I wake up to a knocking on the door.

I rub the sleep out of my eyes and look over at Ben to see him asleep but slowly waking up. If I get the door I can probably let him sleep more. With that thought in mind, I pull the covers off of me and walk toward the door. It's probably Kate or Toby getting me for morning training, after all.

I swing the door open and find Serena standing in front of me wearing a plain sun dress and an expectant smile that falls a little when she sees me.

That's not who I was expecting.

"Serena?" I ask groggily, still waking up.

"Hey, (y/n)," she says with a polite grin. "Is Ben here?"

Of course she would be looking for him. "Yeah, he's sleeping. Can I help you with something?"

Her smile completely falls away this time. "Oh... no, it's fine—"

"Oh, hey Serena!" Ben calls. I can hear the tiredness in his voice still. "Sorry, I overslept. Give me ten minutes and I'll meet you outside, okay?"

What.

Did they make plans for an early morning date?

"Ah! Good morning Ben! Sorry for waking you up," Serena says, looking behind me and at him (who I hear frantically running around the room, trying to get ready as quickly as possible) with a big smile and an apologetic giggle. "But yeah, I'll meet you outside! See you in a bit!" She turns away without giving me another glance, and she walks down the hall and out of sight.

I forgot about her and Ben. I thought all my issues were solved last night but I forgot about the challenge she brings to the table.

Damn it.

"So... you guys going on a date?" I ask, closing the door and turning around to face Ben. He's frantically going through his drawers looking for an outfit to wear.

"Ah, no, we're just hanging out a bit before we both go on our missions today," he answers, too distracted to even look at me.

She just got here and she's already going on missions?! Man, I have to step up my game.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask him something last night. I wanted to ask if we could spend more time together and get to know each other better, but I fell asleep before I could. Maybe now would be a good time.

"Hey, we should—"

"Sorry, (y/n), but I gotta go! Tell me what you were gonna say later tonight, okay?" He says as he slips on his shoes.

"Oh... yeah, okay," I say disappointedly.

He darts past me, then stops at the door and turns around to face me again. He playfully punches my arm.

"See ya," he says with a smile, then rushes out the door before I can respond. I stand there for a few seconds, trying to process what just happened but my brain is still being slow from tiredness.

Oh well, if I'm already up I should get ready for the day and prepare to start training. I walk over to my night stand and grab my phone to check the time. 7:03 am. That's later than usual. Did Toby and Kate leave without me? Or maybe they have missions today too and forgot to tell me. Guess I'll go check on them and see.

I find a change of clothes and run to the bathroom to get ready for the day, then make my way over to Kate's room. I knock on the door, and after a few seconds she opens it. She's still in her pajamas and her hair is a mess.

"Oh, hey (y/n)," she says tiredly.

"Hey!" I greet with a smile. "Is Toby with you?" Its odd to not see them together. I hadn't even thought about them having separate rooms since every time I see them they're together. It's weird to be greeted by just her.

She blinks at me, then stretches and yawns. "Nah, he went out on a mission. It's just you and me today," she answers.

My smile falls a bit. Now I won't get to work on strength training today, just knives and agility. But time with just Kate will be nice. "Yay! Girl time," I cheer jokingly. She giggles sleepily.

"Yeah, yeah, but give me a few minutes to wake up and get ready. I'll meet you outside," she says, then closes the door. I do as she says and go downstairs and out the front door, sitting on the front steps. I take this opportunity to find a rock and sharpen my knives.

I wonder what Ben is doing. Maybe he'd think I'm cool for sharpening my knives in my free time. Maybe he'd think that it shows I'm dedicated and he'd be impressed. Maybe he'd—

"You look so silly! Like a video game character! I can't believe that's your killing outfit!" I hear Serena say before she bursts out in giggles. So annoying... I wonder who she's flirting with now.

"Well you look like you're about to go on a date! That's not very fit for killing," I hear Ben's voice joke back.

Of course she's flirting with Ben.

And of course she's dressed up for him.

I see the two of them walk around the corner of the house and go straight into the woods ahead of me. Ben doesn't even bother to look at me, but Serena does. She looks at me, a smile still resting on her face from laughing at Ben, and she waves at me.

Is she taunting me?! Is she trying to rub it in my face that she gets to spend time with him but not me?! That little brat!

I wave back with my knife in hand, passive aggressively sending her a threat. She doesn't react as she turns back around and talks more with Ben, but she must say something to him about me because he turns and gives me a wave and a big smile. I let myself return the gesture with a genuine smile of my own. I wonder if he even knows she's flirting with him.

"Ready to go?"

I jump at the sound of Kate's voice, and in turn, she gives me an underwhelmed smile.

"You really need to get better at being aware of your surroundings, especially if you wanna be going on missions soon," she says, then offers me a hand to help me up onto my feet. I accept, taking one last glance in Ben's direction before we walk back to our training spot.

As we walk, she starts a conversation.

"So, how did things go with you and Ben last night?" She asks, tossing one of her throwing knives in the air and catching it again.

I take a deep breath. "Good. We made up."

She looks back at me curiously. "You don't seem too happy about it. What happened?"

"Well," I start, "we're on good terms again, but now that Serena's here it's just... different. I mean, it's clear as day that there's something going on between them, even if he won't admit it."

An evil smirk spreads onto her face. "So you're jealous! You do like him! I knew it, I knew it!" She stomps her feet in victory, making me laugh.

"No, no," I say between giggles. "I don't know why it doesn't sit right with me, but I'm not gonna bother with it. I'm not interested in him anyways."

"Because you're interested in someone else right?" She says, wearing a playful grin as she turns back around, giving me her back as we continue to walk.

"Huh?" I ask

"Toby, duh."

I laugh at her joke, but before I can protest, she turns around with her arm extended and I hear a thud behind me.

I stare at her, stunned, until I feel the pain in my ear and the blood trickling down the side of it. It hurts worse than the cut she gave me two days ago, much worse, but I try to pull it off as nothing more than a scratch.

"Jeez, you got me again," I say with a sheepish smile as I lift my hand to my ear. "My reflexes really are bad, huh—"

In less than a second, her machete is held up against my throat and her expression looks hungry for blood.

Oh god, she's going to kill me.

"Stay away from Toby," she commands, her eyes wide and threatening. My heart thumps so hard in my chest that it feels my rib cage is the only thing keeping it from leaving my body.

"Wh-what?" I whimper. I need an escape; a way out of this situation, but all my mind can seem to do is panic as fear seems to flood all my senses.

"Don't play dumb!" She exclaims. She talks more, but the sound of my heartbeat in my ears drowns her out. Escape, escape, escape! She's busy rambling, this gives me time to think. I can't think when I'm panicked, so I take a deep breath and slowly release it.

"Hey, don't try to calm yourself down. You think this is a test? I'm serious! I' ll slice your throat!"

An idea pops into my head.

I move as fast as I can manage. My left hand grabs her elbow and my right hand grabs her hand that holds the machete. I lean my head back and shove her hand up over my head, then spin my body as I pull it down straight by my side, twisting her arm upside down and rendering it useless. She stumbles forward but quickly catches herself.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Oh my god, I did it.

"Bitch!" She huffs.

"If you wanted to slice my throat, you would have already, right?" I say.

She grunts in annoyance. "I'll admit you caught me off guard, but—" I feel the tip of a knife press into my middle back. "—you messed up."

Oh no.

My body freezes. A lump grows in my throat, so I swallow it down, accepting defeat.

"Have I made my point clear? About Toby?" She hisses menacingly.

"Yes," I squeak. She pulls her knife away and I release her arm. I turn back around to face her as she tucks her weapons back into her boot.

"Good," she says, standing back up straight. After what just happened, I'm afraid to even speak to Toby again. What will this make of our friend group? Will I lose Toby as a friend? First Ben and now Toby...

There's a tension in the air between Kate and me. After that, I'm afraid to even be her friend either. Her true colors are scary, and I'm not sure I want that to be so close to me. One wrong move, and she might not be so hesitant to slice my throat next time.

In the meantime, I don't want to have this training session go to waste. I'll need to pretend everything's fine for now.

"Is that why you always carry two weapons on you? In case something like that happens?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons." She tucks her hair behind her ear and raises her eyes to meet mine. "That was a really good move, by the way. But rule number one: never give your back to your enemy."

"Noted," I say with a forced smile.

"Hey, let's master your knife throwing so you can impress Ben and Toby when they get back from their missions!" She suggests happily, a complete 180 from how she was a few seconds ago. To say it leaves me confused would be an understatement.

"I thought you wanted me to stay away from Toby?" I ask.

"We're all still friends, (y/n)." She says it like it's obvious and I should have already known. "I just meant romantically. I just..." she trails off, and I see her cheeks flush pink. "I really like him, okay?" Her voice comes out soft and her eyes fall to the ground. "You can have Ben or anyone else, just leave Toby for me."

Ah, so that's why she threatened me: she herself felt threatened.

"Of course, Kate," I say with a smile. "I promise I don't like Toby like that, and I'm sorry for making it seem like I did."

She turns her gaze back up to me, shocked, then gives me an apologetic grin. "And I'm sorry for attacking you."

Having genuinely made up, we both turn our attention ahead of us, continuing our journey to our DIY training grounds.

"At least you're getting better at fighting back under pressure," she comments, lightening the mood.

I huff a laugh. "I don't know if I'd say that just yet. But physical combat might be fun to learn."

"Okay, we'll add that to your training then." I groan, dreading the extra work, but it makes her giggle. "Alright, enough chatting, let's get this training montage started!"

(Word count: 2182)

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey guys I'm back from the dead

not for long though probably, I keep forgetting Wattpad exists - v -;;

I do have a plan for this story though, so there will be updates, I just can't promise how soon they'll come out.

But thank you for being so patient and continuing to read the story! All the sweet comments of encouragement really mean a lot to me

I hope to give you guys more chapters soon!