"You wanna hit the new gym?" Nick asked, lying on his bed like a starfish with a packet of chips on his stomach, "I've heard it's good,"

We had to move back in before the holidays even started because of the monster trouble. No one was taking it well.

"What are we gonna hit it with? Thor's hammer?" I laughed at my own joke.

Nick threw a few chips in my direction without even turning his head.

Meany! My joke was funny.

Hey, that rhymed!

"Let's hit the gym then. Get up, Patrick," I said, getting up from my bed.

Get it?

Patrick?

The starfish.

XD

Nevermind.

"Let's go," He mumbled and sat up.

~~~~~

"The place looks nice!" I exclaimed in awe as I took in my surroundings.

They built a new gym on campus because a few squads thought the existing training grounds weren't modern enough.

There was high tech equipment for exercising all across the three floors that the gym consisted of.

"What do you wanna do first?" I asked Nick while I observed the bubble simulation training in the middle of an arena on the first floor.

"Let's box,"

"Let's what?"

"Let's box," He emphasised.

"I heard you, genius. But we could've boxed in the ground," I deadpanned.

"I want to box here. Please," Nick pleaded and shot me his puppy eyes.

"Fine," I exhaled.

We went to the third floor where the boxing ring was. I was in the middle of gawking at the place when Nick grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me with him.

He stopped once he reached a middle-aged bald man.

"Um, Mr Antonio?" Nick asked.

"Yes?" Antonio replied.

"I read your pamphlet downstairs. We want to join the boxing club,"

"Oh, we're about to start. Join the others right now. You can fill out the application after the class,"

"Cool," I said, and Nick and I joined the others.

There weren't as many people as I thought there'd be. Just 5-6 people other than us were standing in a circle.

The class started with warmups. Once that was done, Antonio asked us to form a line.

"Now, do a handstand," Antonio said.

Nick and I exchanged a look that meant 'easy peasy lemon squeezy'.

No, seriously, we had to do handstands as a punishment for way too long. They were natural to us by now.

Once everyone was in a handstand, Antonio started a stopwatch.

Twenty seconds in, and half of the kids were down.

Another five and the two other than us fell too.

"You've got strength, boys," Antonio complimented us when his stopwatch crossed a minute.

"You should probably stop it now; we can do this all day. No kidding," I said.

Antonio raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed and motioned for us to get up.

"How'd you build that strength?!" A guy asked us. The one who was the first to fall.

"We crossed a line," I replied, which left the guy confused, while Nick and I started laughing like hyenas.

Inside jokes, I tell ya.

"What?" He asked.

"We got a punishment to attend all our classes in handstands or headstands," Nick answered.

"Damn, that's extreme," He said.

"Not more than working with Mr Wallowhits," I shuddered at the memory.

"You were the squad that crossed the fence?!" Antonio's shocked voice broke us out of the conversation.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Oh," Was all he said and continued with the class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, take a break, guys," Antonio said, "Lorcan, come with me,"

A week had passed since our first boxing class with Antonio, and we were definitely feeling fitter than before. But that day, my mind was occupied with somethi- someone else.

A day before

I was sitting on my bed, scrolling through pictoflaunt when I heard a knock on my door.

I opened it to find Cupcake standing on the other side.

"Hey," I said, smiling uncontrollably.

"Hi," She smiled, but it faltered quickly when her eyes flitted down to my very naked chest, "Can- can I sit here for a few? They're making out in my dorm," She stuttered out.

This 'they' were our beloved Reyna and Nick.

"No, you can't," I joked.

"Thank you," She chuckled and pushed me aside to get in.

"Heyy, woman!" I laughed, and she chuckled and sat on my bed, resting her back on my headrest.

"What were you doing?" She asked, her eyes flickering to my chest, and I could've sworn her breathing became heavier every time she did that.

Is she flustered because of my half-naked self?

"Pictoflaunt,"

"Oh, so productive, Lory," She taunted.

"What were you doing?" I raised an eyebrow because I knew for a fact that she was online a few minutes ago.

"Not the point," She looked down and tried to keep from smiling.

"Well, if you want, I can think of something else to do," I raised my eyebrows suggestively and stepped closer to my bed.

"Really?" She challenged and sat up on her knees, so she was on eye level with me.

"Mhmm," I stepped closer to her, so we were only a few inches apart.

"Enlighten me then," She leaned in and whispered.

"Sure," I smirked and started tickling her waist.

"Lory!" She shrieked and laughed.

I kept tickling her until she was lying on my bed, unable to breathe because of laughing so much.

"Lory, stop!" She laughed and started kicking the air, making it harder for me to tickle her.

So I sat on her legs and kept tickling. But her hands were hindering too, so I pinned them down with my left hand and continued my attack.

"Lory, stop!!" She laughed and turned her head from side to side.

A few seconds later, I stopped, and she inhaled and exhaled deeply to get her breathing back to normal.

I watched her as her chest heaved up and down. My eyes stopped at her beautiful face and that gorgeous smile of hers. That was when I realised the intimacy of our position; me on top of her, her arms pinned down and our faces mere inches apart.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked into mine, and the outside world just dissolved into nothing.

Staring into her eyes, I started inching closer. My thoughts filled with nothing but her. Her smile, the sound of her laugh, her voice, her poor jokes, her innocence, her.

Cupcake shut her eyes in anticipation, and mine shut too as I closed the distance between us.

"LORY, LOOK WHAT WE- OH MY GODS!!!!" Cleo's voice startled me and pulled me back to reality.

WHY, GOD, WHYYYY!!!!!

AGAIN!

UGGHHHHHHH

I looked at Cupcake, whose eyes were widened as she looked at our unwanted guests from beneath me.

I retracted my hand that was resting on her waist and released my grip on her hands. My jaw clenched in anger, and my palms balled into fists as I got up to face the intruders.

"What?" I said through gritted teeth, frustrated out of my mind.

"What is going on here??" Adam asked, his mouth so wide opened that I was afraid his jaw would be on the floor any second.

"I should go," Argenta muttered and left for her dorm, looking at the ground.

My eyes followed her until she was out the door.

WHY DO YOU HATE US, GOD?

ALSO, IMPECCABLE TIMING, CLEO AND ADAM.

IMPECCABLE!

"What were you two up to?" Cleo asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"None of your business," I growled and plopped on my bed, my hands covering my face in frustration.

"You're not going to kill us, are you?" Adam gulped.

"I'm trying," I gave him a tight-lipped smile, controlling myself from choking the life out of them.

"What the hell did you do?!" Exclaimed a panicked Nick, bustling into the dorm.

"What did I do?" I asked.

"Why did Argenta throw me out? I was having such a good time! What did you do?"

"Ask them," I pointed at the fools who had seated themselves on Nick's bed.

They explained what happened, and after a lot of fanboying from Nick and throwing the idiots out of my dorm, I groaned and went to sleep.

Now, Antonio wanted to talk to me alone.

I followed him in a small secluded room.

"What's going on?" Antonio asked.

I had an almost kiss with my crush. And now all I can think about is kissing her. What it would be like to feel her lips on mine. If there would be fireworks and if it would be the best feeling ever.

"It's a girl, isn't it?" Antonio said.

I nodded, and after he encouraged me, I went on to describe everything about her. Everything that has happened with her and what happened the day before.

"Listen, kid," Antonio said after listening to me, "She's a distraction for you. You need to focus right now. Let her go... Everyone you love leaves you at some point anyway, so what's the point of holding on and hurting yourself more?"

His words hit me like a truck.

Everyone I have ever loved has eventually left me. If it wasn't their own choice, it was destiny. I am bad luck for the people I love.

"Forget about her," Antonio spoke in a low voice. He patted my back as I looked at my feet, deep in thought, and walked out of the room.

I need to forget about her.

A/N:

Hey, everyone! So sorry for being late! But here's chapter 22.

Tell me what you think about Antonio

and the almost kiss ;))

Vote. Comment. Fan!

See y'all next week! Byeee<3