Chereads / The Mutt / Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Training

Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Training

(Morning)

I ended up sleeping in a spare bedroom with Allison. Now I'm eating breakfast. It consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, and orange juice. It all smelled delicious.

"Did y'all sleep well?" Caroline broke the silence. I just nodded my head but Allison started babbling on about everything that happened during the night.

"Ugh Penelope kept me up aaaallll night. She was rolling all over me in her sleep. At one point I fell off the bed. Then she got up and started sleep walking. I had to lock the door so she wouldn't wreck your whole house. She kept bumping into the door like a zombie that couldn't open a door. But other than that pretty good. And you?"

"Haha pretty good but I mean watching Penelope would have been pretty entertaining for me."

I sat there silently being embarrassed of the situation. Yes, I sleep walk. It's not my fault. Good thing Cole wasn't awake yet so he didn't hear any of this. Wow, I'm really lucky.

Suddenly he walked in with his hair all messy and he was rubbing his tired little eyes. He looked like a two year old that had just been woken up from a nap.

"Look who finally woke up. Cole, I thought you knew the early bird gets the worm." Caroline teased him while stabbing the sausage on his plate about to eat it. Cole woke up in an instant running towards her taking the sausage away.

"My sausage." He commanded.

I giggled at their childishness. Cole sat down with his sausage that he had stolen back from Caroline. He looked at me.

"Good morning." He spoke out.

I was about to reply to him but was quickly cut off by Allison.

"You won't believe what Penelope did last night! Hahaha it was hilarious she was sleep walking and running into the door constantly over and over again. Making a thud sound every time."

My face reddened in embarrassment. Not so lucky anymore.

"Hahahaha nice to know I'm not the only one!" He winked at me.

"Oh yeah. I forgot you did." Caroline admitted, "Hahaha I remember when we were kids mom would tuck the sheets around you to try to pin you to the bed but you always got out and usually broke something!" We all laughed. Dylan popped in.

"Hey Cole, you better hurry up training starts early today." He popped back out.

"Training? Can I go?" I squealed. I missed training with my old pack. Everyone else hated it but it was honestly soo fun for me.

"Penelope, our pack doesn't train girls." Cole informed me.

"Why?"

"We just don't. Boys are usually stronger than girls."

"Girls can be strong too." I scrunched my face.

"That's why I said usually."

"Can I please go? I'm very good in combat and with weapons." I pouted.

"Penelope, you can't come."

I looked at him annoyed. Why can't he just believe in me? I told him I have been trained before. I started to feel kinda mad. I scrunch my eyebrows together looking at him and stuck out a pouty lip.

"Ooooo now he's done it." Allison whispered to Caroline.

"You can take some of my knives and practice in the forest if you want." He suggested.

I just sat there looking at him with the same mad face expression.

"Penelope, please don't do this to me." He pleaded while I continued giving him silence. "Penelope, please." He begged me. I gave him a death glare before going upstairs to the bedroom I slept in. I plopped on the bed. I don't understand why I can't go to training. Literally just because I'm a girl! I'm probably better than half the guys out there!!!

(Cole's P.O.V.)

"She hates it when gender separates her from stuff. She'll get over it eventually." Allison explained to me casually like this was the normal.

"Are you sure? I feel really bad."

"Yeah, I'm sure. But she is right. She is great in combat and skilled with weapons. She was one of the most talented warriors in our pack. You can always give her a chance. You might be surprised." Maybe she's right. I walked to the door of the spare bedroom and knocked on it.

"Penelope?" I hummed softly.

"Go away!" She screamed back through the door.

"Do you wanna come with me or not?"

"Wait, really!" She seemed really excited. I heard her run up to the door and saw her face when she opened it.

"Why are you soo excited for training?"

"I haven't trained in three years! I always loved it growing up."

"Well I've never heard that before."

"Yeah I know it's weird. Let's go!" She demanded.

"Ok, ok."

~Training~

Granite leaned over to me and whispered. "Why did you bring Penelope?"

"She said she wanted to train." I whispered back.

"Seriously?" His eyes widened.

"Allison said not to doubt her abilities. Maybe we'll be surprised."

"Or we won't" He counteracted my hope.

"I don't know. She almost hit me in the head with a knife yesterday."

"Really? How?"

"I scared her and her reflexes just came into action. It was pretty impressive."

"Hm. Now I'm curious."

The coach started yelling. "Alright three laps!!! First lap human form! Second lap wolf! Third lap human again! The sooner you finish, the sooner you get water!" He blew his whistle and everyone took off. I saw Penelope racing in front of everyone. Wow, she's fast! I picked up my pace and ran beside her.

"I'm gonna beat you." I taunted as I passed her.

I heard her laugh and she passed me. We kept passing each other. Second lap. She transformed within a second. I've never seen someone transform so fast. I can't even do that. I was distracted by her skill and I was passed by a few people. I switched back to reality and transformed into my wolf. I regained my spot in second, behind Penelope. My legs treeded gracefully against the ground as I began to catch up to Penelope. Last lap. She again transformed with lightning speed, giving her a head start. But this time I didn't let it distract me. I transformed as quickly as possible so I could catch up to her. In the end she beat me by a few feet. The coach congratulated her.

"Good job! You really caught me off guard. You are very skilled and fast. Cole, you better watch your back!" He pointed at me. "What's your name, young lady?"

"My name's Penelope." She responded.

"Last name?" Coach always asks for a last name because he usually calls everyone by their last name.

"Don't have one." She said simply and with no emotion.

"Everyone has a last name. Who are your parents?"

"Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh" she searched for an answer. I walked up to her and wrapped my arm around her.

I answered for her. "It's kinda complicated, Coach."

"Oh alright. I'll just call you Penny. Is that alright? I can't do long names."

Penelope nodded at him. Me and her walked towards the water station.

"Thanks." She broke the silence.

"No problem." I ruffled her hair.

"Hey, wait up!" A voice sounded from behind us. We both turned our heads to see that it was Dylan, "Dang Penelope, you're fast!"

"Thanks. I try my best." She teased.

The coach started yelling again. "Alright we are doing knives and targets now! Get in lines of 5 or less and start throwing at the targets! Remember! Don't be stupid and run in front of the targets! You may get your knives from the targets when I say!" I grabbed my bag and grabbed my knife pouch out of it. I turned around and saw a Penelope waiting. I chuckled as she held out her hand for a knife.

"Heavy or light?" I asked.

She immediately answered, "Heavy." I handed her two knives just in case she preferred one over the other once we started throwing. She spun them in her hands feeling the weight of both of them. She smiled at me and we traveled to the target area. Penny began to practice while I just watched for a bit. Here comes cocky Dallas.

"Cole, why did you bring a girl to training? They can't fight." Dylan came over and entered the conversation,

"Actually she just whipped us all. Did you see how fast she was running? She even beat Cole."

Dallas fought back as always, "She may be able to run but fight. Highly doubt it. Girls are weak. I mean look at her, she's practically made of twigs." We all turned our heads to Penelope. She twirled both of the knives in opposite hands. She first threw the one in her left then the one in her right. They danced in the air like ninja stars before they hit two targets smack dab in the middle.

"Double bullseye!" She celebrated with a victory dance.

I closed Dallas' jaw as I corrected him, "You were saying."

"Dang, that's hot!" A voice sounded behind us. We looked at the person and it was Moe, A.K.A the biggest playboy in the village. I knew I shouldn't have brought Penelope. All the playboys are gonna hit on her. And before I knew it Moe was walking towards Penelope. I ran up to him and stopped him.

"Woah, woah, woah. What do you think you're doing?" I questioned him.

"You know just my usual." He responded casually.

"Not with this one." I made my eyes glow, asserting my dominance.

"Wait, you finally found interest in a girl? It's a miracle! In that case I'll leave her alone." He walked away. I just rolled my eyes at him.