Chapter 6: Sweat
I was breathing hard, focused on the person in front of me. She was doing the same. I barely noticed the cheers from the crowd, I was just focused on her. I need to know when she reacted, or how she reacted when I react. I needed to go back on the offensive.
In short, she was kicking my ass.
Not surprising since she was in the class ahead of me. She was one of the top students from that class. I had no clue why Sensei had me fighting her.
She had showed up to class, spoke with Sensei and sat down while Sensei continued his class. Then the practice sparring occured. I was paired up with her.
She attacked.
She didn't want me to plan, she needed me to keep going on the defensive. She was fast, and she was hitting hard.
That was her weakness. She was going too fast, her technique and her stratagy was starting to falter. She was also really tired, much more so than I was. I could see the sweat collecting on her brow. A well placed counter could offset her enough to finish it. Just had to wait for her to falter a little.
There. She wasn't blocking. I took it, I flanked her and countered her forward movement. I saw her eyes bulge as she saw my fast movement. It was too late for her to block. I hit her hard, using her own momentum. A slight gasp escaped her mouth as she realized her back was now facing the ground.
I completed my move with a strong yell. Just like the Sensei did when he showed us a move. I never done it before, but it came naturally to me.
She was done. The sparring match was over. I breathed hard as I looked up at the crowd. They were surprised, but it ended with loud clapping and a few cheers.
My focus ended and the world slowly returned to normal.
I offered my hand and helped Shelby up. She smiled at me as she stood up and gave me a deep bow. I did the same and thanked her for the match. She walked away towards Sensei's assistant, and sat down next to him. I sat down next to Liam and our group of friends. Before I could say anything, Sensei went up in front of the class.
"Good job with that last match students. After this brief announcement, I will let the last few matches continue. First off, our belt test is going to start next week. Students will need to sign up for testing times starting next class time. I will hand out packets that will outline what will be tested in the next class. So that is all, please continue with the next match," he said as he sat down.
"Next up, Kawada and Lewis. Step up!" yelled the Sensei's assistant as he looked at his clipboard. I watched Bryan Lewis' lithe body walk up to the sparring area, while Liam went passed me. I looked up to see Liam wink at me. I smiled as Liam bowed to Bryan.
"So how's it going with you guys?" Jason said as I watched the match start.
"Still in a rough area right now," I whispered. I didn't feel like talking about it with Jason and it seemed like he understood. He kept quiet as we watched the match progress.
Despite Bryan's best efforts, Liam was too good. The match was over fairly quickly. They both bowed and Liam sat back down next to me.
We both smiled at each other but we were silent as the next match started.
I averted my eyes as usual while I changed back into my regular clothes. Too many male bodies changing at once.
"Hey Keith, did you remember to tell your mom about pizza night?" Jason asked as he put his sneakers on.
"Yep, yep!" I said.
"How about you Kawada? Keith and a couple of us are having pizza and a sleepover at my house. Your welcome to come," Jason asked. Liam grinned and nodded.
"Let me ask my dad first, but I think can go. I'll be right back," Liam said as he slipped on his flip-flops and rushed out the door.
"What are you doing?" I asked Jason.
"What?"
"You know what, inviting Liam over to the sleepover. You know how it is between us," I said as I looked down.
Jason laughed out loud. I looked up quickly and gave him a look, blushing furiously.
"Seriously dude, that's way too dramatic. I get you're having a little fight, but so what? It's just a sleepover between us guys. Friends and nothing else. Besides, this might be good for you. Reignite that spark," he said. I laughed at his last statement. "Dramatic," I said.
He grinned and shrugged as we walked out of the locker room.
"Alright, I guess your right about it being dramatic. It's just that it's still rough. I'm trying to get used to what happened but I don't know how to," I said.
"Relax man, maybe some time together might help. It's a safe zone with all of us there. It's gonna be fun, okay?" he said. I nodded as we walked outside.
"Hey guys, I'm gonna go get some stuff from my house. Do you mind if I come by your house later?" Liam asked Jason.
"Sure man. You know where I live. We'll be there!" Jason said. Liam walked back to his dad and left in his SUV. We sat outside, waiting for Jason's mom.
"So...I got a question," Jason asked out of the blue. I looked at him and waited.
"On a scale of one to ten, how hot I'm I?" he said with a huge grin.
"What?" I asked increduously. "Are you serious?"
"I'm curious on how I look to other people. So yes, I'm serious. Maybe gauge how girls see me, you know?" he asked.
"Hmm... negative 8?" I said. Jason gasped. I laughed.
"Not funny, bro." he said with a slight smile."That one hurt my feelings!"
"Seriously, though. How do I look?"
At that moment, Jason's mom honked her horn as she approached the front of the building.
"Hey your mom is here, lets go," I said as I stood up. Jason placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me.
"Come on! Tell me please! If you keep quiet about this, I'll think I'm ugly and that'll hurt my self-esteem," Jason playfully pouted. I sighed and looked Jason over.
Jason, in all honesty, was actually really hot. Probably the second hottest guy in class. I'll let you guess, who is the first.
Jason stood at about 5'8, fairly toned and muscular. Chestnut colored hair, blue eyes, light skin. He had a beautiful smile and he was not afraid to bare a toothy grin. He was one of the first guys in our class to start to have stubble, so that made him all the more rugged. Overall, I would give Jason a 10 but I couldn't tell him that...
"Fine. You're an 7 okay? Can we go now?" I said as we walked to his mom's minivan.
"What's my best quality? Is it my big dick? Admit it, you look at it when we dress out," he said just before he opened the van door. I looked at him and winked at me with a huge grin. I'm pretty sure he was fairly serious despite laughing.
I sighed.
"Fuck me," I whispered as I slid in.
"You say something Keith?" Mrs. Horner asked.
"Nothing!" I said with a blush.
I jumped into the pool and felt the chill of the water hit me. I acclimated quickly and swam around a bit before I surfaced. Liam watched the rest of us swim from the lawn chair.
"You sure you don't want to come in?" Landon said from the edge.
"Yea man, it's no fun if don't join in," Jason said.
"I'm alright bro, I'll just watch from here," Liam said as he reclined back in the chair.
We just shrugged before going back to playing around. Seth pulled me to the side of the pool after a bit.
"Does Liam not know how to swim?" Seth whispered.
"What? How would I know? What makes you ask that anyways?" I said, suspicious.
"My cousin acts the same way since he doesn't know how to swim. I was curious and everyone knows you both are best buds. I just thought that you would know."
"I don't know, you should ask him if you're so curious," I said.
"Maybe I will," he said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes as Jason swam towards us.
"Hey Keith, does Liam not know how to swim?" Jason asked.
"Keith doesn't know," Seth said.
Roberto approached us as well.
"Does Li..."
"I don't know Roberto,"
I sighed.
Roberto and I snuck up the side, him with the carbine and I had a Battle Rifle. The side path was narrow and opened to a large field. We had to be careful, or we could get slaughtered as soon as we left the path.
"Shit!" Roberto said as he was sniped. I went behind a rock, knowing that the sniper was waiting for me to come out. Luckly, Landon went up the path, not knowing about the sniper. Even though he killed Landon, I was able to find the sniper's position. I used the moment after he killed Landon to fire my rifle. He couldn't aim while taking damage so he was killed pretty quickly. That was the game point, we won!
We all celebrated, having won the third match in a row. Halo 3 was always fun, especially with a group of friends together. Fun and intense, as we can plan stratagy better.
I was first on my team as usual, Roberto second, Jason third, and Landon was last.
"Another match?" I asked.
"Let's change it up a bit, how about a free for all deathmatch between all of us? See who is the best out of all of us," Jason said.
"Yea that sounds like fun. Only thing is, there are four controllers and six people," Seth spoke up.
"Hmm, well someone can take my spot. I've only played this game twice. I know I suck, I'm out," Landon said as he handed his controller to Liam.
"You can take my spot Seth, I know who's gonna win here. I don't stand a chance against an MLG player," Roberto said as he pointed at me. Every looked at me as I sheepishly grinned. Everyone looked surprised. So did I.
"Seriously, is that true?" Liam asked, incredious.
"I've competed a few times for Halo 3, no big deal. I'm not that good. They're a bunch of people way better than I am," I said, glancing away. I didn't make it a habit to talk about competing. People tend to react weirdly to that.
"Yea right, you made it to the Northeast regionals!" Roberto said smugly.
"How do you know this?" I asked, suprised that he knew all that he knew.
"I've watched a few online streams and I saw you compete once. Looked up your record afterwards. Your probably in the top 50 for the northeast man!" Roberto said.
"Alright! Let's just play. It's no big deal," I said. Everyone looked at me like I was an alien.
"Come on guys, it's not a big deal. I can beat him!" Liam said with a grin as he pushed me gently. That seemed to disarm everyone. Everyone boasted that THEY could beat an MLG player. I was so glad to hear Liam say that.
In the end, I did win but it was really close. Liam gave me a run for my money. I'm pretty sure he must have been practicing. We all had fun the rest of the night and everyone forgot about my MLG stuff.
I woke up with a gasp. A nightmare. Everything was intagable by the time I became aware and awake. I didn't remember anything else. Just the fear.
I looked at my phone, it was 4am. I was only asleep for 3 hours, after Jason's dad forced us to go to bed. We talked for about an hour afterwards, though we all lost the battle and feel asleep at about 1am.
I sat up, realizing that I wouldn't be able to sleep after the nightmare. I looked around, seeing all of my friends asleep. I smiled, as I watched Jason sleep. He was sticking his butt up as he slept on his stomach. It looked weird but strangly adorable. Liam was not under his covers and he was sleeping in just his boxers. He had a boner going.
I looked away before I got one as well.
I sighed.
I hadn't thought about everything since class. All the drama. I wasn't going to start now. At least until the morning.
I stood up and walked to the kitchen, deciding to get a glass of water. I noticed the pool shimmiring in the back yard as I passed the patio door, reflecting the moon. I filled a glass as I decided to go outside.
It was surprisingly cool outside, for a summer night. I sat down on a patio chair, enjoying my water. A cool breeze flittered across the pool, causing the water to shimmer. I sat for a while, just watching the pool water.
A noise interrupted my thoughts. I turned around and saw Liam standing there, in his underwear.
"Can't sleep?" he asked. I turned away and watched pool again.
"No," I muttered. I heard Liam's bare feet hit the bare concrete as he approached the chair next me. He sat down.
It was quiet for a while. I think he enjoyed the quiet and shimmering pool water too.
"Bad dream?" Liam asked, breaking the silence.
"Yep," I said.
"Oh that sucks," he said as he cleared his throat. I glanced at him, noticing his brow was furrowed. He was clearly thinking of something.
"So MLG huh?" he asked. He grinned slightly.
"Yea," I said with a chuckle.
"Major league gaming. I knew you were way too good at Halo," he said.
"I'm not that great man,"
"Of course you are, you kicked our asses all night long. I knew you were taking it easy on us for a while,"
"Maybe. I didn't want to seem like a showoff,"
"No, its really impressive. A little nerdy but impressive nonetheless," he said with that famous crooked grin of his.
I felt my heart flutter a little.
"Thanks for the compliment," I said wryly.
"You know I'm just jeleous. Anyways, how did you become an MLG player in the first place?"
I sighed, looking away.
"When you don't have many friends, you get a lot of free time. I spent a lot of it playing videogames. Practice makes perfect, after all. Lots of practice,"
"Oh," he said hesitantly. The wind fluttered again.
"It's different this summer though, isn't?" Liam said.
Liam was right. I was surrounded by friends. I was having sleepovers, hanging out with people. Things have changed so much over the summer. I guess I could thank my mom for that. Forcing me to come to this class but I knew that Liam was the guy who brought me out of my shell. He was my first real friend in a long time. He was my first best friend.
"Yea it is," I said. We were quiet for a bit, watching the moon's reflection.
"Thanks for being my friend Liam,"
Liam didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry," Liam said finally.
"What?" I asked, a bit confused.
"About everything. Just everything that has happened,"
"It's been really fucking shitty hasn't?" he added. All I could do is nod. I agree, it's just been shitty.
"I know I'm a shitty person and friend," he said. I turned to him and shook my head.
"No you haven't. You are my best friend. That hasn't changed. All the fun and stories and jokes and everything else hasn't changed. You've been a good friend,"
"No I haven't. Sure we're good when joke around but look at all the bullshit that has happened because of my stupidity. I'm fucking fighting Jax and used the word faggot on someone when IM gay," he said with a groan. He put his face down into his hands, as if hiding.
"You're human Liam, you're allowed to make mistakes, even the painful ones," I said.
I realized I was saying it to myself as much as I was saying it to Liam. It doesn't matter what kind of mistakes someone makes, we all make them. What matters is what we do with them afterward.
I went over and kissed him on his forehead. He looked up in surprise.
"You forgive me?" he asked.
"No. You don't need my forgiveness," I said with a sigh.
"We all make mistakes, what matters is what we do with them afterwards. I just realized that. We both have issues with what you did but you took steps to fix it. That's all anyone can do,"
"Huh?!" I said as someone cleared their throat. I sat up quickly from the chair. I realized I had fallen asleep in Liam's arm. I turned quickly around to see Jason grinning from his patio door.
"Hey lover boy," he said as he winked.
"It's not what it looks like," I said.
"Sureeeeeee,"
I rolled my eyes.
"Anyways, breakfast is ready. Wake up sleepy over there and come join us,"
"BREAKFAST?!" Liam said as he woke up. He quickly ran off towards the kitchen. Jason and I shook our heads in amazement.
"Ahhh, that was good. Feels like I have a food baby," Liam said as he patted his stomach.
We all laughed except for Mr. Horner, who just witnessed Liam eat the last of the breakfast. He was a little late for breakfast. Mrs. Horner underestimated(Liam) and didn't cook enough.
Unfortunatly the sleepover ended right after breakfast as everyone's phones started ringing. Parents were on their way to pick up everyone.
One by one everyone left until it was just me and Jason. My mom was running late due to work.
As soon as we were alone, Jason turned to me.
"So, did you do it by the pool?" Jason asked with a grin.
"What?! No!" I said suprised by the question.
"Well then what happened?" Jason asked.
"We just talked, we spent a bit of time talking about everything. It turned out we had a bit of stuff to work out,"
"So does that mean you're good?"
"Well..."
My mom honked outside.
"Tell me bro!"
I picked up my stuff and went to the door.
"Yes," I said with a big grin. I waved and open the door. Jason smiled as he saw the door closed behind me.