I turned off the lights in my apartment once I headed to the academy. I was with an air of optimism, thanks to Wallace I had gotten some money; so I would have no problem paying that month's rent.
I was wearing the uniform Carter gave me for the training period, maybe it was the only thing I could get from him. The fucking asshole was getting ripped off by his manager and I highly doubted he could get the money he owed me, but it gave me a chance to keep bugging him and get some control over him. Stupid daddy-face, he hadn't changed.
When I arrived at the academy, I watched Wallace's Kat 77 begin to descend on the academy's main parking lot, so I waited a bit to enter the facility together.
Carter, on the other hand, had already arrived, I could recognize his poorly parked slider.
"Hi, Aaron," said Wallace as he got out of his car.
"hello, Wallace" I said, then I thought of a way to get more money out of Wallace " you know one day we could do some upgrades to your car".
"that would be great Aaron, but not for now, I plan to move soon and I'll occupy what I have saved" said Wallace to my surprise, why would a rich kid want to get out of the millionaire dome? I didn't want to find out.
"much success" I said patting his back.
"you will help me " I said and as I was about to say something, Wallace stated that he would pay me for my time.
"I know some nice apartments in my district, so we could go back and forth together" I said, feeling like I would save the fare money. Wallace's eyes widened with excitement.
"It would be exciting to live near a friend" said Wallace making me feel like a greedy scumbag. But I couldn't identify myself as his friend, we barely knew each other, he couldn't possibly feel that I was someone he could trust.
"make time today, we'll go after school" I said with a lump in my throat.
When we arrived in the living room, I noticed Carter sitting in the upper left corner. When our eyes met, he seemed to startle you and looked away. Maybe this was for the best, that he would avoid me until he had the money to pay me. Who was he kidding? The jerk would never get the money.
The first period passed with some sluggishness, Professor Dolph talked about a wild animal growing in the lower part of the city, like a giant crawling insect that reached the size of an adult.
I could not avoid taking advantage of the time to continue assembling my invention. I had replaced the burned circuits over the weekend, so I just had to start putting it back together again and make sure I had placed the correct chips.
When second period ended, we headed to the cafeteria where I was able to order a large piece of turkey, with spaghetti and vegetables. Thanks to Wallace I could eat that week without guilt.
Carter didn't sit next to us, he wasn't even in the cafeteria, something for me to dislike, although I didn't know why.
"I see Carter has paid you" said Wallace with a smile, " he's finally stopped hanging around next to you."
"the jerk won't pay me" I said as I took a bite out of my leg, " listen, he's being scammed by a rep cheating him out of money".
Wallace's eyes widened in disbelief, but inside he had to admit, there was something strange about Carter, something that made him look incompetent.
"listen" said Wallace in a low voice, " it doesn't make sense that Carter doesn't have money, in the illegal fights where Carter works a lot of money moves, so much with him that we could live the rest of our lives without worries. Carter should have plenty of money to pay you, I don't think anyone would be dumb enough to be fooled, at least not someone with Carter's body".
Carter is an idiot, I thought, but I didn't say anything, I didn't want to contradict Wallace, I didn't want to further damage Carter's reputation and that somehow bothered me.
Several of our companions sat down next to us to eat. They greeted me with some euphoria and began to introduce themselves, encouraged that Carter was not around. Killian, Martin, Olivia and Aaron.
They congratulated me on my fight with Coach Dolph and told me I was the only one who could have a fight against Carter and win. I felt elated, Carter was a jerk, but I had to find out why they kept him away from the rest if I was going to survive the academy.
"Why so afraid of Carter? Did he hit someone?" I asked.
"Don't you know?" asked Aaron with concern.
"he hasn't hit anyone, he just sticks to attending classes and staying out of trouble" said Wallace, " Aaron knows about his fights."
"I think at any moment he could leave someone mortally wounded" said Killian" although he has controlled himself in training, he did not doubt that at any moment his murderous side would come out."
When the second period started, we headed to the locker room, Carter was not there, I found him in the auditorium, he was the first to arrive and apparently no one wanted to approach, until I took the initiative to stand next to him.
I couldn't punish him for being a jerk, I had to tell him that the money he owed me was a joke and that maybe with another meal he would confirm me, I was a greedy person, that didn't make me a bad person, but when I was about to speak, Professor Dolph entered the room and formed us in rows.
The professor told us that we would put into practice everything we had seen that afternoon. Of course, I had seen nothing more than a pure exercise, but I was still willing to defend myself.
"Carter and Aaron, you pair up" said Professor Dolph causing a smile to form on my face, I was ready to take on Carter and show him that I was above his level.
"Wait Professor, I can't..." began Carter.
"it should be so, Aaron, it seems, is the only one who could give you a good fight" said the professor.
"but we're not in the... " Carter started to say, but at the look on the professor's face and sure to reveal that he worked in the underworld he decided to keep quiet. Apparently he was not as dumb as he thought.
I positioned myself in front of Carter and he put up an overly pathetic fighting stance. I was hoping that at least instinct would work for him and I could have a decent fight.
Professor Dolph gave the signal to start the training. While the other guys started to do simple exercises, I was watching Carter and his stupid look of not wanting to hurt me, what was I thinking, that he would just block my punches?
I took the initiative, I lunged forward throwing a punch to his face, he put his two hands together to block me, I took the opportunity when he covered his eyes to hit his calf and make him fall face first to the ground.
He looked like he wanted to keep his balance, but I grabbed his head when I got behind him and pushed it forward, making his face hit the floor. I positioned myself on top of him to keep him from getting up and put two fingers on his neck, pretending it was a knife.
"Carter, I see you are not motivated this day " said Professor Dolph as he approached, " Aaron, good job."
I got off Carter and let him get up. Carter looked uneasy, apart from the embarrassment of avoiding me, he was now overcome with shame for losing to me. I couldn't go through with that shit.
"Can I go talk to Carter?" I asked Professor Dolph, he looked at me and nodded.
I motioned for Carter to follow me and led him to the locker room.
"listen you piece of shit, just because you owe me money doesn't mean you avoid me, that just makes me think you won't pay me" I said, Carter's eyes widened with embarrassment and he better avoided my gaze by making his head to the other side.
"it's not that, I promised you I'd pay you, I'm working on it" Carter said with some work, it's like he could barely converse with me.
"What's wrong man" I said looking nicer, " come on, you can talk to me, I won't judge you."
"You'll hate me," Carter said.
"I'm hating it when you act like shit and avoid me" I said, that seemed to surprise Carter.
"Really?" he asked excitedly.
"don't exaggerate and start talking" I said, looking him in the eyes.
"you must think I'm a fucking pervert, but what I did was because I was too drunk, I swear I tried to control myself....".
"And did you sleep with anyone?" I asked with a smile on my lips. Carter looked startled, only nodded looking away.
I let out a laugh, he really was a jerk.
"look, it's natural, you don't have to be embarrassed with me big guy" I said without being able to hide happiness.
"but, I promised myself I would never sleep with someone again," Carter said.
"well, if you have that dilemma, there are always toys that can help you. Good luck with that big guy," I said with a smile.
"Would you like that?" asked Carter with a smile on his lips to my surprise, making me blush for a second, I didn't know at what point the talk had gotten to that level.
"I'd like to see you as the usual idiot."