Pulse pounding, Jay stretched slowly as he waited for the rest of his class to finish their warm-up jog. Gods, he'd never felt this good in his life. Already he could tell his stamina was improving and while his body still ached after class, it wasn't a bone-tired exhaustion. And using a sword and shield were definitely making him use different muscles than he'd relied on on the Isle. Technique was still strange, but the drills were building muscle memory. He couldn't wait to actually spar against someone with the same training. Carlos was great for adapting the lessons to face someone faster, smaller, and with different weapons. What Jay needed was someone who could make him use the training as taught.

"Everyone line up!" Coach Brolk shouted, Lonnie at his side. So she'd be assisting today. That probably meant they'd be doing something other than drills.

Lining up with the others, ignoring Chad's glare, Jay caught Lonnie's eye and she grinned. Today was going to be fun.

"Alright everyone. Pair up. We're sparing today. Wooden swords only."

Pair up? As in, choose a partner to fight? Jay grimaced. Today wasn't going to be fun. Not when he'd have to fight some weakass noble who'd be too scared to actually do anything. Gods. Fine. Whatever. At least it gave him an excuse to kick their asses and put them in their place. Too many of them were getting comfortable enough to openly glare at him and it was pissing him off.

With a sigh, he glanced around. All the others were already pairing off. When he caught a few of their eyes, they immediately looked away and randomly grabbed someone near them. Thanks to Carlos and Evie, he knew there were an odd number of people in the class. And he knew that it meant one person wouldn't have a partner. Probably him. Normally he wouldn't care, but he wanted to fight. It had been weeks since he'd last faced off and he needed to fight. Needed to burn off the building frustration and disgust from being in Auradon.

"No partner, Jay?"

"No, Coach."

The older man frowned and none of the pairs met his gaze and Jay couldn't decide if he was glad that they were too scared to fight him or annoyed that he wasn't going to be able to fight.

"I'll face him, Coach," Lonnie offered and all eyes turned to her. Jay straightened. "One less pair you need to worry about and everyone gets the same amount of practice without having to rotate."

After a moment, Coach Brolk nodded. "Jay, go pair up with Lonnie."

"Sure, Coach," Jay shrugged before moving to stand next to the girl. Expression relaxed, almost bored, Jay watched as the coach began passing out the wooden swords. But he wanted to grin. He actually had a chance to test Lonnie's skill, find out just how capable she was. And she was definitely the most skilled person other than the coach. This fight could be an actual fight.

"This'll be fun," Lonnie grinned as she chose a sword.

"I'm just glad I'm not facing those weaklings," Jay said, sorting through the choices before finding one he liked the feel of.

Lonnie laughed. "Well, I'm definitely not a weakling."

"That's obvious."

Dark brown eyes found his and the fire behind them had his pulse speeding up, adrenaline dripping into his blood. It was the same kind of fire in Mal's whenever they were sparing. Grip tightening on the hilt, Jay met her gaze evenly, smirking. Oh, he wanted to fight her.

"Everyone ready?" Coach Brolk shouted. When they all shouted confirmation, he nodded. "Begin!"

Lonnie slid into her starting position, gave him only a few seconds to do the same. And then she was on him.

Adrenaline flooded him. Only instinct saved him from taking a hard blow to his ribs. But it wasn't enough to protect him from a second strike or from hitting the ground as she took out his legs.

What…? How…?

For a split second, he was back on the Isle, body braced for the final blow. Mal. Evie. Carlos…He'd failed…

Then he felt the soft ground and heard the frustrated whiny voices of nobles. This wasn't the Isle. He was still in Auradon. He was in class. Sparring with Lonnie. Sparring. The pack was fine.

"Jay?" Lonnie asked, frowning at him.

Blinking, he shook himself and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Fuck, you're good," he groaned, rolling his shoulders.

She studied him for a moment before offering him a hand up. "My parents have been training me since I could walk," she said as he let her help him to his feet. "I'm impressed you parried the first one. The rest of these guys would've been knocked silly."

"Blame fast reaction times," he shrugged.

"You wanna test those reaction times again?" she smirked.

"Bring it on."

By the end of the class, he was covered in bruises and dust. He hadn't lasted more than a few seconds against her. She was strong. Fast. Trained. Incredible. The way she moved and fought was everything he knew a fighter to be. But if he had to try to protect his pack…Lonnie was only their age. A trained adult would destroy them…He would fail them. He was supposed to protect them. Fight off the strongest threats. On the Isle he could do that even against the adults. Here in Auradon, he was nothing.

Blood going cold, he washed off the dirt, ignoring the rest of the people in the locker rooms. He had to get better. Forcing himself to breathe slowly, he pressed a hand to the scar on his side. He had to.

Evie screamed. Mal cursed. Carlos scrambled away.

He moved without thinking, slamming into the older man and forcing him back into a wall. The world narrowed until the only thing Jay was aware of was the man grappling with him. He needed to finish this. Needed to get rid of the threat. Check on the others.

Pain.

Red hot pain.

In his side.

His grip broke. The man vanished.

Jay fell.

Hand against the pain. Blood slicked his skin. Turned more things red.

Somewhere Mal roared. Carlos snarled.

"Jay!"

Evie?

Blue crept into red. A soft hand on his.

"Stay awake."

He was awake. Everything was just bleeding red.

"Jay!"

Jaw set, Jay forced out a breath.

He would protect them.

Turning off the water, he grabbed a towel and dried off as quickly as he could. If he had his way, he'd be training again. But he had to meet up with the others for lunch and then suffer through English. He'd find time to train, alone or with Carlos. Maybe he should ask Mal and Evie too. Tell them he wanted to keep them sharp in case they needed to fight.

Dressed, he grabbed his bag and left the locker room, distantly aware of the other people moving around him. Just because he couldn't beat them didn't mean he could ignore where they all were. Someone moved towards him. They moved intentionally, making sure he knew they were there.

Lonnie.

"Hey."

"Hey," she nodded as she fell into step beside him. Never before had he paid so much attention to the way she moved. How close she was. Wondered if she carried knives or daggers like them. "I've been looking for a sparring partner. Would you be interested?"

He stopped walking and watched her. "What?"

"Would you be interested in being my sparring partner outside of class?"

"Why? You kicked my ass."

"Because you're good. And practice is good. So I want to practice with you," Lonnie told him, arms crossed, watching him like he was being stupid.

Gods he wanted to say no. But this was exactly what he needed. A chance to practice against someone better than him. It was the best way to improve. And if he practiced with her, he could learn how to protect the pack from her.

He shrugged. "I guess. Not like I have anything better to do."

"Perfect. Saturday morning. Seven sharp."

"Bring it on."