Training

"Students pick your sparring partner and get ready to start," The teacher said, drawing everyone's attention to him. The students gathered around and started choosing themselves, they picked stronger students among themselves and left the weak ones to choose their selves.  Max watched what was going on and could not help but scoff. 'Bunch of clowns!' he mumbled inwardly and began to look around, for any students he would spar with.

Just before he could walk up to one of the free students, Harry approached him together with Kelvin and Matt. "Here comes the devil," he mumbled under his breath as he glared at Kelvin who in return was glaring back at him.

"I see you have no sparring partner," Harry noted as he got to where Max was standing. "How about we spar?" he asked with a smirk.

"Why? We are no mates so I guess you should go ask one of your mates," Max replied and turned to leave.

"And where do you think you are going? Have you grown balls to walk out on us?" Kelvin asked angrily, he felt insulted by Max.

"Leave him to me and stay out of this," Harry turned to Kelvin and replied. Then he pulled Max by the collar and dragged him away from where Kelvin stood.

"Hey, what was the meaning of that?" Max asked as Harry stopped dragging him. He turned and saw how the students were all looking at him and laughing. "Why would you drag me like a dog?" He asked again, this time there was anger written all over him.

Harry saw the anger in his eyes and somehow he felt a wave of fear but then...he shook the thought out of his head. The Max he knew couldn't do anything so his anger was meaningless. "Calm down, there is no need to get angry over trivial things. I did it to help you, see... If I didn't choose to spar with you, Kelvin would have picked you as his sparring partner and when that happens he'll treat you with no mercy. He still believes you are behind Nat's current predicament, although I don't know for sure, he is certain. And just so you know, he won't rest until he finds out the truth, if you are behind it, sorry to say this but your days on earth are numbered." 

Max listened to what Harry said then his eyes subconsciously moved to where Kelvin is and like he had guessed, Kelvin was still glaring at him. 'If that is the case then, I'll need to work on myself fast, really fast. Something tells me that Nat will be awake anytime soon '

"I understand but I've got some questions to ask you," Max replied causing Harry to smile. "Is it funny? Why are you smiling?"

"Never mind, just go ahead with your questions," Harry said.

"Why are you helping me? We are supposed to be enemies," Max asked. The confusion was getting too much and he needed to clear it out.

"Isn't it obvious?" Harry asked with a grin on his face, this action confused Max the more.

"What is obvious?"

"That I like you."

"Wh-" Max didn't find the right question to ask Harry at the moment, it was as if he lost his voice to talk. He was quiet and kept staring at the boy until he found his voice again. "What do you mean?"

"Let me be your friend and I'll protect you from bullies like Kelvin," Harry replied with a calm assuring smile.

"If you become my friend, what will become of your group?" Max asked, referring to Nat and Kelvin.

"I can handle them but not now, I'll still need to be close to them. If I suddenly leave now, Kelvin's suspicion will triple and he'll have no choice but to think that I am your accomplice."

Max kept quiet and thought about what Harry had said. To him, it would make sense if Harry becomes his friend, that way he would not have to worry about the seniors who bully him but at the same time, he was not feeling all good about the idea. How someone like Harry would be asking for a friendship from total trash like Max was something out of the ordinary. 'This is going to be worse than I thought, but I'll have to agree... I'm going to use him wisely before anything can even think of going wrong' he smiled evilly as he thought inwardly.

"Wh-"

"Everyone gather around and let the training begin after the count of five."

Harry was about to ask Max why he was smiling so weirdly but just then his words were cut short by the teacher's voice.  All the students had successfully gathered themselves in twos and were now waiting for the teacher to count.

"1"

"2"

"3"

"4"

"5"

"Begin!"

"You throw the punches, I'll evade them," Harry informed and Max nodded and the both of them took their fighting stances.

Meanwhile, Kelvin had been glaring at Max even when they were asked to begin. This didn't sit well with Matt and so he had to ask.

"You have been staring at them for quite some time now, is there something wrong?"

"No, I just hate that kid's guts. Something keeps telling me that he's got a hand in Nat's situation," Kelvin replied not taking his eyes off Max who was far away from them.

"You might be overthinking, he can't do a thing to boss considering his level of ability," Matt replied. Trying his best to make Kelvin pay him any attention since they became friends, Harry had been the only one close to Kelvin and Nat. No one was giving him a chance to get close to them, all they did was send him on errands and then stand aside and watch them. He thought speaking bad of Max will make Kelvin need him but his thoughts were wrong.

He looked down at his wristwatch and sighed. '1.2' He remembered his first day in the school, it was Harry who introduced him to Kelvin. He remembered how Kelvin had persuaded Nat to accept him in the group and even how he saved his ass the day he almost got beaten by one of Nat's rivals. Since then he began to develop a liking for Kelvin, he thought he was going to be liked back but then...Kelvin did all those because Harry was his elder brother.

Matt shook his head — he was shaking off the thoughts in his head, he knew he would never be liked by Kelvin. He glanced over at Max and sighed, he was no different than him yet, his case was worse than he thought.

"Can we start sparing now?" He turned and asked Kelvin. His voice, no longer soft and calm, he was going to focus on getting strong then maybe, just maybe...he could then be liked.