Jamal's arms instantly lit up in fury and the pain died down quickly. He rushed back down using the propulsion of his fire. Hops was a bit startled but waited for him to get closer, his leg ready to kick him into the Academy.
"Whoa, why are you guys fighting?" Brat inquired, with Fonda running behind.
"You don't know?" Hops gleamed, "That these two are dating or whatever!"
"Wait what?" Fonda said, "That's great."
"Yeah, congrats Jamal and Ula. So cool!" Brat added.
"What? No, that's bad!" Hops told them, before being pushed to the ground.
He looked up in fear as Jamal's eyes were turning orange and turning back to normal and continued that way. His expression was grim, but he could tell there was a hint of the joy of what was to come.
"Oh, I can't wait for you to enjoy this," Jamal announced as he raised his hand, condensed his fire into a shape of a blade.
"Stop!" someone cried out.
Jamal turned around to see Ula still on the ground, struggling to get back up.
"What did you do to her!" he screamed at Hops, who was by now completely in fear.
"Bruh, I didn't do any-" he said, before getting kicked in the same spot as before, causing him to vomit his meal from yesterday.
Jamal ran towards Ula, his arms no longer on fire, but his eyes still orange.
"Are you okay?" he questioned, getting her up on her feet.
"I'm fine, but are you good?" she asked him, "You're eyes-, there, like, glowing."
He didn't even notice or couldn't even tell, as his vision still looked normal to him.
"It doesn't matter, only that you are still fine."
He looked back at Hops, still clutching his stomach, heaving. He looked back at Ula. He could tell she was scared.
"Everything will be okay, I promise," he whispered to her, as he hugged her.
It felt like it was just him and her, and no one else was watching. He had to protect her at all cost, no matter the sacrifice, he felt like. That was until he heard a shout.
"Hey! What's going on!" Boom shouted at them again.
Jamal couldn't hide it anymore.
"H-he-he hit me. Pretending to protect his girlfriend, or whatever they're doing." Hops managed to say, slowly getting up.
"Girlfriend? Hahahahaha!" Boom began to laugh, "Are you serious?"
Boom almost collapsed on the ground from the outburst. Jamal couldn't even see what was funny.
"It's true." was all he said.
Suddenly, the laughter died down. Boom looked up, actually serious again.
"Are you lying to me? Because I'm hoping it's a lie."
"I'm serious, Boom." Jamal stated, "I like her, and so does she. I'm sorry if I disappointed you, but-"
"Not another word." Boom said.
They could hear snickering in the background, seeing that it was Hops.
"And stop laughing. I thought y'all were just messing around, but this isn't it. We're all going to the training room, right now."
And no one said another word to each other, not knowing what would occur next. Jamal and Ula had no idea what they had just done, but they weren't too happy to find out.