Oh, no. Now I’d really done it. I didn’t mean I liked him liked him. “I mean I don’t—” Dastien growled and I could physically fell his anger pulsing through me. The pain took my breath away. I cried out, silencing the room.
I hit the ground on my knees and rubbed my chest. My heart actually ached. Dastien watched us with golden eyes. The expression on his face matched the pain I felt. But how was I feeling his pain? I wasn’t even touching him.
He stomped out of the gym, slamming the door behind him.
“I’m going to go make sure he’s okay,” Imogene said over the now silent gym. She said it sweetly, but the look she gave me was nothing nice.
Shit. Somehow I’d made a complete ass out of myself. This was not what I’d intended at all.
Chris knelt beside me. “Are you okay? What just happened?”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Dastien’s feelings faded when he left. He thought I was hitting on Chris, and that had hurt him. I was pond scum, total bottom feeding cockroach, for making him feel that much pain. I’d really stepped in it this time. There was no way out of it without hurting Chris’ feelings. I couldn’t set him straight right then. Not while everyone was watching.
I straightened and let go of the last lingering of anger and hurt. “Can we just, you know, have some fun doing this? I’m seriously nervous and everyone is staring now that Dastien…” I motioned to the doors.
“Don’t worry about them. You’re going to do fine. No one’s expecting you to be Jet Li on your first day.”
Shannon and Meredith went back to sparring in the middle of the gym. Shannon did a back flip to avoid Meredith’s sweeping leg. She landed on her feet, and then kicked. Meredith grabbed Shannon’s foot and twisted, sending Shannon spiraling to the ground.
They were amazing. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to do that.”
“We train from the time we can walk. We might not be able to shift till we’re teenagers, but our reflexes and strength are never as bad as a human’s. You’ll catch up.”
“You don’t know me well enough to say that. With my luck, I’ll miss those pad things and hit you in the face.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
I tried to stand how Chris showed me. I needed to get out of class with the minimum amount of embarrassment. “This is so lame.” I lightly tapped the pad with my fist.
“Oh, come on,” Chris said. “Just do it.”
“Okay, okay. Fine. But if I look like an idiot, it’s your fault. I’m not taking any of the blame.”
“Deal. You don’t know what you’re capable of yet, so don’t limit yourself. Pretend that my hand is your worst enemy. The person who was the meanest to you. The one you dream about destroying.” He slapped the pads together and then held them out again. “Hit it!”
For a second, I pictured the face of my ex-best friend from second grade—the one who started the nickname Freaky Tessa and spilled to everyone what I could do—but I wasn’t that angry with her anymore.
The face morphed into Imogene’s. Anger raged through me.
I got back in the stance and glared at the hand target. I put my whole body behind the punch, following through with my shoulder and twisting at the waist like Chris had shown me. As soon as my knuckles hit, I knew something was wrong but it was too late to pull back.
Chris flew three feet and slammed into the wall. The boom reverberated through the gym over the other sparring noises as he crumpled to the floor.
Dread swamped me. What had I done?
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” I kneeled next to him. Chris’ eyes were closed. “Wake up. Please. Please…”
He started laughing.
“Jerk.” I shoved his shoulder into the ground. “This is so not funny. I thought I killed you.”
He grinned. “Come on. It’s kind of funny.” He jumped up and grabbed me around the waist like I weighed no more than a teddy bear. “My little wolfie,” he said as he spun us around in a circle.
I growled and smacked his shoulder.
He gave me a squeeze. “Don’t think that this is going to get you out of doing more reps.”
Maybe he really had hit his head. “No way. I’ll kill you next time for sure. I don’t know if you know this, but I am kind of super strong.”
“I hate to break it to you, babe, but you took me by surprise and I went with the hit. Just a little drama to up the fun level.” He winked.
The gym doors swung open and Mr. Dawson strode in wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. “Dastien is sitting the rest of this class out.” A series of groans echoed through the gym. More than a few people glanced my way.
Go ahead people. Blame the new kid. Not like Dastien had any responsibility in this whole situation.
“Settle down,” Mr. Dawson said. “You’ll be stuck with me for the next few days. I hear you haven’t done your running yet. One hundred laps people. Now.”
“One hundred. Is he serious?” I slapped a hand over my mouth. Oops. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.
“Totally. You never know what to expect when Mr. D teaches the class. He’s really good at kicking our butts,” Chris said.