NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2: Boxing Lessons.
It wasn’t until Wednesday that Zoey received her boxing equipment from Lamazon. Her dad had Prime, so she got her stuff faster than normal. So, she planned to go to the boxing gym today with her dad. From what she read online, he may have to sign a waiver for her or something so that she could train here. If she gets any injuries, the gym wouldn’t be held liable for it. Standard business stuff.
Tuesday was actually the scariest day of her life. She kept picturing those two suddenly finding out it was her and confronting her during school. Zoey knew plenty about magic from video games but this was real life! What spells could people with magic do in real life?! Was something like a simple fireball actually a high-level spell in real life? What about mind-reading? Is that possible!? In some games it is!
Zoey was on edge the whole day and couldn’t focus on any of her classes. Thankfully, she wasn’t sent to detention this time. If she was, she might’ve just ditched and got a three-day suspension. She was just that terrified of the power possibly held by that boy and girl.
“Are you being bullied at school?” Zoey’s dad asked.
“Uhh, I don’t know.” Zoey said, not sure how to explain it.
“Should I come up there and have a talk with the teachers?”
“No. That wouldn’t help anyone.” Zoey didn’t even know the faces of the two, just their voices.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Learning how to box will be better for me.” Maybe with this, she’ll finally gain a skill with this status. It couldn’t be that useless that it wouldn’t even count boxing as a skill now, would it?
Zoey and her dad entered inside the boxing gym and the smell of the sweaty men immediately hit her nose. She was glad she wasn’t hit with any heat. The place had several fans blowing throughout. There were 2 big boxing rings in the middle of the gym with only one of them being used right now. On the northern side, there were rolled-up mats, punching bags hanging up, and several weights. On the left side was just a large mat with guys doing sit-ups and stuff like that. Over to her right, there were chairs for people to sit in while waiting for the counter to be free. At least that’s what Zoey thought they were for.
Nobody paid any attention to her and her dad as they walked to the counter. He explained her situation and paid her monthly deposit before sticking around to see her training. Zoey almost blushed just looking at her trainer. Did they really just give her a hunk like this as her trainer?
‘I’m sorry Ethan. I still love you but this man is the man that girls dream about having as a side piece.’ She gushed.
“Hey there Zoey. I’m Zack. I’m going to be your trainer for this month and I'm excited to have you.” He asked politely.
‘Oh god. You don’t know how excited I am to have you as my trainer.’ She had trouble keeping her eyes on his face instead of the muscles barely contained by that tight white tee. His face wasn’t bad but his body was just ummph!
“Nice to meet you...” She shook his hand.
“Good. You can go get changed in the women’s locker room on the right past the counter. And we can get started right after.”
Zoey got changed into her workout clothes and found Zack on the north side of the gym. She walked over in her shorts, shoes, and fitted black sports bra with her boxing gloves and hand wrapping in her hands. Zoey still had no idea how to properly wrap her hands so she hoped Zack would be willing to teach her. There were a bunch of things she hoped Zack would be teaching her.
“Oh. You have your own equipment.” He said surprised.
“Yeah. I didn’t plan for this to be short term and I didn’t want to borrow the gym’s stuff all the time.” Plus, she didn’t know how often they washed their stuff.
“Before we begin, let’s start off with a few basic warmups. Today will pretty much be me finding out exactly where you are and what you need to work on.”
‘Probably everything.’
“Okay.” Zoey nodded.
The next 20 minutes were spent doing jumping jacks, squats, stretches, and stuff like that. It warmed her up and thankfully this amount of exercise didn’t cause her to start sweating yet. Based on what she could see the other people doing, what she just did was practically nothing in comparison. After finishing up her warmups, now she could finally learn boxing.
Or at least she thought she was. Zack made her start jumping rope for 5 minutes, actually making her sweat this time. She took a look at her status expecting some kind of change but of course this much wouldn’t be enough to improve her body or get her any skills. To distract herself while jumping rope, she ogled at Zack. It took her mind off the eventual embarrassment she’ll feel when she’s dripping with sweat and tired beyond belief with Zack looking at her.
And no, it wouldn’t be exciting to have him look at her like that. She wasn’t one of those perverts that got off to stuff like that. She had some self-respect. Just because she spends more than half of her day thinking about dirty stuff doesn’t mean she doesn’t give a damn about herself. It was just other people she didn’t give a damn about.
“How much do you know about boxing Zoey?” He asked.
“Not much.” She answered. The only thing she knew about boxing was how cool it looked when guys punched the hell out of each other.
“We’re going to do something called shadowboxing but before we do that, do you know how to put on your hand wraps?”
“I don’t.”
“Let me teach you that first then.”
Zack teaching her how to wrap her hands was way less sensual and romantic than she thought it would be. It didn’t take too long and he barely touched her at all. Maybe she’s getting too into this whole trainer student fantasy playing out in her mind. Cause clearly Zack wasn’t interested in her or something. Or maybe he was really good at hiding it. She was good at that. He could be too. It could be something they both had in common.
“If you do some practice at home, you’ll be able to do it by yourself in no time.” He smiled with his blinding pearly white teeth.
She nodded her head as he tried explaining what shadowboxing is to her. And this was where they came into their first real problem of the day. Zoey didn’t know the basics. Like earlier, she told him she knew practically nothing. He must be new to teaching if he was expecting her how to know how properly throw a punch and know of the basic boxing stance. A hunk with a lack of brains still has its appeals.
The most exciting part of this boxing lesson didn’t begin until Zack got her started on the punching bags. He had to fix her stance and punches a third time here but once she was finished and sweaty as all hell, she finally got a skill! Two skills actually!
She got Punching and Footwork. Two level 1 skills that added a nice sexy number 2 next to her skills in status. Zoey also felt her punches and moving around while punching feels more comfortable. It was like she wasn’t learning how to do it for the first time and could easily do it. Like walking or breathing. It was a feeling like that.
“You're showing some nice moves now. Keep it up Zoey!” He complimented.
He must have been able to see the effects of her skills too. Gaining these two skills energized her a lot more than she thought they would. Before putting on her dark purple boxing gloves, Zoey was tired as shit. She just wanted to take a rest, drink her water bottle, and wipe away all her sweat. But once she gained those two skills, it was like she was struck with lightning.
Her punches were no longer sloppy, they connected properly and Zack didn’t need to give her advice every few minutes correcting her. Instead of standing still and awkwardly throwing her fists, she could move with her fists now. It was like her body was disconnected before gaining the two skills and now it was all one working machine. Zoey thought she was exaggerating for the most part but seeing Zack’s reaction at her sudden improvement made her think maybe she wasn’t.
“Are you sure you have never done this before?” He asked skeptically.
“She’s never done a lick of exercises before.” Her dad spoke up also looking as shocked as Zack was.
Zoey kept quiet because she could feel her cheeks warming up. If she tried to tell her dad to shut up, she’d probably stutter or bite her tongue. So, she focused on hitting the bag. Doing nothing but focusing on how to punch better and to keep her legs moving. The pain in her legs and the drain on her energy eventually caught up with her. An ache in her lower body slowed her speed while her punches became far slower.
“That’s enough, Zoey. We’ll do some quick conditioning and that’ll be all for today.” Zack said.
Zack seemed pretty young. She wondered how old he was to be a trainer at a boxing gym. Was he an amateur boxer or a professional? Did he have a girlfriend? Would he mind a girl younger than him?
“Hey Zoey, you there? You seemed a little out of it at the end there.” Her dad asked while they were in the car.
“Huh?” The rest of the lesson must have passed right by her.
She must have got too caught up thinking about Zack and those glistening muscles of his. Zoey had never been happier about her dad’s lack of awareness. He would definitely try and have a “mature” talk with her that would make them both incredibly uncomfortable. There was enough information on the internet about this stuff. Her dad didn’t need to teach her much.
“How was it, Zoey? Did you have fun? Do you want to come back?”
“Yes.” She replied simply.
“Great. You never really showed an interest in sports or anything besides being on your computer so, I never really knew what you were interested in.” He chatted.
“Oh.” Zoey didn’t know how to respond to this.
“I’m happy that you asked me to bring you up there. I feel like I can actually get involved in your life without seeming like a nuisance, you know? I don’t want to take you places and have you not be interested at all and just not having fun. I want us to be closer as father and daughter. So, if you ever want to go somewhere and Alicia is busy, just ask me. I work the night shift so, I'll be able to take you anytime during the day.” He shared with her.
“Thanks, Dad... You can talk to me about stuff, I'm not going to get mad at you or ignore you for wanting to talk to me.”
“Oh. That’s good. With how teenaged girls are these days, you never really know how they feel. I’m glad you told me that.”
“I’m not really like other girls...”
“What do you mean Zoey?” He asked as if he wasn’t aware that she was an awkward mess of a girl who couldn’t even express herself without getting nervous about making the wrong impression upon people.
“I mean I’m not interested in most things other girls are. I don’t go out to parties with friends. I never ask for money for clothes, jewelry, and other stuff like that. Don’t you think that’s a little weird?”
“I don’t think it’s weird at all. Sounds like you’re already on your way to becoming your own person to me.”
“What?”
“Your dad may not have been the coolest kid in school but if there one thing he does know is that you don’t need to follow what everyone else is doing to be normal. Zoey, you’re fine the way you are. As long as you aren’t doing drugs or anything illegal, then you’re fine.”
“Pfft. Where would I even get drugs from?” Zoey laughed.
“That’s a piece of knowledge you’ll never unravel if it's up to me!”
“You don’t have to worry about me doing any drugs Dad. I’m not interested in the stuff anyway.”
“Great! As long as the oldest stays on the straight and narrow, your brother shouldn’t stray off the path either.”
“I don’t think Everett is going to do anything but play games when he grows up.”
“Even better!” He was really happy with this answer.
“Dad, do you think magic is real?” Zoey suddenly asked.
“If it was real, I would already be a 10th circle sorcerer with a mastery of all elements including space and time.” He chuckled.
“What would you do if a sorcerer was after you?”
“I’d beg them to teach me their ways at almost any cost.”
“What if they wanted to get rid of you?”
“I would submit to my fate to the masters of the arcane.”
Zoey wasn’t satisfied with that answer. If she asked again telling him to be serious, it would only make things awkward when they just got a good mood going. Well, whatever. Zoey wasn’t planning to let some magic perverts kill her. Zoey was one of the most rebellious people on the planet! If she wasn't such a huge fucking coward who's scared of negative consequences, she would be living her best life! But her current life wasn’t so bad either. Now that she has this status box, maybe she’ll be able to become a really good boxer who can punch fireballs into nothingness.
Well, wait, Boxing is just a sport, right? How good would it be in a life or death battle? Dealing with a non-magical person surely has to be easy as pie for a magician. Maybe she will have to learn how to box in the streets as well as in the ring...