𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠 ~ 𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑝

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ sᴇᴠᴇɴᴛᴇᴇɴ

"up and at 'em, you got drills in three minutes!"

aaliyah springs awake, and quickly tries to wake herself up. she notices the sun isn't peering through her curtains, like it normally does in the morning. it was still dark outside. she turns her body, to look at the time on her clock that rested on her nightstand. 4:42 am.

she sighs, but ultimately gets out of bed, so she could get dressed. she grabbed a pair of dark grey leggings, and slipped them over her legs until pulling the waistband over her hips and over her lower stomach. she grabbed a thin, black, jacket from the hook behind her door and slid it over her arms, covering up the sports bra she was previously sleeping in. her hair immediately went into a ponytail, and her feet slid into a pair of nike tennis shoes. she knew she would be running this morning.

aaliyah was out the front door in only two minutes, noticing stan standing at the edge of the lake, about several yards ahead. she noticed mitch and victor coming out of their house, that was down the road from her's. the three of them began to jog, until they were in front of stan and ready to hear what drills were about to happen today.

"morning, chumps." stan smiles. "glad you kids understood the assignment of being down here in three minutes. you got drills this morning. keep you assassins in top shape. you've got a five mile run, then a little water break, and then it's straight to the obstacle course. after that, quick conditioning and then you are free for the rest of the day. but until 9 am, you're under my commands. do you understand me?"

"yes, sir." the recruits say in sync.

"well don't stand there. start running!"

the three of the recruits begin to break out in a sprint, heading straight for the forest that surrounded the entire lake. there was a small trail for recruits to run on, and it had a perfect few of the lake. mitch and aaliyah ran next to each other, ignoring each other's existence, for a short second, while victor followed closely behind.

"morning, wilson." rapp breaths out, keeping his eyes focused on the trees passing by.

aaliyah looks over to mitch, with a slight face of shock. that was the first time mitch had started up a conversation this entire week. "morning, rapp."

rapp nods his head before quickening his pace at which he was running, and running past aaliyah. she watched him dart past the trees, as she kept a steady pace and furrowed her eyebrows. she hadn't even noticed that victor caught up to her. "you two are annoying me." he groans.

"what are you talking about?" aaliyah asks, keeping her eyes on victor.

"your whole silent treatment game, towards each other. it's annoying."

"tell me about it." aaliyah mutters, turning her attention back on the forest.

"you know, he keeps smacking his bathroom counter every night. like he's pissed off or something."

"not my problem."

"stop acting like this, wilson. you're being just as annoying as him." victor sighs. "look, i know you two had your little moment in france. but stop acting like fucking high schoolers about it. since rapp can't grow the balls to talk to you about it, grow them yourself."

with that last piece of advice, victor ran past her, leaving her to think on his words. she slowed her pace a little bit, thinking about how victor didn't know enough information about the situation to speak on it. but at the same time, he had a point. her and rapp were acting childish about this whole situation.

she continued her run, gaining speed quickly and catching up with victor and rapp. she was in second place, with mitch only inches in front of her. she could see her ending point, indicating that her five mile run was nearing its completion. her shoes stomped against the dirt trail as she used all of her power to run towards the finish line. she darted past mitch, but he started to speed up too as he watched aaliyah get closer and closer to the end. they ran next to each other, seeing one another from the corners of their eyes. with one last step, aaliyah finished the run, only milliseconds before rapp did. she bent forward, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath. she then started to wonder why beating rapp was such a priority to her. this was training, not a competition.