Chapter 657: Rejected Jock
The following day, Montrael Middle School.
The first bell of the day rang. It echoed far and wide. The students poured inside their classrooms.
With a hunched posture and a backpack over his right shoulder, Jock arrived in his classroom and saw that everyone in the class had already walked over to their friends, leaving him as the last one to arrive.
"...Yeah, my master whipped me back into shape yesterday. Three hours of torturous exercise. I was even thinking about skipping school today, as my body is broken, haha."
"...I’m just glad we have a sitting class today."
"...That tag team tournament is coming up soon."
Jock walked to his desk. It was at the front of the class. He sat down and put the backpack on the hook of his desk.
While everyone else in the class was talking with someone, there was no one he could talk to, as he didn’t have friends.
He didn’t have common interests with his classmates, as they were martial arts obsessed, and he was more into video games and comic books.
However, he knew that few students were into video games, but they were part of the popular kids group, so there was no way he could talk to them.
With a side eye, he looked at the person sitting next to him.
A cute girl with long curly hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing the white and blue school uniform, a skirt that ended just above her knees, and a necktie that was perfectly knotted.
It was easy to mistake her as young princess of some wealthy family.
She was Cleo, the class president of their class, and Jock’s upcoming partner for the tag team competition.
In that moment, a tall young man walked next to his desk, blocking his view of Cleo, and he leaned against her desk.
Jock was only able to see the young man’s white hair. When he appeared near him, Jock turned rather nervous and didn’t dare to look at him.
"Cleo, are you heading to the dojo today? My father has been asking why you haven’t come lately, as it is easy to get rusty from lack of practice."
Lumian asked.
He was tall, handsome, and naturally kind-hearted. It was easy to see why he was the most popular kid in the entire school.
It also helped that he came from a respectable family—the Ok family—who were the owners of the Ok Family Dojo, a Five Star dojo with a powerful master, Sozen Ok.
"I have been busy studying and taking care of the stuff for the upcoming tag team tournament. I have still kept training at home."
Cleo said with a smile.
"That is good. Will you start regularly visiting the dojo once the tag team tournament is over?"
Lumian asked.
"Yup!"
Cleo said.
With a smile and nod, Lumian noticed that the teacher came to the class, and thus he returned back to his seat over at the back.
While Cleo moved her hair over her ear, she happened to glance over at Jock and saw him opening his textbooks.
He looked very awkward even when opening the textbook, and he just lacked the confidence to do anything.
It was like he was afraid to accidentally drop the book to the floor and make a scene, as he’d rather stay unnoticed.
"Jock, have you been preparing for the competition?"
Cleo asked gently.
"...Ah."
Jock looked at her in surprise, not expecting to have her talk to him, and when he saw her innocent blue eyes that were staring at him, he felt a warmth in his chest that he hadn’t felt in a long time.
It was like his heart had suddenly come alive again.
"U-u-uhm, yes, actually... I-I joined a dojo. I am learning martial arts."
Jock said nervously, and his body turned all warm and itchy. He felt like he wanted to scratch his flesh off.
"That is good. What dojo?"
Cleo asked curiously.
"...Martial Redemption."
Jock said.
"I don’t think I have heard of that place before, but that is good. I hope you are having fun, and it doesn’t matter if we lose in the competition. It is just some friendly competition."
Cleo said with a smile, and as the teacher started talking, she returned back to her textbooks to concentrate on the studies.
’...Friendly, yeah, right.’
Jock said with a sigh.
It was actually quite far from friendly. Everyone wanted to win it. It was more like cutthroat competition.
She was only treating it as friendly competition because her partner was Jock, the weakest student in the class.
While Cleo was one of the strongest students in their entire class, Jock had been ranked last since the beginning of the school year.
They weren’t considered a threat in the competition because of Jock, and him alone. He knew that Cleo also wanted to win it, as it could help her to become future Student Council President.
It was a very respectable role, especially in a famous school like Montrael Middle School, which has had many strong martial artists join powerful high schools.
There had been several national champions that had come from Montrael Middle School.
While weighed down by expectations, Jock focused on the class ahead, but his body was trembling with impatience.
He already wanted to head to the dojo and start his training.
There was only a week left till the competition, and it really wasn’t much. He probably couldn’t learn anything at that time.
He had been searching for a dojo to join for, like, a month already, as soon as the competition was announced, but he had been rejected from other small One Star and Zero Star dojos.
They would rather not waste their resources on someone like him, who probably wouldn’t amount to much.
The public dojos that everyone could join were just a little bit too expensive for him, and those dojos had so many students that none of the instructors would have time to personally train him.
Then he found Martial Redemption dojo, and it was the only place he could join. He didn’t have much faith in Kiernan’s ability to train him, but it was better than nothing.