Harrison had acquired the habit of staying up long past curfew. The curfew was there to ensure that students would get enough natural sleep, preferably eight hours, but Student Coaches were allowed to stay up until late if need be.

  He usually went to his Guild’s training room to practice and destress after the day. It came as a welcome relief to him, giving him the chance to generate one of his peers’ holograms— like Reilly or Disaris— and give himself the satisfaction of slamming their faces in, even if it wasn’t real.

  As he crossed the bridge overlooking the gym, he stopped in his tracks, noticing someone training below. He thought it was one of the other SCs at first, but why would they use the regular gym? When he saw the long black ponytail whipping back and forth, he knew.

  How’d she get past the curfew detector? There wasn’t any way she could bypass it. Faking an emergency wouldn’t work. Was there an emergency? But she was training.

  Too curious to ignore her, he went down to the first level and stood at the gym entrance, watching her. Her movements were jerky and reckless, clearly motivated by rage. A dangerous form of fighting. But if she was simply letting it out through a CDSim, it was fine.

  He didn’t blame her. He could relate to the girl in a lot of ways. There were many rumors about her, enough to make everyone forget what truth really was. As soon as those interviews came out, Calista was the talk of the school. Yet another reason for the other new students to dislike her; hardly anyone was acknowledging their interviews. The other seniors in the Journalism school were probably seething at Tamara Wallace. She’d stolen all their thunder with her controversial project about the Socializer who wanted to be a fighter. She’d become a Versus News anchor in no time with this kind of turnout.

  Calista didn’t even notice Harrison as he approached her. Her emerald eyes were laser-focused on the CDSim hologram, her dainty fists flying in the air as she furiously attacked the man-shaped projection. She practically screamed in frustration when it got past her defenses and slammed her on the mat for the umpteenth time. Harrison stopped in his tracks, his brows raising when the girl rose with a vengeance, tackling the CDSim to the ground and punching it repeatedly. The program halted, with the words ‘SELF CONTROL’ blinking on the error screen.

  “I’m not glitching controlling anything, you son of a GLITCH!” Her hands slammed on the mat and she remained on her knees, panting. Her ponytail had come loose, her black locks now shading her face. Harrison momentarily wondered if he should turn around and leave her alone, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

  “How’d you get past the AIDA?” he found himself asking.

  Calista’s greasy hair flipped when she looked up, a bit startled. She wiped forming tears from her eyes and composed herself, standing up. “What are you doing here?”

  “SCs can stay up. You should be sleeping, though.”

  “I am.”

  “So you’re sleep-fighting?”

  “The AIDA thinks I’m still in bed,” she sighs. “Fistborn’s systems aren’t as strong as you think they are.”

  Harrison couldn’t help a surprised chuckle. “So you’re a hacker, too?”

  “My sister.”

  “Oh, yeah. Genesis X.”

  Calista rolled her eyes, turning away. “Did you need something?”

  Harrison smirked. Calista was always trying to impress him in some way during class. There was a certain shyness about her whenever she was around him, like a suppressed fangirl. Now, all of that was gone. She was done talking to him.

  “I’m just wondering why you’re up… and very bugged off.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Calista reset the CDSim. “My family won’t talk to me, my sister got exposed, everyone on the Hub hates me, everyone here hates me, I have no home to go back to, and I can’t fight. That’s a few reasons to be bugged off.”

  “No, you can’t fight,” Harrison said. “Not like that.”

  “Then how?”

  “For one, don’t attack your opponent like a crazed gorilla. You’re asking them to slam you into the ground like that. Anger’s good, but as long as you keep it under control.”

  “Yeah, control. Always control. Keep a smile on your face and pretend nothing bothers you because if you don’t smile and pretend it’s all a joke, you’re immature and spoiled and have a thin skin. They can write the code for other people, but not for themselves, because they all get offended over absolutely nothing, but of course, they’re always right and they always have a reason, but when I get mad, I’m the problem, and it just goes around and around and around until I end up Thinning or doing something to get a compliment so I can forget the whole thing!”

  Harrison only stared, not knowing how to respond. He found her strangely relatable. He never thought he’d ever relate to a Socializer, of all things.

  “Never mind. What would you know?” Calista muttered, turning off the CDSim. She flicked back her sweaty, messed-up hair and started leaving. “Good night.”

  “Wait.”

  Calista stopped, not looking at him. He heard a sniffle and her finger ever so subtly wiped a tear away. He couldn’t believe he was about to say this, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I can help you,” he began.

  Calista finally looked at him, a quizzical frown knitting the space between her thick brows. “You can help me? How?”

  “I am a Student Coach. After dinner, all the Guild members go with their Student Coaches. You could fit that in your schedule.” His stomach jumped. What was he thinking? Asking the most reviled student in the academy to join his nonexistent Guild? Reilly and Disaris would have a field day with this.

  Calista seemed to be thinking the same thing, the confusion increasing on her face. “You want me to be in your Guild?”

  “Yeah, why not?”

  “There’s a lot of reasons why not.”

  “Look, I know I’m not the most popular SC in the academy, but even my Guild can offer you some protection and advantage here. It’s a cardinal rule.”

  “You know what they’re going to say,” Calista said. “You’re the unpopular, human Student Coach. I’m the human Socializer that got exposed. Now, you’re inviting me into your Guild, and-”

  “People are going to criticize us whether you join my Guild or not. It doesn’t matter what we do.” Harrison sighed resignedly. “We might as well try and help each other out. I can help you get on the team. I’m not a fan favorite, but I know a lot about fighting. And if you get on the team, it’ll say a lot about my coaching skills.”

  “Why me, of all people?”

  “You’re the only one that’ll say yes.”

  “What about… Lílitha Houdge? You guys are friends, right?”

  “Yeah, but she doesn’t want to join a Guild. She wants to make it on her own. And I get that.”

  “Maybe I can make it on my own.” Calista turned away, heading to the door.

  “That’s fine, too,” Harrison said after her. “But the offer’s out there if you want it.”

  Calista paused, still not looking at him. Harrison stared at her back, which was covered by her long, silky, black hair. She was wearing the school-issued exercise bra and pants pair, without any customizations. Harrison liked her fashion ideas, though. She had a talent for it. He would daresay she was better-looking than Minx, which said a lot. Delaine was a bit more arrogant than Calista.

  “I’ll think about it,” Calista finally said, leaving the gym.

  ===

  Harrison’s offer had kept Calista awake all night, despite the AIDA trying to put her to sleep in her capsule. She had wanted to instantly accept the offer, throw her arms around him, and thank him over and over again for even considering teaching her. But for some reason, she… didn’t.

  She was embarrassed that he saw her raging in the gym in the first place. Katelyn had given her a few hacking chips, just in case she needed them. Calista used one to get past the AIDA in her room so she could go down and work out, and Lindsay had projected an image of her sleeping to fool the security systems. It was a good thing it was Harrison and not someone else; they probably would’ve reported her just out of spite. Calista snuck past plenty of other students bypassing the curfew bot to get some extra training in.

  Belinda did say that joining a Guild offered a lot of advantages. She’d have more chances of getting on the team and have extra coaching so she could improve. But would it be worth joining Harrison’s Guild? Would people respect her or treat her even worse? Why was Harrison sacrificing the last kernel of reputation he had to train her? If she got on the team under his tutelage, it would look good for him, but what were the chances of that?

  The thought plagued her the entire day. She tried to hide it when she ate with Cam, or talked to Belinda in the halls. She did her best to focus in class so she wouldn’t be too humiliated in Practicum. Thankfully, she didn’t have Teamwork class on Mondays, so she could avoid Harrison the whole day. In the Mess Hall, she could see him glancing at her from the Student Coach table until his fellow coaches started teasing him.

  Why would he risk more teasing and rejection from the other coaches with her? She knew that Reilly Campbell and Disaris Okione already had a less-than-cordial relationship with him. This would give them all the fuel they needed to destroy his name. They really weren’t different from Socializers at all.

  She wanted to get on the team herself, on her own merit… but she did need help. But what if they all talked about her relying on Harrison because he was human like her? What else would they say about her and her family?

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Hello? Calista?” Camelithia’s bright pink hand waved in front of her eyes, breaking her out of her imagination. Both her and Belinda had joined her for dinner in the Mess Hall for the evening.

  “Sorry, what?” Calista said dazedly.

  “You’ve been zoning out all day,” said Belinda. “Is anything wrong?”

  “You’re not still thinking about that stupid interview, right?” Cam asked her.

  “No, no… just other stuff. My sister, mostly.”

  “She still hasn’t communicated?”

  “She sent me her location. They’re out of state right now with some of my dad’s family. But no, she hasn’t actually talked to me.”

  “Well, that’s good. That means they’re all safe. I’m sure that if something happened to them, you’d know it,” Belinda pointed out.

  “I know, but… I wish I could hear from them, that’s all.”

  Cam smiled empathetically. “I get you.” Calista noticed a change in her tone, as if she’d gone through a similar experience. The bell dinged for the dinner period to end.

  “Alright… I wish I could go to training late, but Delaine doesn’t like tardiness,” Belinda said, rising from her seat.

  Guild Training. Usually, Calista would confine herself to her dorm and study, but…

  “Where do you guys go? I’m curious. I’ve never seen where you do your extra training.”

  “You want to come with us?” Camelithia asked.

  “Sure.” Calista’s stomach leaped. She still hadn’t fully decided whether she’d accept Harrison’s offer, yet she felt as though something was calling her to go.

  The girls kept her chatting, staving away the rising anxiety as they approached the hall of Guild Training rooms in the Training Center. Calista immediately noticed the other patch-wearing students glancing at her quizzically, smirks forming on their lips.

  “Here we are,” Cam said, completely oblivious to the attention they were getting. Or maybe she merely ignored it. After all, she seemed to be the ‘outcast’ of the Favorites. Calista rarely saw her with any of her Guild members. “This is my room.” Cam motioned to the green door where many Eta Guild members were gathered, haughty eyes glancing over at the trio as they entered.

  “Mine’s over there.” Belinda pointed at the bronze door a little further down the hall, which was also blocked by a cluster of Gamma members. “As you can see, we’re all early.”

  “Elisa is a lot more lax compared to Delaine,” said Cam.

  Calista tried to look at Harrison’s orange door as subtly as possible. It failed, though, with how many people were looking at her and questioning her presence. A few people followed her gaze and immediately whispered their theories to each other.

  “That’s Harrison Smith’s door,” said Cam, slinging her arm around Calista’s shoulders. “Yeah, I feel bad for him. I suspect it gets lonely in there.”

  “Does he ever use that room?” Calista asked.

  “Yeah, as his own training room. I suppose it offers him some solace. Then again, SC’s have their own training rooms in their penthouse.”

  “I guess it’s an escape from the other coaches. He doesn’t get along with all of them,” said Belinda.

  Cam shrugged. “True. I don’t know if the other coaches ever use these rooms for themselves. They’re huge gyms. Would make me lonely.”

  “I’d better go,” said Belinda.

  “We’ll see you after training, Cali.”

  Calista turned to leave the hallway, her eyes repeatedly glancing at Harrison’s door. Was he in there right now? Or did he wait until everyone was done training? She would wait. She’d hate the constant mocking of not having a Guild if she were in his shoes.

  She left the area and pretended to go towards the spa. Normally, she’d love a nice bath and massage, but she was far too anxious today. She knew what she needed to do, and she hated the thought of it.

  Nothing she’d do would ever make them stop seeing her the way they did. She’d always be ‘that Socializer’, just like how Lisa would always be a fraud, and Harrison would always be a cheater. Two professional fighters, and they couldn’t dispel the rumors.

  Her grandmother had said it, after all. Rumors were as permanent as time itself. They’d never go away. Even if only one person was left believing a rumor, that would be enough to revive it in other people’s memories. It was an endless debt to pay.

  Well, she was tired of trying to pay off something unpayable. Why not add more to her tab?

  She returned to the hallway, which was now empty, all but one of the Guild doors marked as ‘Locked’ with ‘Training in Progress’ flashing across them. Calista slowly approached the orange door with the large white ‘K’. She nervously glanced up, knowing that there was some micro-camera watching her every move. She had to hope that no one in the academy was crazy enough to look at the security footage. If she could fool the curfew program with a hacking chip…

  “What are you waiting for?!”

  Calista jumped, a small squeal leaving her throat, and sighed in frustration, ejecting Lindsay from her belt. The pink sphere hovered beside her with her practically invisible wings, her blue screen eyes narrowed.

  “Don’t do that!” Calista snapped.

  “Why are you just standing here like a holo-model?” Lindsay chastised.

  “I need to think.”

  “Girl, a Student Coach offers you Guild membership on a silver platter, and you’re not taking it?”

  “That’s why I’m not taking it, Linds!” Calista stepped away from the door. “I don’t want anything on a silver platter. I want to… I just want people to think I’m capable. That I can do things myself. That I’m not helped along all the time.” She sat on the floor and leaned against the wall, breathing out. “They’ll never respect me. Not like this. I’m hopeless.” She swallowed down a knot in her throat and brought her knees up, putting her head in her arms. “I never should’ve come here.”

  Lindsay slowly approached her, her eyes now softer. “Calista… you said you’re here because of your sister, right?”

  “Well, yeah. She wanted me to be a fighter so badly.”

  “Do you want to be a fighter?”

  “More than anything. But… now more than ever, it’s just so important. I feel like this is the only way I can sort of… flip the program. That way Kate doesn’t have to make up for working on Genesis X the rest of her life. She can still do what she wants. I’ll just take the fall for her.” Her fingers twiddled. “Maybe I can say I forced her to work there… that I wanted to pay my way through the academy. Or- wait, no, I have a scholarship. Maybe I can say…”

  “Girl, no.” Lindsay landed in Calista’s palms, retracting her wings. “Listen, what’s happening with your sister— that’s out of your control. That’s something your family has to deal with. You need to worry about you right now. Just keep going.”

  “How?”

  “There’s a lot of people here that have stuff going on, but they keep training, anyway. Some people have family in prison. Some don’t talk to them at all. Some have planetary disasters near their hometowns. But in the end, they’re fighting for them. Remember, the Versus Games were originally created to train soldiers.”

  “I thought it was to keep the peace between planets.”

  “That, too. But lots of soldiers go into their planet armies and deal with their own wars and conflicts. It’s to make sure you’re all prepared in case their wars spill out. And it’ll happen eventually.”

  She never thought about that. If an interplanetary war broke out, would she be called to fight? Would she be on the frontlines? That wasn’t something she’d ever considered. She wasn’t sure what to feel about it— except that she didn’t want to be a coward.

  “You’re here for yourself and your family. I know you want to do something to help them, especially Katelyn, but there’s nothing you can do. All you can do is keep training for her. Stop thinking about what other people think about you. It doesn’t matter. If you let people’s opinions block you, then that means you’re putting them over your sister. Why should they be the priority? They’re not worth it.”

  Shame quivered in Calista’s stomach. “I didn’t think about it that way.”

  “The best thing a fighter can do is admit when they need help. Like Rosalina, she’s training under Reilly. That doesn’t mean he’s building her career. She just acknowledges that there’s stuff she doesn’t know about fighting, and that someone needs to teach her.”

  “This is different,” Calista argued. “Reilly’s the best fighter in the entire school. They’re not going to say anything-”

  “What did I say about caring what other people say about you?”

  “Right.”

  “Hey, people say stuff about Rosalina Wiasod all the time. She’s here on Versus parole. She got arrested on Earth and she’s required to learn discipline and self-control through the academy. Then she’ll be allowed to go back to her home planet and see her family.”

  “Wh- wait, what?” Calista shook her head, her mind glitching. “Wait, you’re saying- Rosalina’s a criminal?”

  “Charged for illegal planetary entry, robbery, and assault. The Versus is a pretty good way to beat criminals into shape. If they violate it, they go back to prison and don’t get another chance to leave early. Interplanetary crime is no joke. There’s quite a few people in the Earth academies on this parole.”

  “There’s criminals. Here. Taking classes. Fighting people.”

  “My point is that people talk about that. They criticize Rosalina. They say stuff about her and Reilly, too. They may be ‘tops’, but they’re not immune. People just don’t have the guts to say anything to their faces.”

  Like her followers, Calista realized. Her mother’s followers. They’d criticize all they wanted on the Hub, but they’d never say anything directly to them. The students in the academy were more vocal, insulting and mocking Calista pretty openly. She didn’t know that they criticized the more ‘respected’ students behind their backs.

  They didn’t respect them, they were just afraid of them. But no one was afraid of Calista. They knew that they could mock her as much as they wanted and she wouldn’t even think of trying to get them back.

  Lílitha was another example. She wasn’t very respected by most of the school, yet people were afraid enough of her to leave her alone for the most part. Her bite was terrible. Was that how she’d survived the academy so far?

  The academy was supposed to teach them all self-control… maybe they feared the repercussions in training, or in the competition, if they dared insult any of the big fighters. Did Harrison instill that same fear? Probably in the weaker students, but definitely not in the other coaches. He’d never be at the top of the food chain.

  “Look, they’re never going to stop,” Lindsay told her. “Fighter or Socializer, you’ll never be liked by everyone. But if you let that stop you, then you’ll prove them right. You need help with your training. You want to get on the team. So do it.”

  Calista looked up at the orange door. Lindsay was right. She’d regret it if she passed this chance up.

  “I’m guessing this is a yes?”

  Calista stood, startled, and found Harrison standing outside the hallway. Lindsay went back into her belt. “Oh… I thought you were in there.” She pointed at the door.

  “I always come a bit later.” Harrison smiled, showing his handsome dimples. He went up to the door so the AIDA could scan him and looked back at Calista. “I have to add you as a Guild member if you want access to the room.”

  All Calista’s life, she’d been preoccupied about what people thought of her. Her whole existence was based on what the fans said, what the fans wanted, what the fans accepted. Her mother had hammered that in her head. She’d never be good enough for them, or for the fighting fans. She could only be good enough for herself.

  For Katelyn. For Quincy.

  “Sounds good,” she said, approaching Harrison.

  He went on his AIDA band and swiped something to hers. Calista found something added to her academic schedule: 7:30 PM: PC-GTK10 Kappa Guild Training— Kappa Training Room 10GT-P, Training Center— SC #10 Smith, Harrison

  “AIDA, add Calista Medley as a Kappa Guild member.”

  “Acknowledged. Calista Medley is now a Kappa Guild member and has access to this training room.”

  “Come on.” The door phased into a transparent, intangible state, letting the two of them inside. The blue-and-red colored surroundings turned into an orange-and-beige theme. The gym was spacious with high ceilings and beams of orange and white light running along the edges. There were a few CDSim mats and study capsules lined up against the walls. There was even a separate room for entire map simulations, locked behind a glass wall. The center was wide open with a large, circular combat mat, probably for members to fight each other.

  “Well, congratulations, Calista Medley. You’re my first student.” Harrison ejected his orange Pet, which instantly scanned her. “Here’s your patches.”

  Orange Guild patches appeared on her sleeves. She turned her arms to see it. Surrounding a ‘K’ were:

  Kappa- Harrison Smith

  Calista Medley, Guild 10

  “Welcome to the Kappa Guild,” Harrison’s Pet said. Calista felt an excited chill run down her spine.

  “I never thought I’d see anyone wear one of those.” Harrison tapped the patch. “Oh, and you get new uniforms, too.”

  “I do?”

  “Any Guild member can wear their colors. Although, most wait until finals week to wear them. For our practical exam, we fight each other in the arena, like a mini-tournament for Fistborn. It’s a bit more intense for Guild members.”

  “That sounds scary.”

  He shrugged. “Scary but fun.” He tapped another button on his AIDA band. “So, you want to change from that… to this.” Her uniform changed from blue and white to orange and white. Calista couldn’t help the grimace. “You don’t like it?” he asked.

  She smiled sheepishly. “Orange isn’t my color.”

  He laughed. “Sorry. I didn’t pick. If I got to choose, I’d choose platinum… like Reilly’s Guild. But I can’t do that.”

  “Maybe make it lighter?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sure.” He adjusted the orange shade, slowly turning it to a lighter, cream-colored sort.

  “Bit more… bit more… there.” Calista stopped him. It was now a strong peach color, the letters traced by a darker orange.

  Harrison chuckled. “All we do is train, and I expect you to be up for that.” His tone turned more stern as he crossed his arms. “You didn’t train enough before getting into the academy. You have a lot to work on. Are you ready for this? Because I’m not going easy on you.”

  Calista stared into his blues. She expected herself to feel insecure, but she instead felt a rising strength within her core. She firmly nodded.

  “Then let’s get to work.”