Time Limit

AJ

MURDERS STOP ME FROM STUDYING
(NOT THAT I WAS GONNA ANYWAY)

It's been two weeks since the Masquerade Ball. Kyle and I still haven't spoken to each other outside of combat class. I'd been practicing every day in the gym, but he was never there. To be honest, I was glad about that. Gods know how awkward it would be.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My fists hit the punching bag over and over and over exactly like how I'd been trained to do, hard, fast and strong, all in different places but swinging with the same force.

"Stupid cunt, go faster," his raspy voice whispered, the crack of his palm slapping my cheek echoing throughout the room. "Give us a performance, or there will be consequences. We will not be gentle with you this time."

I stopped for a moment to bury down the sudden onset of memories, then started to attack the punching bag faster, harder, stronger than ever before, determined to punch my past away.

Thwack.

The punching bag exploded from the other side, the filling pouring out onto the hardwood floor.

Panting, I withdrew my fists as someone started clapping from behind.

"Nicely done, AJ. Is that your name?"

I turned around to see the red-headed girl who'd danced with Kyle.

"Yeah. Cassandra, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Call me Cassie. I may be a student instructor, but I...look...the same age as you, don't I? At least, I hope so. I'm only a few years older."

I grinned. "Of course."

"Kyle's an idiot, don't worry. I'm not his girlfriend." I nodded, even though I'd already guessed. She looked sideways at me. "Do you want to be his girlfriend?"

"Whoa, hold up!" I backed away. "Way, way too fast." I barked out a laugh that sounded fake even to myself. "Ha, ha. I only met him a little more than two weeks ago! He's just a friend, and definitely nothing happened at the Masquerade."

"...So, the thing that happened at the Masquerade...is that why he's ignoring you?"

I gaped at her. "How — "

She waved it off dismissively. "I've learnt to read people. I'm way more experienced than the average person at this sort of things. Had to do it since a long time ago."

She forced me to sit down, and so did she.

"Kyle's a good friend of mine. I know that things may be awkward, but just talk to him, okay? Take things slowly, it works best. Be friends."

After that, she left, and I was left wondering who the heck Cassie was.

She was too smart to be human.

>>>>>>>>>>

"Always remember to use correct punctuation in your fanfics. No emojis, none
of your own opinion until the end. That annoys a lot of people, and many will stop reading, however well-written your plot is..."

I yawned and glanced up at the clock. Fanfiction & Literature was a useful class, but seeing I had written a fanfic (Solangelo) with over 4 million reads and 2.3 million kudos on AO3, I didn't exactly need it that much. My others all had at least 4K reads and 200 kudos. (Yeah, that Jasper one was my worst fanfic. 4K reads and 200 kudos, but I'd written it when I was ten, so it doesn't count as much.)