“Do you want to walk home together?” I mumbled, as if asking such a question embarrassed me. Oliver had already gotten up from his chair and threw all his belongings into his backpack with as little care as possible, and I sat beside him, gazing up in curiosity. 

In this angle, I could perfectly see the wounds in his face, even through the shadow cast onto his skin by the baseball cap he wore. A few strands of hair poked out beneath his cap, tickling his ears and forehead. 

“I can’t today,” he answered me, his eyes only fleetingly acknowledging me. 

“Oh,” I sighed, lowering my head. “That’s a bummer. Matt is going with Sophie today, so I’ve got nothing to do.” 

“Sorry…” 

“Don’t apologize,” I giggled. “Is it because of your mom? Are you grounded because you got in a fight?” 

“Something like that.”

With question marks darting out of my eyes right up him, he was quick to avoid me and explain. 

“My mom wants me to go to this judo gym I’ve been training at since the spring. After that, I have to go straight home.” 

“You train judo?” My head lifted all the higher, and I began tucking away my books, readying myself to leave as well. 

Oliver nodded. 

“Is it fun?”

“It’s alright…” 

It exploded out of me, my curiosity. “Can I come?”

Throwing his backpack over one shoulder, Oliver stared right at me, head tilted ever so slightly to the side. “What?” 

I giggled. “I want to come! I’d love to watch.”

It was too obvious, the way his eyes gazed me up and down, observing my thin body, my hands that knew no fight and no struggle, and a face that had never gotten hit once. 

“You wouldn’t like it,” he whispered. “It’s boring.” 

“Can’t I decide that for myself?” 

I’d never been interested in martial arts, sure, but who was he to decide what I would and wouldn’t like? All I wanted was to see what Oliver was all about, what he liked to do in his free time, and to get to know him more. A better opportunity like this wouldn’t come along again, I was sure. 

Taken aback, Oliver’s pupil’s shrunk, revealing more and more of his brown eyes, until he ultimately gave in. 

“If you insist…” 

“Yay!” Grinning from ear to ear, I followed him to the bus stop and the judo gym he attended, only asking him a few questions on the way. When the silence turned too awkward, that is, though Oliver seemed to enjoy walking beside me, completely lost in thought. 

“Do you train judo often?” 

“It depends. I try to go once a week, but sometimes I’ve got no motivation.” Oliver sighed. “I haven’t been in two weeks, so my mom’s forcing me.” 

“Why haven’t you? Do you not like it?” 

“I do, but sometimes, it feels pointless.” 

“Why?” Did I press too much? Did it bother him, all these endless questions coming out of my mouth? Every answer I received only awakened more and more wonder in me. 

“My mom signed me up because she thought it would help me, but I don’t know if it’s working.” 

“Help you? With what?” 

Oliver stayed silent for a while, chewing on his swollen lower lip. “It’s embarrassing,” he whispered, ending the conversation. 

We reached the judo academy Oliver trained at, a good twenty minute bus ride away from our school. It was a large, impressive building, and training here was sure to cost a good dime or two. This entire building wasn’t only for judo, carried a swimming center, a commercial gym, and a bunch of other things, too. An entire building, dedicated to hone one’s body. 

No wonder Oliver looked like that, I thought, staring him up and down from the side. He took great care of his body… 

“Oliver! How nice to see you again.” It barely took a few seconds for a black-belted man to come forward and greet Oliver the moment he’d entered through the judo gym’s door. With the black belt atop the white robe, I only assumed it must have been the judo instructor. 

“It’s been what, two weeks? Why didn’t you come? We all missed you here.” 

“Sorry…” 

“Goodness, and look at your face.” The instructor chuckled, though his eyes expressed worry. Oliver didn’t budge when his instructor snatched his hat away from him, the only thing hiding his face from the world. Exposed, Oliver stood around, eyes avoiding his very teacher. 

They were about the same height, same build, only age differentiating the two. The instructor had a polite smile, and even pat Oliver onto the shoulder. “Get changed, so we can get started. It’s good that you’re here.”

“Okay.” 

“And what’s this?” The instructor’s eyes fell upon me, making me flinch. “A new face. Would you like to tryout, interested in some classes?”

“N-No, really, I—I just came to watch Oliver.” In protest, my hands waved about, crossing into an X more than once. Oliver had long disappeared to get changed, leaving me all on my own. 

“You are friends with Oliver?” the instructor smiled. “How nice.” 

I wasn’t sure whether we could call each other friends, given how rarely we talked. 

“Alright, then. You can sit over there to watch, but trust me, joining in would be a lot more fun. We’ve got quite a few beginners, so there’s nothing to worry about,” the instructor smiled. He was overbearingly nice, and perhaps his attitude rubbed off on Oliver sometimes. 

“Does Oliver come here often?” I asked. 

“Well, he comes whenever he wants. Can’t force him, can I?” the instructor chuckled, running his hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. “He’s done good progress, though, that boy.” 

“Progress?” 

“Well, when he first came here, he was grumpy and annoyed all the time,” he laughed. “He sure let me know he didn’t want to be here. But after a while, he learned how to channel his energy into training, instead, and since then, it’s been going great. He’s a fast learner. I offered him to join some championships, just for fun, some regional ones, but so far, he wasn’t interested.” 

There were students of all kinds of age groups, and there were many, too. To think this instructor had offered Oliver, specifically, a spot at some tournaments … 

“That’s so cool,” I mumbled. “He should have totally joined in.” 

“Maybe next time he will,” the instructor smiled. “There’s a winter tournament coming up that I’d love for him to be in.” 

Oliver returned in a white robe and blue belt, awkwardly standing beside his instructor. A blue belt … That was pretty good, wasn’t it? Since beginning in the spring, he’d already learned so much? 

The instructor grinned, his hand landing upon Oliver’s shoulder, robe slipping to the side across Oliver’s chest. My heart fluttered immediately when it revealed his muscles, and even showed me just a slight hint of the abs he had. I’d already seen them when he changed for P.E. class, but to imagine them, to be teased like this …

I couldn’t handle it, and looked away, instead. 

“Alright, Oliver. Let’s spar, and you’ll tell me why your face is all beaten up again.” Together, they walked onto the mat, but I could still hear Oliver’s protest, and feel his gaze falling upon me. 

“Do I have to?” he asked, ever so quietly.

“You know the drill.” 

Oliver’s jaw tensed up, veins at his neck protruding, and they disappeared far away into the gym, where I could still see them and watch their techniques, but I couldn’t hear a single word they spoke of.

Though I did feel and notice both their gazes falling on me, every now and then, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it.