Decades of warrior’s blood flows through my veins. When I was much younger I couldn’t wait to attend the Arlington Academy and train to become one of the protectors of the island but now that I’m here, I wish that I had never arrived. Our island, the Island of Valentina, relies on the Academy to transform everyone from the ages sixteen to twenty one into prestigious warriors. Just two months ago I turned sixteen and have been training since. I’ve learned to develop a love-hate relationship with what we do here but others mostly hate what we do.

      I was walking down corridor A when I heard my roommate and best friend Aurora Nichols call my name. “Arcadia Sevina, slow down!” She exclaimed. I turned around to see her with her hands completely drenched in blood. I gestured toward her hands and asked her if she had just came from her Animal Dismantlement class. She acknowledged my curiosity with a quick nod and began rambling about the exhibition matches. The exhibition matches are used to determine who of the teenage warriors are the best of the best. The matches are a series of events and challenges testing your fighting skills, intelligence, and will. With her eyes nearly popping out of her head, Aurora couldn’t control her excitement.

“The exhibition matches are already tomorrow! I heard that they’re going to be more challenging than ever!” said Aurora.

I then told her, “I know, it’s incredibly insane how fast time has passed us by but yeah! A little birdy told me that this year we’re competing in pairs rather than by ourselves. So if your partner fails, you fail with them..” with a nervous smile.

Almost immediately she asked if she could be my partner. However, there were two reasons I had to reject her. The first was that the partnership had to be co-ed, meaning that there had to be one boy and one girl. The other reason being that although I do love her like a sister, I consider her too weak to be my partner. I’m the highest ranked female warrior so far this year at number six unlike Aurora who’s ranked one hundred fifty fifth out of two hundred warriors.

       At this point, Aurora and I had walked to the cafeteria where we were began eating our lunch. My best friend then sighed and  asked me through her mouth full of hamburger, “Then who’re thinking of having as a partner?” I simply shrugged my shoulders because I honestly had no idea. Correction, there was this one boy named Aaron Ramsey who could’ve been a potential partner but rather than going for the strongest female trainee, he decided to pair his number one ranked self with some weak girl named Stephanie that has a ranking consisting of three digits. Next Aurora raised her left eyebrow and leaned her head in the direction of another boy named Sam Claflin who just so happened to be looking in our direction. After a moment of awkward eye contact, he began to make his way over to our table and eventually sat down next to me.

“Hey Arcadia, I was wondering; you don't happen to have a partner for the exhibition by any chance do you? Well if you don’t, would you want to want to pair up with me?” Asked Sam who was sitting there with a nervous smile on his face.

I glimpsed at Aurora quickly then turned back to Sam and told him I’d love to be his partner for tomorrow. “Awesome, I can’t wait. See you tomorrow, partner.” he said with a wink as he left the table. After he left Aurora and I looked at one another in disbelief that that just happened in an instant.

“I think you guys have a good chance of taking second place!” Aurora stated.

“Second..?”I looked at her with a look of confusion.

“You don’t really believe you can beat Aaron and Stephanie do you?”

“Don’t underestimate us. Sam’s ranked only two places under Aaron. Not only do I believe that we can beat them, I know that we will.” I replied.

Aurora nodded as if she were impressed with my answer, which made my blood boil.

      After lunch was over, I headed over to the elite combat class with the other students who were ranked twenty fifth and up. Amongst that twenty five were both Aaron and Sam. Today we were doing some light sparring with a partner so I decided to make use of the time and pair up with Sam so we could discuss tomorrow. I laced up my black combat boots and tied my hair up into a high ponytail before walking over to my partner. Just as I approached him I realized that he was talking to Aaron. I stood beside Sam waiting for him to finish his conversation when Aaron looked past him and pointed at the two of us. He looked at Sam, “Arcadia’s your partner?!” He asked surprisingly.

Sam and I looked at each other then Sam turned back to Aaron. “Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that since YOU wouldn't, I asked Arcadia here to be my partner for the exhibition.” He answered.

Aaron furrowed his eyebrows with a sorrowful yet angry frown. He looked Sam dead in the eyes, turned around, and walked away. That’s when Sam turned back to me, “I’m ready when you are, partner.” He said with a suspicious smirk. I motioned toward the nearest sparring matt which was a large red soft matt, it somewhat intimidating.

Once we were on the matt we began circling each other in our defensive positions before I threw a quick left hook. As he deflected my swing, Sam asked, “I hope you're just as excited for tomorrow as I am! Aren’t you excited?” I dodged his punch and responded, “I mean I guess I'm excited. I’m not as excited for the actual challenges but I’m excited to take first place.”

Once again he deflected another one of my moves, “First place, ay? I like the sound of that.”

“I’m glad-” I began. “Aurora believes that they’re going to beat us.”

      Sam dropped his arms from his defensive stance and tilted his head. “Really?” He asked. “Although Aaron may be ranked first, he has the strongest weak spot…” I squinted at my partner, as I was intrigued. He continued, “In Aaron’s culture and family tradition, you’re absolutely not allowed to lay a finger on a woman in a harmful way. If you’re caught doing so, you’re shamed away from your family for not respecting women. So let’s say we go against them in combat, Aaron can’t hit you!”

      All I could say was “Wow.” How could Aaron be a training warrior when he can't even fight against women? We continued sparring as I began to think about how different our cultures were. In Aaron’s culture, you aren’t allowed to hurt women. Yet in my culture, if you can’t fight or defend yourself against anyone or anything, you’re considered weak and an embarrassment to your family. I guess it also has something to do with your roots and standards. While he comes from a family of peace endorsers, I come from a family of some of the most eminent protectors of this island to ever live.

      Time flew by and next thing you know the class is over. I changed into my casual clothes and made my way back to my dorm room. I passed through the hallway that lies above the river and bumped into Stephanie. We were making small talk until she asked if anything from the Animal Dismantlement course would be incorporated into an event tomorrow. I told her that there was a high probability and then asked why.

“It's against my beliefs to harm and any animals, nevermind kill them and take them apart.” she sighed.

Trying to be sympathetic I said, “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s very unfortunate.”

       Stephanie shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, whatever, it really is unfortunate though. It just sucks that my lifestyle is going to put Aaron and I at a disadvantage from the start!” She exclaimed as she flailed her arms. She then stomped away in anger.

      Once again, as I continued on my path back to my room, I felt the need to compare our different beliefs. Stephanie’s family think it’s better to completely preserve and save the animals of nature while my family believes that  the animals were put on earth to keep us alive and were meant to be utilized. I find all of these connections so odd. I guess I was just raised to be a ruthless warrior unlike people such as Stephanie and Aaron who’re disabled in some categories and skills. I was made to train here, to protect our island. When I eventually reached my room, I talked to Aurora about everything I had learned since lunch for a while until I prepared myself for bed and went to sleep.

      The next morning, the morning of the exhibition matches, I woke up two hours earlier than usual. I was too excited for the events and challenges that I had to somehow handle my extra adrenaline. I decided to go on a run where I bumped into Aaron. We ran together for awhile and then began talking about how nervous yet excited we both were. However, he was ten times more nervous than me. Aaron definitely knew that he’d possibly have to go against a female in combat in a couple of hours and that he’d fail that challenge. After a solid fifteen minute run through the forest, we decided to get ready for the exhibition.

      The exhibition began at exactly noon in the Academy's arena when the warm sun was at its peak. Sam and I agreed on matching with our all-black bodysuits. The matches began slowly with just introductions of the proctors and judges as well as the weakest pairs being eliminated immediately before the actual challenges began. The most eventful thing to happen throughout the whole exhibition occurred during round 10, the finals.

      As we were closing in on the final round, we finally had to go up against Stephanie and Aaron yet their disadvantages due to their cultures finally played a part. Round 10 was split up into two challenges; one for each partner. The first challenge was a combative fight while the second challenge was about hunting down the white tailed deer that had been released into the woods surrounding the school. Our dean of students, Professor Clinton spoke to the entirety of the academy and everyone’s parents as Stephanie, Aaron, Sam, and I stood in front of them. She explained the events to us and then asked us to decide on which partner would accept what challenge. I decided to take on Aaron and the fight which meant that Sam and Stephanie were hunting down the deer.

      Aaron and I were led to a giant white matt that ought to fight on. The reason it was white and not red was because the winner was determined by whoever could draw their opponents blood first. I was excited but Aaron looked sickly and pale. I wondered to myself, will he go against his culture and hurt me or will he allow me to win? Almost as if he read my mind, Aaron spoke up saying that he couldn't proceed with this challenge. Just like that, in a blink of an eye, Sam and I had already won half of the final round! Moments later Sam and Stephanie re-entered the arena and my partner had the biggest smile on his face. It was revealed to everyone that Stephanie also had to drop out. Sam and I were officially the victors! Although, it didn’t feel like we won. Both Aaron and Stephanie stayed true to their cultural beliefs while Sam and I played to their disadvantage. Maybe they just aren't fortunate enough to be made out for this academy. However, the situation’s different for me. For I am of warrior’s blood.