Dawn's POV

What another great morning for training.

Yeah, right. 

I had thought about telling Lucy what had happened with Jake last night, but I knew I couldn't because it could potentially turn out in a bad way. Not to mention that I was supposed to have just a normal relationship with my trainers like everyone else.

So instead of telling her what really happened I had to make up a story about where I was at all last night, and It almost made us late for training.

As soon as all the trainees were in the courtyard, Karla had everyone up and working on the Adroit within minutes of us arriving. We had worked non-stop in the blistering heat of the sun beating down on our backs. Wearing  dark colors like blue and black do have their flaws.

Lucy had been right behind me the entire time panting and sweating along with me. 

"What's up with her today?" Lucy asked me. "She's never been this hard on us."

"You mean you've had her as a trainer before you had Max?" I asked her thinking about what it must've been like to actually start training with them. 

Jumping down from the spinning wheels, we were at the last section of the second part of the Adroit. I think it might've been my favorite part of the Adroit when Karla had gone through it with us.

We looked up at the massive rock wall that stretched up above us while catching our breaths. 

"Yeah, she was really easy going while she was introducing us to everything," Lucy said before taking a deep breath. "But this is just brutal."

I nodded and we were about to start climbing the rock wall, when I heard a familiar voice yelling from behind us.

"Dawn! Lucy! Get your asses moving!" Karla yelled from the viewing platform she was watching us all from. 

Jumping into action, we started scaling the wall as fast as we could. We came to the point where the wall jutted out a bit, the point where you had to jump up a bit to grab the next foothold. 

I glanced at Lucy who was climbing next to me. We had both stopped while looking at our current obstacle. Looking at each other we nodded.

"Common Lucy, we have to!" I said while preparing for my leap.

Lucy sighed and shook her head. "This is ridiculous! No Harnesses and we're forty feet up in the air..." She mumbled as she too was prepping for her jump.

I looked to my right side and all I could see was the curved ground below me. I looked back up at the wall and gripped the small holds tighter, trying to suppress all the fear that was bubbling up inside of me.

"Let's do this Dawn," Lucy said while giving me a look of determination. "Besides, we're holding everyone else up that's behind us."

Glancing under my feet I could see several other trainees gathering on the platform waiting for their turn to get up the wall.

A few seconds later she jumped and I watched as she grabbed a blue rock on top of the small overhang. She swung her other arm up, and slowly her body disappeared from sight as she made it to the top.

I was about to take a leap before I heard Lucy's voice from above me.  

"Dawn they're all watching you from the platform," she quietly called. "And I mean everyone, Mr. Black and Jake included. You need to get your ass up here now!"

Chuckling a bit at her encouragement I counted to three. "One....Two...." I whispered as I adjusted my foot on the hold. "Three!" I yelled in my head. 

I jumped, reaching up as far as I could, but as soon as my foot left the wall, it felt as if a shock wave had jolted through my body. Someone was screaming at me.

"Don't miss Dawn!" Alyson screamed as loud as she could from the platform below me. "I'd hate to see you miss and fall!"

The little scared jolt I had felt sent me off course from my original target and instead I flew more right than I wanted to. 

I frantically tried to grab a foothold but just with my luck, they were all to the left of me.

Slamming into the wall, I started to fall down it. I frantically moved my hands trying to grab one of the holds above me so I could stop myself from falling. 

All I could hear was my heart beating in my ears, and the muffled shouts from the people below me. 

I finally grabbed a hold with my left hand, my feet dangling under me. I quickly placed my feet on the nearest rocks and grabbed the edge of the wall with my right hand, holding onto it for dear life.

"Dawn!" Lucky shouted from above me. I looked up and saw her face peering out from over the top of the wall.

I looked back towards the wall in front of me, and tried to squish myself as close as I could to it, to make my heart stop beating so fast.

Talk about an adrenaline rush.

A few moments later I glanced down to see everyone worriedly looking up at me from below. Especially all the trainers who had gathered in the front at the base of the wall. 

Kaiden held a masked expression of iciness in his eyes, while Jake was more openly worried. Karla had an extremely worried look on her face, and Max looked quite shocked at what was happening.

I looked back up and  decided I had a choice. 

Either I could slowly crawl back down like a baby, or I could finish climbing up the rock wall and keep my pride and confidence.

I went with option number two. 

Taking a deep breath, I moved my my left arm over farther to a different rock, replacing the spot with my right hand. I took another deep breath and started climbing as quickly as I could back up the wall.

Once at the overhang part again, I didn't think about it, I just jumped and grabbed one of the rocks on the top of it. I used what adrenaline I had left and scrambled up over the overhang and up over the top of the rock wall. 

Lucy dragged me farther onto the top platform and I rolled over and laid on my back, taking a second to catch my breath and going through what just happened in my head. 

"Are you okay Dawn?" Lucy asked worriedly as she kneeled next to me.

I held a thumb up, not quite sure if I was able to actually speak yet. 

Lifting up my head,  I watched as Lucy crawled over to the edge of the rock wall and gave everyone down below a thumbs up. I could hear voices shouting from below us but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

A moment later Lucy crawled back over to me with a smile on her face. "No one else is going to come up the wall, and Karla is on her way up here," she explained quickly.

I set my head down on the platform and nodded at her. This was all Alyson's fault, and I was really hoping that she'd get what was coming to her.

Soon we heard the clanging of Karla's boots on the ladder as she climbed up to us. Shortly after her fiery red hair could be seen before her face popped up over the edge.

"How are you doing Dawn?" Karla asked calmly as she climbed the rest of the way onto the platform and walked over to us.   

I slowly sat up and took a deep breath. "I'm fine," I said with a smile. "What's happening now?" I asked.

Karla chuckled at me. "Since everyone was working so hard we decided to cut practice short today," she explained with a smile. "Not to mention most of the others were scared to climb up the wall after you almost fell."

Nodding I smiled a bit. I could spend the rest of the day with Lucy doing whatever we wanted too. Maybe we could even find Parker and Xavier.

"What about Alyson?" Lucy asked curiously. "She's the reason that Dawn almost fell."

Karla nodded with an angry expression. "Max took her back to the training room. I think Jake and Max are going to talk to her," she explained. "And if she gives them a hard time Mr. Black will be stepping in."

I smiled at the fact that Alyson was finally getting a piece of what she dished out. I didn't wish the worst to come upon her, but as of now i'm just glad she might get some sense knocked into her.

Looking at Lucy I could tell that she was thinking the same thing that I was. We both smiled at each other, almost causing me to chuckle.

Karla cleared her throat making us look back at her. "Now Dawn I don't know what problem you have with Alyson, but you're going into the training room to talk to her." she said with a slight smirk on her face.

I groaned and Lucy laughed at me. "Fine, fine let's just go and get this over with." I said as I slowly stood up on the platform.

"Smart girl," Karla said as she took the lead and started climbing down the ladder.

Lucy started climbing down after her, and I followed a few moments after Lucy. Climbing down the tall ladder the only thing I could think of was that I would rather fall that forty feet to the ground, rather than have to go and talk to Alyson.

I guess we'll see what happens.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Walking into the training room, Alyson was sitting on one of the chairs that Max had at the table by his desk. She was face to face with Max, as if they had just been screaming at each other. 

I shook my head at the stupidity of that concept. Trainee vs. Trainer? The trainer will win every time, especially here with the way the gang has the system set up.

Max glanced over at Karla leading me into the room before he smirked at Alyson. "Now it's time for a little mediation session," he said while looking over at me.

Alyson snapped her head towards me and all I could see was anger on her face.

Karla and I walked the rest of the way over to the table, where Karla fell into place next to Max.

"Take a seat Dawn," Karla said to me while staring at Alyson coldly. 

I walked around the table and sat down in the chair that was opposite of Alyson's.

"Now," Max said to the both of us. "We don't know what's going on between you two, but it obviously needs to be fixed," he said while narrowing his eyes.

"We help and accept our fellow gang members here in the Midnight Mafia," Karla added in while leaning on the table. "While it's okay to dislike another member, it's not okay to almost make them fall forty feet and earn a serious injury or something worse," she finished while raising an eyebrow.

I glanced over at Alyson and she was shooting daggers at me with her eyes. I shook my head. It's not like it was my fault she was sitting here like this with me? 

"You two will be sitting here and talking until you fix the problem you're having," Max said coldly. "You may not leave for anything or talk to anyone else except for trainers."

Alyson dramatically rolled her eyes. "What did I do to deserve this?" she asked trying to be innocent. "I didn't make Dawn fall."

It was my turn to roll my eyes at her. She had to be stupid if she didn't believe she was the cause of my fall.

Karla angrily put her hand up to prevent her from saying anything else. "Your argument means nothing to us, we just need to stop any other incidents like this from happening."

Max nodded. "There will be a trainer nearby at all times in case things start to get out of hand." he said while crossing his arms. "Don't step out of bounds ladies."

Alyson rolled her eyes again and I just nodded at Max. I just wanted them to leave so I could try and fix whatever was wrong with her head and get on with my life and the more important matters in it.

Karla and Max left the room after that, leaving Alyson and I staring at each other in complete angry silence. 

"You know I didn't ask for this right?" I said while leaning back in the chair and crossing my arms. "I was just planning on enjoying the rest of my day."

She narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her own arms. "Yeah well it's your fault we're here!"

I laughed at her. "Excuse me?"

She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "If you were able to climb up a simple rock wall without falling then we'd both be enjoying our afternoons now wouldn't we?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "And why do you think you're here then if it was just my fault for falling off the wall?" I questioned her, wondering how much air she pumped into her head every day.

Shrugging she started examining her nails. "I don't know," she said before examining her other hand. "I think they're just preying on me because i'm the best trainee here."

I started laughing at her. "Are you fucking stupid?"

She gave me a bewildered look and froze in her chair. "Excuse me?"

Laughing some more I wiped a tear that was in the corner of my eye. "You screamed at me when I was trying to jump up the wall?" I said looking to see if I had broken through her small head. "It's all your fault."

She rolled her eyes and stuck her nose up at me. "No it's just because you suck at everything we do in training Dawn, let's face it."

I shook my head realizing that there was no way I was going to be able to break through to her that way. I decided to try a different way.

"What's your problem with me anyways?" I asked her. "What have I ever done to you?"

Alyson looked at me as if I had a third eye on the middle of my forehead. "Are you kidding me?" she spat at me.

I shrugged and shook my head. "No, I really don't know what your problem with me is."

She stared at me for a moment as if she was trying to decide whether to believe me or not.

I shrugged at her again, sitting up straighter in the chair. The room was in awkward silence as she stared at me.

Her eyes became a little wider as she gave me a suspicious look. "Well first off you humiliated me in front of Xavier," she said with her arms crossed.

I rolled my eyes. "Alyson he completely forgot about that. Trust me, If you had to live in the same room with him you'd learn that he has the attention span and memory of a five year old."

Watching her closely so I could gauge her reaction to everything I was saying, I saw the corner of her mouth twitch up into an almost half smile.

Looks like we were making some progress.

Alyson's eyes went back to normal as she seemed to relax a bit. "You also took all the attention away from me when you came here," she said somewhat bitterly.

Dramatically rolling my eyes I sighed. "Alyson do you really think I meant to do that? If I was trying to take all the attention from you then I would be trying to out do you in everything," I said hoping it would open her eyes. "I've been trying to leave you alone for the most part if you haven't noticed."

She went quiet and looked down at the table. I waited for her to say something but it seemed like she was deep in thought. I took the time to look around the room. To my right was the wall I had been examining the first day we started using the Adroit. Now that I was closer to it, it seemed more real, but I could tell that there was still something different about it.

"I feel like you're taking Xavier from me," Alyson said making me turn my attention back to her.

"I'm sorry?" I asked her with a confused look. 

She crossed her arms and kept a straight face. "You heard me!" she said. "I feel like you're taking Xavier away from me."

There was a sudden small knock against the wall to my right. Alyson and I both kept looking between each other and the wall.

She eventually shrugged and went back to her previous composure. "Do you have feelings for him?" she questioned me.

I chuckled at her question and she seemed to get a little angry. I sighed, "Of course I have feelings for him!" I said wanting to piss her off a bit.

Her eyes returned to slits and I smirked at her. 

"He makes me feel annoyed, irritated, smart, but I don't feel romantically attracted to him in any way Alyson," I said with a chuckle. "He's all yours, go for him."

Her face returned to normal and she nodded at me. "Good," she said while leaning back in her chair.

Nodding back at her I leaned back in my own chair. Alyson was looking down at the table and seemed to be deep in thought again. 

I leaned down a bit to try and get a look at her eyes. "Alyson," I said slowly to make her look up at me. "I feel like there's something else but you're not saying to me."

She shifted in her chair and looked back down at the table. "I mean I don't know...." she said slowly.

"Don't you feel a lot better after we got all of that out of the way? Don't you feel relieved?"  I asked her.

"Yeah I actually do....." she said calmly.

"Then spill it out because I think we may be done here soon Alyson," I said hoping to motivate her a bit. "I would like to get on with my afternoon, and i'm sure you do too."

She looked down at the table again as if trying to make a final decision. "I guess I just have a question for you...."

Looking at he curiously I nodded. "What is it?"

"Why are you a no good lying son of a fucking bitch?" she hissed at me with her eyes in slits.

Taken aback by her sudden  outburst of anger I stood up from the chair and leaned over the table. "Excuse me?"

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms again. "I know you're lying about Xavier," she spat at me. "I see the way you always mess around with him!" 

All I felt was anger. I was furious about her false accusations, especially when it was right after I told her the truth and was trying to be nice.

I smacked the table with the backside of my wrist, causing her to jump and look at me with fear in her eyes. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" I shouted as I pointed a finger at her. "Please tell me! I'd love to know!"

"Me? What's wrong with me!?" she asked trying to sound innocent. "There's nothing wrong with me, but about everything in the world is wrong with you bitch," she spat at me again, this time leaving bubbles of spit on the table.

I stated laughing. "Are you kidding me!?" I shouted, "Are you so blinded by your own selfishness that you can't even understand what I was telling you was the truth!?"

She stood up abruptly and knocked over the chair she was sitting on in the process. "At least i'm pretty and better than you, and worth more than you in the long run!" she yelled at me while leaning over the table. She was starting to shake angrily.

My anger level was rising quickly. What the hell was going on? How did it even end up like this?

"You know what Alyson," I said trying to keep control of my anger. "I'm going to be the bigger person and accept the fact that you have something against me, and that's okay." 

Her face seem to be condensing into an angry red hot fireball. She was shaking more noticeably now.

"Just know I have nothing against you, and I don't hate you either," I finished saying calmly.

Alyson was silent for a moment. Her face was getting redder, and it looked like she was going to explode.

"You aren't the bigger person!!" She screeched at me. "I'm better than you!"

What an explosion it was.

The next thing I knew, Alyson was flying at me. She rammed into me, causing me to fly backwards towards the ground. She was on top of me, trying to pin me down.

"What are you doing!?" I shouted while trying to hold both her arms and keep her off of me.

"I'm so sick of you!!" She yelled back at me.

She continuously tried to punch me, Just missing because I was able to shove her back at the last moment. 

"Get off of me!" I yelled at her.

We were sliding around on the ground, we kept ramming into the chairs and the table next to us. She was trying to dig her elbows into my ribs, because I was holding her wrists, preventing her from punching me. 

After rolling around a bit I was able to get a foot flat on the ground. I kicked off the ground as hard as I could and pushed her arms away from me as hard as I could.

She yelled as I managed to get her to the side of me. I quickly rolled over on top of her and tried to pin her to the ground and get her to stop moving. 

"Leave me alone!!" she screeched at me.

Continuing to squirm around, she threw elbows, knees, and anything else around to try and get me off of her. I managed to stay above her despite her best efforts.

"Stop trying to beat me!" She screamed from under me.

Completely confused, I continued to hold her wrists and sit on top of her to try and keep her from swinging away at me again. 

Alyson started to scream. It almost sounded inhuman. I was about to let go of her arms to cover my ears when her screaming was cut off.

"ENOUGH!" Shouted a deep voice from behind us.

We both froze where we were and locked eyes with each other. She smirked at me and I could feel my anger start to rise up again, I knew she had to be planing something.  

I felt a muscular arm slip around my waist and forcefully lift me up off of Alyson. Her eyes widened as she looked at the person behind me.I knew only two people who she would give that reaction to.

 I was gently set on my feet, and I finally took a deep breath after all that yelling and our little brawl. I was curious to see who had intervened. 

Slowly turning to see who was next to me, I wasn't that surprised when I saw Kaiden standing there, angrily staring at Alyson before he turned and his icy eyes locked onto mine.

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Hi everyone! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I had a lot of fun writing it! It's pretty long since I feel like I've been procrastinating and not updating for awhile. (3 days isn't that horrible?)

Anyways, Thanks for reading! Every time I update and I see people reading the story, it makes me so happy and I get excited to continue writing the rest of the story!

I know I say this every time, but please consider giving this chapter a vote if you enjoyed it! I'd really appreciate it! 

Also feel free to leave thoughts or feedback in the comments for me! Not many people have and it'd be nice to hear from you guys!

- Delaney :)