During my first training session, one of the trainers came up to me. He said that I could train with the more advanced ones from the next training session if I wanted to. I gratefully accepted the offer. Most of AJ's workers seemed to be staying there. That was one of the things I had noticed at the party yesterday. If AJ can't just trust me like that, I'll have to try and get one of his guys to vouch for me. I can only do that if I make friends with them somehow.
At first I thought it wouldn't be that difficult - after all, everything practically ran itself yesterday. But that was a misjudgement. I don't know exactly what I had done wrong, but during my introduction to the group and the training itself, it seemed as if most of them were avoiding me. When we finally started the partner exercises, I decided to ask my partner about it.
"Hey, do you know why?". Before I could speak any further, my partner started his punch combination and hammered my guard. There was a lot of force behind his punches, although the exercise is actually more about improving your technique.
"I just wanted you-". There was another bang. I see, he doesn't seem to like me either. If that's what he wants, I'll play along. I also started with my first combination. He was able to block all the blows because he knew the combination in advance, but I made sure that there was enough force behind my blows for him to understand my message. He didn't seem to like my message very much though because suddenly we started to take turns hitting each other faster and faster and even harder. The blows were against my guard but in the long run they also had an effect. Even though my partner was clearly technically inferior to me, it didn't matter in this situation. He was almost 2 meters tall and probably weighed around 100 kilos, so his technique didn't have to be perfect to cause me pain over a longer period of time. Our exchange of blows went on for the whole training session until the trainer finally ended the exercise. After the exercise, my partner simply turned around and walked to the other side of the hall without saying anything. So much for my original plan to make friends with the guys here.
When training was finally over after a few rounds of streching, I tried my luck again. I went up to one of the older men because, unlike the others, he didn't give me a death stare. I asked, "Do you know what kind of problem the others have with me?"
"You don't know that hahaha? You really pissed one of them off," he replied, amused.
"I pissed someone off? But I'm new here and hardly know anyone. What am I supposed to have done?"
"You were seen talking to the sister of one of the guys in the club yesterday. The brother didn't like it at all so he practically forbade the others to talk to you. What was the girl's name again? Ehmm oh well I think her name was Jane or something like that" he said after a moment's thought. So it's about Jane!!! That makes sense. She told me her brother works directly under AJ. Since he works for AJ, I'm sure that gives him a lot of influence over the other guys who want to work for AJ in the future.
"So my partner was also a friend of Jane's brother. He probably wanted to make it clear to me during the exercise that I should stay away from Jane," I said.
"Hahaha almost right. Only it's not one of Scott's friends, it's Scott himself."
"That was Jane's brother?" I asked in astonishment as I looked in his direction. Now that I look at him again, I notice a difference to the other boys. The guy doesn't just look like he wants to kill me. He's already thinking about the best way to go about it.
My start in the new group wasn't as successful as planned, but I hoped that things would settle down a few days later. So I got changed and wanted to go home to think about how best to deal with the situation. A little further away from the exit were Ali and Brian, just like yesterday they had probably been waiting for me as their course ended a little earlier than mine. Only they weren't alone, they were surrounded by a large crowd of boys and in front of them was Scott who didn't look realy happy. Brian smiled nervously and apparently tried to calm him down.
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"Hey Scott my friend, you know you're kind of like a brother to me. I didn't realize it was your sister we were talking to yesterday. If I had realized that, I would never have-"
"Brian was your name right?" Scott interrupted him.
"Ehm, yes, I'm Brian and the boy next to me is called Al-" before Brian could finish, Scott punched him in his solar plexus. Brian fell to his knees and struggled to catch his breath. One thing is for sure, listening is not Scott's strong suit, I thought to myself before rushing in their direction to prevent worse.
"Did I ask you his name? You're only supposed to answer my questions," Scott said to Brian before turning his attention to Ali.
"So your name is Ali?" He asked. If there was one thing I knew about Ali by now, it was that he wasn't cut out for fighting or situations like this. He was overwhelmed and couldn't seem to get a word out. Scott probably had the feeling that Ali wasn't taking him seriously.
He said, "Answer me when I talk to you" before swinging out with his right hand and throwing a punch to Ali's body.
"I don't know if you didn't notice but patner practice has been over for a while" I said with a serious tone while catching Scott's fist with my left.
"Oh god thanks Blaze is here. We're saved Brian" Ali sighed with relief after recovering from his little shock. But the relief didn't last long. He realized that even though there were now three of us, we were still surrounded by around 20 people.
"So you're Blaze. One day you're not there and suddenly a new star appears," he said and drew back his fist.
"A star? Now I feel flattered. You probably couldn't hide your excitement at seeing me during the partner exercise," I replied. I was expecting a fist to my head at that moment, but Scott let me finish a sentence for the first time since I met him. He must have slowly taken me into his heart, I thought to myself and grinned slightly. Scott noticed and didn't seem to like it.
I have to say, you don't seem to feel any fear even in this situation. I don't know where you're from, but it's not uncommon for accidents to happen in Brixton," said Scott.
"I didn't know that yet. Can you tell me if sometimes 20 people have an accident here at the same time? That information would be useful right now," I replied.
The situation between us was becoming increasingly tense. Brian, Ali and all of Scott's boys were looking at us. They were just waiting for one of them to strike first.
"Hey, what are you doing?" A man who had just come out of the club suddenly shouted. It was one of my old targets. He and AJ also met up with Wright twice. He was a fat, bearded man who looked to be in his early 40s. At least that's what I concluded because he had almost no hair left on his head and his face looked like it had been through a lot. I found out from Brian that this man was AJ's right-hand man and his name was Viktor. He told me to stay as far away from him as possible. Apparently, there are some scary stories about him that you don't really know which are true and which are not. But one thing was certain for everyone in Brixton: it was better not to upset this man. By the time Viktor approached us, only Scott and I were left from the initial group of over 20 people. Even Brian and Ali were only watching the situation from a distance.
"So it was you again Scott and who is the other one?" Viktor asked, giving me a skeptical look.
"I'm Blaze and I'm new here," I replied.
"So you're Blaze. AJ told me about you, you seem to have caused quite a stir in my absence. Is our Scott causing you problems? I've already heard a bit and he always gets stressed when it comes to Jane. If you want, I can take it to AJ."
"No, please Viktor, you can't take it to my uncle. He'll cut my orders if he thinks I'm causing problems again," Scott begged. Did he just say uncle??? That would mean that AJ is Jane's uncle too! But Jane told me that she doesn't like AJ and his men at all. I was visibly surprised and apparently Viktor also realized this and misunderstood something.
Don't worry, AJ already knows that you spent last night with Jane and he doesn't interfere in her love life," he said with a broad grin. Scott liked this statement even less than the threat Viktor had made earlier.
"You've got it all wrong. I told Scott the same thing just now, me and Jane are just friends. He misunderstood something but we sorted it out between us. Right Scott?" I asked, looking at Scott who was now staring at me in surprise.
"Erm, yes that's right. It's just like he says," he replied hesitantly.
"So that's how it is. Now that everything is settled, I need you in the office Scott. I think we'll see each other again soon Blaze," Viktor said and went back into the club. Scott followed him and just before he disappeared behind the door, he looked back at me.
He was probably wondering why I had helped him. Although the reason is quite simple it's because I understand him. I too would do anything to protect my family. Scott doesn't seem to be someone who wants to be indepted because the next day I didn't get any hostile looks during training. Most of them, including Scott, still avoided me but at least I made some progress. And who knows, maybe one day sott will see me as a part of his family, I thought to myself and had to grin slightly again.