Thwack!

Slap!

Thwack!

Eight couldn't take it anymore. She plugged her ears up with her fingers and squeezed her eyes shut.

Really?! Is this how Quarter A's train?!

She was at the back of a large crowd that was circled in on a pair of big fighters. The two boys were matching each-other hit-for-hit, and she shuddered at the thought of being on the receiving end of those punches.

"Scared? Don't worry, those guys have been in Quarter A for atleast three years," the boy beside her started, "they're going to get their masks soon. That's plenty of time for you to train and become strong!" He finished, shooting her a smile with his foresty green eyes.
Zero-sixteen, she thought, just as positive and happy as One was.

She said nothing, but nodded her head towards him in acknowledgement. She would never reach their standard. Not in a million years. The sun was at its apex, beaming down mercilessly onto them.
Some were chanting for the fighters in the ring, while others were making bets. What they got out of it however, was a mystery. Maybe food? She didn't know. She heard some screams of 'Go Enzo!', or, 'You got this Justin!'

"Enzo? Justin? I've never heard of kids being named like Caretakers before." she stated, shooting Zero-sixteen a questioning look.

"Caretaker-like names are only given to the top-five most promising year three's from all Quarters. I heard that they get the best masks!" he replied, "we're blessed to have two of them in ours."

Zero-sixteen was watching them with rapt attention. It was obvious that he looked up to the boys. Actually, now that she looked at him properly, he had quite a large build compared to herself. He'd have no problem getting into the top-five if he really wanted to.

"I looked up to them a lot when I was a year one," he said, confirming her thoughts while holding a hand over his head to block out the sun. Wait, when he was a year one? It suddenly clicked.

"Ah! That's why I've never seen you before. You're in a higher year than I am!" she exclaimed, happy to have finally solved the case as to why he was so unfamiliar to her.

He nodded distractedly. "Look, the fights coming to an end! I think Enzo's going to win this time." he pointed to the two fighters, and she had to stand on her tip-toes to see above the tall crowd. The hazel skinned boy, probably Enzo, seemed to be tired. But his opponent was even more exhausted, his large hands on his knees while he struggled to regain his breath.

And in between the two, emerged a familiar figure.

"Enzo wins!" the figure announced, her honeyed voice soothing over her ears like a balm. Miss Heathershine.

She knew that Miss Heathershine tended to Quarter D as well as Quarter A. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a suitable Mask who was willing to tend to this Quarter yet.

Quarter C and B were also managed by only one Mask, Sir Burr. It was quite odd, actually. She had never seen Sir Burr before, but she bet One got the chance to, since she was in Quarter B. She wondered what people really did after they became Masks. It was understandable that they would want to explore the world, but surely some would stay and get a job here, right? It was all quite suspicious.

"-eight? Zero zero-eight!" she jumped, swiveling her head wildly to her side.

"It's over. Enzo won and I'm going over to talk to him. Do you want to come with?" Zero-sixteen asked, looking like an over-excited puppy.

"Actually, I need to talk to Miss Heathershine," she replied distractedly, beginning to  make her way through the crowd. A sigh greeted her ears and she felt a hand tugging at her arm.

"Miss Heathershine left to check on Quarter D while you were spacing out," he grumbled with a weary smile. She blushed bright red as he pointed out her unobservance, "let's just go talk to Enzo." He began leading her by her hand to the front of the crowd.

It's not like I'm interested in talking to Enzo anyway, she thought grumpily.

Enzo was soon in her line of sight, and she silently marveled at his sheer size. The sun was pelting down onto his hazel coloured skin, causing tiny beads of sweat to roll down his blond hair and onto his forehead.

" Enzo!" Zero-sixteen called out, waving to him with his free hand. Enzo nodded towards him, a tiny smile gracing the big fighters lips.

"Look who it is, my favourite year two." He smarmed, affectionately ruffling Zero-sixteen's hair.

"Aargh! You know I hate when you do that!" Zero-sixteen growled, taking his hand away from her in order to shake Enzo off of him. Enzo chuckled and wiped the sweat that was trickling down from his hair off of him. He suddenly turned his attention away from Zero-sixteen and onto her.

"You're a year one, aren't you?" he stated more than asked, looking her up and down. She raised her eyebrows.

"I know because I've never met you before. I know most people in Quarter A," he supplied, answering her unasked question with a smile. She nodded in response to this. "Theres only a few girls in Quarter A, and most of them are third years, but I'm sure you'll get along with them just fine. Should I introduce you?" he questioned.

She wouldn't have expected one of the best Quarter A fighters to be so friendly. Maybe that was why he was one of the best. Good fighting and good social skills. She could learn a lot from him. However, her mouth didn't seem to be very co-operative today, and she ended up nodding dumbly.

He gave her a funny smile that translated to, 'you're a bit of a wierd one, aren't you?' And she fought the urge to bury her head into the soil like an ostrich.

Zero-sixteen came to the rescue. "I'm sure you're tired, Enzo. Why not go to the showers and get all the sweat off?"

Enzo shot them a winning grin. "Yep! A hard-earned shower for a hard-earned victory!" he saluted and dashed off, surprisingly speedy for someone so bulky.

Zero-sixteen began walking to god-knows-where, and she had to run to keep pace with his determined steps.

"Where are you going?" she asked breathlessy. God, she was extremely unfit. She needed to fix that.

"To the mess hall. Today's especially hot, so we're getting ice cream," he said hurriedly, "and since Enzo's in the shower, that means that there's one less top-five ìn line. Although, Justin might still get to cut the line..." he thought out loud.

She giggled to herself.

"What?" he asked, looking back at her.

"Nothing, I just didn't think you were the sneaky type," she said, barely able to hold back the giggles that were slowly fighting their way out.

She could feel his sneaky smile as he suddenly huffed and sped up in retaliation.

"Wait! I can't run that fast! Zero-sixteen!" she cried, sprinting while trying to catch up to him.

Meanwhile, the two were unaware of a peacock watching them, its eyes contracting and expanding like that of a camera lens.

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