Four: Classes (Part 2)

Jamie Campbell Bower as Dawn Blackwood. 19 years old. He is Shawn's paternal twin.

Garrett Hedlund as Kint Abelson. 24 years old.

BTW: THIS GON BE A LONG ASS CHAPTER!!!

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Akalea's POV

"200 PUSH UPS?!" Everyone groans and complains while Mrs. Barnes looks stern and serious. "Now." Her eyes looks so fierce that made everyone groan one more time and got down on a push up position. I got in mine, too. You can do this, Aka. This is nothing like the training father gave me. So with determination set in my mind, I start with my push ups.

I miss the feeling of my arms and stomach aching and throbbing at the same time. I push myself to surpass my limits again and again till I can no more. I thought about how I need to get stronger. My body, my mind, my heart and my self need to get stronger than it already is. After 5-10 minutes of push ups with little breaks in between, I was completely done with my push ups.

I stood up as sweat came running down my face and my hair getting stuck on my face. I need to wipe my face. Gotta do it or be more stinky than I already am. My fingers rake themselves through my hair showing my face. I quickly tie my hair up in a ponytail to keep the sweat off of my hair.

I wipe my face with my shirt, being sweaty no more. By the time I was done, Shawn, his brother Dawn, the same 5 guys and 4 girls were done with their push ups. "Who's this new girl?" One of the 5 guys say in confusion. They were either looking at me or behind me.

I check behind me and see that no one was there so I point at myself and they nod their heads. "Oh. I'm Akalea." I say as I rub the back of my head with a nervous smile. The others soon stopped their push ups and now staring at me. I got a bit insecure and fiddled with my fingers looking down at them.

"Hey! Come on. Go back to your push ups." Mrs. Barnes snaps them out of their dazed state and I gave her a smile as a thanked you, sighing in relief. Shawn came up to me and gave me an amused grin. "So you came out of your shell after all." He says as he nudges my shoulder with his. Just then, I felt like someone was staring at me and I turned. I saw Dawn, Shawn's brother, looking at me with eyes like he's trying to figure me out or something.

He looked away after he noticed that I was looking at him, too. I furrow my brows not knowing why he was doing what he was doing but oh well. After what seemed like forever, the others finished their push ups. "Let's hit the showers!" Mrs. Barnes says as the bell rang, right timing. Everyone yelled and starts to walk towards the showers in the changing room. I start to walk towards the changing rooms when I felt an arm around my shoulder.

"See you outside?" Shawn says with a smile that could make any woman, in my position right now, swoon. "Sure." I replied and slid my way out of his arm and speed-walk to the changing rooms. I took my essentials and followed suit to where the girls are going. Found a shower available and showered there. Got out and went back to the changing room. Wore my outfit earlier and pat dry my hair.

For I don't know what reason, I was being pulled back by my hair. Being the 'weak' me, I went with the flow and look at my attacker. The leech from the benches. "Stay away from my Shawn, little mouse." The leech warns me and I accidentally scoffed. I replaced it with a cough without them noticing. "Okay.... Not." I grab her wrist and twist it as she lets out a yelp. She lets go of my hair and I took the opportunity to flee.

I grab my stuff and got out, bumping into God knows who. I expected the fall yet arms wrap themselves around me preventing the fall. "Watch where you're going." The deep voice sounds familiar. Like Shawn's but deeper and colder. I look up to see Dawn his face inches away from mine. My eyes wide as I stare at his eyes. They were a pretty blue color. Now that I could see him up close, he really looks handsome having good looks and a fit body. Oh my. Stop, Aka! We were stuck in this position till someone broke it.

"Ahem." A cough from my right made Dawn realize we were still 'hugging' and let go. Looking anywhere but me as I just look a bit flustered. I don't know why but I get these strange feelings whenever I see or am near Dawn and with Shawn, too. Oh no, the twin brothers, Aka? Really? Both of them? "Care to join us, Dawn?" Shawn came up to us with a smile but seems to hide something else. I can feel it but cant put my finger on it. "Okay." Is what Dawn said and we were off to Skills Enhancement class. I was in between the brothers which made everyone stare and glare at me even more. As we walked more and more, we finally arrive in front the double doors of the Skills Enhancement class. I push through the doors and what I found is a field where weapons were laid everywhere.

(Imagine there are weapons for archery, target dummies for throwing and for sword fighting)

"Wow." I said in awe as I see weapons of all kinds in their respective areas on the field. An area for archery, an area for throwing weapons and an area for swords. I smiled as they were what I'm good at. Thank you for training me father. "Right? It's where we can enhance our weapon skills." Shawn says looking at the field and as I look up at him, his eyes were twinkling. I then look at Dawn, his face void of emotion.

"Move!" I was pushed to my side towards Dawn by the same girl from earlier, Steffan. Luckily, Dawn caught me to prevent me from falling and as our bodies were pressed together, students came piling out towards the field. "Sorry." I say weakly to Dawn and he just nods his head, holding me tighter. As soon as all the students were outside, I gently push myself away from Dawn and he lets go, coughing.

We then joined the others as they gathered in front of a man. "Hello everyone! I am your mentor in Skills Enhancement class, Kint Abelson. Call me Kint." Our mentor says as he smiles at everyone. He looks like he's in his early twenties. His black hair with green highlights brought out his forest green eyes. His plump lips showing pearly white teeth when he smiles made all the girls 'drop'.

Typical.

I shake my head and look at Kint. "So, this is where you guys show me what kind of weaponry you're good at. Please form three lines. I need to see what weapons you're good at so we'll do Archery first." After he said that, everyone began to wear the gear needed for archery, throwing and sword fighting and lined up. I take off my leather jacket and wrapped around hips for my arms to freely move easier and then wore the gear needed for archery. I was the last one to which I wasn't surprised. The first three looked like they already knew what they were doing, holding their bows and arrows and pointing them at the target in front of us.

A quick swoosh was heard from their bows just as the arrows are directed at the center of the target. With just a blink of an eye, the arrows hit their target. We clapped for them as they smiled and walked to the side to watch the rest. Three by three came forward and did their best. Some weren't good, some did good and some just doesn't get it. Now, it's my turn and I didn't notice that I was between Shawn and Dawn. Everyone was cheering for them and I just tried to concentrate.

"Oh look, it's the norm's turn. I can see that she'll be bad at this." I heard a girl say, chuckling, and everyone laughed with her. We'll see. I smirked and relaxed. "Ready..." We, three, got our bows and arrows ready to shoot. I breathed in and exhaled slowly and gently. "Shoot!" The second Kint said that word, we three let go of our arrows as it propels towards our target. I smile as the three of our arrows precisely hit the center.

"Nice job guys! Not bad for a 'norm', right?" Kint says as he gave us a high five but Dawn just stared at Kint's hand which Kint awkwardly pull his arm down, laughing it off, and looked at everyone with his question. No one made a sound. Kint claps and smiles.

"Now on to the next!" Kint says motioning us to follow. "Aint bad for a normie." Dawn states in a low voice and I look up to look at him. He looks at me then back at the others and showed a small smile. "That you are right, brother." Shawn replies agreeing to what Dawn said and gave me a smile. "Thanks." I say and smiled at them both.

Dawn is kinda nice.

Kint led us to an area with dummies. The dummies have bodies like us but is filled with sand and their body's made of sacks. Two targets on the dummies, its belly and it's head. "Form three lines again like earlier." We did as we were told and I'm still in between the two brothers.

I mean any girl would love to be between the brothers but here I am, in between them. I mean I'm not saying I don't like it. It's just that I can't be affected by this. Similar to the ones earlier. Some were good, some weren't and some excelled in it. Now it's us three. "She cant possibly do this, can she?" A guy spoke up and everyone agrees with him. "Never underestimate anyone, Mr. Lee." Is what Kint voiced out with a knowing look.

"Ready... First the spear then the dagger. " Kint says as I look at the weapons in front of me. A spear and a dagger. I grab hold of the spear and it felt heavy in my hand but clearly I'm used to this kind of heaviness. "Set.." We positioned our spears and I breathed in and exhaled again. Relaxing my shoulders and my right arm, putting weight in my legs to stay firm. "Throw!" Kint exclaims as we, together, throw our spears towards the target. Our spears hitting the target's belly.

Everyone's jaw dropped at mine. "No way.." Someone in the crowd of students utter out. "Nice one, Aka!" Shawn exclaims in shock and in awe. "You're one of the few girls who hit the target and precisely at that. Not to mention, the spear is kinda heavy, too. Made most of the girls here not being able to throw the spear let alone carry it over their shoulders." Dawn added which made my eyes widen. Damn.

Kint clapped. "Next, daggers." I pick up the dagger's handle. It felt perfect in my hand as I continue to hold it. It's beautiful texture and design made it more cool to look at and hold. "Aim for the head. Ready.." I start to concentrate as I want the dagger to stab in between the eyes. I exhaled as Kint yelled out, "Shoot!". We pull our hands back and with the strength we have, threw the dagger. As what I wanted, the dagger smoothly stabs in between the eyes of the dummy. My hand felt tingly and I balled my hand to a fist. Loving the feeling.

"This can't be! You must be cheating!" A girl between Steffan and Emily points her finger at me while she claims what she said. "In what way is she cheating, Ms. Nian?" Kint crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the girl, Nian. "I mean come on! She's a normie. She can't be skilled like how she is right now!" She took a step forward and flail her arms up. "Like I said earlier Ms. Nian, never underestimate anyone."

After all of that we followed Kint when he walked to the area with swords. "Now pick one." Kint motions towards the bladed weapons laid in front of us. I pick up a sword that calls out to me. I don't know why though. As I look further into the sword, it has letters engraved on it. The letter A.A.

Hm. Weird.

"The sword you're holding will be your practice swords until you can fight and defend yourself properly. But as usual, it depends on your determination and hard work." Kint says as he looks at everyone grabbing their swords. I swung my sword, trying to get the feeling of it and trying to get the hang of a real sword in my hand. Not too heavy and not too light. Kind of rusty but I'll just clean it later.

"Now, for this part, the Eleven Rankers please come forward and line up beside me." Eleven people came forward and I was shocked to see both Shawn and Dawn going towards Kint, lining up. "These people beside me are the best of the best this Academy has. Both in combat and their powers. They are good with swords especially the weapon they're best at. But for now, we'll go with the swords." Kint says to all of us. Looking at the eleven rankers in front of me, makes me wanna be a Ranker, too. Seven guys and four girls. My eyes widen as I see that Emily was a ranker. Also the girl who saved me from Emily earlier in the changing rooms, Amy.

I raised my hand up. "What do rankers do?" I ask with my eyes twinkling trying my best to hide the smile that's coming out. "They go on missions outside and such. I can't give out more information other than that. I'm sorry Ms. Akalea." Kint says apologetically. I just nod my head and didn't notice the stares I got until it was too late. "Why? You wanna join the ranks? Good luck with that." A girl says sarcastically.

I stay quiet and didn't bother to utter another word. "Okay since there are 35 of you, we'll be doing 11 on 11. Please choose your partners, Rankers." One by one, the Rankers move to where the partners they chose are at. I know I wouldn't be picked first so I played with my sword a bit. "Come on." A cold voice utter those words. I look to where the voice was at and revealed Dawn. My eyes grew wide when I see that he was looking at me.

I look to my sides and behind me and there was no one but me. "Me?" I point to myself. "We don't have much time." He coldly says and takes my hand in his, pulling me with him to a circle. We stood inside the circle and it was big enough for moving. I unwrapped my jacket and put it on the ground outside the circle. I walked back to my place.

"All you have to do is to dodge, block, and attack. The Rankers will attack you and you guys have to find a way to win against them. Got it? Start whenever you guys are ready. I'll keep watch. The others watching, try to zero in on the fights. Strategize and plan how you're going to win against them. The ones who'll win against a ranker will receive 10 gold from me."

Kint says to the others watching us as they cheered on wanting the 10 gold. I was looking at my side when I felt danger aiming to my right. I shift my upper body leaning to the left. Hearing a 'swoosh' to my right. It was Dawn's sword. "What the fuck, Dawn?!" I exclaim as I wasn't ready and he swung at me. "I had a gut feeling you would dodge that. I'm sorry. " Dawn says while pulling back. "It's alright, just give me a hea-" I was fixing myself while I talked but I didn't finish when I see Dawn made a move to swing.

I blocked his swing on time and pushed him away. "What the-" He didn't give me time to curse out as he made a move again. Swinging his sword to my left and thanks to my fast reaction speed, I caught up to Dawn's swing and blocked it. Dawn grazed his sword against mine. "Not bad at all." He whispers with a hint of curiosity. He pulls back. "From whom did you learn how to dodge and block, Akalea? Who taught you?" He says while looking at me with those ocean blue eyes twinkling with curiosity and excitement.

Damn. He's too fine. Just like Shawn.

"My f- I mean my master, the person you all call Lord Akane, taught me. He taught me a few things." I say making it up. Crap I almost said 'my father'. Dawn's eyes squinted and I was hoping he would believe it. "Hm. Okay." Is all he says and got into position to strike. I, too, got into position and await for him to charge at me. He began to step forward and swings his sword toward my mid section so I pushed my butt out, bending a bit to avoid my mid section to be hit.

Not wasting any more time, Dawn swings his sword again towards my head. I was barely able to block and I stumbled back as I push him away with the sword, leaving a good amount of space between us. "Good thinking. If we were too close I would've strike again." Dawn says with curious eyes. For only a second, I blinked and not too long after, I felt danger. I bend my body to roll to my side and opened my eyes.

Seeing that Dawn made a move and missed while I rolled away. "Hm.." I heard him hum as he stood straight and turns his head to look at me. "You should not only block and dodge me but also attack. Why haven't you?" His eyes squinted again as he says that. "I don't want to bring myself attention." I told him and looked behind him. The others watching us . "I'm a norm after all I wouldn't want attention." I say as I nervously laugh.

"Don't worry and just let go." Dawn says looking at me as I just stared at him. Not a word coming out of my mind. "If you won't attack, then I'll make you attack me." He says determined that he can make me attack him. My eyes widen as he strikes at me again. I get it. A smile broke out of my lips as I stood there, waiting for his sword to come. I didn't move yet as I was waiting for the right time to move.

"Ms. Akalea, move!" I heard Kint yelling at me and at that moment, just before the blade of Dawn's sword touch me, I duck and I slid my right leg towards Dawn's legs. His eyes widen as he felt that he was falling. There was a loud 'oof' of a sound as he hit the ground. Not wasting a second , I put my sword near his neck. "It's not all the time you have to attack to win. A simple move can change the tide of a battle." I say as I gave a smile while putting away my sword. I push my hand towards him to take. Dawn was looking at me dumbfounded and shocked.

He took my hand and I helped him up. "Thanks." Was all he said and began to walk away probably going to another partner since I won our match. He stopped midway and turns his head. "You're good." He continues to walk like he didn't say anything. I giggle at how he did that. Cute. I grabbed my jacket from the ground, slung it on my shoulder and went back to the group of students.

After an hour of the partner to partner match, it was finally done. "So let me say that it was kind of disappointing to see that most of you gave up and not giving your all at all. This is a class where you need to grow and improve, not to give up and be discouraged. Only one succeeded in defeating a Ranker. Next time, please give your all." Kint says telling everyone with seriousness. Kint walked towards me with a little bag.

"Here's the 10 gold, congrats ms. Akalea." Kint says giving me the bag and patting my shoulder with a smile. I put the little bag in my pocket as Kint went back to his spot earlier. The others had their heads down feeling defeated. "Yeah, if a normie can do it, so can we!" Someone yells encouragement. Most of them soon accepted the fact unlike the ones who didnt and just not mind it at all.

"In this next hour, pick a partner and choose who attacks and who defends. In this lesson, we need to disarm the attacker. Now, go find a partner." Kint says and I just stood there. Not knowing anyone here except for Shawn and Dawn. Maybe Amy but I already guessed that she has a partner. "Come on." A warm hand grabs hold of my wrist and takes me to a battle circle.

I look to see it was Dawn yet again as he lets go of my arm. "Why me? I'm sure there's someone who wants to be partnered with you." I reason out. What is he really thinking? I squint my eyes not knowing his intention of picking me again. "You're different. You seem..." He trails off as he looks into my eyes his face void of any emotion yet his eyes gives off an emotion which I cannot fathom. Oh boy. I'm shocked. "Fun." He blurts out in a whisper but I got it. "Hmm." I hum in response trying to stop myself from blushing.

"Uhm, who's the attacker?" I ask as Kint signals everyone to get ready. "Want me to be the attacker?" Dawn asks and I just nod. I put down my sword and jacket down outside the circle while Dawn grips his sword, facing it towards me. We got into position and I inhale and exhaled air. A whistle was heard signaling us to start.

"I'll go easy." Dawn's deep yet cold voice utters out those words. "It's okay if you don't. It's better that way so I can improve." I say truthfully since I have yet to find out his patterns and moves. I was used to my father's but this is new. Someone other than my father in front of me. Making me excited of new experiences. I need to get stronger. There are no shortcuts. Dawn gives me a nod and starts to move. He steps his left foot forward while swinging his sword to the left.

Trying to hit my right side but I leaned to the left and push him away. It was kinda hard to push him so I jumped away from him instead. What the hell? Is he made out of a boulder? "Nice dodge but this is a disarming lesson. You can't just dodge nor give yourself and your attacker space away of each other. Try to disarm me, Akalea." Dawn points out. His words registering in my mind. Yet again, true. Dawn then ran towards me with a tiny kill intent which meant he wants me to get serious.

So I did. He swung his sword horizontally towards my neck and before it could slash my neck I duck so fast as the moment his arms came into view aligning my head. With just a tiny power increasing my strength, I grab his hands pushing his arms up which caught him off guard. When I did, I quickly slid my foot behind his, tripping him in the process making him fall.

My grip on his hands tighten as I brace myself for the fall. He landed on the ground with me sitting on his abdomen, his arms pinned above is head. He was too shocked to comprehend what happened and just looked at me. When he just kept looking at me, I felt his grip on his sword loosen I grab the sword and threw it to the side. "There I disarmed you. Happy?" I say and smiled, laughing a bit at his shocked state. I realized that we were still in 'that' position so I got up and nervously laugh when I saw everyone looking at us with their mouths open. They were shocked, too.

"Oh hey, you need a little help?" I offer with pushing my hand out for him to take. He continues to look at me in wonder then snaps back to his self. "Thanks." He took hold of my hand and I pull him up, helping him. "That was epic, Aka. Nice job!" Kint says with a smile and I gave him a smile back. I lowered my head grabbing my sword and jacket then went back to the others standing, waiting for their turn. I felt everyone's stares on me and I got uncomfortable.

What happened to not trying to attract attention, Aka? I sigh as I went back to the crowd watching as Dawn takes another person with him to continue the disarming lesson. A little while later, when everyone was done the bell rang. "Time for lunch!" Kint smiles at all of us and we pile inside the academy. The others went to the cafeteria directly but I need to change my shirt. "I need to go back to my room." I told Shawn which Dawn heard. "Sure but I'll go with you, too." Shawn says and as we started to walk away, Dawn suddenly appeared beside me walking with us.

"I guess, Dawn is coming, too." Shawn says chuckling at Dawn and Akalea smiles. We hurriedly walk towards my room and once we were in front of my door, I stopped and put my hands on the chests of Dawn and Shawn to stop them. "No, no, no. Don't come in. No boys allowed." I say cutely and I, too, did not expect to act 'cute'. What the fuck, Aka?! I look at their expressions and both of them had their heads turned away so I took this chance to open my door and quickly close it.

I quickly changed my top with a less baggy shirt with a fitted and stretchy tank top to wear underneath. I push the ends of my shirt inside my pants then left my jacket in the laundry basket. I just noticed that Lisa hasn't shown herself to me since this morning. As long as she is safe and not harmed. I thought to myself hoping she is not in danger.

When I came out, the guys wore different tops as well as they were leaning on the walls in front of my door. Awie they waited for me. I blush a little and cleared my throat. "Let's go?" I ask and they stood up, their faces void of emotions. Weird. I ignored it and walked first with them trailing behind me as we walk towards the cafeteria.

Third Person Point of View:

When Akalea said those words cutely, the boys felt weird sensations in their tummies. They turned their heads away before Akalea could look at their faces. When Akalea went in her room, both of the guys took off to their room to change as well. But when they arrived inside their room, they leaned on their doors, touching their hearts.

How could someone make me feel like this? I just met her earlier and even fought with her. Is what Dawn thought of. Damn, she just did something cute. Is the thought in Shawn's mind. They quickly shake their heads and trying to ignore the sensations in their tummies as they quickly changed their shirts, too.

After they were done changing they came out of their room and leaned on the wall in front of the door of the room of Akalea. They haven't said a word to each other till Akalea finally opened her door and came out, noticing them. "Let's go?" Akalea asks and the guys stood up straight with no expressions as they do not want to show that what she did affected them strangely.

Akalea shrugged her shoulders and walks towards the cafeteria with the guys trailing behind her. On the way towards the cafeteria, the guys look like they were the bodyguards of Akalea which is kinda funny yet cute. (Like imagine having two guys trail behind you looking like bodyguards because you affected them by just doing something cutee.. Awe damn, is it just me or am I just single? huhu btw continue reading guys hehe love you all!)

The cafeteria was bustling with students having their lunch. Akalea is now walking in between Dawn and Shawn to which they finally spoke and they offered her to sit with them at their table. She couldn't refuse so she went with them. They got their food and were walking towards a table with a group of people. They were walking towards the table with the Rankers. Oh, they are the Rankers from earlier except for one though. Hm I guess Emily isn't here. Akalea thought to herself as they sat down and the people at the table were staring at her.

"Mind introducing us?"

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Hey guys! I know, I know. This is a long chapter but hey isn't that good though? hehe

So wait for part 3!

Thanks for reading! Love ya'll!

-Aki