by Ruby Vincent
He shrugged. “That’s fine with me.”
“Adam, this is serious.”
“I know that.”
I threw up my hands. “Why do you want to help me anyway?! This isn’t your fight!”
“It is my fight.” Adam removed his hand, but only to put it on my shoulder. He gently turned me to face him. “You’re my best friend and I wasn’t there when you needed me. That’s never going to happen again.”
Adam rested his palm against my cheek. A sweet, comforting gesture that I knew wasn’t for Zeke. It was for Zela. My eyes stung with tears.
“Let me help you. I want to.”
I ducked my head and his hand fell off. “Okay,” I croaked. “I’ll tell you and... you can help. Just don’t make me cry.”
He laughed softly and after a minute I did too. I quickly brushed a trail of wetness from my cheek. “Let’s go, or we’ll be late.”
We made it to the field in time by the skin of our teeth and the glare from Coach let us know.
“Cutting it close, boys.” He pointed at the bleachers. “Grab a seat.” We climbed the stairs and sat next to Nico and Tanner.
“Alright,” Coach began. He planted himself before us and gripped his clipboard behind his back. “You’re not freshmen anymore. You trained every week for a year and I saw marked improvement in each one of you. This year, you’re eligible for spots on the team and you’ll get it by showing me something out there. The letter on your chest means nothing on the field. Your talent and hard work does. So if you want onto the team, earn it. Understood?”
“Yes, Coach.”
“Is that understood?”
“Yes, Coach!”
He clapped by smacking his hand against the board. “That’s what I want to hear! Now, up. Two teams. Start your drills.”
Maybe it was just me, but it seemed my class descended on the field with renewed vigor. It wasn’t often we heard that we could go for what we wanted without our letter defining us. I didn’t care one way or the other about getting on the team, but Tanner blew through the drills like this was his tryout.
Coach switched up the teams again and kicked off the match. I played well, scoring three goals, but I might have done better if my mind wasn’t elsewhere.
Am I really going to tell Adam what I’m planning to do? There is a reason I didn’t want him or Derek to know. I became the enemy of the Elite unwillingly last year. This year, it will be on purpose.
“Zeke! Heads up!”
I snapped back into focus as something hurtled toward my face. “Wha— Ow!” Pain blossomed in my forehead and I staggered back to the roar of cheers. “What the hell?!”
“Nice job, Manning,” Coach called. “Next time make the goal on purpose.”
My team scooped me up before I could get a word out and hoisted me off the field. We won and all it took was bouncing a ball off my face. I eventually slipped out of their grasp and caught up with Adam. He was waiting for me steps from the main entrance.
“Let’s hear it, Manning.”
I sighed. Yes, I was really going to tell him. To be honest, the first part of this equation was tricky, I could use all the help I could get. “Okay. First, we challenge the Bs and...”
DR. O’QUINN’S BROWS were in danger of disappearing into her hairline. “Excuse me? You need approval for...” She glanced over my shoulder at the army of boys behind me. “Approval for ten battles.”
“Yes, please.”
“For what, exactly?”
“I would like their library times.”
“Their library times,” she said slowly.
“Yes, ma’am. One a day for ten days. This year is important and I have to work harder than ever. I’m giving it my all this year, so of course, I need time in the library.” I flapped a hand behind me. “I’ve challenged them all to maximize my chance of winning and spread the battles around. The staff haven’t made a rule against targeting but I have.”
If she heard the admonishment in my tone, she ignored it. “And why have you chosen students from the B Class, Mr. Manning. Cs and Ds also have library time.”
“Bs get seven hours a day in the library. If I’m going to devote real time to studying, then time is what I need.”
O’Quinn studied me, her face giving nothing away. The boys whispered and grumbled behind me as we remained locked in our staredown.
“Mr. Manning,” she said after a solid minute had passed.
“Yes, ma’am.”
A smile broke out on her face and the shock of it made me take a step back. “I absolutely agree with you, and let me say, I admire your initiative. This is what the battle system is for,” she said as she came around her desk. “You have to set a goal and do what it takes to achieve it.” O’Quinn put her hand over my head as though she strongly wanted to give me a pat but rules about touching students held her back. “Mr. Dawson told me you were his most impressive student and I’m beginning to see what he saw in you.”
She gave up on patting the air and gestured toward the door. “Go on, Zeke. I will go up with these boys and get the battles approved. I know you have homework to do, and I don’t want to keep you.”
“Thank you, Dr. O’Quinn.”
Adam picked himself off the wall when I stepped outside. “What happened?”
“She approved them all.” I peered over my shoulder. “I also think she loves me now.”
“Then she’ll have no trouble with me coming up to her desk tomorrow with six more.”
“Seven.” I pulled out my list and handed it over. “These are the boys you need to challenge. When Michael and Landon were helping me train, they told me about the boys I would most likely be able to beat in a challenge. All their ‘find the weaknesses’ training with the Network, I bet.”
“What does that mean?” He moved away and we took off for the dorm. “What did they tell you?”
“They explained how they sort the classes,” I replied. “The Elite are the best of the best. Top percentile. Highest scores on the trials. The A Class are students that were close, but didn’t make the top ten. After that is the B Class. Bs are on the level of As with their placement test scores, but were dragged down by their crappy performances in the trials. Cs are average at both. Ds are even worse than them and Fs... are everyone else.”
He nodded along. “That makes sense. So they told you to challenge the Bs because you’ve got the smarts, but they’re not as hard to beat at sports.”
“Exactly. We both know you can take on anyone in this school, but just take on these guys. You’ve got your own stuff with the swim team. You don’t need to go hard on these battles.”
He plucked the list from my fingers. “I’ll go as hard as you need me to, Zee.”
I glanced up at him. “I noticed you’re calling me Zee now. Did Jordan tell you my nickname?”
“I heard her calling you that enough times. You don’t mind, do you? It feels weird saying Zeke, and it’s not like people would think twice about Zee.”
“It’s fine. Zee and Zeke are the most harmless names people will be calling me by the time this semester is over.”
ALL EYES WERE ON ME this time last year. I was the F the Elites had set their sights on and everyone wanted to know why. This year, their eyes were on me again. That happens when you get ten battles on the first day. Well, I say ten, but it turned out to be eight. Two of the boys picked swimming as the physical test and I turned those down. Except for when the threat of failing forced me into Coach’s class, I was not stepping foot in the natatorium.
My first battle kicked off the next day at four o’clock on the dot. Dr. O’Quinn looked proud as she rattled off instructions for the geometry test. She placed the paper on my desk, and to my surprise, she did pat my head.
“Good luck, Mr. Manning.”
I nodded as she went back to her colleague. The expression Callum Mercia’s teacher was throwing me was not pride. I put it closer to perplexed with a hint of annoyed. She must have thought I was was
ting her students’ time with battles I couldn’t hope to win but I didn’t care what she thought. As long as she kept approving them, I’d be able to accomplish what I set out to do.
“You have thirty minutes. Begin.”
I flipped the test over and put pencil to paper without hesitation. Geometry wasn’t my favorite and it showed throughout homeschooling. As a result, Mom drilled it into my head until I aced every practice problem to her satisfaction. When our thirty minutes were up, I knew I’d gotten a hundred.
I chanced a peek at Callum.
He looks pretty confident too. Like I thought, this is going to come down to the physical battle.
The four of us stepped out of the classroom and found two boys waiting. Adam and Ryler Mitchell had their battle directly after ours. They joined us as we tramped out to the wrestling gym.
Stepping inside, memories smacked me like cold air to the face. Landon and me grabbing and twisting on the mat. The way he smiled when I did a move perfectly. The feel of his hands when he pulled me close only to flip me on my ass. The taste of his lips when he gave me my first kiss.
I dug my nails into my palm and the sharp sting dragged me harshly to the present. He took my first kiss, then he looked at me like I was the monster when he refused to believe me and ordered his buddies to beat me into the ground.
It’s okay, I thought as Callum and I squared off. I’m coming for him next.
I’m coming for all of them... and it begins now.
Coach called it and I lunged.
EIGHT BATTLES IN FOUR days and I won six of them. Adam won all of his, proving once more he didn’t belong anywhere near the F Class. Derek didn’t ask me why I was doing this, but when I burst into his room the following Sunday night, I could sense his curiosity brimming beneath his standard unpleasantness.
“What do you want?”
“To hang out.” I brushed past him into his room. I halted when I realized we weren’t alone. “Oh. Hello, Hunter. What are you doing here?”
He grinned sheepishly from his seat in the desk chair I often claimed. He kicked his feet, legs so short his toes barely brushed the carpet from the height Derek set his chair. “It’s mentor time. We have a lot of schoolwork during the week and Derek has basketball practice. This is the only time we can meet.”
I lifted a brow at Derek as I addressed Hunter. “Has he been mentoring you?”
“He’s... uh... reading.”
“And I just got to the good part.” Derek hopped on the bed, sending one of his pillows to the floor. “Both of you get out.”
“No.”
I walked around his bed and climbed onto the other side. I was getting bold and I knew it. Saying no to him, inserting myself into his space. It was dangerous. Derek was like a coiled serpent ready to strike at one wrong move but my days of fearing I would push him too far were over. We broke the barrier the day he found me naked on the floor and held me until my throat was too raw to sob. He was mine now. My friend. My Derek. We both accepted that even if he would never admit it.
“We’ll give you all the mentoring you can stand, Hunter,” I said. “Pull up your chair and ask any of the questions you have.”
“Ask three questions,” Derek cut in. He didn’t lift his head from his book. “Make them good ones and then leave. Time is up in ten minutes. Then I want to talk to you.”
I didn’t need to ask if that last statement was for me. I knew it was. Hunter and I accepted our terms. The younger boy moved the chair closer. His expression swung from uncomfortable to eager.
“Can I ask you something first, Zeke? Why did you do all of those battles? Everyone was talking about it. They said Fs barely challenge anyone but you’ve been shaking things up since you got here. You even challenged an Elite upperclassman and won.”
I cut eyes to Derek but his attention was glued to the pages. “It’s simple and hard to explain at the same time. Something went down during my orientation and I missed the placement test. Things got out of hand last year, but now I’m working to make it right. Fs don’t have a lot of resources to improve, so I have to battle. I’m gunning for top spot this year.”
“Wow.” Hunter swiveled the chair until I could only see half his face. “You must be really into the battle-and-come-out-on-top stuff.”
My expression hardened. “Not even a little. This is how it has to be done, Hunter. If Fs want so much as to set foot in the library or go to the Christmas dance, they have to battle for it. There is no opting out for us.”
“Like me, you mean.” He lowered his head. “Sorry. It must be hard being forced into the lower classes when you never belonged there.” Hunter turned back to face us. “So no one questions the system or fights back?”
“That’s your second question,” Derek warned.
I nudged his shoulder. “People do, but when we did, Whittaker came down on us hard.”
“We?”
“Stand Up. It’s the club Melody started with the main purpose of pushing back against the system. We held a protest last year and this year Melody has new plans for the club.”
“Really?” Hunter shot forward in the seat. “Can I join too?”
“And that’s three.” Derek closed the book with a snap. “Yes, you can join the club. You can also consider mentor time over. I’ll be at your door at six a.m. tomorrow morning for basketball practice.”
Hunter didn’t appear thrilled at the early morning wake-up call and who would be, except me.
“Let the kid sleep,” I said. “I’ll get up and practice with you. It’s been a long time since we played.”
He shrugged. “Fine.”
I waited until the door snapped shut behind Hunter before rising on my knees and facing him head on. “What is it?”
Derek’s eyes swept over me, piercing and probing like he was seeking through the layers for the real person beneath. “Why are you doing these battles? Is this a part of your revenge plan?”
“Yes.”
His gaze turned even more assessing. “Are you going to tell me?”
“Maybe, but not today.”
He inclined his head, accepting that easier than I anticipated. “Do you need help?”
“Yes, and you’re already doing it. I have to keep improving my game and you’re helping me get better at basketball.”
“Huh. So I get the hardest task.”
I laughed. “Shut up.” I settled in next to him, getting comfortable. “Tell me what chapter you’re on.”
“Shit. They just got off the plane in Germany and...”
EVERYONE STARED AT me when I walked into the cafeteria the next morning. Or most of the students stared at me, some gave Adam a few looks, and the rest were honed in on the head table where most of the staff, Miss Val, and Vice Principal Argyle sat. Sitting in the middle of them, was Principal Whittaker.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Adam.
“Don’t know. Mom doesn’t tell me everything.”
We grabbed our food and joined the rest of our table. Conversation was subdued. It was hard to focus when we kept sneaking glances at the head table wondering when Whittaker was going to get it over with and tell us what he came to say.
Ten minutes later, he got to his feet to a room that had already fallen silent.
“Good morning, students.”
“Good morning, Principal Whittaker,” we chimed.
“I hope you’ve been settling into your new year because I have no doubt this will be our best.” Whittaker’s smile swept over us. It was a smile I knew well. It shone back at me in every photograph on his walls and every time last year when he approved a new method of battle torture.
What does this smile mean for us now?
“I’ve waited a long time to share this with you and the moment has finally come.” Whittaker spread out his hands as if to embrace us. “Breakbattle Academy and our revolutionary teaching method will soon be adopted nationwide. We’re expanding and opening four more academies within the next four years.
”
A tsunami of sound broke into his speech, but his smile did not dissipate. The room filled with a mix of cheers, applause, whispers, groans, and the shocked faces of my friends that spoke volumes.
Whittaker raised his voice over the noise. “This could not have happened without all of you working your hardest and proving every day that the battle system shapes young minds into powerhouses of excellence. You deserve the applause!”
Whittaker, Argyle, and most of the staff clapped as the students’ cheers reached a crescendo. All except for one. Miss Val’s head was bent over a blue notebook I had spotted one too many times in her office. Her face was unreadable as she scribbled something between the lines.
“Thank you. Thank you.” Whittaker waved for silence. “Now, this expansion has been in the works for years, before my time, and it’s an honor to see it achieved during my tenure. It is even more of an honor to have received the call this morning that members of the state board of education wish to observe us in hopes of integrating our system into the public schools.”
Whittaker punctuated that with a thrust of his arms like he expected applause and he got it. The Elites, As, Bs, and even the Cs were stomping and banging the tables. The rest of us were not.
“Integrated into public schools?” I hissed. “Can that happen?”
“It can happen,” Adam said. There was an edge to his voice I rarely heard. “I wish I was surprised.”
I twisted around. “What do you mean? Did you think this was coming?”
He shook his head. “Not like this. I just thought once last year that it was a good thing Breakbattle was the only school like this, or else others might get it into their head to funnel their budget only to the geniuses and athletes. We have two gyms and a track field so spotless you can eat off them, but the F dorms are covered in stains we don’t want to know about.
“Fs don’t get anything but the bare basics as a constant reminder we’re not good enough. That’s a crappy way to treat a kid and now they’re trying to spread it to other schools.”
