Chapter 5: Chenn

Her punch came in from the side, but he wasn't there when it came. 

He dodged to the side, letting her fist fly past, followed by her body. He stuck his foot out, tripping her up and causing her to fall towards the floor. 

Just as he thought she would face plant into the blue mats covering the concrete floor of the sparring room, she broke her fall, catching herself with her arms. 

He shook his head. 

She had quick reflexs. 

He had to pin her to the floor for at least thirty seconds. 

With anyone else, that wouldn't have been a struggle. But with Elise... With Elise, she never stayed put long enough for him to get her into a position where he could pin her long enough to win. However, she was not quick when it came to guessing what he would do next. 

As he continued evading her or scoring blows on her padded suit, he could see she was tiring. Her exhaustion showed in the droop of her shoulders, her heavy breathing, and the way she struggled to maintain her initial spry speed. 

He grinned. All he had to do was outlast her. Sooner or later, she would make a mistake, and when she did, he would be waiting and ready. 

She grunted, flipping back up to her feet. "You, Chenn Covalenti, are relentless..." She murmured. 

He was certain she didn't intend for him to hear it, but he had good hearing. Most people didn't account for that, and he heard a lot of things they never meant for him to hear. 

He smiled at her. "I try hard."

Her eyes widened, and she stammered, "You... You heard that?"

"Yeah... Wasn't I supposed to?" He asked, eyes wide with fake innocence. 

She shook her head, still stuttering. "N..No..."

He laughed. "Pity." 

She glared at him. "You are going down!"

He rolled his eyes. "We'll see."

After that, they didn't talk. 

He made a sudden lunge for her, but she just managed to evade him. The girl was good. But not good enough to win. She was too small, and she didn't know how to anticipate her opponent's next moves based on body language.

She was also weaker.

And predictable. So very predictable.

He smiled.

He would win. There was no doubt about it.  

He spun at Elise with sudden force. She tried to parry the blow, but it wasn’t working. The few times she had sparred with him in physical combat, she had lost. Mentally, she wasn't prepared, and after losing to him every other time, she had begun to believe that she couldn't win.

Her slight form just dodged his punch. She wouldn’t have been injured in a significant way. Her padding and armor took care of both of them. His fist wouldn’t be injured and neither would she.

Fortunately, Chenn had been expecting her to duck like she had. He pulled back, not allowing himself to rush past her. He knew if that happened she would take advantage of it and her blows would land.

He waited for her to straighten. She spun, expecting to find him behind her. Elise had thought she could take him off guard. Yeah, right... Like that's going to happen. He slammed into her, driving her into the ground. She gave a muffled yelp of shock.

“Where did you…” Elise trailed off.

“Next time, you should be expecting your opponent to know what you’re planning and do the unexpected.” He flipped her onto her back, pinning her arms to her sides, and smiling down at her.

Her eyes widen as she looked up into his mesmerizing eyes. For a moment, he wondered why she wasn't breathing, and then he remembered that he was lying on top of her, applying steady pressure to her arms so that she wouldn’t be able to throw him off her.

Not that he thought Elise could. His previous train of thought came back to his mind.

She was too slender and she wasn’t strong enough to defeat him.

He knew it.

The instructor knew it.

And to Elise’s humiliation, she knew it.

Why Indri had even paired them together was beyond Chenn. But he wondered if perhaps the teacher thought he was teaching Elise how to defend herself against a stronger opponent. If that was it, Elise wasn’t learning.

“Alright, Mr. Covalenti. You may release Miss Pearl. You won the match.” Indri stared at the two of them, his usual mask of emotionless professsionalism hiding his emotions. 

Chenn got up and offered Elise his hand. She took it, dropping her eyes with sudden shyness, too stunned to be unwilling to accept it.

“Miss Pearl, I suggest that next time you pay closer attention to your opponent's body language.”

Elise frowned. “Body language? How do I read it?”

Indri sighed. “It's a variety of things, but mostly, it's the little signals in body posture and facial expressions that give away what your opponent will do next. If you had been paying attention to Mr. Covalenti instead of simply trying to hit him, you might've been able to prevent half of the hits he scored. As to how you read it, you start paying attention. When you have observed the person for long enough, you will know what their signals are and only then will you be able to anticipate and prepare for their next move. In time, you'll be able to do it within minutes of assessing a person.”

Elise frowned, but this time it was a different type of frown. She didn’t like Indri, Chenn realized.

He liked Indri and his blunt mannerisms, but then, Chenn had always loved those who were honest, to-the-point, and expectant. His own father had been much like Indri. Sarcastic and demanding, but also willing to praise a job well done.

Chenn knew when he’d done well and earned praise with people like his father and Indri, and it was something he felt was necessary to his well-being.

As soon as Indri was out of the room, Elise sighed. “I didn’t make much of an opponent, did I?” Her voice quavered.

“You were just fine, Elise! You did well enough.” Chenn consoled.

“No, I didn’t!" Her face crumpled, and tears came to her eyes. “I try so hard, but I can never do it well enough. My teachers all make fun of me, and the other agents hate me. How did I ever even manage to get in here? I should go back home. I'm only twenty, and I'm too young for this...”

“You were hired because they saw something in you, and you aren't too young!” Chenn answered, smiling at her.

“Who are they? No one I know sees something in me. Not even me.” She looked down at the blue pads that covered the concrete floor.

“Sounds to me like you are having a bad case of self-degradation.” Chenn remarked, glancing at a clock on a bare patch of concrete wall in between two steel supports.

“I am not! Everything I said was true.” Elise turned away.

“No, it wasn’t. I’ve seen your work in the mapping section, Elise. No one I know pays attention to detail the way you do.”

She blushed, her gaze falling to the ground. “You just want me to feel better.”

“Yeah, but it’s also true, Elise.” Chenn put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked over her shoulder at him, giving him another shy smile. “You really think that?”

“Yeah!” He squeezed her shoulder.

“Thanks, Chenn! I didn’t know anyone cared… And, well… When people don't care about me, it's awful. It makes me feel like an idiot.” She gave him a less shy, more genuine smile.

“Yeah, well… I know how it feels.” He murmured.

Her hazel eyes widened in surprise. “When has anyone ever ignored you or not cared? All the girls on base have a crush on you by now, and if not a crush, some sort of interest!” She clapped a hand over her mouth in shock as she realized what she’d just said.

Chenn just laughed. “I know, and it’s awful. I think I preferred it when everyone hated me or ignored me. Being a celebrity is even worse.”

A blush crept up into her cheeks, staining them a rosy red.

He gave her a suspicious glance. “You aren’t like them, though, are you? You aren’t...” He shifted, uncomfortable. "You know..." He hesitated again.

For all his usual bluntness, he wasn't sure that being blunt was a good idea here. How would Elise respond to it if he just came out and said what he was thinking? Besides, he wasn't sure he could do it even if he wanted to. He imagined how that conversation would go. Elise, do you have a crush on me too?

What? How could you ask it like that? It's so heartless!

Yeah... Well, that's me. And I wanted to know. He cleared his throat. "Umm... I don't know how to ask this, Elise.. but you don't like me like that, do you?"

She didn’t answer, cheeks flaming now. It was all the confirmation he'd needed. 

He groaned. “Of course you do.”

She gave him a worried look. “I’m sorry… If you don’t like it, well I can just stop.” She looked down, scuffing her sneaker's sole along the blue pad beneath her feet.

“Stop your feelings? Elise, you can’t stop your feelings, and I’m not asking you to. Control them, yes, but stop them? No. It’ll pass once you see just how rude and sarcastic I am.” Chenn grimaced, realizing that he'd made her uncomfortable and insecure. Which was the exact opposite of what he had been trying to do.

She laughed a little. “You, rude? All the others are saying you’re one of the politest, kindest men on the base! And you've been very kind to me today.”

“They don’t know me. And... You don't either.” He remarked, voice softening.

And it was true. They didn’t know him. They saw him just like they saw any other guy that they became besotted with. It was just a passing phase, and it meant nothing. Well, nothing but a bit of discomfort for him and rivalry between them. “Do me a favor, Elise. Stay out of whatever fights the other women might or might not have over me. Pretty soon they’ll be fighting over who can ask me to eat with them.” He whispered.

“Oh! Well… If it means that much to you, I guess I will. But Vanessa scared off all the other girls yesterday at breakfast. She told us that you were 'hers’.” She clapped a hand over her mouth again, blushing. “Oh! I shouldn’t have said that… It wasn’t my place to.”

Chenn gave her a sympathetic smile. “Don’t be sorry, Elise. Vanessa doesn’t own me, and I’ll do what I please regardless of what she thinks. In fact, in spite of what she thinks.”

Elise grinned. “I wish I could hear you tell her that and see her face.”

“Maybe you will. Tomorrow she’s probably going to ask me to sit with her for breakfast again. I can’t keep saying maybe tomorrow… So maybe you’ll get to see me tell her off. Just make sure you’re in the mess hall by 0700 hours.”

She smiled, less shy now. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

“Good! Now off you go. Wouldn’t want to be late for class, would you?” He glanced away from her, looking out a window and then at the clock.

Her face darkened. “No, not at all. Missing class would be horrid. It’s so much fun when the teachers and students tear you apart.”

Chenn couldn’t help laughing. “Bite back. Maybe if you showed them what you just showed me, they’d be sorry for tearing. Bet you that they’d leave you alone if you stood up to them.”

She nodded. “Maybe.”

Chenn waved as she walked off towards the girls’ changing rooms. He sighed. Chenn hoped he’d instilled some confidence into Elise. She needed it.