Andre Vincent

  "meet up at glady's at 4?"

  Natoya

  "Aren't you in Spanish right now?"

  "I'll be there."

  Read 10:52

  Jess had been on the phone during the 'conference' for the past couple of hours now, ever since the school called him to the front because he was going to be taken home early. For most kids that meant an early weekend. For Jess, that meant a lecture. And he wasn't expecting it to end anytime soon. His family and Courtney's family had been yelling at both Jess and Courtney for the better half of the hour.

  "He broke up with me!" Courtney retorted.

  "Show some respect." Someone else shouted, Jess didn't care who.

  "It doesn't quite matter who broke up with who. The public has seen it, and now both of your reputations is ruined."

  "I wouldn't say ruined." Jess mumbled.

  Andre Vincent

  "noo... of course not"

  Natoya

  "Oh my god she's going to take your phone away"

  "Might get there late."

  Read 3:16

  "What was that?"

  "Nothing." Jess said a bit louder, before waiting for the table to go back to their original conversation to look back at his phone.

  Natoya

  "Take your time! ??"

  There was no doubt that something about Natoya made Jess feel different, but it wasn't love. Or at least he didn't believe it was. He stared at the text and sighed, wishing the argument would be over.

  A few years ago, or maybe just a year ago, Courtney and Jess began dating, not due to their own wants or wishes, but because both families had a reputation to keep. Around three months ago, the beginning of the year, Courtney had publically broke up with Jess, supposedly to sleep with other guys at the collegiate party, and now he'd have to deal with the consequences.

  Andre Vincent

  "dont forget to bring workout clothes""something loose fitting so you can move around"

  "Will do."

  Read 3:20

  Natoya

  "Awh, and here I was, about to bring a tuxedo and tie for Jess"

  Consequences. A funny word when something isn't actually the person's fault.

  "What do you have to say about this?"

  The entire table turned to stare at Jess who stared right back, his stare as bland as his eyes.

  "You're setting a bad presedent."

  "How dare-" Courtney's grandfather began

  "No. He's right." His own grandfather cut him off. "We will not have our family's reputation ruined just because your daughter can't keep her..."

  The entire table broke into an argument in which Jess scoffed and looked back at his phone, receiving several other notifications from other classmates at his school.

  It took a couple hours of listening to the arguing- but at long last, Jess was able to grab his backpack and head to the park.

  He got there at exactly 4, popping his backpack through the gate, and quickly climbing up and over the shivering fence.

  "Thought you said youd be late?" Natoya said with a smile on her face as she and Andre welcomed Jess to the park.

  "My family is all about punctuality." Jess retorted, picking up his backpack again and throwing it to the wall next to Natoya and Andre's backpack, almost slapping Andre's hand with the strap as he grabbed out some wrappings.

  "First things first, wrapping your hands." He said, and showed them how to properly wrap the hand wraps around their arms. "They're essential for protecting your hands and wrists, and provide support for injuries."

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Jess watched Andre show them how to wrap their hands, then watched as Natoya did it similarly, though it wasn't perfect, it was aparant she knew how. Then, he followed the same steps.

  The first few hours, Andre went over the bare basics. He showed basic warm up techniques, went over the safety guidelines such as oundaries and controlled techniques, introduced the basic stance and posture revolving around balance and stability, and very briefly went over breath techniques before he started showing them actual martial arts.

  "There's a ton of different martial arts, jie jitsu, taekwando, karate, I do a mix of boxing and muay thai."

  "I know Krav Maga." Natoya added.

  "Isn't that one of the worst fighting styles?" Jess asked.

  "No, actually." Andre began. "It's the worse sparing martial arts, I'd never practice it as a professional fighter, but it tries to deal with weapons and multiple attacks, real world situations you know?"

  "Yeah. It's about muscle memory when your under attack. It teaches you situational awareness, and it's more of a life and death fighting style."

  Jess watched as Natoya and Andre shared a moment, compelled to roll his eyes before Andre motioned for him to get into a fighting stance.

  Then, he demonstrated the four basic punches, jab, cross, hook, and uppercut, having Jess and Natoya follow along in the lesson as they got more comfortable with their practicing.

  "Now just reading up on how to fight isn't enough. Sparring sessions are the most valuable part of training. You can study all you want, but without physical practice you get nowhere." Andre said as he began to show Jess how to correctly stand with his hands up in a guard position, protecting the face and chin with elbows tucked in.

  ---

  Every day for the past month, Jess and Natoya were meeting up with Andre to practice self defense. It became a little more like a hobby than anything else, which surprised Jess to a great extent.

  He enjoyed sports like basketball and football, but he wasn't much for wrestling or MMA. To be entirely honest, he was heading there more to escape the regularly occurring lectures he was getting from his parents about his relationship with Courtney. The two had unfortunately gotten back together, much to his displeasure, but the public seemed to be growing more and more outraged by it, which was causing his family the difficult decision as to the next course of action.

  "Hey! You made it!" Natoya cheered as Jess pulled himself through the gate. They agreed to meet again at 5 this week- something about Andre's siblings, and once again he made it a minute early.

  "Didn't think I'd come?" Jess asked, trying to fit the lingo she and Andre used all the time. Natoya rolled her eyes, she was clearly just trying to have a conversation with him, and he entertained the idea.

  . Jess glanced over at Andre, who looked like he was impatiently waiting for them.

  Throughout the past couple weeks Jess hadn't just been practicing self defence. He and Natoya had been practicing a bit of playful banter. And Andre was not enjoying it. Jess could tell he was starting to get over it, but he saw the look Andre had in his eyes whenever Natoya innocently flirted with him, it was the polar opposite of what he looked like whenever she flirted with Jess.

  "What are we doing today, boss?" Jess said after looking back at Natoya and holding a bit of lingering eye-contact with her. He could tell she was excited. She really enjoyed the self-defence classes Andre was teaching them.

  "Sparring, against eachother. I think you've got enough practice with me." Andre said while walking to the bleachers. Jess glanced at Natoya, and saw a competitive sparkle flare in her eyes before she jogged to the middle of the basketball court. He quickly followed behind.

  Both Jess and Natoya raised their hands up, keeping their elbows close and their firsts covering their head and chin. Natoya bounced lightly on the bals of her feet as she and Jess settled into their stances.

  Jess tried to focus his mnd and body as he moved into his stance. He watched Natoya raise her hands, and he moved with her like a mirror.

  Then, Andre whistled, signaling the start of the round similarly to a bell chime.

  Jess started circling Natoya, both of them moving like yin and yang as they gauged the distance and timing. He narrowed his eyes as he watched her move, keeping his distance, parring the jabs she pushed forward.

  He kept his eyes trained on her, but Natoya replied with a combination of jabs and crosses, snappng his head back slightly, catching him slightly off guard. He was stunned, but quickly recovered and threw a few quick and hard shots of his own, trying to gain back some advantage.

  None-the-less, Natoya blocked both shots and reatliated with a series of hooks to the body, aiming at Jess' guard to create openings. He was forced to block the onslaught of punches, and despite the defensive maneuver he could feel the impact of each shot, his body swaying slghtly. He needed to figure out a way out of the situation.

  Then, Natoya backed down a ittle to switch her offense to a defense, Jess could tell she was starting to get a little bit tired. He used this opening to his advantage, charging forward and throwing several quick jabs at her face and torso. As he moved forward, he closed the distance. This made Natoya smile, and begin deftly blocking and countering his attacks.

  Then, he suddenly slipped past Jess' defenses wth a well-timed uppercut that landed flush against his chin. His head snapped back, the blow was a clean hit he hadn't expected. It landed and he took a step back, it was clear to him that she was better than he expected. He became more offensive, and threw a combination of stike.

  The intensity increased as the round progressed, Natoya moved fluidly around the ring, as she and Jess traded blows until she became more defensive, blocking every attack until she found a counter, and landed another well-timed lowercut.

  Jess stumbled back from the lowercut that caught him by surprise. He quickly regained his momentum before launching forward, landing a hard hook to her body before he began throwing several jabs, pushing up the intensity, not giving Natoya a chance to breathe. And he did so successfully. Jess managed to get close enough to her, causing her to suddenly lose her balance and fall backwards. His eyes widened at the sight of her reaching forward to grab something to keep her from landing on the hard surface that was the basketball court.

  He saw this, and made a split-second decision to catch her, quickly moving his arm around her waist, he managed to catch her and keep her from falling to the ground.

  Natoya immediately flushed red, either out of embarrassment from falling.. Or something else.

  Jess looked into her big brown eyes. Natoya was a pretty cute girl. She had long, silky hair, a nice figure, a great personality.

  He smiled at her, holding eye contact for a solid minute before he pulled her back onto her two feet, standing upright again.

  "Y'know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you got that directly from a dance-fighting tutorial on the internet." Andre broke the silence between them, and Jess laughed to break whatever tension was placed in the air, He left his hand lingering on Natoya's waist for a second longer than necessary before he finally turned to face Andre. He could tell a small part of Andre was annoyed, the tiniest spark that lit within him was jealous.

  But Natoya wasn't interested in Andre.

  She was interested in him.