Page 40 of Sunflower Persona
As much as I don’t want to, I drag myself back to my feet.
“We are going to have to do a bit of role-play here. To demonstrate, I need you to be the attacker. Start to approach me, and I’ll show you what you need to do.”
I do as he says, and as I close in, he puts his hands out in front of him and shouts, “Stop. Don’t come any closer.”
I freeze.
“The important thing to remember is to not give them your back, force distance by keeping your arms between you, and be loud.”
“Sure, that might work for you, but I doubt my shouting is going to scare anyone away.”
“Maybe not. But it might get someone’s attention or make them pause. Now I’m going to approach you, and I want you to do exactly what I did, okay?”
I nod, and he starts his pursuit, slowly circling me as he inches closer. My arms go out in front of me like he instructed, but the shout lodges in my throat.
“Come on, Kori. Yell at me,” he snaps.
“Don’t come any closer…” The words are nothing more than a mousy whisper.
“You can do better than that. Get angry.”
“Stay away from me,” I try again. My voice is steadier but still lacks force.
“Again,” he growls. “It’s like you aren’t even trying.”
The condescension lacing his words causes my hackles to rise and annoyance to bubble and churn. This was his idea. It’s not my fault I’m awful at it.
“I’m trying,” I growl right back, but my anger is no more intimidating than a mewling kitten.
“Oh yeah?” he challenges. “That isn’t what it looks like to me. From where I’m standing, it looks like you’re too scared.”
“Fuck you, Gage,” I snap.
“That’s it, Low. Curse me out if you have to. Be mad.”
He starts circling me again, going back to the goddamn game and goddamn so-called training. I’m over it. Done.
“Get the fuck away from me, asshole.” This time, the shout falls past my lips with ease.
He stills for a second, and my gut clenches in anticipation of his anger, but it never comes. A larger smile than I’ve ever seen forms on his lips, and my core clenches for another reason entirely.
“That’s my girl,” he says with a proud grin.
Hisgirl? That’s news to me, but I don’t hate the sentiment.
“I want to see that every time. And if someone is stupid enough to try to fuck with you again, you unleash all that rage. Got it?”
“Yes, Coach.”
“Good. Let’s do it again.”
My throat is raw by the time he decides we’ve done enough for the day, but half an hour of yelling will do that. Surprisingly enough, I actually had fun. Although I think that had more to do with Gage than the activity itself.
“You did good today,” he says as we walk out the door.
Even after hearing it repeated all day, my chest still grows warm from the compliment. Every time we finished a rep, he showered me with praise. I think I could have walked in a straight line and he would have told me I was doing amazing.
“We didn’t actually do that much defending. I thought you were going to teach me how to kick someone’s ass.”
