Gravel came at me from the side. He was bigger than me and probably stronger too. He stands about six-four, weighs around 255 pounds, and has rage……a lot of rage. He wore a shabby button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbow, and had on a pair of denim jeans that had cuts and blood stains all over them. He was bare foot, as was I.

I just turned 17 years old; I’m six feet and ¼ inches tall, I have bright sky blue eyes, a mop of straight dirty-blonde hair that hangs in my eyes a little bit, and I weigh about 150 pounds. I am a Veltron, so my father says. He tells me I will make girls’ hearts melt when I finish my training, but I’m not so sure.

In Swiston, California, you’re either a Veltron, a Conmadan, or a Detroanion. Like I said before, I’m a Veltron. We own the East Side of Swiston. The Conmadans own the North Side, and the Detroanions own the South and West Sides of Swiston. We’re all classified into one category though; Conlortons.

The Conlortons were named after our city’s founder, Thomas Conlorton (or so we’ve been told, but I’ve always felt they were leaving something out). He was the one who came up with the land to build our secret society. We are cut off from the world, the only contact we have outside of Swiston is when Jeb, the delivery guy, brings in our supplies. No one is allowed to come in, or leave the city. It must stay a secret at all costs, so don’t tell!

Gravel slugged my stomach and I dropped to my knees. He brought his foot up to my face hard. I was thrown backward, hitting my head against the concrete floor. Little black dots filled my vision and darkness danced around the edges. My May 13, 2010 birthday wasn’t going so hot.

“I declare Gravel the winner!” Joseph stepped in and raised Gravel’s hand high above his head (Joseph was our trainer, and referee when we spar). I tilted my head up to look in his direction, Gravel was gloating to everyone with his nasty cocky smile. “Gravel, you pass for today and are that much closer to being a W.T. You deserve a good shower. Head back to the Mess Hall for lunch, then report back here for today’s Weapon Lesson. In fact, all of you go to lunch and rest up for Weapon Training.” He waved them off and walked over to me. “How’s your head, Squirt?” he reached down to me and I took his hand.

He helped me up and I staggered as I said, “It’s not that bad. I’ve had worse from a Detroanion.” I tried to smile, but I scowled when I tasted the blood running down my forehead and into my mouth.

“Aw, you’ll get it. I shouldn’t have put you up against a Detroanion; nasty guys they are. Once they leave their three year training with me, within their last two years of training Brian turns them into the toughest warriors we have; unless they’re like Gravel and are training to be a W.T. or something besides a warrior. W.T’s are still tough though, especially a Detroanion W.T. I’m sure you know Loner? He’s the bad-ass W.T. that gives out the quests to the W.T.s. He has a record of…”

His voice faded away from my knowledge when the guild’s side door swung open. Lenard walked across the Guild floor with a confident stride. I groaned and whispered an interruption to Joseph, “Yo Joe, we got company.”

Joseph turned around and groaned just as I had. No one liked coming face to face with Lenard. It is never a good sign because he wasn’t the one that delivered the good news. He is a scrawny nerd with glasses who thinks he’s bad ass because everyone is scared of him coming to them. The only reason people would even care that he delivered bad news, was that he was Roger Himming’s assistant.

Roger Himming was the Academy’s Superior. The academy was like a school for the Conlortons. And Roger was like the Principal and Superintendent put together. Nobody liked seeing Lenard for that reason and that reason alone.

Lenard strolled up to us with a cocky smile. He extended his arm with an envelope in it, and my breath caught in my throat. Mr. Himming couldn’t fire Joseph! Joseph was the best teen trainer the academy had! They just couldn’t do that!

“What’s this?!” Joseph quickly opened the envelope to reveal a hand written letter. He wasn’t breaking out in a dance, so it couldn’t be good. But he wasn’t breaking down and crying, so it might not be bad.

“It is a letter from the Jacobs’ lawyer. It is to inform you of a new student you will be receiving from Zach’s Guild. It is to inform you that you may not, in any way, refuse to train this student because Mr. Himming has already accepted the application of transfer and given out the class schedule.”

“Why would I refuse a student? Will they be here for Weapon Training?”

“Yes, Waterfall will be here immediately; already in the Mess Hall with the rest of your students.” Lenard nodded a goodbye to Joseph and left the Training Guild.

“Waterfall, huh? Well, I guess we’ll find out how tough Waterfall is in a little while. Coming from Zach’s Guild, I figure he’ll probably blow right through this course and head on up to the last two training years with Brian.” He smiled and ruffled up my hair.

“Yeah, I guess.” I walked to my bench and picked up my book bag and towel. Pressing the towel firmly to my forehead, I walked to the Mess Hall with Joseph. Joseph was a slender man, he was average height (6’5”), and he didn’t have a deep voice like most men his age. He was just an all around average man, but he sure did know his weapons.

He can tell you every tip, trick, hint, maneuver, or lunge used in wielding a knife, sword, nun chucks, dagger, nik, doby, ticker, or even a glopper. He invented the nik, doby, ticker, and the glopper, but he knows every weapon we’ll ever use like the inside of his eyelids. He is a quiet man. He normally keeps to himself, but when he’s training us to use and fight with weapons or even our bare hands, he really starts to shine. Weapons and fighting are he’s passions, but he doesn’t use them except to teach.

Joseph broke away from me when we entered the Mess Hall. Sighing with grim loathing as I trudged over to my Guild’s Mess Table, I swore under my breath at the sight of Gravel’s venomous eyes follow me across the room until my butt hit the bench. My spine shivered when his eyes bore holes in my back.

I don’t have many friends…….okay, I don’t have any at all. So I’m normally pretty content with being by myself, but not today. Today I’m scared, Gravel wasn’t happy that I didn’t make it a hard enough fight.

I’m pretty much the screw up of Swiston. I can’t do anything right. I’m not good at shooting a bow, at sword fighting, at any kind of cooking, cleaning, or drawing; I can’t really contribute to my community like my father, uncle, mother, aunt, grandfather, or grandmother. My dad is just hoping for something that will never happen.

I sat alone at the edge of our Mess Table, but my neck hair stood straight up when Gravel, Splinter, Bloodshed, and Titan surrounded me on all sides. I carefully pushed my tray away from me and stared down at the pictures I have carved in the table over the years.

“Hey Squirt, you must have gone easy on me or something. I mean, you were down within a minute. And I know you don’t suck that bad ‘cause your daddy’s always boastin’ ‘bout his invincible son; his 6 foot 7 inches tall son that can kill a Hauntear just by looking at it. That’s what your daddy told mine. Where’s the invincible Squirt during training? Huh? Oh yeah, that’s right! Squirt can’t even pass Algebra II!” They laughed and Bloodshed dumped my tray of food into the floor.

I clenched my fists under the table, but held my tongue. “Come on Squirt! Don’t hold back on us anymore. I wanna see the incredible invincible Squirt, not the stupid geek from Training Class that gets his butt kicked.” He paused to cock his head at me then said, “Are you listening to me Squirt? Huh? Are you?!” Gravel stood up and shoved my shoulders, pushing me into Bloodshed on my other side.

Bloodshed got mad and pushed me into Splinter, but he got mad as well and pushed me into Titan. Before I knew what was going on, I was their new punching bag. Now they were all standing pushing me back and forth in between them, hooting and laughing the whole time. I was thrown from Bloodshed to Gravel, Gravel to Titan, from Titan to Splinter, Splinter to Bloodshed, and then all over again and again and again.

My head was spinning round and round. I couldn’t catch my balance long enough to stop them, not that I would have been able to anyways. I could hear more laughter now, but all I could see was black.

I quickly opened my eyes, big mistake. The room was spinning faster and faster. I felt sick, but I could see that a crowd had grown around us. They weren’t even helping me! They were cheering louder and louder, and laughing alongside Gravel and his gang.

Suddenly, I was stopped and thrown across the circle formed between the crowd. I rolled across the floor and stopped in a heap when someone’s foot stepped in front of me. I clenched my stomach where their shoe had jabbed in. My eyes trailed up the blue jeaned legs that stood next to my face.

An unfamiliar face stared down at me. “Oh come on dude! We were just having some fun with Squirt.” Gravel started to haul me up, but the stranger’s hand shot out and pushed him away. My eyes grew wide with fear at the sight of Gravel’s surprise.

“Don’t touch him.” The stranger stepped over me and into Gravel’s face.

“Hey, calm down dude. He’s fine, aren’t you Squirt.” Gravel stepped one step back to get the stranger out of his personal bubble.

“Yes, he’s alright now. But what if I hadn’t stopped you? Would he still be okay when you finally got bored?” they stepped closer to Gravel again, and Gravel backed up, once again. “Don’t you think, you could have hurt him?” The stranger shoved Gravel backward and followed close after.

“Hey! What’s your deal?!”

“My deal? My deal is, I don’t like people who pick on others so that it makes their self-confidence go up as your punching bag’s goes down.” The stranger gave him another hard shove away from me.

Gravel stumbled back, but caught his balance. The stranger stayed where he was, but glared at Gravel with a stared that could kill a cat. Gravel glared back, but soon parted the crowd and left the Mess Hall with Bloodshed, Titan, and Splinter.

The stranger turned to me and held out his hand. My mouth gaped and my eyes stared wide with shock. The stranger wore faded blue jeans, sneakers, and a black hoodie. He was around 5’9” by my judgment. I could just see a hint of blonde hair sticking out of his beanie. He had his hood pulled up over his beanie, shielding his sea green eyes a bit.

My paused reaction made him smile. “Don’t worry, I’m not like those other guys. I’m a year younger than you and them, but I’m definitely more mature than them.” I tried to smile, but it was still hard with my gut still clenched. I hesitantly grabbed his hand and he helped me to my feet.

“What’s your name Squirt? I bet you don’t like being called that do you?” he brushed off my back and held out his hand for me to shake. The crowd had pretty much dispersed by now, so no one could over hear anything, which is exactly how I like it.

“Uh, my name’s Squirt.” I reached out and shook his hand.

He looked stunned. “Dude, sorry ‘bout that. I didn’t know, I mean, it’s just that most guys…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not my real name, but that’s what everyone calls me because I’m the runt of my class. My mother named me Kanjort, but she died in the fire and I’ve been called Squirt ever since. My father expects a lot from me, but I don’t know if I can fill his shoes.”

“Kanjort, its unique. Your mother must have been unique. I like that, Kanjort.” His gaze was distant.

“Well, we should get to our guilds.” I nodded a goodbye and quickly walked to the 14 thru 17 Training Guild. My heart raced, and sweat beaded on my forehead. When I got to the locker rooms, I paced back and forth in front of my locker.

This couldn’t be happening. I wasn’t confused, it just couldn’t happen to me! What would my father say? What would my classmates say?! I would be made fun of for the rest of my life! Gravel wouldn’t even wail on me because he would be too scared to touch me! It just couldn’t be!

The locker room double doors swung open and Gravel and his gang walked through. “Well if it isn’t little Squirt.” I quickly locked up my locker and darted out the door leading into the Guild Weapon Training Arena.

Bolting out of the door may not have been such a good idea, I smacked right into someone and we both fell to the floor and began rolling down the steps coming up from the Arena floor.

I came to a stop, and when I opened my eyes I saw the stranger from the Mess Hall laying on top of me. I quickly grasped what had happened and tried to shake him awake. He didn’t move. As I shook him, I realized, under his hoodie and baggie jeans he didn’t have the same kind of figure as me. But not in a comparison way. He didn’t have the muscles like Gravel, or slim figure like Bloodshed. I hate to say it, but he sort of had curves like a girl.

My arms immediately pushed him off. I rolled away and jumped to my feet. He lay sprawled on the floor next to where we had landed. Cautiously making my way over to him, I started to notice other features about him. Like the way his jeans were almost two sizes too big, or the way his face had a shinning glow to it, or the way his face was perfectly proportioned. Little tuffs of blonde hair stuck out from under his beanie, like they had earlier. And his face looked almost angelic in the dim light.

My mind snapped back to where I was and what had happened. I knelt beside him and shook him once more. He groaned, but his eyes fluttered open. His eyes shown a majestic green, his eyelashes…

“What happened?” I reeled back in shock. His voice had been tough and gravely earlier, but now it sounded high, weak, and vulnerable. He cleared his throat quickly and said, “Hey! What’d you do that for?!”

“I didn’t mean to, I just, um, I just got scared. And I didn’t know you’d be there!” I held out my hand and helped him up. “By the way, I never caught your name in the Mess Hall.”

“Oh yeah! Sorry, that was rude of me. It’s…” Joseph walked up holding a clipboard before he could finish.

“Waterfall?” Joseph looked up with a smile.

“…Waterfall.” He finished with a sigh.

“Nice to have you here Waterfall. But I’m afraid today you’ll have to sit this one out. Today is test day, so you can’t really take a test over something you haven’t covered yet. You can just go on back to your house. Sorry, but I didn’t know I was getting a new student. Here,” Joseph handed the pencil and clipboard to Waterfall and continued, “write down your name and address just in case there’s anything you miss. That way I can send someone with the homework.”

Waterfall shrugged and mumbled an “okay” before writing down the information. He handed the clipboard back to Joseph. Waterfall smiled at them before turning and walking away.

His smile was pearly white, and his complexion was beautiful. He seemed to be the most angelic looking person I had ever met. His eyes were like the green tree tops that made up the forest on the outskirts of town, his face seemed to be that of one carved from a Greek God, his…

I shook my head and tried to clear my mind. I couldn’t figure out why I was noticing these things about him. I didn’t do that with anyone else, so why him. It was creeping me out the way I seemed to be noticing all of his attractive features, and nothing else. I shivered, but then Gravel and Bloodshed walked out of the locker room. Joseph turned around, and test day began.

---

I walked down the dark and lonely street with a towel pushed to my right cheek, and a cloth wrap taped around my right forearm. I trudged past the bakery and the café, turning off the street and onto the side walk about a block further.

An address came into my view and I looked down at the piece of paper in my hand. 13329 South Grad Ave. This was the place. It looked just like any other suburban house on the block, but all the curtains were drawn here and nowhere else.

I walked up the walkway and onto the porch. My hands started to tremble when I reached for the knocker. “Just do it. What could go wrong? It’s just a delivery, not a social visit.” I took in a deep breath and knocked three times.

I could just faintly hear shuffling inside, then a second later the door swung open. It took a minute for my heart to start again, and for me to take in a breath. A gorgeous model stood in the doorway.

Her face was beautiful and angelic. Her long blonde hair fell slightly past her shoulders, but a bit of blonde bangs ran from the right side to the left side of her face. Her hair was pulled behind her ears, but her bangs weren’t long enough to stay over there so they swayed in her face as the breeze passed by us. She wore a white tank top with what, I could clearly see from the straps, looked like a purple bra. She was bare foot, but she didn’t have on a pair of pants. Her underwear fit close to her body, and I had to pull in another breath when I realized whose house I was supposed to be at.

The girls eyes went wide and her cheeks and tips of her ears reddened. “What are you doing here?!”

I tried not to stammer as I said, “I was, um, I was supposed to……I’m sorry! I should have called first or something! I was looking for Waterfall, but I didn’t think the curtains being drawn……I mean, I’ll, I’ll just come back some other time or something. I’m really sorry! Just tell him I came by.”

I turned away quickly, trying not to think about why a hot girl would be half naked in the living room of Waterfall’s house, especially with the curtains drawn. I got about two steps away from the door when I felt someone grab the neck of my jacket.

I was hauled backward until I was over the threshold and then shoved against a wall. The girl quickly closed the door and locked the dead bolt.

A gravelly voice called from the living room, which was pitch black except for the light from the T.V., “Honey? Who was at the door?”

“Uh, no one! Just some homeless guy looking for food!” the girl turned back to me and put a finger to her lips. I could see the distress in her eyes as she mouthed the word “please” and laced her hands together in a begging motion.

I was still disoriented from the sight of her, but I managed to nod once and she smiled. I had seen that smile somewhere before, I just knew it. Pearly white, angelic, and beautiful. Then it hit me, she looked a lot like Waterfall.

Oh my god! I could have been looking at Waterfall’s sister the whole time! Ugh! He was going to kill me! There was no way he would spare me if he knew I was staring at his sister in her undershirt and underwear! I was so dead!

The girl put a finger to her lips once more, and grabbed my hand. She turned and peeked around the corner of the little hallway and into the living room. I almost passed out because her body moved so perfectly, and she was so slim that it almost drove me insane to see her dressed like this.

She clutched my hand tighter, and pulled me across the open doorway and to the stairs. We quietly snuck up each step without a sound. When my feet touch the landing above, she almost pulled my arm out of socket trying to pull me away from the railing and over to the wall.

A ceiling beam ran down the wall, and, I soon found, was wide enough to fit two people behind. The girl pushed me into the corner of the beam and wall, and leaned herself against me. I kept telling myself she was just trying to hide, but it was hard to think that with her arms curled against me and her head resting on my chest.

I heard a door slam, and soon she was pulling me down the hall again. We came to a wooden door that had been painted black and purple, and she hurriedly threw it open. Pulling me inside, she whirled around and shut it gently.

Sighing heavily, she turned back to me and whispered, “What are you doing here?!”

“I, um,” I hadn’t realized how dry my mouth had gone in the last couple of minutes, but I tried again, “I am here to see Waterfall. I have his work. Joe got mad at Gravel so he assigned a worksheet.” I reached in my backpack and pulled out the worksheet.

“Oh…” she looked taken aback. “Sorry, you just kind of scared me is all. I didn’t mean to get rude.”

“It’s alright, if that’s the worst thing you do to me……then I think I can probably forgive you pretty easily.” I smiled and tried to keep my eyes on her face. It must not have worked to well because she reddened again and gave a shy smile.

“Um, would you mind turning around for a minute?”

“Uh, sure.” She had her arms crossed over her chest, and for the first time since I had knocked on the door……..she actually looked embarrassed about her appearance. I turned around and heard footsteps crossing the room. A door opening caught my attention, and, by instinct, I turned to see who it was.

She was standing in the closet pulling on a pair of, they looked like boxers for girls, shorts. She had her back to me, which I was kind of glad for. I was so busy looking at how her body curved, that I didn’t even notice she was pulling off the tank top.

Soon, all I could see was the thin bra straps wrapping around her back and shoulders. Her curves were even more defined when she bent over to pick up the gray t-shirt laying on the floor. She slid it on, and I quickly turned around again.

“Okay, thanks. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come by at this time of night.” She walked past me and sat down on the bed. It had a black comforter, a black and purple bed skirt, and there were black curtains hung over the windows.

“Um, does Waterfall happen to be here? ‘Cause I probably should get out of here before I get in trouble.” My arm was tired, so I moved the towel from my forehead. Wrong thing to do. She shrieked and was so startled that she fell backward off of the bed.

I heard noise downstairs and a distant voice yell “Water? Are you okay?” then rapid footsteps started up the stairs. I jumped behind a dresser, and crouched down just in time for the door to fly open.

The light flickered on and a man ran in the room. He ran to the girl’s side and helped her sit up. “Babe, are you okay? What happened? Did you change clothes?” the girl looked up at him with annoyance and saw me sitting beside the dresser.

Her eyes widened with fear. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just fell off the edge. Sorry about the noise.” The man helped her stand, as she tried to keep him from looking in my direction. “I think I’m going to bed though. I’m a little tired.” Amazingly, she steered him to the door without him seeing me once.

Once she had him out with the door shut, she turned back to me with a grim expression. “How’d you get that nasty cut? By the way, um, Waterfall, Waterfall isn’t here. He had to run out for a bit, but he’ll be back later. So I can give him those papers for you.”

“Oh thanks. And Gravel’s not the friendliest of enemies at good times, and today was a bad day.” I stood up and stretched my legs back out.

“I see. I guess I’ll tell Waterfall you stopped by then.”

“Yeah thanks again.” I knew she wouldn’t like me going back downstairs, so I walked over to one of the windows and threw it open.

Making sure not to catch or snag my clothes on anything, I climb out her window and onto a branch from the tree outside. Trying to climb down from a high place with a fear of heights isn’t too easy, especially not when you’re trying to look cool for a hot girl.

My feet hit the ground running. I was so dead when I got home. My dad would have a calf, even more so if he knew I had been in a girl’s room this late. Whether anything happened or not was a different story. I had a curfew, and I was suppose to follow it.

I got home at 2:30 AM, my curfew was three and a half hour ago. I walked up the porch steps, into the house, and locked the door. As usual, all hell broke loose seconds later.

Copyright © 2011 Amanda Woodson. All rights reserved.