Aria
Three days later, I'm back at Hayes Combat Arts with a bruise on my forearm and a point to prove.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Zara asks, eyeing the building like it might bite.
"Positive," I say. "This is where the mean man with the pretty arms told me I wasn't serious enough to learn how to punch."
She groans. "Oh god, you like him."
"I don't like him," I lie. "I just want him to eat his words."
I push the door open and step into the gym. It's buzzing—people on treadmills, someone skipping rope, gloves smacking leather. I swear the air tastes like determination.
Theo spots me first.
"Look who survived the revolution," he says, grinning. "Your face healed nicely. Ten out of ten heroic battle scar potential."
"Thanks," I say. "Is 'Mr. Grumpy Combat Guy' here?"
Theo's grin widens. "You mean Lucas. Yeah, he's around. You coming to sign up or argue with him?"
"Both."
Lucas is in the ring, sparring with a guy twice my size and still making him look slow. His movements are precise, efficient, almost bored. When he ducks a punch, the muscles in his back flex under his shirt and I briefly forget how to think.
Then the round ends, the bell dings, and he looks up.
Our eyes meet. Gray storms. Again.
He gets out of the ring, pulls off his gloves, and walks over with that same controlled annoyance, like my being here is an unscheduled inspection from the universe.
"You're bleeding again?" he asks, glancing at my arm.
I look down at the bruise. "What, this? No, this is art. I walked into a door. Twice."
Theo snorts from behind me.
"I told you," Lucas says. "You're not here to learn. You're here because it's exciting."
"Why can't it be both?" I shoot back. "I like to fight for our rights and freedom, is it a crime? I don't think so. We are basically the same, you and I. You fight for the country at the border, we fight for our rights inside the border." I retort
"The govt is there for the precise concern." He comments
"You say it like everything the officials do and every law, decision they make is a holy grail. Hate to break it to you, but its not. Everyone is not same and every rule doesn't justify everyone." I cross my arms. Proud and confident.
"Your point?" he faces me relentless.
"I love what I do and I also don't want to get my face rearranged if I walk home at night. You were in the army, right? You ever do anything because it made you feel alive?"
His expression flickers, something dark crossing his eyes before he shutters it away.
"That's not the point," he says.
"That's exactly the point," I say. "Teach me how to punch properly so I don't hit like a raccoon in a trash can. I'll show up for every class, I'll do the work, I'll even shut up sometimes."
Theo gasps. "Now that is a serious commitment."
Lucas looks at me for a long moment, like he's trying to see past my words into my bones. It makes me feel… weirdly naked. Not in a bad way, just in a "stop looking at my soul without permission" way.
"Give her a trial," Darius says quietly. "One class. If she's not serious, you can kick her out. I'll even help."
Darius appears on Lucas's other side like he teleported, hands in his pockets. "She survived the tear gas and had the sense to hide in here," he says. "That's something."
"Social media," Lucas says suddenly, eyes narrowing. "You post everything, don't you?"
I blink. "Uh… not everything. Just, like, ninety percent."
"I don't want this place all over your feeds," he says. "No tagging, no live videos, no geotags. If you train here, you keep it offline."
"Why?" I ask curiously with of course a tinge of annoyance.
He holds my gaze. "Because I said so."
I should argue. Push. Demand a reason. But something in his tone makes me pause.
"Fine," I say. "No posts. Trial me." I surrender. Because it seemed like, it's the only way he'll accept me.
He studies me one more time, then sighs, like he regrets this before it's even started.
"Wraps and gloves," he says, jerking his head toward a shelf. "Theo, show her how. Class starts in ten minutes. If you're late, don't bother."
Theo grins at me. "Welcome to hell, Aria." I have a feeling, this Theo doesn't really like me. Not that anyone here seem like "they like me."
As I follow him to the gear, my heart is pounding. Somewhere in my chest, a new kind of adrenaline is starting to fizz. I'm about land some punches. Wow, how awesome it's gonna be.
***************************************
Lucas
That night, I find her online.
It's not hard. "Aria protest NYC" pulls up videos, tagged photos, interviews. She's everywhere—laughing, yelling, hugging strangers, dancing with signs. She has more followers than my entire graduating class.
She's not naive. That's the thing. She knows what she's doing. She plays the attention like an instrument.
And yet today, she never once reached for her phone. I scroll through her posts, each image a flash of color and life. She's loud even without sound. Connor would've liked her, I think suddenly. The thought hits weird.
"She's cute," Theo says, leaning over the back of my chair before I hear him come in.
I close the tab.
"Should you be looking at a student's socials like that, Coach?" he teases.
"I'm checking for OPSEC risks," I snap. "She's a walking broadcast. If we get caught in the background of one of her live streams, we might as well mail our investigation to the traffickers."
Theo sobers. "I get it. You really think her world's ever going to touch that one, though?"
I think about the way her eyes lit up at the protest, the way she runs toward noise instead of away from it.
"Yes," I say quietly. "I do."
And that's why I need to keep a line.
Instructor. Student.
Nothing else.
I may have to admit, though I hate to but she really is good. She kept her promise by being punctual to the classes and stubborn as rock. When in ring, she obeys all my instructions. Doesn't retort.
But once the classes are over. She starts…. Flirting. I couldn't confirm or deny it's flirting but the way she sometimes steals glances. Blushes watching me practice. It's diverting.
Precisely the reason I despised having her here. She's too much of a distraction. Too much energy. Theo is starting to realize it too. But Darius likes her being here.
She hangs out with them, when out of the ring. Sometimes she steals my tees. My gloves. Says it gives her confident. But she's not fooling anyone.
I grabbed a tee from my locker and slip in to it, as usual. I stiffened when I observed the tee smells like her. Citrus and sandalwood. I fisted my hands at my sides and pulled it off my head.
"Hey" she appeared at my side out of nowhere.
Gritting my teeth, "Are you nuts?"
"What? Is this how you greet your students?"
"I could have knocked your teeth out of your mouth. Don't ever try to sneak up on me. I might not pull a punch every time" I say and pick another tee and slip into it.
"I could have enjoyed that" says Theo.
She stood there, grinning. Her cheeks slowly turning to light pink. I don't think she heard Theo.
"Do you mind?" I raise a brow.
"No. Sorry." She says and peeks inside my locker.
"Excuse me?"
"I saw you wearing this t-shirt. Why did you change?" she investigates.
"I don't like the smell of it. Stop stealing my things" I warn her. There is something about this girl. Her natural attraction to danger or she is stubborn that way but she is not afraid of me. Even my best trained students flinch at my single glance and back off. But she does opposite. The more I try to scare her the more she creeps close.
"Hey I was just burrowing. I returned them. Haven't I?" she says.
"But they still smell like you"
"So, you recognize my smell" she was grinning.
"Odour. Your odour."
She opens her mouth wide and places her hand on her chest. "That's so mean, coach."
I pay no heed to her drama and walk to the punching bag. She walks to Theo and asks "Do I smell?"
"Aaah Yes?" Theo replies. I manage to stop the smile that threatened to escape my borders.
If she catches me smiling at her dramas, she'll start a whole new series.
"Rude. No one here knows how to treat a girl." she mumbles and walks up to me.
So, we begin.
Out of breath, she slithers beside me and grabs the bottle from my hand and gulps down the water.
"Aria." I snap
"Yeah.?"
Never mind. I want to reprimand her, warn her to not do that. But I don't know why but every time I try to control her, I fail. It's frustrating.