Survival Of The Fittest

((Koa Tagaloa continued from Ruthless Aggression))

"Aww man, not again..."

Koa could never get the timing right when it came to showing up for lunch. He never managed to arrive early, get first dibs on all the good stuff. Nor was he ever so late that he at least didn't have to wait in line for ages. No, he always managed to arrive JUST late enough to wind up at the back of a huge queue. At least this time he had an excuse, stupid bowels acting up right before the bell.

So there he was, waiting in line with an empty lunch tray in hand. He tried to look past his classmates' shoulders, see what was on today's menu, but he just couldn't quite make anything out. Never had that problem back at his old school, where he was easily the tallest in his class. Felt weird to think that was ever the case, after four years surrounded by folk like Claude and Lopaka. He supposed it made sense, given how Red Rock specialised in sports and all. When your school is known for its stellar athletics programs, you're probably gonna end up with a lot of kids on the tall side.

Koa sighed to himself, whipping out his phone to start browsing his news feed. Mostly the same old clickbait articles - Five Characters Who Could Beat Goku In An Arm Wrestle, You Won't Believe Which Beloved Character Is Returning For GTA 6, RUMOR: Former World Champion Pencilled In To Win Royal Rumble...

Man. Clickbait title aside, he was super pumped about this year's Rumble. After all, it was gonna determine who was main eventing his first ever WrestleMania! He'd argued at length with his brother over who oughta win the Rumble this year, Noah remaining convinced it should be John Cena. For Koa, there was only one viable option: CM Punk. The guy deserved to finally get the main event spot he's been after for so long, and what better Mania than Koa's first!

It was an exciting thought. One that left him so distracted that he accidentally bumped into whoever was in front of him.

"Oh, sorry! My bad!"

(Taylor Turner- Pregame Start)

Taylor was waiting for the line to move so she could finally get some food in her. She had been running late this morning and had to skip breakfast. So far, she’d only had a cup of coffee and a granola bar she got from the vending machine. She was positively famished. As she was trying to get a good look at the day’s menu, someone bumped into her.

“Hey!,” Taylor shouted, “Watch–”

Taylor was about to say “Watch where you’re going!,” when she noticed the person who bumped into her was Koa. He was a big guy. And a wrestler. Taylor wasn’t looking start conflict with a wrestler, even if she had the skills to defend herself.

“Oh, sorry,” said Taylor, “Just kinda hangry.”

"All good! I feel ya there" replied Koa, nervously scratching the back of his head.

He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling thankful that he hadn't knocked the girl's lunch out of her hands. Taylor, right? Didn't she know karate or something? Koa wasn’t looking start conflict with a karate expert, even if he had the height advantage.

He stood there a while, the line having crawled to a stop. Seemed someone was taking their sweet time picking lunch. It was tempting to pull his phone back out, but he didn't wanna get distracted and bump into Taylor again.

Eventually, he shrugged and opted to break the silence. "You, uh... Any idea what they're serving today?"

“Just the usual for Wednesday,” said Taylor, “Bean burrito with a side of mixed veggies.”

Burritos weren’t Taylor’s favorite, but they were filling. The problem was the gas you’d get afterward. It wasn’t uncommon for some students to be excused to use the restroom in the middle of class. Especially on bean burrito day.

“I bet the bathrooms are gonna be full afterward,” Taylor joked.

"Oh... Oh yeah, duh, that's right!"

Geeze, that was embarrassing. You don't attend school for a couple weeks to enjoy the holidays and come back completely forgetting the lunch rotation. But hey, it's bean burrito Wednesday! Nice!

Wednesday. Man, there used to be a time when he super looked forward to Wednesdays back when AEW was peak. Every night he'd tune in to Wednesday Night Dynamite, see what the likes of Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega were up to that week. So many awesome storylines - The Inner Circle's reign of terror, the rehabilitation of Hangman Adam Page, Cody and MJF's blood feud... Good times.

But ever since the stuff with CM Punk blew up... Man. Just hasn't really been the same. He still watched it on occasion, hell he was currently wearing his Double or Nothing t-shirt. But it definitely felt like the magic just wasn't there anymore.

"Oh god, I hope not..." he replied, having dealt with enough bowel issues that morning. His face then scrunched up when he recalled something weird he saw in the bathroom before he arrived. "Aw man, you wouldn't believe what I saw earlier. Some guy left their sandwich - a whole ass peanut butter and jelly sandwich - in the sink! Not a single bite, just left there in the middle of the boy's bathroom! Like... Who DOES that?"

“What!? Really?,” asked Taylor with a puzzled look, “What a waste of food.”

Some people. Just, why? Why would you waste a perfectly good sandwich? It makes no sense!

“Like, were they in a rush or something?,” she pondered to Koa.

She then noticed the line move. One step closer to getting her food.

“If I was the custodian, I’d be pissed if I saw that,” said Taylor.

"I bet" Koa replied, shuffling forward a few steps. "Not that they could really pin it on anybody."

As they waited patiently in line, Koa couldn't help but find himself dwelling over what he saw back in the boy's bathroom. Thinking it over logically, try to piece together the mystery of the abandoned PB&J sandwich.

Like... OK, so why leave a sandwich in the sink? Probably because you were in a rush and needed to dump it fast, just as Taylor suggested. But why bring it into the bathroom in the first place? Presumably to eat it, that's what one typically did with sandwiches. Ok, but why the bathroom? Why go there to eat it, only to leave in a such hurry?

Maybe someone snuck out of class for a cheeky snack, try to hide somewhere that wouldn't be caught on camera? But then something spooked 'em, so they panicked and dumped the sandwich before fleeing the scene? Seemed sorta plausible, if absurd. Then again this entire mystery was absurd to begin with.

Was this a pointless thought experiment? Yes. Was he wasting precious brainpower that could be spent more productively? Also yes. Was he going anywhere with this train of thought? Um... Not really. He had no idea why he was so invested in such a stupid mystery. Maybe because he'd likely never have a real answer, left forever wondering what strange series of events led to someone abandoning a perfectly good PB&J sandwich. Odds are, he'd likely be stuck asking himself those questions till his dying breath.

On the bright side, all this mulling helped kill time, and before long they reached the end of the line. Best of all, there was still a slice of cheesecake left amongst the options for desert! Aw sweet!

As Taylor collected her food, she scanned the lunchroom for any open tables. It was pretty crowded for the most part. Everyone seemed to have a group to sit with. The jocks and cheerleaders at one table. The gamers and nerds were playing a card game at another. And the goths and emos were sitting in a corner.

She saw an open table in the middle of the raucous banter between the students. Taylor paid the lunch lady and made her way to the open table. She then stopped and looked back to Koa. Maybe she should invite him to sit with her. Not like any of her tennis teammates were anywhere to be found right now.

“Hey,” she said to Koa, “Wanna share a table?”

Alrighty, lunch acquired! Now he just needed to find a spot to...

Ah.

Like Taylor, Koa was a bit stumped as to where he oughta sit. Not for lack of options mind you; whilst the friends he usually sat with weren't present - either because they left early or were having their lunch elsewhere - there were a fair few groups that would likely welcome him. The nerds, the gamers, the theatre kids, hell he sometimes even sat with his fellow football teammates. 

The problem was that all those tables looked pretty packed, and he didn't like to impose on folk. Especially given how, uh... Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but he found it trickier than most to squeeze into spots when it's already crowded.

Fortunately, he found himself presented with a left-field solution to his conundrum, looking a little taken aback by Taylor's offer. "Uh... Sure! Yeah, sounds good"

Moseying on over towards the empty table, Koa couldn't help but take note of the pins Taylor was wearing. Some of which had multicolored patterns he recognised to LGBT flags, which was neat. There was one with an orange white and pink pattern that rang a bell, but he couldn't quite remember what it represented. Bisexuality maybe? No, that was purple and pink... Not that it really mattered, he just didn't wanna fumble and use the wrong pronoun or something.

"So, uh..." he began, lifting up his bean burrito as he tried to think of something to talk about.  "You do martial arts, right? How's, uh... How's that going?"

“Oh, it’s going pretty well,” Taylor answered, “Right now, I have blue belts in taekwondo and karate.”

Taylor was aiming to get her next belts soon. In taekwondo, her next belt was also blue, but with a red tip. Meanwhile, her next belt in karate was purple. With the progress she’s made, she’s confident she can earn them.

“You’re a wrestler right?,” asked Taylor, “How’s that going for you?”

"MMm-hmm!" Koa responded, before gulping down a mouthful of that bean burrito. "Well, kinda. Still training, can't really say I'm a wrestler yet, but it's on the cards!"

He took another bite out of his burrito. It was kinda bland, with a mushy texture. Left him hankering for a chipotle.

"Pretty different from martial arts training, I imagine. Less about self-defence, and more... Like, how NOT to hurt your opponent."

“I see,” said Taylor, biting into her burrito.

The fundamentals of karate and wrestling were certainly different. Taylor originally wanted to practice martial arts to be like the action heroes in her favorite movies. But she quickly learned that martial arts in real life were much harder to pull off than in the movies.

“So, what got you into wrestling?,” Taylor asked.

"My old man," Koa replied, proudly. "He used to wrestle back in the noughties. Mostly on the indie circuit, he wasn't ever in the big leagues or anything, but MAN does he have some stories..."

God, SO many stories. Like the time his father got to be Kurt Angle's bodyguard, or how he once had a match with Tyler Black - Seth freakin' Rollins himself - or the infamous party he attended featuring the likes of Jeff Hardy, Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair! Just thinking about it gave Koa the chills.

In a way, his desire to imitate the heroes of his youth wasn't far off Taylor's. As did the revelation that there was a lot more to wrasslin' than badass entrance themes, cool finishers and corny catchphrases.

"What about you?" he asked, gulping down another mouthful. "What got you into martial arts?"

“My brother,” said Taylor, “He always looked so cool doing those kicks and flips.”

Taylor was a rowdy kid back in the day. Her brother suggested she take martial arts to learn discipline. And after some encouragement, she’s come pretty far.

“I might apply to be an instructor in the future,” she continued, “Once I get my black belt of course.”

"Nice! Can picture myself becoming a wrestling coach someday, for sure..." replied Koa, finishing off his burrito before grabbing a spoon for desert.

"My brother-" he continued, pausing briefly to wolf down a spoonful of cheesecake. "-mmf, my brother wants to go pro too. We're thinkin' of forming a tag team or something, try to make a name for ourselves in the indies"