Please God, don't let him pick me…
"I choose Andrea," Raj said amidst a chorus of snickers.
Fuck…
Professor Goldman looked her way and nodded. "You heard your name being called by Mr Sharma, Ms Salem. Step up into the arena."
Andrea groaned and felt a steady hand on her shoulder. "Cop on! Just remember what you practiced, Andy." She added, "Keep your body shrouded at all times, and wait for him to get frustrated and slip up."
When they heard that the next Bodily Magic Lecture would be a sparring session—Fight Club style—Andrea had immediately pulled her new roommate and friend Aisling to the side to help her train. Well, Aisling in truth was one of nine other girls who Andrea shared the room with. Valerie and Zoya were the only other girls in their class. The rest were from other homeroom classes who seemed to have a passing knowledge of Aisling, and none knew Valerie. This made her hating ass happy.
Valerie was her opposite in many ways: short and stocky, with a strong back and arms, short brown hair and doe-shaped brown eyes. She had an accent that came courtesy of being born and raised in Manchester.
They hardly talked and when they did, it was usually to snap at one another. Aisling, who slept between the two of them in her own little cot, would often be forced to play peacekeeper. Zoya proved to be pretty cool. She was friendly and honestly very sweet. Andrea took a deep breath and tried her best to avoid Valerie's smile as she ascended the stairs to the platform.
The Arena was usually reserved for serious challenges between students, Andrea had found out. It was also used for end-of-year tournaments between the second-years. Professor Goldman, however, had used her weight to get them a few sessions since the first-years who had failed to avoid the bottom forty would be squabbling amongst themselves for points to pass. The rule was apparently a new one, straight from the headmaster.
"No hard feelings, Andrea," Rajesh Sharma said. He was a chubby Indian kid from an old magician family who could trace their lineage back to the 15th century. His black hair was cut short and well trimmed. His eyes were a kind brown, which contrasted heavily with the devilish shape of his eyebrows, and Andrea hated that he had the cutest little nose too.
I'm going to punch it.
"Going to be tough not having any hard feelings when you picked me," she said, falling into the stance her mom had taught her. No one laughed despite her embarrassment, so that meant she was off to a good start.
The Arena had an elevated wooden platform that was padded like a wrestling ring with no ropes, and situated in the middle of a large hall that had bleachers pushed against all four walls and beneath a large glass dome.
The students currently occupied the bleachers as Professor Goldman left her place to stand between the two of them.
"You have three minutes to win this bout. Knockout, ring-out or submission are all viable paths to victory. At the end of the three minutes, if there is no clear winner, then your classmates will vote on who they think won."
Professor Goldman pointed at Andrea. "Fighter ready?"
She gulped but nodded her head, focusing on shrouding her body. The professor then pointed at Raj. "Fighter ready?"
Rajesh did not nod; instead, he grinned and winked at Andrea, and that was good enough for Goldman. "Fight!"
As expected, Rajesh immediately moved towards her. He landed a right hook on her forearms that nearly bit through her shrouding like a gator would a Chihuahua. She decided to jump back and try to read the flow of his magic, a trick Aisling had tried to teach her a week ago. But it was borderline impossible with the way the fight was progressing. Raj was relentless, trying to knock her on her ass with every punch, but Andrea managed to block or dodge the first three that came her way. The fourth was a quick one that fooled her completely. Her eyes fell for the feint he made with the jab, but her magic radar would've told her to follow the build-up of magic in his left foot. She barely got her shroud up in time to stop his kick from shattering her ribs, but it was not enough to stop the wind from being knocked out of her. She felt his hands wrap around her wrists, and before she knew it, Andrea was being slammed onto the mat. She waited to be thrown off the platform, but she heard laughter as Raj took a couple of steps back and gestured for her to stand back up. "No can do, Andrea," Raj said, his grin matched his eyebrows way more than his eyes. "We still have two and a half minutes left."
That pissed her off, and Andrea got up to her feet. "You don't wanna finish this early, huh?"
He shrugged. "Not right now, no."
"Funny," she grinned back. "You look like the type who often does."
He was on her again, but this time she was prepared to go on the offense. Leaning back from a jab to try to deliver one of her own. However, his shroud made it feel like she was punching under water.
Fuck, I'm going to need to—
He was moving faster now, and Andrea could barely keep up enough to note the concentration in the fist that blasted an uppercut into her midsection. She coughed up spit and nearly blacked out. She was conscious enough to know that she bounced twice before sliding off the platform and onto the ground below.
She heard someone call her name in a funny accent, and it was the smell of her shampoo that told Andrea that it had been Aisling.
"What happened to keeping our distance, you fucking twat?"
Andrea was on her forearms and knees as she tried to suck in some air. "S-sorry… I r-r-really wanted t-to punch him in the nose…"
She felt Aisling's hands leave her and heard her say, "My turn. Professor Goldman, I challenge Rajesh."
"What?" Raj protested. "But I just—"
"New challenger," Professor Goldman said. "Ms Ryan."
She was able to pull herself back onto her feet, but it still hurt to breathe. Andrea's hands refused to leave her knees.
"Oh, stop your whining, Mr Sharma. On a battlefield, many a sorcerer met their end at the hands of an enemy who had just watched them fight off a foe. Life is not fair, nor is magic."
"Fine."
Andrea moved her way to the bleachers to watch as Aisling stood across from Raj.
"Fighters ready?"
"Ready," the two of them said in unison.
"Then fight!"
If Rajesh was fast, then Aisling was an Olympian track star in comparison. The girl moved so fast that she looked like a red blur, throwing a punch that Rajesh barely dodged. They traded blows, but it did not take long for Raj to overextend and Aisling to kick a foot out from under him. Before Raj could register that he was now down on one knee, Aisling had already been spinning into a back kick that hit Rajesh in the throat and sent him sliding across the mat. He was coughing as badly as Andrea had been when Aisling launched herself ten feet into the air and landed where Rajesh had just been coughing. The boy had barely been able to roll away. He threw a punch from his knees that Aisling easily parried and returned with a knee to the chin that had Rajesh levitating. Her punch into the gut fulfilled two of the three victory conditions as an out cold Rajesh landed on the wooden floor of the hall.
Professor Goldman grinned and raised Aisling's hand: "Winner. Well fought, Ms Ryan. Would anybody like to spar with Aisling?"
The professor's grin turned into laughter when she saw no hands. "You Ryans never disappoint. Go then, Ms Hero, tend to your friend. But know you're wasting your energy and time there. No amount of kindness will save her come the end of the year."
Andrea could not meet Goldman's eyes, but knew that she was glaring at her.
They watched a dozen matchups, most ending quickly whenever a family kid came up against a student whose parents were normal.
The real fun was in watching Jacques De Villiers and Kendra Thompson squabble up. If Andrea had little in common with Valerie in the looks department, the two of them had none. Jacques was sun-kissed with freckles that dotted him all over, whereas Kendra was paler than the moon's reflection off creek water. Kendra looked like a stick stuck in the ground whilst Jacques was the biggest 16-year-old that Andrea had ever seen. One was blonde with green eyes (Jacques) and the other had raven-colored hair and eyes just as dark (Kendra). Jacques barely had any eyebrows, whereas Kendra had the thickest eyebrows and longest eyelashes that Andrea had ever seen.
The two fought exactly how they were made—Jacques' punches blowing back the hair of anyone on the lowest rung of the bleachers, and Kendra always made it a point to effortlessly wove past them. Jacques was no fool, though; even Andrea with her shitty magic radar could see that he was cutting off the platform with each punch and kick, cornering Kendra more and more. The girl took a big leap back from a jab, and just when it seemed like she was about to be forced into a phone booth, Kendra exploded from where she landed and drove her elbow into Jacques' neck. The attack sent him stumbling backwards as Kendra landed two quick blows into his abdomen, and was set to land a third had she not had to jump out of the way of a wild swipe. This time, before she could land, Jacques' other hand wrapped itself around her ankle and he slammed her down into the mat like he was swinging down a sledgehammer. Kendra's body bounced off the mat and Jacques sent it back down with a hammer fist. Andrea was sure that Kendra was dead, but the girl spun her legs around to kick Jacques' leg out from under him. His fist came down, barely missing Kendra's head as she moved in to wrap her long legs around his thick neck.
Kendra wrapped her own hands around Jacques' outstretched arm and gritted her teeth as she tried to choke him out. But the boy instead moved to power bomb her through the mat. Kendra released her hold as soon as Jacques moved to raise her up and she vaulted off his shoulders into the air to spin twice before landing. She exploded off the ground, and Andrea marveled at what she saw. Just for a split second, Kendra used momentum to channel her magic into her feet as she landed, exploding toward Jacques. This time, however, he saw it coming and he himself exploded to meet her elbow with one of his own. The collision sounded like thunder and even impressed Goldman, who had watched each and every preceding fight with waning seriousness.
Jacques got the better of the exchange, and Kendra who stumbled backward, allowing for him to lunge towards her. Kendra manoeuvred through the air like she was born to it, leaning back to ensure that she fell on her shoulders and brought her knees to her chin as Jacques' dive sent him hurling over her. Kendra concentrated all her magic between her hands and feet to act like a super-powered spring, and kicked Jacques in the gut with enough force to send him flying back-first into an unoccupied section of the bleachers. His giant body crashed through the wood and disappeared amidst dust and splinters.
"Winner, Kendra Thompson!" Goldman exclaimed as she raised her hand amidst a cheering chorus.
Weirdly enough, after getting dressed, Andrea saw Jacques waiting for Kendra. He waved at her before walking with her to their next class.
"You'd think that a guy like that would've been pissed he got his ass beat by a girl," Andrea said, and Aisling laughed. "Not Jacques, he is a sweetheart. And I also think he is into women who can do him in."
"Ms Salem," Andrea heard Goldman call her last name and froze. "Before you leave, I'd like to see you for a moment."
Valerie smirked at her as she went to answer her summons. "Probably going to suggest you deregister and go and open up a shop somewhere."
Andrea did not have it in her to go at it with Valerie, and so just showed her the finger before walking towards Goldman. Andrea towered over the woman and in any other version of the world that she once knew, anyone seeing them would think that Andrea could beat her ass no problem.
But this was not any other version of the world; this one was a version of magic.
"I usually do not involve myself in the relationship of students, Ms Salem," Goldman began. "But I could not help but notice over the last week how much you lean on Ms Ryan for everything."
Andrea bit her lip. "She has been a ton of help, I won't lie. But I am trying to catch up."
"I know," Goldman said. "The Librarian made mention of how you came to see her on your first day. It is for that reason alone that I did not punish Ms Ryan for playing hero, as I had done to Mr Masters."
Her eyes focused on Goldman's sneakers, and nowhere else. "It eats at me, believe me, it does… I don't want to have to rely on any—"
"Want is irrelevant," the professor snapped. "Reality does not seem to care about your wants. What is happening is that you're going to hold Ms Ryan back."
Her cheeks began to warm up and Andrea sent up silent hopes that she was not about to cry. Especially in front of a woman who was just as liable to laugh at her tears as to want to drink them.
"Yeah… I know…" was all she could say. Goldman sighed.
"Look, I'm not a complete witch, despite what you might think. I do actually care about your well-being as a student… to an extent."
Golly, how lucky am I?
"Never trust a magician Andrea," she said, making Andrea raise her eyebrows. "That usually leads to a quick death. Now, what did you notice during the fight between Mr De Villiers and Ms Thompson?"
Andrea took a moment to replay the battle, and hesitated before sighing. "Kendra was graceful and quick. Jacques was strong and powerful…"
Goldman rolled her eyes. "Indeed. Do you know why?"
Andrea had never felt so defeated. Her ribs were ruined, her classmates knew she was trash and her professor was glaring at her like she was an idiot.
"I dunno… Kendra fought like that because she is built for it. Same for Jacques."
"Good," Goldman nodded. "And I wish for you to take that to heart. Magic in physical combat builds on what is already there. There are two ways to improve in physical combat. Either you improve your magic reserves, which I do not see you doing any time soon. Or, you improve your physical attributes."
Is she putting me on a fucking diet?
Andrea slowly nodded her head. It was blunt, but she appreciated that Goldman cared enough to give her this tip, one that she was going to take to heart immediately.
Does this goddamn city even have a Planet Fitness…