Transfusion

Chapter 9

Plastering myself into the friend group of someone I barely knew, went better than expected. 

Elias was immediately accepted, just like I knew he would be, and he did deliver on his promise; I guess it didn't hurt that I was actually considered interesting because I was the new girl. I was seated right next to Sander, and he asked me a bunch of questions about where I was from, and what school I used to go to, while another girl, across from Sander occupied Elias's attention. 

The male in question was pretty cute, in a boy next door type of way, with his brown hair, and light freckles. I made up credible, vague answers to his questions, and did my best to keep up with the small talk, asking him about the places he liked to hang out at after school, figuring it'd be important to know where we would have to follow him to. 

My friendliness seemed to be working because he said that the next time he went somewhere with his friends, he would invite me along, to show me where the teens hung out in this town. 

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The rest of the day went by uneventfully, Elias wasn't in any of my other classes, and after school I was half surprised that he was sitting in his car waiting for me. I wouldn't have put it past him to leave me stranded at school. I got into the car, and silently, he started the engine, turning the radio up, so that an 80's rock song blasted from the speakers.

When Leon heard us come in, he came to see how things were going with Sander, and smiled at me. All his anger from yesterday had dissipated and he was even speaking to Elias again.

When I brought up my little wardrobe issue to him, he gave me a couple hundred dollars and told me to go buy everything I needed. Leon even allowed me to drive his Buick and I was grateful for some alone time, away from everyone, and everything related to the Collective. It would be a good time to clear my head, and settle my whirling emotions about all of this. I parked at the nearest convenience store, and bought everything I needed from clothes, school supplies, toiletries, and even splurged on some decorations for my plain looking room.

By the time I was done it was almost evening. When I got back to the apartment, Leon and Dravin were about to leave for the second stage of the government operation.

 In light of what happened yesterday, Leon decided to start a new training regiment for the newest recruits, and said it would "be beneficial to the Collective and make us stronger." 

In actuality, it would only benefit Reina and I, as I doubted that Elias would enjoy teaching us hand to hand combat techniques. I would have preferred Leon as my instructor but he was busy tonight, and Elias was the only one available.

Changing into shorts that wouldn't restrict my movement, and a tanktop, I headed to the garage that had been transformed into a gym, with padded mats on the ground, and a variety of workout equipment such as dumbbells and exercise machines pushed to the side.

 As I finished pulling my long, dark hair into a ponytail, I saw that Reina was already there in tights and a loose t shirt. She had her arms wrapped around herself and she looked almost anxious, and a little lost. I was glad that she recovered from yesterday, but I couldn't help feeling a smidgen of pity for her. She didn't seem like someone who belonged in the Collectives at all, how did she pass initiation in the first place?

All thoughts froze in my mind when I saw Elias walk through the door. He was wearing a black wife beater that clearly exposed his broad shoulders, and muscular arms. The cloth clung to his body so that his well-defined abs were on display. He looked incredibly good and for some reason this irritated me; he probably knew how hot he looked and was gloating about it.

 I saw that there were tattoos on his arms, that I hadn't seen before, and one tattoo in particular caught my eye. Encircled around his left bicep was an tidal wave with such minute detail it looked almost real, down to the foamy bubbles, the splashes, and deep soulful blue color. These waves seemed mid-crash in a frenzied circular pattern around his arm, and I almost couldn't stop staring at it.

I did manage to look away when Elias began the training but, I was surprised that he hadn't called me out on staring at him because I was sure he noticed.

It turns out, that the taller male was actually a good teacher, patiently correcting our moves and demonstrating them over and over when we didn't get them. I proved myself to be pretty competent, and I admitted that I felt a little pride when even Elias saw that I had the basic moves down, and then some, due to my mysterious training from before. 

Reina was another story, If I didn't know better, I would have thought this was her first time learning any self defense at all. Other than a sigh, when Reina messed up a move for the fifth time, Elias was completely serious, and gave us various tips to help us improve, he didn't even say anything snarky, or blunt which I began to realize was pretty out of the ordinary.

 Every time, his hands were on my arms or legs to correct my movement, I could feel the heat of his callused hands.

The moves he taught us were basic, not that I thought he would break out any skilled ones right away, but I wanted something more challenging.