The Agents

Chapter Fifteen

"Alright, today, we are going to be at the punching bags again. Before, we covered the basics of punching and kicking. Now, we are going to go into more detail on some more advanced maneuvers." Standing in front of me, the recruits actually looked excited to get on with the lesson. As always, Jaxon, Drake, and Taylor looked uninterested in their positions against the wall.

"Everybody, grab a bag." I went to my own bag in the middle of the recruits so they could all see me. "Now, this is a combination strike that, if done correctly, should leave your opponent dazed and vulnerable." I demonstrated the move on the bag in front of me, making it swing all over from the force when I was done.

I cursed under my breath at the red staining my wrapped hand again. It needed to hurry up and heal. I shook out my hand and went to demonstrate another move for the recruits when a hand landed on my shoulder and pulled me away from the bag.

"Don't even think about it, Jay," Jaxon said, going to stand between me and the bag.

"Think about what?" I asked innocently, trying to hide my hand from his view.

"You know what I mean so don't even try to deny it. You forgot about your hand, so you started punching the bag, making your cuts reopen. Again. Now, you are going to go change your bandages, and I will show the recruits the maneuvers."

I opened my mouth to argue when he cut me off with, "And don't even try to argue. It's not open for discussion. You go fix your hand, and I'll teach your little recruits how to beat up a punching bag." He looked right into my eyes, daring me to try and argue with him on this one.

After a couple minutes where we both just stood there staring at each other, I finally conceded, slowly backing away before turning and going to get the first aid kit.

"Now then, little ones. This is how you beat someone till they are seeing the beautiful night sky in the middle of a sunny day." The sounds of skin hitting a punching bag followed Jaxon's wonderful introduction, the rhythm matching my steps as I went to sit by my brother and Taylor with the first aid kit in hands.

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"Can we listen to music?"

I looked up from the book I was reading to see Jennifer looking down at me expectantly. "Come again?" I asked.

"Can we please put on some music? You always get to listen to music when you work out. We've been punching these bags for an hour, and we are getting kind of bored."

I thought it over for a minute before saying, "If I put on music, I do not want to hear a single complaint about it. I will not be changing the song, the genre, or the volume."

"Deal!" Jennifer said excitedly.

"Then get back to work, and I'll turn on some music." I got up from my seat on the ground and walked over to the panel by the elevators. Popping it open, I plugged my phone into the system and turned on the overhead speakers. I pressed play and music started blaring.

All the recruits started cheering, happy for the music. Shaking my head, I called out to Drake and Taylor, "I'm going to take a nap."

"Sure, you go sleep and make us do all the work," Taylor joked.

I smiled as I turned and walked into the girl's dorm. Going to my locker, I pulled on a hoody, but paused, catching my reflection in the small mirror in my locker. My long, brown hair was in waves down my back and even with my tan skin, the dark circles under my eyes were obvious. I pushed my bangs out of my face and saw the bandage in the mirror. I ran my finger over the gauze covering my injured knuckles, remembering the night I got the injury and the memories that caused it.

Sighing, I closed my locker and laid down on my bed. I closed my eyes and listened to the music flooding in from the other room, waiting for sleep to come.

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"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like it's better than yours."

My eyes shot open, and I sat up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, trying to figure out what had woke me. I froze on my way to the door when I finally realized that my phone had woke me. My ringtone cut off and my voicemail clicked on.

"You've reached Carter's phone."

I had forgotten that when I plugged my phone into the system for music, my calls would play over the speaker system. I hadn't expected any calls, so it didn't even cross my mind.

"Jaycee! Where you at girl? It's been like, over a week since we've seen you!" a male voice said as a message on the phone. The voices switched, and this time it was a little kids voice in the background, "Is that Jaycee? I wanna talk to her! Let me see the phone!" Then the little boy's voice was right next to the phone as he said, "Jaycee! I learned a new joke! Knock knock!"

I unfroze and walked out of the dormitory. "You are supposed to say who's there! Oh well, who's there? Why is that mirror looking at me? Why is that mirror looking at me who? Acorn!" Then the little kid started laughing so hard at his own joke that the other guy had to take the phone back. "Yeah, awesome joke, Chris. Anyway-"

I picked up the phone, unplugging it as I did. "I thought I told you guys not to call this number unless it was an emergency?" I questioned in greeting.

"You've been gone for over a week without a single word of explanation! We thought that qualified as an emergency!" he responded.

"Look, I'm sorry that I didn't call you guys. Some stuff came up at work-"

"And made you disappear for over a week?"

"Yes."

"Where do you work?" he asked, baffled that my job would force me to disappear for so long.

"It doesn't matter where I work. The point is that I am fine. I gave you this number for the specific reason of an emergency," I said.

"One of these days, muñequita, you are going to tell us where you work."

"Not likely," I replied instantly.

"Whatever, just promise me you'll be coming home soon?" I hesitated in my answer. "You will be coming home, right?" he asked, worry clouding his voice at my lack of an answer.

I turned around and faced the wall, all the eyes watching me now focused on my back. Running a hand through my hair, I replied, "I'll try to be home as soon as possible."

He picked up on what I wasn't saying, though. "What did you get yourself into, Jaycee?"

Turning back around and looking at the faces of all the recruits, my brother, my best friend, and my ex-boyfriend, I answered as honestly as I could, "I don't know, Raymond, I don't know. Hopefully nothing I can't handle."

He took a minute to respond, "Just try to be safe, okay?"

I started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Raymond asked, confused.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing is funny," I said, trying to reign in my laughter, but struggling with it.

"Whatever you say, chica loca," he said, sounding scared for my sanity. "I've gotta go, the kids want me to read to them." [Translation: crazy girl.]

I reined my laughter in enough to say, "Okay, tell them that I love them."

"Will do, muñequita."

With that, I hung up the phone. I put it back on the shelf in the panel before turning around and facing everyone. They all just stared at me for a while.

Finally, Jaxon asked, "Worried boyfriend?"

"Maybe," I said with a smirk, "Jealous that it might be?"

He replied, "You wish."

I scoffed. "Yeah, whatever. I'm going back to my nap." With that, I turned and walked back into the girl's dorm.