

-Fencing Building, Nevermore, Jericho, Vermont

-September 2, 2022

It was on his way to the fencing building that Joe met Enid again, apparently, they had this class together.

When she saw him she quickly approached him excitedly.

"Hey, Joe!"

"Enid!"

"Wow you look great all in white, your eyes look even more prominent" Enid noted as she took in Joe, dressed in all-white fencing padding.

"Your praise is appreciated but you should see me dressed in all black, it matches my eyes even better" Joe joked.

"Ummm, I'll have to see that. Tomorrow then!"

"Huh, Tomorrow?"

"Yes, tomorrow Saturday, we go to the town together, I show you the town and you dress in black so I can decide what looks better on you, black or white"

"Hmm... all right, I like the idea."

"PERFECT!!!, now did you know that people are starting to talk a lot about you and your arrival in Nevermore"

"Well, I heard a thing or two already"

"And...?"

" And what?"

"Is it true what they're saying about what happened with your roommate Mayze?"

"Uh-oh, that..., what can I tell you, we had our... disagreements"

"So it's true! wow, I never really would have expected that from you"

"Huh? your wolf intuition didn't work this time?" asked Joe with a slight chuckle.

"Heh, well, it's hard to believe that someone like... you..., could beat someone like Mayze," said Enid looking Joe's skinny, muscle-less body up and down.

"Beat...?, it wasn't really a fight..., but leaving that issue aside. Who knew that even in a school full of creatures and people with supernatural abilities of all kinds the stereotypical big muscular man would be equaled as being strong" joked Joe making Enid laugh.

"Face it, we live among the Normies, of course, we're going to have things in common" replied Enid smiling in amusement.

"Uh-oh, one more thing!!!" she added changing the subject.

"Yes?"

" Welllll..., rumor's been swirling around that you tried to kill your entire previous class and since you didn't succeed, you ended up here to avoid trouble..." commented Enid staring at him.

"I see, so that's why so many now avoid me and look at me strange, interesting, but you know what they say: Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see"

"Yeah... sure, um.., so..., then?" asked Enid more interested in knowing whether or not the rumors were true so she could later blog something more factual.

"Hmm, you know, let's just leave it as an unknown, if all was known it would be very boring"

"Come on Joe, please, it's for my blog, besides, if you tell me you prevent further rumors," Enid said with a smile trying to be convincing.

"Well, rumors are the playthings of unintelligent beings... and the truth is that I usually have fun with those, so forgive me but I prefer to leave it as a mystery"

"Ugh, okay" Enid complained with a cute pout, but instantly she was back to smiling as if nothing had happened.

"So are you ready to get started with the class?" she asked briskly.

'Okey..., she wasn't mad at all' Joe thought with a slight chuckle.

"Sure, I used to take fencing lessons as a kid, but now I must be a little rusty..." replied Joe, but the reality was that he was confident in his fencing skills just that with such a weak body he doubted he could do what he used to do, the disadvantages that the Joe of this world had never exercised.

"Students!" shouted a tall man in instructor's attire with his hands formally behind his back.

The instant the instructor spoke all the students looked up at him and paid attention.

"Welcome to a new year at Nevermore and for those of you who are new, I am your fencing instructor, you can call me Coach Vlad..."

"Now before we begin, Principal Weems has asked me to provide a demonstration for the newcomers, so if you would like, Bianca and Darius please provide a demonstration"

"Certainly sir" replied Binca smiling confidently as she headed to the rapier line.

"Eek, well this time it won't be a repeat of what happened last year," said Darius directing an annoyed look at Bianca.

"I doubt it, but you can try" she replied.

They both put on their protective helmets and entered the rapier line with confidence.

Each, with their backs straight and their heads held high.

"En garde!..., Spars up and cross!" said Coach Vlad.

Darius and Bianca turned and lifted their weapons and crossed them in mid-air.

The instructor stood behind the sidelines and clapped once, signaling for the match to begin.

Darius swung his spar downward, trapping hers under and forcing her against him.

"Give up, Bianca, you won't win this time!!"

Deftly, she pushed off him and swiftly twirled to point her spar at his chin.

"Ha Darius, stop dreaming pleas, you could never beat me"

Angrily Darius swept away her weapon and attacked swiftly and powerfully.

Darius made side cuts, which Bianca cleverly dodged.

Once, Darius came in close and sliced sideways. Blocking his sweep, Bianca flipped over curtly and landed in back of him, and kicked him forward, laughing.

Darius eyes narrowed and his spar started diving and cutting mercilessly.

Smilingly, Bianca parried each cut and froze when she realized her back was to the wall.

Smirking triumphantly, Draius brought his downward forcefully and stopped after he had finished. There was a shallow cut upon the stone wall, but no girl was there.

A line of pain pulled him back onto Earth and he glanced down at his shoulder, where Bianca's spar was.

"Point to Bianca," said Coach.

"Damn!" complained Darius angrily.

Bianca leapt backwards and froze in her stance position, spar pointed directly at Darius.

Then, the dance started all over again.

The spars flew lightening fast, each meeting the other in mid-part and protecting its owner.

"It's time to put an end to this," said Bianca arrogantly, she took up her strength and directed each aim carefully, as to not make a costly mistake.

Finally, she spotted an opening when Darius stepped back and thrust her arm upward and forced his spar, spinning in air, to land next to the coach and then she boldly pointed the spar at the neck of her adversary smiling smugly.

While Darius just glared angrily at Bianca.

"Winner! Bianca Barclay" announced the coach.

The instant the winner was announced, Bianca withdrew her spar, turned around, and walked away proudly with her group of congratulating friends.

On the other hand, Darius angrily left the fencing building.

"Hey Enid, looks to me like you have some material for your blog" commented Joe to Enid who was standing next to him.

"Because of Bianca's win, that's nothing new, she always wins"

"Hmm... you didn't notice?"

"Notice what?"

"You should know better than me, but there is a rumor going around school about Bianca and the psychic boy breaking up... this hmm..."

"Xavier?"

"Yeah, he, um... well, doesn't it seem to you that she was just venting her anger at her adversary?"

"Huh?.... Oh, that's right, for her breakup with Xavier..., yeah, Joe this worth gold!" said Enid very excited, she was already thinking about everything she would write in her blog.

"Alright young people, finished the demonstration we can start, everyone makes groups of two people and start," said Coach Vlad.

.......

Enid couldn't group with Joe for fencing because she had already promised her friend Yoko that she would group with her and her group of friends from Ophelia Hall.

So Joe had to find another fencing partner, which was not easy because of the rumors that were now circulating about him.

But luckily there were some of his Macbeth Hall buddies who didn't care about the rumors about him or maybe they weren't aware of them yet, but these guys agreed to take turns with each other for fencing practice.

At first, Joe thought that with his current body, the fencing classes would be a living hell since he was now much weaker than he was before.

But he was surprised to notice that his body strength had improved tremendously, as well as his reflexes and many other things.

Joe was not only able to stand up to his fellow Macbeth Hall members, but he was even able to beat them.

'I feel so different..., how is it possible..., my strength, reflexes, speed, everything..., I feel better than ever' thought Joe surprised, he couldn't believe that from one day to the other he had changed so much.

Although it seems that Joe's winning streak caught someone's attention.

Yes, it seems that Bianca noticed how Joe had defeated his fellow Macbeth Hall members and now she was very interested in him.

"I see you are good, maybe I finally have a real challenge," Bianca said with a smile as she approached Joe.

"Uh-oh you're Bianca, aren't you?"

"That's right... and you must be the new student from the rumors... hmmm Joe Schatten"

"Well, I wouldn't trust the rumors if I were you"

"True, but rumors usually have some truth in them..." replied Bianca.

"I guess..., so, anything else that I can help you with?"

" Actually yes there is. You know what Joe, I saw that you handle yourself well with your spar and I want to test your skills so let's have a little sparring"

"Oh... And what do I get out of this?" Joe was looking for a way out, he saw Bianca's fight with Darius and knew he didn't have much of a chance of winning.

Bianca sure had trained for years while he was very good as a kid but it had been a while since he had fenced.

"Experience of the best in Nevermore fencing" Bianca replied confidently.

" And as for you... what do you gain?" asked Joe.

"The pleasure of winning is enough for me"

'Yeah right..., not sure why I feel like she just wants to take out her frustration over her recent breakup with the guy named Xavier on me' thought Joe as he shook his head.

"I see..., well... not interested"

"Huh? what do you mean you're not interested?" asked Bianca, she didn't expect him to refuse.

"Look, I don't take fencing seriously enough to face you just to gain experience. If I can't gain something interesting from this, I'm sorry to tell you I'm not interested" Joe said calmly as he turned to walk away from her.

She keeps insisting and tries to convince him with all kinds of mockery but he just ignores her.

"Fine, let's make a bet then" Bianca finally said making Joe turn around and stare at her.

"Just tell me what you want if you win" she added lightly seeing that she got his attention finally.