Hey guys, sorry this chapter wasn't up earlier but I've been having a few connection problems.
Hopefully it was worth the wait. Enjoy...
"Punch me,"
Beth almost spat out the mouthful of food she was chewing. To say that her fathers request had taken her by surprise was a massive understatement. As she looked around the room, she noticed that she wasn't the only one taken aback by Clay's request. Aisha, who was sitting at the table looking over some building floor plans, had almost knocked her mug of coffee when reaching for it. Jensen, who was watching television had leant on a button on the remote which had completely knocked off the volume. He was trying his best to make it look like he was fixing it but everyone knew that Jensen, along with the rest of them, wanted to hear every word of this conversation. Even Cougar had looked up from the book he was reading, only his eyes were showing but Beth could tell that he was grinning.
"Excuse me?" sputtered Beth, making sure she heard right. "You want me to what?" Clay smiled to himself.
"You heard me right, little lady. Punch me." Beth scrunched up her face in confusion.
"Why?" she asked, completely ignoring the sniggers coming from the others.
"First rule of being a Loser. You have to be able to throw a damn good punch. Come on," Clay opened the door and ushered Beth outside, closing the door behind him. Jensen, Aisha and Cougar waited until it looked like Clay was deep in conversation with Beth before crowding round the window that overlooked the small garden.
"Okay… okay." began Jensen, "Can wearing glasses effect your hearing? Coz I swear I just heard Clay ask to get punched. Ain't that crazy?" Jensen shook his head, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck.
"Shut up, Jensen," warned Aisha, shoving the tech out of the way so that she could get a better look. The three of them watched as Beth attempted several punches, not that they expected much but they really were shabby. Clay didn't stumble or even flinch once.
"No, you're not doing it right," said Clay, taking hold of Beth's hand and squeezing it in to a fist, "You're not gonna do any damage by just using your arm. You need to put your whole body into the punch. The force needs to come from your shoulder, not your wrist." Clay peered over is shoulder and noticed their spectators. "Any volunteers from the audience?"
"Shit," mumbled Jensen, diving away from the window and resuming his previous position on the couch. Aisha gave Clay the finger before grabbing her jacket and heading out for some fresh air. This left Cougar.
"Come on, Cougar!" called Clay, "I didn't mean volunteer to get punched." Cougar shrugged and thought 'Why the fuck not?' before making his way outside to join Beth and Clay.
"I'm a lover, not a fighter. Okay Dad?" Beth was saying. Cougar had walked out mid conversation.
"Beth, you're killing me here. How am I supposed to stay focussed on a mission when I know you could be somewhere else getting your ass kicked?" Beth rolled her eyes.
"Don't you think you're being a little over dramatic?" was her reply to her fathers rant. Clay shook his head.
"I'm going to get us some coffee," he said, "Cougar, teach her something will ya?" Beth gave her father a light push as he walked past her and went inside.
"I'm useless," Beth stated as soon as her father was out of earshot. She slumped against the wall and folded her arms. Cougar shook his head.
"This just isn't the right method of teaching," Cougar explained, "I didn't learn how to shot the perfect long distance shot by practise. I learned by doing."
"Learn by doing?" Beth muttered under her breath, wondering how she could do as such. Cougar regretted saying anything. The last thing he wanted was Beth searching the streets for someone to fight her so she could 'learn by doing'.
"Hey, Beth!" Jensen called from inside, "Come with me to the arcade? I feel weird going on my own or without someone younger than me. It just screams 'weirdo'."
"Sure!" she called back. Beth walked back indoors, closely followed by Cougar.
"Hey Dad!" Beth shouted to her father who was in another room doing who knew what, "Can we abandon Fight Class 101 for a while? I wanna go to the arcade with Jensen!"
"Okay!" Clay shouted back. Beth grabbed her jacket and near enough ran to the front door. Jensen went to follow but was stopped by Cougar grabbing his arm. Jensen's eyes met Cougar's which were a mix between worry and angst.
"Don't worry, Dude," Jensen replied as if he could read Cougar's mind. "I'll take good care of her." Jensen winked at Cougar before pulling his arm free and leaving with Beth.
...
Beth was a little confused when she and Jensen arrived at their destination.
"This isn't an arcade," she said matter-of-factly, coming to a standstill outside of the gym.
"I know," Jensen replied, walking past Beth towards the door, "This is going to be much more fun than going to the arcade. Trust me." Beth shrugged her shoulders and followed Jensen inside.
"Good afternoon, Harry," he greeted the man behind the counter.
"Alright, Jensen. Haven't seen you in a couple of days. What can I do for you?" the man named Harry enquired.
"I need the boxing room for an hour," Jensen asked. Harry simple nodded his and pointed Jensen in the direction.
"Thank you, my good sir," smiled Jensen as he lead Beth down to the boxing room.
"Really?" scoffed Beth, "You go to the gym?" Jensen ignored the mocking in Beth's voice as he opened the Boxing Room door and flicked on the lights.
"Yeah," he answered, pretending to be offended by Beth's ridiculing. He raised both of his arms to show off his muscles. "You don't get guns like these by sitting around watching cartoons all day, you know?" Beth rolled her eyes and smiled at Jensen.
"So what are we doing here?" Beth asked as she eyed her surroundings. The room wasn't too big, but it was big enough to fit it's purpose. There were three punch bags of three different sizes. The smallest was hanging from the ceiling in the back left-hand corner of the room, it was clear that it didn't get used as much as the other two. The medium was not far away from the small, but it was more towards the middle of the room. The largest was probably bigger than Jensen and Beth put together, and hung from a chain on the ceiling that went from one side of the room to the other. There was a small boxing ring in the back right of the room, and just behind the door was a hook which held six pairs of boxing gloves. Jensen grabbed two of them and tossed one at Beth, she caught it with ease.
"Show me what you got, Junior," Jensen said in a teasing tone as he hopped from one foot to the other. Beth giggled.
"I'm not going to punch you, Jensen." argued Beth.
"What do I look like, an idiot," gasped Jensen, roughly massaging Beth's shoulders. "Do I look like the kind of moron who would give you a pair of boxing gloves and then ask you to punch me? Besides, I wear glasses. Isn't it the law that you can never hit a man who wears glasses?"
"Get to the point, Jensen," urged Beth as she squeezed her hands into the boxing gloves.
"Okay, okay," continued Jensen, "I don't want you to hit me. I want you to hit that." Jensen pointed towards the biggest punch bag. "Bethany Clay, I'm going to teach you the basics of self defence!"
So how's the sequal treating you? Liking it?
R&R. Let me know :) x
