Waiting For Danger

Chapter 3

My alarm beeped loudly in my ear at 5 am. I groggily sat up and sorted through my brain. It came to me quickly. I was up early to go to training!

I had spent last night researching martial arts, fighting and practitioners of them. I wanted to show Swellview and its famous inhabitants, crime fighters Captain Man and Kid Danger, exactly why I was back. Determinedly, I had booked in with a Mr Reeth, who had previously taught many famous male and female judo and karate artists. I thought he was perfect for my plan. I had a couple of months to improve my fighting skills before I took on the challenge of crime-fighting again... but this time by myself.

In record-breaking time, I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed and made my way to the dark alley where Mr Reeth's studio was. I knocked three times on door number three, the exact number he had told me online last night. The significance of the number three throughout his workplace, words and website had led me to pick him. After all, three was my lucky number. 

Soon enough, a face peered round the door and invited me in with a nod of his head. I stepped inside and the door shut behind me. The room was lit with one single bulb and various pieces of equipment were either hanging on the walls or neatly stacked on shelves. 

"Cassandra." Said, Mr Reeth.

"Yes, Mr Reeth?" I spoke.

"You are here for lessons in the arts of fighting. You have told me you have a little bit of experience so your first task is to show me. Also, call me Alexander." He said.

"Ok." I gulped nervously, swallowing my fear. 

"Come forth." He spoke. "You will throw me your best moves and I will attempt to dodge them and then I can see what you already know."

I approached him with a confident face and settled into a starting stance. Quickly, I threw my fist towards his face. He moved out of the way easily. I furrowed my eyebrows. Damn Cassandra, you need to up your game. I swung my leg up in a fast movement, aimed at his stomach. He caught my foot and twisted it, causing me to fall on the ground. When I got back up, he still had the same stern face but I could see the disappointment of another failure student in his eyes. I didn't want to be like the others. With a flash of anger, I ran at him and looped my arms around his chest. I felt him grab me, about to throw me off him but I fought back and wrapped my self around his middle before kneeing him in the stomach. My movements caused him to keel over, his back exposed to me like a flat table. I delivered a swift karate chop, his muscles ceased and soon enough he was on the floor, all in a couple of seconds.

He rolled over and this time his eyes twinkled at me. "Very promising. Very promising indeed."

-

An hour later, I walked into school thinking about the successful appointment before. I turned around the corner towards my form room but I was immediately ambushed by Bianca and her minions. This time I was prepared. Bravely, I looked at her with a smirk.

"What?" I asked, unbothered.

Bianca's face creased up. Clearly, she was mad. "I don't know what you're up to freak. But I will find out. Are we clear?" She stepped back and crossed her arms.

I leaned forward into her face and whispered. "Crystal."

-

At lunch, I approached one of the popular kids, Chloe. She knew Bianca but was smart enough not be one of her admirers or followers. I thought we would get on well. 

"Hey, Chloe."

"Omg! Cass! I missed you! She half-shouted.

"You did? Wow well, that's the second person now." I said.

"Of course I did silly! Loads of people did. You were always so nice and funny." She smiled.

"Thank you so much." I laughed. "It's really nice to hear a compliment. I've been having a bit of a bad time, to say the least." I weakly smiled back.

"Is it Bianca? She's changed so much recently. She and Henry are practically joined together." She joked.

"Yeah, it is her. I agree too." I chuckled.

"Tell you what. Hang with me for a bit and we can gossip over everything that's happened whilst you've been gone. I've been getting sick of the popular table anyway!" She exclaimed.

"Sounds great!" I said excitedly.

And that was it. We were friends. Just as easy as making them in high school as it was in kindergarten. But not quite. Over the next couple of days, I spent all my time with Chloe. I learnt all about how Bianca became popular and by having a popular kid as a friend, I think I was on the right track to popularity too. 

-

On Friday I asked Chloe something. 

"Do you think we should sit back at the popular table? We could get more gossip?" I asked.

"Yeah, why not?" She smiled.

But the real reason was to get the insights on the perfect life of the popular kids.

At lunch, Chloe introduced me to the A-crowd. 

"So guys, this is Cassandra. Most of you probably know her." Squealed Chloe.

Bianca stared at me and then whispered to Veronika, one of the girls sat next to her. The two other girls on the table, Lisa and Abi, smiled at me. On Bianca's other side Henry looked me up and down carefully as Jasper beamed at me greatly.

"Hey Cassandra. Nice to see you again." Jasper spoke.

Chloe pulled me down, right in between two guys who were peacefully eating their lunch, onto the bench. The guy next to me turned to face me.

"Hey, I'm Brandon." He winked.

"Oh hi." I awkwardly said. It didn't phase him though. He threw his head back and laughed. Chloe wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"Oh and this is Leo." She said, pointing at the guy to her left. Leo smiled and waved, shyer than the rest of them. 

For most of the lunch, I (and Leo) sat there and listened into everyone's conversations. Occasionally I dropped the odd 'yes' or 'mhm' into the talk but I was very busy taking in everyone's information. Then the bell rang and we all rushed to last period.

-

After school, I sat at my desk whilst writing in my notebook. I jotted down the names of the popular kids and wrote down what I knew about them. 

Bianca - Totally obsessed with Henry, a bully, rich parents.

Henry - Most popular kid, also pretty rich, loved by everyone, loves himself.

Chloe - So kind, welcoming, a little bit ditzy. 

Jasper - Joker, glowed up hard, funny. 

Brandon - Has had the most girlfriends, dazzlingly handsome, no1 seducer.

Veronika - Also a bully, secretly tired of being in Bianca's shadow. 

Lisa - Smart, good with computers, loved by all teachers. 

Abi - Easily manipulated, unsure whether or not Bianca is nice to her, doesn't want to follow her around but is scared of being bullied.

Leo - ???

I circled Veronika's and Lisa's names. It would be a major advantage to get on Veronika's good side. She could give me more information than Chloe and by the way she looked at Henry and Bianca every time they kissed, she definitely wanted to take Bianca's place. I could use this information to my advantage. Lisa, however, would be a great friend to have. Her computer knowledge could get me anything I wanted. I knew she was good friends with Chloe, I just needed to get a move on and make them both my friends.