6. Aaron

That night I had not slept, because of Bill I was forced to go to the academy and Bill would be responsible for paying the consequences.

I was putting the finishing touches on the screwdriver. I had installed upgrades for Bill so he could get more work done, among them a welder and a blowtorch, now the only thing the stupid robot needed was intelligence.

My hand trembled as I turned it on, I hated that robot, but it was the only one that could help me at that moment.

"Master Aaron" Bill said as it started flying in front of me.

His hands began to change quickly, between screws and screwdrivers, he had installed torch and solder. I banged my head, surely there must have been a better way, I just hadn't looked for it.

"Master really appreciates me giving me new powers " Bill said with a tone of thanks I couldn't hear.

"Shut up Bill, you know that's not true" I replied with a tired tone, " you have to practice, from now on you will work alone until the afternoon".

I explained to Bill how to solder, how to use the torch and gave showed him several examples with circuits that was on the waiting list until Bill could look at me. I hated to admit it, but the robot was learning easily. Maybe I could get another one and increase the productivity of my shop, but I shook my head, because of Bill I could stop the house, I wouldn't know what would happen to me if I got another robot.

I left my home workshop, and put up a sign indicating that I would only be open in the evenings and on weekends. It was painful, I wouldn't know if customers would have time to contact me. I was afraid of what to eat the next day and the only thing I knew was that my savings were about to run out.

...

When I arrived at the academy, I looked for the place next to Wallace, the boy when he saw me approaching looked at me with curiosity, although his eyes no longer showed terror, they still showed concern.

"I'm sorry for what happened yesterday" I said to Wallace, trying to close the distance between us, at least I wanted to have a friend at the academy, someone who could cover for me and lie for me for when I didn't want to go to the academy.

"It's nothing" said Wallace, " it's just that I thought you were close to Carter".

"What did that idiot do to be so afraid of him" I asked, Wallace opened his eyes and looked at me curiously.

"You really don't know?" asked Wallace. I shook my head.

"I just met him yesterday, just like the rest of you. A little earlier, I helped him fix his slider when it got stranded" I replied.

"It was stupid of you to approach him " said Wallace coming closer and talking to me in a low voice, " listen, he is known as the Cloud Butcher, he makes money fighting in a sleazy club and what I have heard about him is that he likes to lick the blood of his opponents like a vampire, he really is crazy, I have no idea how he passed the exam to get into the academy".

Although Wallace's words sounded like fantasy, I had no doubt that they had some reality to them. We all did what it took to survive, Carter had earned a reputation as a bully, but at least he had behaved himself when he had fixed his slider.

"Have you hurt anyone at school?" I asked Wallace. He shook his head.

"We all think it's a matter of time," Wallace said, " I'm sorry you ran into him, you could be his next victim."

"That won't happen Wallace, you can trust me. Besides, I wanted to take the opportunity to fix his slider, it's always nice to make some money" I said with a smile, trying to find his pity so that one day he would lie for me.

"Slider? You're a mechanic" Wallace asked, I nodded flashing a genuine smile.

"Now that you mention it, one of my cars hasn't been serviceable for a couple of months. My dad insists I'd better buy a new one, but if you can fix it, I'll pay you" said Wallace.

My eyes widened with greed, maybe I hadn't found someone who would lie for me, maybe I had found a gold mine.

"I'll go this afternoon if you don't mind" I said calmly as I laughed internally.

Before Wallace could say anything, we watched Carter walk through the living room door, as our eyes met, he walked over to me and sat down next to me. Wallace began to cringe.

I was afraid that at some point, Wallace would get up and switch seats, that would be problematic if I wanted to get money from him.

"Hey Carter, I think you should apologize to Wallace, he's uncomfortable if you're here" I said, betting that Carter would listen to me.

"I'm sorry Wallace" Carter said reluctantly, " if I did anything to you that came to upset you I apologize, I hope we can be friends from now on."

"That would be terrible" said Wallace mumbling as he shrunk back in his seat, causing me to let out a small laugh.

I figured at least that problem would be solved, as long as Carter could control himself.

"Listen Aaron , I want to tell you something important..." started to say Carter, I watched as he looked at the floor as if he knew shame, but was interrupted when teacher Dolph came in to start the class.

It was a boring class, we kept looking at the different plants growing inside the buildings and their benefits. I took the opportunity to pull out my generator and start taking it apart under the table, yesterday I hadn't been able to do anything because of Bill, but at that moment I had some down time.

I immersed myself in observing the burned circuit and how I could fix it until something came out of my thoughts, when the first period was over.

My classmates put on their backpacks and started to leave, so I thought classes for the day were over.

"I guess that's it for today" I said confidently, as I put my generator back in my backpack.

"Today is Friday, we'll go get some lunch, then we'll go to self-defense class" Wallace said dipping me back into reality.

I ate lunch next to Wallace and Carter. The moment was awkward, but at least I learned what the schedules were like at the academy. The first periods were theory. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays were self-defense class. Weekends were off, although the first few days of class they had mentioned that they sometimes used them for raid trips and practice. I cursed Bill again.

Carter and Wallace led me to the locker room, we were supposed to change into comfortable outfits so we could train. Supposedly black shorts and a white shirt. In my case what I was wearing, a pair of oil filled pants and an orange long sleeved shirt, would suffice.

Carter sat down next to me while the other boys were changing and from his backpack he took out a change of sports clothes that he wanted to give me.

"I think it will fit you," Carter said almost begging me.

"Why?" I asked, it's not like he wanted to pay me back with a change of clothes for the money he owed me.

"No one told you yesterday that you were supposed to bring sportswear, so I decided to bring you some" Carter insisted again.

"You still owe me that money, this means nothing" I said, snatching the change of clothes from his hands.

I began to undress as did my companions. I noticed Carter's stupid stare at me, his eyes focused on my body, it was as if the fucking pervert couldn't control what was going through his mind.

"Aren't you going to change?" I asked wanting to say something else.

Carter stood up and pulled out another change of clothes. He started to change in front of me, taking off his shirt and letting me see his well worked out body, it was like he was inviting me to be touched. He was stupid, apart from his being a fucking pervert he had a nice body.

I quickly put on my shorts before Carter decided to undress in front of me and caught up with my teammates at the entrance to the training room.

It was a room with a padded floor. With walls with huge windows that let in the outside air, it must have been about thirty meters wide and another thirty meters long, occupying the entire floor.

The teacher, who arrived in a pair of sweatpants, had us sign in lines and made us do several laps in order to warm up.

Then he formed us into pairs and called one of my classmates to his side to give an example of a simple exercise to help us defend ourselves.

My partner's name was Axel, a tall, muscular guy whose eyes filled with terror at the mere sight of me, maybe not at me, maybe at Carter. His movements were light and unwilling to hurt me, I didn't mind too much, until the teacher called my attention.

"Aaron " said Dolph, " come here, you will train with me. The rest of you watch, we will put into practice everything we have seen in all these weeks".

"Master Dolph" said Carter, " I will take your place".

"I'm not asking for your permission Carter" said the teacher shushing Carter.

I moved over to where the trainer was standing. We greeted each other as a symbol of respect and then the fight began.

Master Dolph clenched his fists, threw his right hand towards me, I watched his murderous look. Shit, he was serious.

I moved quickly to dodge his blow, but instantly the master wanted to attack with his left foot. I leaned back and then stood up.

I dodged the trainer's blows as fast as he was preparing them, suddenly it didn't seem like a normal fight anymore. It reminded me of the fact that I had been born in the slums and had been used to fighting since I was a child, it was the only way to survive.

Master Dolph stopped about two meters away, his gaze was calm and his voice serene as he told me not to be afraid and come closer to counterattack.

"Can we continue?" Master Dolph asked. I nodded as I had no other options.

The master continued to attack and even though he had told me to counterattack, he left no opening. His movements were steady, maintaining the stance of his martial art, it was so well polished that it was watching a robot following a set of instructions not to be led by intuition.

I cursed. I crouched down and propelled myself on the ground trying to get as far away from the master as I could. When I stood up, the master was about two meters away, trying to reach me.

"I'm sorry" I said out loud " I can't do it".

The look on my teammates' faces at my humiliation left them speechless as teacher Dolph stopped his hand a few inches from my face. It wasn't like I cared, knowing how to fight wouldn't get me any money. But when several cheers were heard all around, I understood that something strange was going on.

"Congratulations, Aaron , you are the first in your class who can dodge me, why don't you go get some rest? Then we'll continue working" said teacher Dolph with what seemed like a face full of pride towards me.