Steve, however, felt like his life was crumbling. After receiving such a look from Stephanie, his face mirrored his indignation.
The two made their way to the next class, only to see that the rumor had spread even further. By the time the day was done, Steve seemed depressed as they made their way to his car.
"Why do you care bro?" Ken asked, genuinely curious. To him, as long as they knew it wasn't true, what did it matter?
Steve sighed, "It's not like I care what other people think, but it hurts a bit that Stephanie seemed to believe it." He admitted.
"Cheer up man." Ken stated, nudging him slightly.
"Easy for you to say. You already have a girlfriend, but I'm a damn virgin."
Ken clasped his hands together, as if he was praying. "I'm terribly sorry my friend. I will pray for you."
Steve sent him a glare, but quickly let out another sigh.
Knowing that his friend wasn't in the mood to joke around, Ken got serious. "Well, there's one way to prove the rumors wrong…"
"Hmm?"
"Heh… Just ask Steph to prom." Ken said simply, as if it was inconsequential.
"What, so I can experience rejection face to face?" he said, scoffing.
"Hey man, it's your life. I guess the alternative is that people think you're my bitch." An amused grin crept onto his face as he said these words.
"Huh!? Why would they think that I'm the bitch?" He retorted, feeling offended.
However, when he looked at Ken's 6'4 stature and size, it was rather incriminating. To him who was around 6' tall, Ken definitely looked like the one who would be in charge.
"ARGHHH, this is so frustrating." He said, pulling at his hair.
Ken chuckled, knowing that those words had done the trick. If one had a choice, there was no way they wouldn't want to clear up such rumors, unless they were like Ken who didn't care what other people thought.
Ken threw his bike into the back of the pickup truck and hopped in before Steve began to drive away. He was silent for a few minutes, as if having an internal debate in his mind.
"Alright, what do I need to do?" He asked, letting out a resigned sigh. It seemed that he'd come to terms with the need to act.
"Well, how do you usually ask a girl out to prom?" Since Ken wasn't from America, he didn't know the customs.
Steve thought for a while, "Well sometimes people do it with flowers, others do like a grand gesture I guess."
"Hmm? So that Brittany girl didn't even go all out… She shouldn't be surprised I said no then." Ken mused, feeling cheated.
"Bro… Usually it's the guy who asks the girl to prom. No wonder she spread that rumor about us…" Steve glanced at him, an accusatory expression on his face.
"What else was I meant to do? I didn't even remember her name until you mentioned it."
"True…"
"Alright, we're getting off topic. What does Stephanie like? I'm sure we can come up with something." Ken prompted, trying to get back on track.
…
The two continued to chat in the car ride towards training. Even when they were running around and doing drills, the two were close by, chatting away.
After practice, Latrell walked up to them, his expression a little unsure.
"Hey… Are the rumors true?" He asked softly.
Steve's face turned red as he swallowed the curses that were about to come out of his mouth.
Ken froze, but then a smile formed on his face, "Hey Latrell, which one of us do you think is the bitch?"
"Um what?" He replied in utter shock.
Before Steve could say anything, Ken held his hand over his mouth, preventing him from talking. "Don't be shy, tell me."
Clearly feeling uncomfortable, Latrell was forced to answer. "I—I'd guess that Steve is."
"HAHA! I told you man." Ken exclaimed, letting out a hearty laugh.
Steve looked as if he'd just swallowed a lemon. His depression returned, leading to a deep sigh.
Feeling like he might have gone too far, Ken decided to set the record straight, even detailing the part where he rejected a girl in his class who started the rumors.
After having the whole story explained to him, Latrell seemed to feel a little less uncomfortable. "Man, I can't believe the rumor spread so fast around the school. Even I overheard it from some people."
It was a rather impressive feat to distribute information to the whole school in only a few hours. It seemed that Brittany had a great marketing ability.
As they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Once practice was over, Ken was getting ready to run through the additional training with both Steve and Latrell like they usually did. However, he was surprised to see a couple of new faces.
"Max, Nico… Are you joining in?" Ken asked with a little shock.
Nico looked a little awkward, but Max seemed determined. "We want to join in your extra training. I want to perform well in the WWBA." Max stated.
"Hmm, better late than never I guess." Ken replied.
It had been over a month and a half since he joined the Gladiators, yet this was the first time that the two had shown up to the extra training he hosted. While there was only 2 weeks left to the tournament, it wouldn't hurt to have them join in.
'Perhaps they saw the improvements in both Latrell and Steve already.' Ken thought.
Now that he looked at the two, there was a clear difference in their muscle mass, not to mention their stamina had improved by leaps and bounds.
Steve's changes were most notable. His body had far more definition than before, despite only training for 6 weeks alongside Ken. It was clear that both Nico and Max also wanted to improve themselves.
"Alright, but I won't be going easy on you." Ken said with a grin.