A High School Werewolf

Chapter 21-Tutoring is Hard

Side. Side. Up. Side. Up. Down. Side. Down. Up. Down. Side. Side. Up. Side. Up. Down. Side. Down. Up. Down. Side. Side. Up. Side. Up. Down. Side. Down. Up. Down. Side.

The pattern was ingrained in Sarah's mind as she hacked away at the leather dummy. The axe didn't feel as comfortable in her grip as a sword, but Mr. Sharp insisted that she practice with her axe. The pattern was the same as the one for the sword. She grew increasingly frustrated with herself as she was unable to complete the strokes at the same rate as she could with her swords. Her anger lead to sloppy form which lead to her being less efficient which lead to her anger growing. It was a never-ending cycle.

She was snapped back to reality by an unfamiliar voice calling out, "Hey! You're Sarah, right?" Sarah spun on reflex and narrowly avoiding beheading the blonde standing in front of her. She didn't recognize the girl.

Then again, she didn't know very many people. Sarah realized belatedly that she hadn't replied and hurriedly nodded quickly muttering, "Sorry."

The blonde seemed unphased by her near beheading and continued, "Perfect! Mr. Sharp asked me to ask you to help me improve my swordsmanship. He's tutoring someone else right now." Sure enough, across the room, Mr. Sharp could be seen instructing a boy how to wield a large battle sword. The poor boy could barely lift the large weapon. The blonde drew Sarah's attention again, "Oh, by the way I'm Jasmine. I'm a freshman and in 101. I've heard a lot about you. Um... so... can you help me with my swordsmanship?"

Sarah nodded and gestured with her free hand for Jasmine to follow. She lead her over to the armory and returned her very real and very sharp axe to its holder. Then she reached the practice swords and asked over her shoulder, "One or two?"

Jasmine looked genuinely confused, "What?"

Sarah turned halfway to face Jasmine and gestured towards the array of swords, "One sword or two?"

Jasmine laughed awkwardly, "Oh, right sorry. I was being stupid. Uh, two. That's what you do, right?"

Sarah nodded while tossing two of the practice swords towards Jasmine. Sarah grabbed two for herself as Jasmine clumsily caught the two swords and fumbled around trying to get a proper grip on the blades. Sarah's ease at once again handling two swords was easily seen in her relaxed posture and grip. Only someone like Taylor would have noticed the barest hint of hesitation as she lead Jasmine back to the practice room.

The two stood awkwardly until Sarah realized she was the teacher and instructed, "Let's do a quick duel just so I can get a grasp on your abilities then we can go more into form or whatever you need work on. Ok, uh, attack me."

Sarah easily blocked Jasmine's first attack, a simple side slash. Sarah calmly deflected each blow that Jasmine threw at her. Jasmine's attacks followed the most basic pattern for beginners. Slash to the left, slash to the right, stab. Occasionally an uppercut or downward swing would be thrown in but no advanced moves what so ever. She didn't fake or do any diagonal slashes. Her movements were slow and sloppy and if Sarah had been attacking Jasmine would have been on the floor mere seconds into the fight, but Sarah controlled her urges. She allowed Jasmine to beat on her defenses until the other girl was ragged and sweating, then she easily deflected the stab aimed for her stomach and brought her other sword around stopping it before it struck the other girl and lightly tapped her on her chest right over her heart. Sarah took in Jasmine's ragged breathing and inwardly winced. Whoops, guess I let that duel go on for to long. I'm really bad at this.

Jasmine wheezed between breaths, "You were holding back the entire time!?"

Sarah shrugged, "Uh, yeah I didn't want to just pound you into the ground that's what class is for. You're a beginner and I'm, well, not."