INSIDE THE FOUR CORNERS (PART 2)

THE GYM is big enough to accommodate more or less 500 students every time there's a sports events like basketball, volleyball, tennis, and etc. Running for 10 laps around the gym is quite impossible for not so athletic person. Good thing, we are both athletic because otherwise, we would have been lying here on the gym floor earlier. We were running for our fifth lap when we heard our coach whistle. "Raise your legs when you run!" He shouted at the two of us. We obeyed his command. "Higher! Level it with your hips!" He added. This type of running is not new to us because sometimes when we are doing warm-up exercises, he would ask for a kick while running.

"On your seventh to the tenth lap, I want you two to execute different kicks. Then after that, do your pushups. Join them after you two are done with your punishments." He said. We answered him with a loud "Yes, sir!".

Just like what he instructed, we executed some kicks while running. It was excruciating for our legs. It was tiresome. When we finished running, we could not even rest before doing pushups. The coach really doesn't want that, especially if it's for the punishment. Our thighs were weak but we still tried our best to finish doing pushups. Minutes past and we are finally done with our punishment.

"Let's go," I called Brix to go to the other players. We drank a little water to rehydrate our bodies. The other players are busy sparring with their partners for this afternoon. And I think Brix and I would be the partners for this practice. We made our way to a wide space covered with blue mats. "What? Aren't you going to wear your safety gears?" I teased him. He gave me a smirk. "How about you? Aren't you afraid of having bruises?" he rebutted. I gave him my most irritating smirk while nodding my head. "Okay, your choice. Shall we?" I said then went in the middle of the mat. I stand straight, both hands on my sides. I waited for him to stand in front of me and do the same.

After how many seconds, I looked him in the eye and bowed 45 degrees. He then followed my lead. I put my right leg behind me then raised both of my arms with my fist closed, a front stance, the most basic stance. I shouted as a sign that I am ready. He imitated me and then shouted.

He was serious about sparring without safety gears. I don't know if Coach Roxas will be happy about this but, he can't stop us now. We just started. We have done this before and the result? Well, the coach was not happy about it.

When he started walking sideways without changing his hand position, I made my move. I walked sideways but I was slowly advancing to him. I don't know if he's noticing my move but I don't care. When he stopped walking, I stopped advancing. I loosened my shoulders and shake my hands. I also jumped in my place. Then, I showed him my smirk. I positioned my feet on an angled stance. My right arm is pointing upwards while my left hand is vertically positioned. It is to easily block any moves that will hit my left torso.

I stepped once closer to him. I don't know what's on his mind but he still doesn't move. I think he was still looking at what I was going to do. Usually, I do not repeat the moves that I have been practicing lately. Sometimes, he memorizes my moves so he knows how to counter that. And there's a move that I have been practicing at home lately. I haven't practiced that with a sparring partner yet so this is a good opportunity to demonstrate it. I only had my punching bag to try the move so it's better to practice it while fighting Brix. Though I know that it will be hard.

I quickly moved towards him. Left leg first followed by my right leg. I was slightly jumping so I could move more easily. Without changing the position of my arms, I tried to kick him on his right side but he blocked it with his right arm. He also began to move from his position. He followed the agility of my movements. Sometimes, he fakes the moves he is making. He would approach me and pretend to kick. When I saw him stop, I made the move I practiced at home.

I quickly neared him then raised my left foot for a fake kick in his face. When he tried to block his face, I immediately put my left foot down to jump with it. As I was suspended in the air, I moved my right foot to kick him on his shoulder. I don't want him to have a serious injury since the match is slowly nearing. When my right foot hit him, he staggered backward. I immediately regain a stable stance then readied myself for combo kicks, turning kick combo, double turning combo, and 360 turning kick. From a front stance, I lift my right foot for a turning kick that hit his left side torso. After that, I lift my left foot then right foot for a double turning kick. The double turning kick hit him on his two sides. After the double turning combo, I lift my body to do the 360 degrees turning kick with my right foot that hit his right shoulder.

After the combos, Brix falls from his feet due to the impact. My teammates noticed what happened. Some stopped from their tracks and some continued on sparring. Someone shouted from our left side, maybe to cheer, and I bet it caught our coach's attention.

Brix, noticing the attention that we garnered, stands up on his feet and made a parallel stance, right arm pointing upward and left hand vertically positioned blocking his abdomen. He jumped on his place then seconds later, I saw him charging towards me with a turning kick combo and back kick combo. I managed to block his turning kick but he was fast that I was not successful in blocking his back kick combo. It hit my chest slightly because I still managed to move my left arm up. I stumbled and fall on my back. He's strong, I gave him that but he really caught me off-guard with that another combo.

After falling, I immediately stood up. I charged towards him and did a roundhouse kick with my right leg but he was able to block it. He held my leg in place and he's not releasing me so I used it to kick him. I raised my left leg, weight transferred to my right then kicked him on the head. He fell on the matted floor. It was not a heavy kick so I know that he won't get any injury. He might be dizzy but that's it.

I heard a whistle, must be our coach. "You two, stop what you are doing!" He commanded. "I told you, wear your gear," I said then stretched my right hand to help him stand up. I went to my first position, hands both on my sides then made a 45 degrees bow as respect. He also stood straight from where he was standing and bowed.

"AND WHAT did you get out of that stubbornness? Huh?" Sally asked the two of us. Se found out what happened at the gym so she rushed to the nurse's office. After what happened a while ago, the coach scolded us because he said, we seemed too reckless. He said that we were too arrogant to fight without wearing our safety gears. Well, I guess he just doesn't want to admit that he is afraid of the team losing if we both get injured. We were told to go here and ask for some meds and assistance.

"Blame your boyfriend. He is a braggart." I said while raising my left brow. "I asked him to wear his gear but he doesn't want to," I added. Brix looked into where I am seated. He was holding a cold compress against his head and he really looked annoyed. "Well, you're a braggart too. Ugh! I really hate your unladylike side." He said annoyingly. "Stop being sexist, okay?" I said. I really hate it whenever he is implying that I shouldn't be like this. "I'm not, okay?! Ugh, I hate you." He said while rolling his eyes at me. My mouth went agape. I even raise my hands because I cannot believe what he just did. "You are frustrating."

"You two, please stop, okay?" Sally interfered. Now she looked annoyed. "You want me to smack your heads?" Sally threatened us. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and looked at Brix. I saw him glaring at me so I raised my left brow. "Argh! I will not be surprised if my hair will turn gray. You two are stressing me out." She said exasperatedly.

"I hate your combo kicks. You suck." Brix hissed at me. I laughed because of what he said. I was waiting for him to call out my kicks. "I just practiced them with a punching bag. How's the weight of my kick?" I asked. "You might get disqualified. It's heavy. I hate you." I laughed again.

"Hey, let's not attend the practice. Let's go to the canteen." I said. Sally and Brix grinned at me. "What a nice idea. Come on, we might miss today's merienda." Sally beamed. She held me at my left arm and Brix on his right arm. She was jumping up and down. Ah, what a cute little girl.

THERE ARE no other students outside since the class is ongoing. And we are free to roam around since no one is looking. What a boring afternoon. I want to go home and sleep.

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