Chapter 14: “Self-Defense”
A/N: So, originally I'd planned on finishing my holiday ficlet before continuing with this...but it's been too long since I updated this, so here it is.
Disclaimer: Sunnydale and the Scoobies and co. don't belong to me.
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Buffy, Xander, and Willow looked around, hoping they would be able to keep their group of three, despite Mr. Rendall’s instructions to make a group of four. Everyone else had separated into groups of four already, except…
Buffy glanced up as a group of five jocks near them all yelled “Not me!”. One of them looked over at Buffy’s group, swore at his bad luck, and reluctantly separated from the group, heading towards Buffy. Willow turned just as the guy approached, looking alarmed to see him standing there.
The guy chose to ignore Xander and Willow, and instead looked towards Buffy, saying shortly, “I’m Adam,” before walking to a section of their mat and spending the remaining time throwing glances towards his group of friends.
As soon as Adam was busy ignoring them, Buffy looked him over, seeing that this must be one of those guys that spent endless hours in the gym. However, he still seemed to be a bit on the short/heavy side, and a lack of speed and balance along with a tendency to rely too much on brute force would probably be his weaknesses. With some amusement and surprise, Buffy realized that she’d instinctively profiled him. Since when did she used to look at someone and try to figure out how best to punch them down?
Willow was shooting nervous glances at Adam, and had stopped talking the minute he joined their group. As far as she recalled, Adam had a reputation of getting into fights, and never, ever losing. She’d also heard the school forced him to see a psychologist once a month. Xander also looked a little less enthusiastic, and a lot more intimidated. Buffy guessed that self-defense wasn’t really Willow’s thing; Willow looked nervous and unsure of herself, and Xander didn’t look all that confident either.
Xander scanned the rest of the gym, where the echo of loud shrieks of laughter and chatting resounded loudly, and noticed that a very frustrated Mr. Rendall was trying to get the class’s attention. He turned to Willow, and realized she had already noticed and was in a full pay-attention-to-the-teacher mode.
Finally, a fed up Mr. Rendall blew his whistle loudly, and the gym slowly fell silent. Every group of four was now standing near a section of the mats.
“Okay!,” Rendall began, bellowing unnecessarily, “You should all now be in groups of four. Pick two people within your group to begin. One will be the attacker, and one will be defending themselves. The third group member will watch the attacker and the fourth member will observe the defender. I expect to hear constructive criticism this time around! I do NOT want a repeat of yesterday.” There were a few sniggers, but Mr. Rendall plowed on. “I want to see some better blocks and punches today! Remember my demo! Attackers, I expect you’re aim to be good, remember to use only your first two knuckles for the punch, and do not pull back until the defender has completely their move. Defenders! You should now all be familiar with basic ducking, blocking, and deflecting simple punches. Concentrate on your footwork and strategy; observers, watch out for this also. Begin!”
The second he finished speaking, the gym filled with the sounds of multiple conversations picking up where they had left off.
Adam immediately stepped up, saying “I’ll attack.”, just as Willow quickly said, “I’ll be an observer.”
Xander looked like he desperately wanted to add “I’ll observe too!” but hesitated and looked at Buffy, then shifted his glance to Adam, who cracked his knuckles loudly.
Buffy also looked a bit hesitant. She was very sure of her strengths and abilities, but Adam for all she knew could be an even match for her, and things could get unintentionally messy. She really didn’t want to be labeled as some kind of juvenile delinquent in a gang, which was something she’d overheard being said about her at her old school. Then, she realized that being a defender couldn’t be too bad.
Stepping up a second before Xander made his decision, she said “I’ll be the defender.”
Adam grinned a little nastily, showing he wouldn’t be holding back. He was obviously still irked over being forced to join their group. Xander and Willow stepped back, Willow looking apprehensive and Xander looking guilt-stricken at ‘forcing’ this position on Buffy. Buffy stepped onto the mat and gave them both a quick, reassuring smile, not wanting them to worry, just as Adam threw a punch without warning.
Buffy twisted away from it without even thinking, and blocked Adam’s next punch. Adam paused, looking at her with a bit of surprise, but then he scowled and began a series of punches and kicks that showed he obviously knew what he was doing.
Buffy realized she’d been right about his weaknesses, and was easily able to duck his slower punches, blocking a couple and making sure to keep her balance. Adam was only able to get one punch past her defenses in a clever feint. The slight blow to her stomach made Buffy forget for a second that she was supposed to be solely on the defensive, and she countered with her own well-practiced combos.
Buffy was faster than Adam and had faster reflexes, and soon she had forced Adam completely onto the defensive, switching their roles. She had just landed three blows on him that caused him to stagger back, when Mr. Rendall suddenly blew his whistle, signaling for them to stop.
Buffy looked up distracted when she realized half the people in the gym were watching her and Adam, including Adam’s friends and also Mr. Rendall, who had a disbelievingly, impressed, and for some reason suspicious look on his face. Xander and Willow were both staring open-mouthed at her. In that split second, with Buffy feeling unnerved by the staring and not knowing what to do, Adam ignored the whistle as he usually did, and took advantage of the situation, gathering all his strength and sending a punch to Buffy’s head.
Buffy caught the sudden movement and spun away just a second too late. She swore loudly as her head snapped to the side, feeling a painful bruise coming on. Buffy stepped back, regaining her balance, and then abruptly switched tactics and launched a full attack on Adam, angrily sending a flurry of blows at him that he just barely avoided. She kicked out and was able to unbalance him enough to grab his right arm and twist it behind his back. However, Adam used his size and weight advantage to get free, purposely tripping and bringing them both down, where he was now able to trap Buffy. The two of them had, for the moment, forgotten the rest of the world existed.
Buffy twisted away trying to get back on her feet just as Adam’s fist shot out. Buffy kicked him in the stomach as she got up, but his fist caught her leg, nearly causing her to fall again.
Mr. Rendall interrupted again, blowing several short blasts his whistle and now yelling, “Cut that out! That is NOT self-defense! You two, stop this instant!”
Adam flipped to his feet just as Buffy turned her back to him, looking embarrassed as she realized they’d basically been street fighting with the kind of moves they were using, and looked towards the gym teacher.
Adam, apparently very used to winning and extremely annoyed at the fact that a girl had basically beaten him, seemed to be thinking very narrowly at the moment, namely about his reputation. In an impulsive decision, Adam executed a full body slam and Buffy was thrown off the mat and slammed right into Willow, who gave a startled half-shriek as all three of them hit the ground.
Adam was the first to get up, unhurt. As if hoping no one would notice his incredibly stupid move, he quickly moved back to join his friend’s group, avoiding eye contact with the gym teacher.
Willow was helped up by a concerned Xander, who looked like he wanted to glare at Adam but then on second thought realized that could be dangerous. Willow had luckily rolled to the side a bit on impact, and hadn’t hit the floor too hard.
Acting on reflexes, Buffy had been able to turn slightly to the side instead of hitting the ground face-first, but had unluckily managed to expose the recently punched side of her face to the full impact of hitting the floor, and unsteadily got to her feet, wincing at her now scraped face.
Realizing everyone was staring at her again, Buffy recognized the kind of expressions they had, and came to the conclusion that they probably all thought she was a freak now. So much for fitting in. I don’t know if I’ll be able to go through another whole year of this, she thought, remembering how she’d been treated after she’d beaten up that jock at her old school.
Mr. Rendall took a deep breath, finally ready to take control of the situation. Turning to Buffy, he began, “Okay then, I….”
And was promptly interrupted. Buffy took the opportunity to mumble a vague “I need to go…”,
and quickly left the gym as everyone began talking again. She headed towards the bathroom, and leaned against the wall inside, taking a few calming breaths and wondering what had gotten into her to start a full-on fight like that. So much for defense.She looked in the mirror from her position against the wall and saw that her face was a little scraped up. Sighing, already having regrets on her first day of school, Buffy cleaned herself up.
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