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kageisukeSeries Title : Caster College
Series Rating : PG-13 - NC-17
Word Count :4645
Author's Note [1] : ::whistles:: Working fast once I actually start working, I guess... First chapter coming up!
Chapter 1 : An Ambiguous Start
She reached up and pulled her shoulder length hair back, securing it into a ponytail. Her hands traveled down to check the coat and make sure her belt was buckled and zipper zipped. She walked to the entrance and stepped down. She slid into her shoes and tied them tightly.
Pushing the button, the door slid to the side with a *Shhhhh* to allow her passage. She made sure she had her keycard before letting it close and held the handle of her briefcase-like book bag. She tossed it over her shoulder and strode down the empty blue washed hallways.
She had yet to be assigned a classroom schedule, so she took her time and trotted down the stairs. She crossed the street, shadows zipping over her head as hover cars passed by, while the earth bound cars idled at the red light. The buildings she passed projected their holographic advertising graffiti trying to sell useless ‘time saving’ products. Coming to a stop in front of the main building, she gazed up at the 4 floors.
The sign had the name of the building in big bold English letters, then in smaller, but still noticeable letters, other languages that she assumed meant the same thing. Caster College for Physical Arts. The light glinted off the glass front of the building and she could see the image of hover cars whizzing by in the reflection high above her. So, this was her new school... They might as well have called it Caster College for Learning How To Beat People Up.
She walked through the glass doors as they slid open for her. She stopped at the main desk where the Secretary was talking into a headphone set and typing on a flat keyboard with the images of keys on its surface. She leaned against the desk and crossed her arms, waiting for the secretary to finish. She was in no hurry.
The woman clicked the off button on the headset and tapped in a few more keys, the words sprawling across the translucent screen at 70 words per minute. She looked up and eyed the youth who stood beside her desk. She looked to the side and shuffled some papers before producing one from the bottom of the pile.
"Ryan Sharps?"
"Yeah," came a shaky, barely masculine, voice.
The woman lifted an eyebrow. "Here's your schedule. Classes have already started, and they're expecting you, so hurry to class."
She looked down at it, a bunch of letters and numbers next to her classes.
"The numbers are the classroom numbers. E stands for Extra Curricular, and that's in building two. H is for History, fourth floor. L is for Language, primarily English, and it's the third floor. M is for Math, and it's the second floor. S is the first floor, and that has all the sciences. It's pretty much in reverse alphabetical order upwards until you get to E, since the gyms are so big, they decided to build another two story building just for that," The secretary explained.
"Thanks," Ryan turned, still staring at her schedule. "S-3, Physics." She jogged up the stairs and stood at the end of the hallway.
"Young man!" A shriek came from behind.
It took her a second to respond. "Huh?"
"You should be in class! Why are you dawdling around in the hallway?!"
Ryan held up her schedule. She strained her throat to produce a lower tone of voice. "I just transferred. I'm trying to find my way to S-3."
"Oh." The woman straightened her glasses and pointed to a door. "That's it right there, so go on now! You're late!"
"Thank you," she answered, voice shaking, and went up to the door. S-3 was written in bold letters on the door window. Why hadn't she seen that before?
She knocked, then after a second, pushed the button to slide it open and stepped in. It closed behind her and walked the few steps it took to get to the front of the classroom.
The teacher smiled. "You must be the new student?"
"Yeah." She stuffed her hands into her pockets and stared out into the classroom full of boys. She didn't know what she expected. This *was* an all boys school. Maybe she should start referring to herself as 'he' now.
"This is Ryan Sharps. He transferred here from Kowlry State."
"Dork." The first comment followed by the first snickers of what he felt there would be many. And that guy's would be the first ass he kicked.
Ryan settled for a glare. He didn't know the guy’s name, but if he was lucky, he had Sparring with him the last period of the day.
"You can sit between Blake and Traine."
There was more laughter.
"Shut up, you bunch of idiots!" The teacher yelled, then coughed into his fist. "So, please take your seat, Ryan." He smiled again, though it was a little strained.
Ryan went towards his seat. A foot sneaked out in front of him, but instead of just stepping over it, Ryan's foot came down and crushed the boy's ankle. There was a yelp of pain and the beggining of a 'Fuck!' before it was drowned out by the teacher's "Stop shouting in my classroom, Craig!"
"But Mr.Smith! That bastard-!"
"Watch your mouth!" Mr.Smith snapped, effectively silencing him.
Ryan smirked and Craig growled at him. He continued his walk past and set his bag on the table before sitting down. He was half expecting pins or something in his seat, but there was nothing. He looked to either side and tried to figure out who was Blake and which one was Traine. The one on his right was glaring at him mighty hard and he felt like he might just try to kill him any second.
"Blake. Stop trying to scare the new guy. Read the first problem on page 289 in the book."
Mr. Smith had saved him. Blake reluctantly turned to the book and started reading. That was when Ryan and half of the class zone out until the bell rang, releasing them, and they all filed out. Mr.Smith told him to 'Have a nice rest of his first day' and Ryan trudged out. God. If the rest of his classes were like that, he would have to go to his room and kill himself.
His next class was in M-4, Trigonometry. His arch nemisis. He groaned and followed the masses upstairs. It was still too early in the morning to fry his brain. He looked on the door to make sure it was the right classroom before going in. Almost the exact same group of guys from his last class were already seated or talking. Learning names would be easy enough.
He noticed everyone sat in pretty much the same spot as before and it was almost as if they hadn't changed classes. Thankfully, one Blake was missing. Traine, who was running a hand through his dark read hair, sat on the desk that would have been Blake's. He laughed, glancing at Ryan for just a moment before returning his attention to the group.
The bell rang and everyone dispersed and went to their seats. Traine had gone back to the desk on the left and smacked the one next to him. "Knowing Brykes [pronounced Bricks], she'll sit you here."
A woman sped into the room with a handful of books. Her head snapped up to the clock and there was clapping. "Only 20 seconds late..."
"It's a record," someone said from across the room.
She smiled, and nodded. "That it is! Now, I had something to say, but I've forgotten." She tapped her finger on her bottom lip and spied an obvious Ryan standing in the middle of the classroom. "That's right! We have a new student!" She tossed a few papers around. She found the one she was looking for and slammed it on the tabletop. "Ryan Sharps! Welcome! Since you're already over there, you can sit next to Traine."
Ryan felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead as an uneasy smile crept over his face. He felt set up.
Traine sneered at him from his desk. "Told you, so sit your sorry ass down."
Ryan scowled a little but sat after checking his seat. Nothing there. There was a long lecture, during which he slept, eyes slightly open and glazed. Something he'd perfected at his old school. There was some practice problems, which he did grudgingly. And finally, a worksheet to finish for homework that he did during the 10 minutes before the bell rang. Even though he hated Trig with a passion, that didn't mean he wasn't good at it. They were behind his other school anyway...
The bell rang and he popped out of his seat. L-6, English, was next, and the class passed by fast simply because he again slept through it. The same thing happened in H-9, and he wondered if the teacher ever caught on to his ploy... Luckily, there were no worksheets or activities in either class, and if there were, no one bothered to wake him up and say anything to him. Then again, they could have been fooled as well, or less conscious than he had been.
He poked at his lunch, wondering what the hell they were doing by calling the indistinguishable blobs of crap on his plate food. Suffice to say, he didn't eat lunch, and noted that everyone else had brought some type of bagged lunch or was begging someone else to share. Lunch period wasn't even over before his stomach started to rumble in protest at no food. Ryan drank a liter bottle of water in an effort to quell his hunger before sleeping through the rest of the period, or, at least, he tried. His stomach kept startling him awake.
He could hear Traine and others laughing at him. Blake was back, and was just staring murderously at him. It was really freaking him out, but he refused to let it show. Who knows what catastrophes would happen to him by letting a guy like that have the upper hand…
He could barely make it down the stairs to the bottom floor, he was so hungry. Something hit him on the head and he looked up dazedly. He could feel the saliva start building up in his mouth.
A honeybun.
He soon realized it wasn't just an illusion and noticed the hand holding it up. His eyes traced over the wrist to the forearm and elbow. Eventually, he found the face, and a sadistically amused Traine was wearing a taunting smile. The look of hope died on Ryan's face and turned to a scowl.
"If you want it, you better take it before I eat it myself."
"What'd you do to it?" Ryan asked, cautious.
"You sound like a fucking girl."
Ryan felt his heart jump, then snarled, "Better then sounding like a prick, asshole!"
Traine hmphed. "I haven't done anything to this yet, but I'm about to eat it..." He waved the glistening bun over Ryan's head by the corner of its wrapper.
Ryan snatched it from his hand and tore open the wrapper. He took a large bite and savored the flavor for the briefest of moments before engulfing the rest.
"You better eat next time. I don't want any excuses during 6th period."
Ryan lifted an eyebrow. Sixth period? Oh yeah, that was Battle class. Traine must be in his class, though he didn't know how he knew. Probably looked at his schedule while he wasn't looking.
Licking his fingertips, Ryan's lip curled. "You're the one who needs to think up excuses," he said, voice wavering slightly, which made him mentally curse.
"Big talk for the girly voiced fresh meat." Trained laughed. "We've heard about a transfer who's supposed to be all kick ass, and if you're it, we have nothing to worry about!" He laughed again and disappeared into the crowd.
Ryan immediately decided to watch out for him later on. If he was bullshitting, he'd find out in 6th, but he doubted it. He had a powerful walk. He probably shouldn't have said anything so aggressive, but it was too late to take it back. He was starting from the very bottom, and he had at least five hundred people ahead of him. By the end of the month, he needed to be in the top 100. Even if he was stronger, which he was sure he was, he'd have to beat a lot of those ahead of him to get to the top.
He walked out the front doors and his eyes squinted to guard against the sun. He didn't bother to wait until they adjusted before taking the crosswalk over to the next building instead of the moving sidewalks.
Once he entered the second building, he noticed how much dirtier it seemed. Well, maybe not dirty, but definitely used. The outside looked newer than the first building, but the further in you got, the more it smelled like sweat tinged with blood. He liked that smell, and that was why he wouldn't have been able to stand going to the girl’s school just down the street. Girls were wimps, and that was the reason why 'she' decided to become a 'he' and go to the brother school.
Ryan went into the locker room and dropped his briefcase by the lockers. He pressed his thumb against the pad on the handle and there was a click. He jiggled it open and pulled out the gym uniform within. While he hadn't checked out the school itself, he had checked out the gym.
He went into the closest bathroom stall, closed and locked it. Yeah, he did have to pee, but most importantly, he had to change. If any of the guys saw bandages around his chest, it would seriously make them wonder if he had some type of disease, like say, being a woman?
His cover being blown *and* being labeled a pervert would not be a good conclusion to his first day. He pulled up the shorts and slid the shirt over his head. He'd maybe taken twice as long as a normal guy, but he'd changed, too, so that might make them less suspicious.
He came out with his normal clothes draped over his shoulder. About half the guys were gone now. He shoved his briefcase and clothes into the locker, made sure it was locked, and then left with the last of them.
He was in Training first, and, being the 'new guy', they decided to make him go first in his katas. The teacher told him to 'do the one you're most comfortable with', but then he definitely would have been labeled *gay* and mocked for the rest of the year. There was also the fact he hadn't done a kata in a while. He picked his second favorite one. When he was done, they were all staring at him.
"I said do your best one." Coach Wilkes said. His eyes were boring into him. "If that was your best, then there's no way you could have gotten into this school with the credits that your other school gave you."
Ryan frowned a little.
"Don't give me that look, Sharps. I said do your best one, so do it! Now!"
Ryan turned so his back faced him. His face contorted to one of embarrassment. If they knew he was a woman, it would be okay, but since they didn't, he would look so gay.
He began anyway. He hadn't done it in about three weeks, but it flowed back to him with ease and he left his worries behind and focused. In the end, he'd forgotten where he was, and when he looked up, he saw them all staring at him again. It wasn't the same look of 'That's it?' like before, but not quite astonishment. Just a kind of respect.
"That was better, much better." Wilkes nodded. "But you're out of practice. When's the last time you went through your katas?"
Ryan cringed, but hoped no one had noticed. "About three weeks."
"That might as well be a month. You come to the best school for trained fighting without practicing for that long? You underestimate us, boy. Got an explanation for why? I'm sure we'd all like to know." He gestured to the other boys in the class who were looking expectantly.
There was hesitation before Ryan mutter, "Strength training."
"That's all? You could have easily balanced it all out. Pathetic. Go sit down."
Ryan scratched his head and walked by them all. He squatted and crossed his arms. It was the closest thing he'd get to sulking. How was he supposed to tell Wilkes he was bulking up so he could hide the fact he was really a girl?
He watched the others. They were definitely better than his was, but after he got back into his normal rhythm, he would be in the middle. The longer he watched the more he realized they were getting better. They were going up and up, the rank getting higher and higher.
He looked at the group on the fair end, Traine in the center. None of them had gone yet, so he assumed they were near the top. He ground his teeth. Now he really needed to be in the top 100 by the end of the month, so he could fight against them during ranking battles.
Ryan had gone off into his own little world again when he felt that hideous glare on him again. Without even looking he knew it was Blake. That bastard hadn't gone yet either. He'd forgotten how many had gone, but Craig had gone a little while earlier. He would beat him, too, once he was back up to speed.
Blake moved from the wall and took his starting position. After he started, Ryan realized why no one had laughed or jeered at him when he did his. Blake was doing a kata similar to the one Ryan himself had done. His was better, and he hated to admit that to himself.
It was all the more reason to practice. He also noticed how Wilkes looked at him after Blake was done and narrowed his eyes. Bastard. What was that supposed to mean?
A blonde he recognized from a few of his classes was next. He was immediately struck by how feminine he looked. He had to look closely at his face to make sure he wasn't just a really tall girl with broad shoulders. His katas were definitely good. His palms pushed forward and his arms circled. He had swift legs that seemed to bend in very inhuman ways because of the speed. After determining that, he zoned out again. It wasn't until the blonde went back to the side and Traine stepped up that he *really* started paying attention.
He had power, and each strike punctuated with a deep 'Hya!' shook his entire body. He wouldn't say he was graceful, but he was flexible and moved with ease around the floor. He felt a mixture of jealously and admiration starting to grow. He wouldn't stop until he beat him.
There was a discussion, which he simply listened to. Mostly how the weaker ones could get better, but no one said anything about him. He felt like they wanted to say something, so very badly, but a menacing aura enveloped them all and no one said a word.
They were dismissed and everyone headed towards the locker room. "I'll be the one making excuses, huh? You're nothing but a little pussy," a low growl said from behind.
Ryan didn't jump, but just shrugged. "I'm more out of practice than I thought." The comment about him being a pussy infuriated him though. He wasn't weak just because he was actually a girl...
There was a snort and Traine started to say something else before Wilkes' voice boomed out from behind both of them.
"Sharps! Get over here!"
Ryan made a quick turn and went back. Traine grumbled in irritation but moved on.
"After school, you come back here for extra training."
Ryan nodded, not bothering to try and argue.
"Good. I'll be seeing you at 3:15."
"Yes, Coach Wilkes." Ryan walked back to the locked room. Everyone was already gone, so he felt it was safe to bang his head against the locker and groan. "This sucks ass."
He dragged himself back out into the hallway. The bell to change classes had already sounded and he could imagine the other building busy with movement. They were simply moving to the next room. He could only wonder who they'd match him up with for sparring. Probably someone on the bottom, because after his 'performance' earlier, any credit he had had gone down the drain fast.
Ryan sulked against the back wall as the pairings were called off. He didn't remember his name being called, but soon he was facing his opponent on the far side of the room. They were given a small space to work with, which was fine with him, but he found it unusual.
His fight didn't last long. He may have been out of shape, but he wasn't that weak. His strength training had come in handy. Being on the end, he had to wait for the 3rd round of fights before he could fight again, and it was harder, much harder. He didn't have the chance to think about other things like he had before. Duck and weave, a quick punch or kick and then retreat. He didn't know anything about his opponent except he was considerably better than the first he'd fought.
It was close, but he won. He was allowed to rest and they discussed the battle. The guy he'd beaten looked a little angry. The blonde from before, who he learned was named Blaine, calmed him down. Ryan found himself thinking of several corny jokes comparing the names Blaine and Traine, but kept them to himself.
"Alright, alright, calm down," the battle instructor said.
"Easy for you to say. You didn't get beat by the newbie who can't even do his katas right." The guy hissed under his breath.
Ryan felt himself crack a smile, then burst out laughing.
"You got something to say?"
"Don't make empty threats," Ryan quipped. "Who am I fighting next?"
There was a low chuckle that he didn't like.
"That would be me, fresh meat, and I like my steaks tender."
Ryan managed to keep his smile. "Still bloody and raw just for you, bastard." He patted his chest. "You're going to have to do a lot of beating to get this meat tender."
Traine cracked his knuckles. "I can do that."
"Save it for later, dumb asses." Instructor Dwight interjected. "Class is almost over, so you can finish this tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah," Traine waved his hand. "Saved for now, little bitch," he told Ryan, who flicked him off.
Ryan waited a few seconds before starting towards the other room.
"Wilkes said for you to wait here." Dwight called out.
Ryan sighed. For a lack of anything better to do, he went into stretches. He lunged to the side and reached with his other arm. He switched sides, then sat and reached forward.
He'd gone through the whole stretch routine and was sitting cross-legged on the floor, still waiting. He wouldn't be surprised if that bastard Wilkes forgot. He stood. There was no point in wasting his time. If Wilkes wasn't going to help him improve his katas, he'd do it on his own. He went through his second favorite in slow motion, correcting his hands and posture as he went, often going back to do it again correctly. He did it a bit faster next time, and finally normal speed the third time. He stopped often and went back to do it properly. He started over a lot, trying to push it into his brain.
This was the best he'd done on that kata in a long time, and he felt satisfied. He stretched a bit more to cool down and spun on his heel to leave. He came face to face with Wilkes. His lip twitched and his eyes narrowed.
"Very good. I'm glad you didn't try to leave, because then I would have gone really hard on you."
"You didn't do anything," Ryan grumbled.
"I didn't have to. You went through and did the corrections yourself. Anything else I had to say would be nit picky. I can save that for later. Work on your best one tomorrow. I'll be here to watch you. There weren't many flaws, but it lacked power and there were a few small errors here and there. Nothing major, but you might see them since you managed to do that last one.
"I can see why you were doing that strength training now. You are a bit on the weak side."
"Thanks," Ryan answered sarcastically.
"Don't mention it." Wilkes waved him out. "Get going. Take a shower and get a good rest. I'm gonna work your ass off tomorrow. Today was just a test. Class isn't normally run like that. You may be in the class with the top 20, but you're still at the bottom. We just believe in the potential that Kowrly saw in you."
"Not sure if I should take that as a compliment." Ryan hacked at the hard clap on the back he received from Wilkes before trudging to the locker room. Everyone else was gone, as they should be, since it was almost 6 o'clock.
He didn't think it was safe to change out in the open, but walking to the bathroom then back out to get his stuff didn't seem appealing. He took off his shorts and quickly pulled his pants on. The bandages on his chest he could explain away, but even though he was wearing boxers, it couldn't hide the fact he had hips. He had on side padding, but it didn’t seem to straighten him out much. He could not explain it to someone without saying 'It's because I'm a woman'.
He stripped off his shirt and pulled on the white dress shirt. He immediately hated it and pulled it off again. The black cotton was better. He folded his school jacket and shirt up and put them in his briefcase. He looked weird, walking down the street, the brief walk that it was, in a regular t-shirt, dress pants, and a briefcase. He caught more than a few weird glances. That could be because he looked really skinny to be going to a fighting school.
He got on the elevator and went up to the 2nd floor. Room 201. He pulled out his key card and swiped it. The door opened and he walked in. Throwing down his case, he went into the bathroom. He pulled his hair out of the ponytail and shook his head. He stripped himself of the shirt and pants and started a pile. Untucking the end of the bandages around his chest, he unwrapped.
She poked at her now free chest. She wondered if her boobs would ever just go flat and never recover. She'd have to research that. That wasn't something a push-up bra could fix...
She stepped into the shower and sighed. It may have been 30 minutes, but it still seemed too short. She stepped out of the shower and towel dried. She pulled on a clean pair of boxers, sports bra, and a black tee shirt. It certainly wasn't safe to wear white, especially if it called for rain. Collapsing onto the bed, she groped the clock to make sure it was set to alarm at the right time before crashing and burning.
Author's Note
Aa, I won’t be saying much in these, but it’s the first chapter. Rather boring, right? Hopefully it won’t stay that way, but won’t know until I finish. That and the title. Calling it Caster College sounds so cliche. Even more so than the actually plot of this story.
Series Rating : PG-13 - NC-17
Word Count :4645
Author's Note [1] : ::whistles:: Working fast once I actually start working, I guess... First chapter coming up!
Chapter 1 : An Ambiguous Start
She reached up and pulled her shoulder length hair back, securing it into a ponytail. Her hands traveled down to check the coat and make sure her belt was buckled and zipper zipped. She walked to the entrance and stepped down. She slid into her shoes and tied them tightly.
Pushing the button, the door slid to the side with a *Shhhhh* to allow her passage. She made sure she had her keycard before letting it close and held the handle of her briefcase-like book bag. She tossed it over her shoulder and strode down the empty blue washed hallways.
She had yet to be assigned a classroom schedule, so she took her time and trotted down the stairs. She crossed the street, shadows zipping over her head as hover cars passed by, while the earth bound cars idled at the red light. The buildings she passed projected their holographic advertising graffiti trying to sell useless ‘time saving’ products. Coming to a stop in front of the main building, she gazed up at the 4 floors.
The sign had the name of the building in big bold English letters, then in smaller, but still noticeable letters, other languages that she assumed meant the same thing. Caster College for Physical Arts. The light glinted off the glass front of the building and she could see the image of hover cars whizzing by in the reflection high above her. So, this was her new school... They might as well have called it Caster College for Learning How To Beat People Up.
She walked through the glass doors as they slid open for her. She stopped at the main desk where the Secretary was talking into a headphone set and typing on a flat keyboard with the images of keys on its surface. She leaned against the desk and crossed her arms, waiting for the secretary to finish. She was in no hurry.
The woman clicked the off button on the headset and tapped in a few more keys, the words sprawling across the translucent screen at 70 words per minute. She looked up and eyed the youth who stood beside her desk. She looked to the side and shuffled some papers before producing one from the bottom of the pile.
"Ryan Sharps?"
"Yeah," came a shaky, barely masculine, voice.
The woman lifted an eyebrow. "Here's your schedule. Classes have already started, and they're expecting you, so hurry to class."
She looked down at it, a bunch of letters and numbers next to her classes.
"The numbers are the classroom numbers. E stands for Extra Curricular, and that's in building two. H is for History, fourth floor. L is for Language, primarily English, and it's the third floor. M is for Math, and it's the second floor. S is the first floor, and that has all the sciences. It's pretty much in reverse alphabetical order upwards until you get to E, since the gyms are so big, they decided to build another two story building just for that," The secretary explained.
"Thanks," Ryan turned, still staring at her schedule. "S-3, Physics." She jogged up the stairs and stood at the end of the hallway.
"Young man!" A shriek came from behind.
It took her a second to respond. "Huh?"
"You should be in class! Why are you dawdling around in the hallway?!"
Ryan held up her schedule. She strained her throat to produce a lower tone of voice. "I just transferred. I'm trying to find my way to S-3."
"Oh." The woman straightened her glasses and pointed to a door. "That's it right there, so go on now! You're late!"
"Thank you," she answered, voice shaking, and went up to the door. S-3 was written in bold letters on the door window. Why hadn't she seen that before?
She knocked, then after a second, pushed the button to slide it open and stepped in. It closed behind her and walked the few steps it took to get to the front of the classroom.
The teacher smiled. "You must be the new student?"
"Yeah." She stuffed her hands into her pockets and stared out into the classroom full of boys. She didn't know what she expected. This *was* an all boys school. Maybe she should start referring to herself as 'he' now.
"This is Ryan Sharps. He transferred here from Kowlry State."
"Dork." The first comment followed by the first snickers of what he felt there would be many. And that guy's would be the first ass he kicked.
Ryan settled for a glare. He didn't know the guy’s name, but if he was lucky, he had Sparring with him the last period of the day.
"You can sit between Blake and Traine."
There was more laughter.
"Shut up, you bunch of idiots!" The teacher yelled, then coughed into his fist. "So, please take your seat, Ryan." He smiled again, though it was a little strained.
Ryan went towards his seat. A foot sneaked out in front of him, but instead of just stepping over it, Ryan's foot came down and crushed the boy's ankle. There was a yelp of pain and the beggining of a 'Fuck!' before it was drowned out by the teacher's "Stop shouting in my classroom, Craig!"
"But Mr.Smith! That bastard-!"
"Watch your mouth!" Mr.Smith snapped, effectively silencing him.
Ryan smirked and Craig growled at him. He continued his walk past and set his bag on the table before sitting down. He was half expecting pins or something in his seat, but there was nothing. He looked to either side and tried to figure out who was Blake and which one was Traine. The one on his right was glaring at him mighty hard and he felt like he might just try to kill him any second.
"Blake. Stop trying to scare the new guy. Read the first problem on page 289 in the book."
Mr. Smith had saved him. Blake reluctantly turned to the book and started reading. That was when Ryan and half of the class zone out until the bell rang, releasing them, and they all filed out. Mr.Smith told him to 'Have a nice rest of his first day' and Ryan trudged out. God. If the rest of his classes were like that, he would have to go to his room and kill himself.
His next class was in M-4, Trigonometry. His arch nemisis. He groaned and followed the masses upstairs. It was still too early in the morning to fry his brain. He looked on the door to make sure it was the right classroom before going in. Almost the exact same group of guys from his last class were already seated or talking. Learning names would be easy enough.
He noticed everyone sat in pretty much the same spot as before and it was almost as if they hadn't changed classes. Thankfully, one Blake was missing. Traine, who was running a hand through his dark read hair, sat on the desk that would have been Blake's. He laughed, glancing at Ryan for just a moment before returning his attention to the group.
The bell rang and everyone dispersed and went to their seats. Traine had gone back to the desk on the left and smacked the one next to him. "Knowing Brykes [pronounced Bricks], she'll sit you here."
A woman sped into the room with a handful of books. Her head snapped up to the clock and there was clapping. "Only 20 seconds late..."
"It's a record," someone said from across the room.
She smiled, and nodded. "That it is! Now, I had something to say, but I've forgotten." She tapped her finger on her bottom lip and spied an obvious Ryan standing in the middle of the classroom. "That's right! We have a new student!" She tossed a few papers around. She found the one she was looking for and slammed it on the tabletop. "Ryan Sharps! Welcome! Since you're already over there, you can sit next to Traine."
Ryan felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead as an uneasy smile crept over his face. He felt set up.
Traine sneered at him from his desk. "Told you, so sit your sorry ass down."
Ryan scowled a little but sat after checking his seat. Nothing there. There was a long lecture, during which he slept, eyes slightly open and glazed. Something he'd perfected at his old school. There was some practice problems, which he did grudgingly. And finally, a worksheet to finish for homework that he did during the 10 minutes before the bell rang. Even though he hated Trig with a passion, that didn't mean he wasn't good at it. They were behind his other school anyway...
The bell rang and he popped out of his seat. L-6, English, was next, and the class passed by fast simply because he again slept through it. The same thing happened in H-9, and he wondered if the teacher ever caught on to his ploy... Luckily, there were no worksheets or activities in either class, and if there were, no one bothered to wake him up and say anything to him. Then again, they could have been fooled as well, or less conscious than he had been.
He poked at his lunch, wondering what the hell they were doing by calling the indistinguishable blobs of crap on his plate food. Suffice to say, he didn't eat lunch, and noted that everyone else had brought some type of bagged lunch or was begging someone else to share. Lunch period wasn't even over before his stomach started to rumble in protest at no food. Ryan drank a liter bottle of water in an effort to quell his hunger before sleeping through the rest of the period, or, at least, he tried. His stomach kept startling him awake.
He could hear Traine and others laughing at him. Blake was back, and was just staring murderously at him. It was really freaking him out, but he refused to let it show. Who knows what catastrophes would happen to him by letting a guy like that have the upper hand…
He could barely make it down the stairs to the bottom floor, he was so hungry. Something hit him on the head and he looked up dazedly. He could feel the saliva start building up in his mouth.
A honeybun.
He soon realized it wasn't just an illusion and noticed the hand holding it up. His eyes traced over the wrist to the forearm and elbow. Eventually, he found the face, and a sadistically amused Traine was wearing a taunting smile. The look of hope died on Ryan's face and turned to a scowl.
"If you want it, you better take it before I eat it myself."
"What'd you do to it?" Ryan asked, cautious.
"You sound like a fucking girl."
Ryan felt his heart jump, then snarled, "Better then sounding like a prick, asshole!"
Traine hmphed. "I haven't done anything to this yet, but I'm about to eat it..." He waved the glistening bun over Ryan's head by the corner of its wrapper.
Ryan snatched it from his hand and tore open the wrapper. He took a large bite and savored the flavor for the briefest of moments before engulfing the rest.
"You better eat next time. I don't want any excuses during 6th period."
Ryan lifted an eyebrow. Sixth period? Oh yeah, that was Battle class. Traine must be in his class, though he didn't know how he knew. Probably looked at his schedule while he wasn't looking.
Licking his fingertips, Ryan's lip curled. "You're the one who needs to think up excuses," he said, voice wavering slightly, which made him mentally curse.
"Big talk for the girly voiced fresh meat." Trained laughed. "We've heard about a transfer who's supposed to be all kick ass, and if you're it, we have nothing to worry about!" He laughed again and disappeared into the crowd.
Ryan immediately decided to watch out for him later on. If he was bullshitting, he'd find out in 6th, but he doubted it. He had a powerful walk. He probably shouldn't have said anything so aggressive, but it was too late to take it back. He was starting from the very bottom, and he had at least five hundred people ahead of him. By the end of the month, he needed to be in the top 100. Even if he was stronger, which he was sure he was, he'd have to beat a lot of those ahead of him to get to the top.
He walked out the front doors and his eyes squinted to guard against the sun. He didn't bother to wait until they adjusted before taking the crosswalk over to the next building instead of the moving sidewalks.
Once he entered the second building, he noticed how much dirtier it seemed. Well, maybe not dirty, but definitely used. The outside looked newer than the first building, but the further in you got, the more it smelled like sweat tinged with blood. He liked that smell, and that was why he wouldn't have been able to stand going to the girl’s school just down the street. Girls were wimps, and that was the reason why 'she' decided to become a 'he' and go to the brother school.
Ryan went into the locker room and dropped his briefcase by the lockers. He pressed his thumb against the pad on the handle and there was a click. He jiggled it open and pulled out the gym uniform within. While he hadn't checked out the school itself, he had checked out the gym.
He went into the closest bathroom stall, closed and locked it. Yeah, he did have to pee, but most importantly, he had to change. If any of the guys saw bandages around his chest, it would seriously make them wonder if he had some type of disease, like say, being a woman?
His cover being blown *and* being labeled a pervert would not be a good conclusion to his first day. He pulled up the shorts and slid the shirt over his head. He'd maybe taken twice as long as a normal guy, but he'd changed, too, so that might make them less suspicious.
He came out with his normal clothes draped over his shoulder. About half the guys were gone now. He shoved his briefcase and clothes into the locker, made sure it was locked, and then left with the last of them.
He was in Training first, and, being the 'new guy', they decided to make him go first in his katas. The teacher told him to 'do the one you're most comfortable with', but then he definitely would have been labeled *gay* and mocked for the rest of the year. There was also the fact he hadn't done a kata in a while. He picked his second favorite one. When he was done, they were all staring at him.
"I said do your best one." Coach Wilkes said. His eyes were boring into him. "If that was your best, then there's no way you could have gotten into this school with the credits that your other school gave you."
Ryan frowned a little.
"Don't give me that look, Sharps. I said do your best one, so do it! Now!"
Ryan turned so his back faced him. His face contorted to one of embarrassment. If they knew he was a woman, it would be okay, but since they didn't, he would look so gay.
He began anyway. He hadn't done it in about three weeks, but it flowed back to him with ease and he left his worries behind and focused. In the end, he'd forgotten where he was, and when he looked up, he saw them all staring at him again. It wasn't the same look of 'That's it?' like before, but not quite astonishment. Just a kind of respect.
"That was better, much better." Wilkes nodded. "But you're out of practice. When's the last time you went through your katas?"
Ryan cringed, but hoped no one had noticed. "About three weeks."
"That might as well be a month. You come to the best school for trained fighting without practicing for that long? You underestimate us, boy. Got an explanation for why? I'm sure we'd all like to know." He gestured to the other boys in the class who were looking expectantly.
There was hesitation before Ryan mutter, "Strength training."
"That's all? You could have easily balanced it all out. Pathetic. Go sit down."
Ryan scratched his head and walked by them all. He squatted and crossed his arms. It was the closest thing he'd get to sulking. How was he supposed to tell Wilkes he was bulking up so he could hide the fact he was really a girl?
He watched the others. They were definitely better than his was, but after he got back into his normal rhythm, he would be in the middle. The longer he watched the more he realized they were getting better. They were going up and up, the rank getting higher and higher.
He looked at the group on the fair end, Traine in the center. None of them had gone yet, so he assumed they were near the top. He ground his teeth. Now he really needed to be in the top 100 by the end of the month, so he could fight against them during ranking battles.
Ryan had gone off into his own little world again when he felt that hideous glare on him again. Without even looking he knew it was Blake. That bastard hadn't gone yet either. He'd forgotten how many had gone, but Craig had gone a little while earlier. He would beat him, too, once he was back up to speed.
Blake moved from the wall and took his starting position. After he started, Ryan realized why no one had laughed or jeered at him when he did his. Blake was doing a kata similar to the one Ryan himself had done. His was better, and he hated to admit that to himself.
It was all the more reason to practice. He also noticed how Wilkes looked at him after Blake was done and narrowed his eyes. Bastard. What was that supposed to mean?
A blonde he recognized from a few of his classes was next. He was immediately struck by how feminine he looked. He had to look closely at his face to make sure he wasn't just a really tall girl with broad shoulders. His katas were definitely good. His palms pushed forward and his arms circled. He had swift legs that seemed to bend in very inhuman ways because of the speed. After determining that, he zoned out again. It wasn't until the blonde went back to the side and Traine stepped up that he *really* started paying attention.
He had power, and each strike punctuated with a deep 'Hya!' shook his entire body. He wouldn't say he was graceful, but he was flexible and moved with ease around the floor. He felt a mixture of jealously and admiration starting to grow. He wouldn't stop until he beat him.
There was a discussion, which he simply listened to. Mostly how the weaker ones could get better, but no one said anything about him. He felt like they wanted to say something, so very badly, but a menacing aura enveloped them all and no one said a word.
They were dismissed and everyone headed towards the locker room. "I'll be the one making excuses, huh? You're nothing but a little pussy," a low growl said from behind.
Ryan didn't jump, but just shrugged. "I'm more out of practice than I thought." The comment about him being a pussy infuriated him though. He wasn't weak just because he was actually a girl...
There was a snort and Traine started to say something else before Wilkes' voice boomed out from behind both of them.
"Sharps! Get over here!"
Ryan made a quick turn and went back. Traine grumbled in irritation but moved on.
"After school, you come back here for extra training."
Ryan nodded, not bothering to try and argue.
"Good. I'll be seeing you at 3:15."
"Yes, Coach Wilkes." Ryan walked back to the locked room. Everyone was already gone, so he felt it was safe to bang his head against the locker and groan. "This sucks ass."
He dragged himself back out into the hallway. The bell to change classes had already sounded and he could imagine the other building busy with movement. They were simply moving to the next room. He could only wonder who they'd match him up with for sparring. Probably someone on the bottom, because after his 'performance' earlier, any credit he had had gone down the drain fast.
Ryan sulked against the back wall as the pairings were called off. He didn't remember his name being called, but soon he was facing his opponent on the far side of the room. They were given a small space to work with, which was fine with him, but he found it unusual.
His fight didn't last long. He may have been out of shape, but he wasn't that weak. His strength training had come in handy. Being on the end, he had to wait for the 3rd round of fights before he could fight again, and it was harder, much harder. He didn't have the chance to think about other things like he had before. Duck and weave, a quick punch or kick and then retreat. He didn't know anything about his opponent except he was considerably better than the first he'd fought.
It was close, but he won. He was allowed to rest and they discussed the battle. The guy he'd beaten looked a little angry. The blonde from before, who he learned was named Blaine, calmed him down. Ryan found himself thinking of several corny jokes comparing the names Blaine and Traine, but kept them to himself.
"Alright, alright, calm down," the battle instructor said.
"Easy for you to say. You didn't get beat by the newbie who can't even do his katas right." The guy hissed under his breath.
Ryan felt himself crack a smile, then burst out laughing.
"You got something to say?"
"Don't make empty threats," Ryan quipped. "Who am I fighting next?"
There was a low chuckle that he didn't like.
"That would be me, fresh meat, and I like my steaks tender."
Ryan managed to keep his smile. "Still bloody and raw just for you, bastard." He patted his chest. "You're going to have to do a lot of beating to get this meat tender."
Traine cracked his knuckles. "I can do that."
"Save it for later, dumb asses." Instructor Dwight interjected. "Class is almost over, so you can finish this tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah," Traine waved his hand. "Saved for now, little bitch," he told Ryan, who flicked him off.
Ryan waited a few seconds before starting towards the other room.
"Wilkes said for you to wait here." Dwight called out.
Ryan sighed. For a lack of anything better to do, he went into stretches. He lunged to the side and reached with his other arm. He switched sides, then sat and reached forward.
He'd gone through the whole stretch routine and was sitting cross-legged on the floor, still waiting. He wouldn't be surprised if that bastard Wilkes forgot. He stood. There was no point in wasting his time. If Wilkes wasn't going to help him improve his katas, he'd do it on his own. He went through his second favorite in slow motion, correcting his hands and posture as he went, often going back to do it again correctly. He did it a bit faster next time, and finally normal speed the third time. He stopped often and went back to do it properly. He started over a lot, trying to push it into his brain.
This was the best he'd done on that kata in a long time, and he felt satisfied. He stretched a bit more to cool down and spun on his heel to leave. He came face to face with Wilkes. His lip twitched and his eyes narrowed.
"Very good. I'm glad you didn't try to leave, because then I would have gone really hard on you."
"You didn't do anything," Ryan grumbled.
"I didn't have to. You went through and did the corrections yourself. Anything else I had to say would be nit picky. I can save that for later. Work on your best one tomorrow. I'll be here to watch you. There weren't many flaws, but it lacked power and there were a few small errors here and there. Nothing major, but you might see them since you managed to do that last one.
"I can see why you were doing that strength training now. You are a bit on the weak side."
"Thanks," Ryan answered sarcastically.
"Don't mention it." Wilkes waved him out. "Get going. Take a shower and get a good rest. I'm gonna work your ass off tomorrow. Today was just a test. Class isn't normally run like that. You may be in the class with the top 20, but you're still at the bottom. We just believe in the potential that Kowrly saw in you."
"Not sure if I should take that as a compliment." Ryan hacked at the hard clap on the back he received from Wilkes before trudging to the locker room. Everyone else was gone, as they should be, since it was almost 6 o'clock.
He didn't think it was safe to change out in the open, but walking to the bathroom then back out to get his stuff didn't seem appealing. He took off his shorts and quickly pulled his pants on. The bandages on his chest he could explain away, but even though he was wearing boxers, it couldn't hide the fact he had hips. He had on side padding, but it didn’t seem to straighten him out much. He could not explain it to someone without saying 'It's because I'm a woman'.
He stripped off his shirt and pulled on the white dress shirt. He immediately hated it and pulled it off again. The black cotton was better. He folded his school jacket and shirt up and put them in his briefcase. He looked weird, walking down the street, the brief walk that it was, in a regular t-shirt, dress pants, and a briefcase. He caught more than a few weird glances. That could be because he looked really skinny to be going to a fighting school.
He got on the elevator and went up to the 2nd floor. Room 201. He pulled out his key card and swiped it. The door opened and he walked in. Throwing down his case, he went into the bathroom. He pulled his hair out of the ponytail and shook his head. He stripped himself of the shirt and pants and started a pile. Untucking the end of the bandages around his chest, he unwrapped.
She poked at her now free chest. She wondered if her boobs would ever just go flat and never recover. She'd have to research that. That wasn't something a push-up bra could fix...
She stepped into the shower and sighed. It may have been 30 minutes, but it still seemed too short. She stepped out of the shower and towel dried. She pulled on a clean pair of boxers, sports bra, and a black tee shirt. It certainly wasn't safe to wear white, especially if it called for rain. Collapsing onto the bed, she groped the clock to make sure it was set to alarm at the right time before crashing and burning.
Author's Note
Aa, I won’t be saying much in these, but it’s the first chapter. Rather boring, right? Hopefully it won’t stay that way, but won’t know until I finish. That and the title. Calling it Caster College sounds so cliche. Even more so than the actually plot of this story.
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Date: 2006-02-15 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-15 08:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-15 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 03:51 pm (UTC)but a few brain cells! Rampant cursing and sexual innuendo though. You've been forewarned.Merry Christmas, Kage!
My initial thoughts:
- Intriguing idea. It has been done before, but you've given us enough of a look into the life this character has been thrown into that I find I actually want to know more about her and the challenges she is about to face. I like the character, and I don't know why - so to me that says job well done! I want to know more about why she made the choice to go to the boys' school, and how it's going to affect her personally.
- I really want to know about the futuristic world in which this story is set. You caught my attention with the holography. :)
My constructive criticism:
- The intro is a little dry. Is it on purpose that the first few paragraphs start nearly every sentence with "She"? This crops up again in several places in the story and again at the end of the chapter.
- It's ok to refer to characters by name when they're alone and thinking to themselves. It helps spice things up without you having to reorder all of the sentences that begin with pronouns, though I think you should try to mix them up a bit so it sounds more like a story. When you get too many of those sentences together, it can start to sound like a script.
- Referring to herself as a "he" mentally is a bit awkward. I don't think you need to have her think that in order to change the pronoun in the narrative. I think I'd approach it differently - when she's living as a boy, call her a "he", and when she's free to be a girl, call her a "she". You may have a specific reason for this though, so I dunno.
Will definitely continue reading. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-12-10 06:32 pm (UTC)::strokes chin:: No, not on purpose, but I don't think I had introduced her yet, so... and I could drastically cut down on that by using compound sentances. :D Even looking back a year or so to when I wrote this, my writing has improved yet again. ::sighs::
And yeah, her calling herself he throughout the entire story unless she changes clothes or lets her hair down makes it harder to read, but I haven't given myself the chance to go back and change all the occurences. It's hard to have herself refer to herself as 'she' even when she's being Ryan because the others will call her 'he' and it might get confusing who they're talking about. Or at least in my own mind...