CHAPTER 3: Shot

"Alright, that's all for class today. You are dismissed," Ms. Lee announced as the bell rang.

"Gabrielle, can I see you outside the class for a moment, please? It's about your act of violence this morning with Victoria," Ms. Lee said to Gabe.

Immediately after the teacher left the classroom, the class was filled with chatter as everyone packed up their bags. Keith, Gabe's bodyguard, stood up and helped Gabe to place all her books and stationeries into her school bag, before swinging the bag onto his broad shoulders. Gabe's new classmates crowded around her. "Hey, Gabrielle, are bodyguards allowed to sit in class like that? Why do you even need bodyguards?" A girl with braids and dressed neatly asked.

"Call me Gabe. I'm not used to being called by my full name," Gabe replied and attempted to squeeze her way through her curious classmates.

"Sorry, please do not crowd around like that," her bodyguard instructed and cleared a path for Gabe.

"Hi! I'm Crystal. I sit diagonally opposite you in class. Want to be friends?" grinning, one of her classmates skipped to her side.

"Go away," Gabe said rudely and stalked away. Gabe hated the bustling and fast-paced school life and could not wait to get away from it all. She decided she would get herself out of school first and deal with the consequence of ignoring Ms. Lee later. She walked briskly out of the classroom and straight past Ms. Lee who was waiting for her. Her phone buzzed. Taking it out from her pocket, Gabe realized it was a message from her chauffeur, "I have arrived at outside your school gates." Gabe quickened her pace.

When she reached the school gates, she was not surprised to see a group of students pointing and snapping pictures of her limousine. It was not every day they got to see one. "Wow! Look at that!"

"I wonder who it belongs to. Is it someone from our school?"

Gabe's bodyguard went forward and opened the limousine door. When Gabe was inside her limousine, she reminded the chauffeur, "I'm going fencing today. And archery after that. Be sure to arrive on time to pick me up later."

Soon, the limousine pulled to a stop and Gabe's bodyguards stepped out, again getting the door for Gabe. Gabe walked towards the fencing center, the place where she trained. Out of the three fencing swords, Gabe was most comfortable with the sabre. Few could beat Gabe with a sabre, and her coach was one of them. However, Gabe's skills were already almost exceeding hers.

Soon, Gabe had lost herself in an intense match with her coach.

"Look at your opponent in the eye. That's how you can predict their next move," her coach instructed, before lunging with her sabre at Gabe's shoulder, causing Gabe to duck sideways.

Gabe furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. Beads of sweat trickled down her neck. She felt really hot in her fencing suit.

"Focus!" she told herself, "Remember your footwork!" She feinted an attack at her coach's left, then suddenly struck at her coach's right. The sabre connected with her coach's waist. A tone sounded from the scoring box and the light illuminated.

"Alright, I think that's enough. Let's take a break," her coach said and removed her fencing mask, picking up a towel to wipe her sweat. Gabe gulped down her water and decided that she had practiced enough for the day.

"I'm not going for another round. I'm leaving now," Gabe announced and went to pack up her stuff. Her bodyguards stood up and went to her side.

Shaking her head, her coach sighed resignedly. This girl, she's always coming and going as she pleases. What should she do with her?

Gabe walked out of the training center. As they were walking towards the limousine, a flash of sunlight caught Keith's eye. He looked in the direction of the flash. During his bodyguard training, he was taught that this could be a reflection of the sun's glare on a piece of glass such as the glass of a pair of binoculars. Someone could be spying on them. The flash came from the rooftop of a building. Squinting, Keith realized with a jolt that there was a sniper aiming his rifle in their direction from the rooftop. The flash of sunlight must have had been reflected from the sniper rifle's glass scope.

"Look out!" he yelled, diving in front of Gabe just as a bullet cut through the air and found its target with a sickening thud.

Keith clutched his chest and staggered backward. He looked at the spot where the bullet hit. "It went through," he said, falling to the ground.

Gabe gaped in shock. It took her a few seconds to understand what was going on. Her other bodyguards shielded Gabe with their bodies. Meanwhile, another bodyguard, Max, was tending to Keith.

"This is not an ordinary bullet. It pierced through the Kevlar vest," Max noted as he staunched the bleeding with a clean handkerchief from his breast pocket. Keith groaned, feeling the pressure.

Gabe glanced in the direction the bullet came from, and was just in time to see a tall man in dark sunglasses and cap ducking out of sight with his sniper rifle.

Gabe was escorted into the limousine, which was bulletproof, and she collapsed onto the seat. "I don't really feel like going for archery practice today," Gabe murmured.

"Of course," the chauffeur replied.