Page 9 of Rebel Fighter

“Welcome, everyone!” the female shouts. “Thank you all for coming out to this momentous event! These fights are going to be the biggest of the year. The prize is one of great value to Mr. Decloure. Without further ado, let’s welcome our competitors to the stage!”

A loud roar rings through the arena with everyone clapping and several people rise to their feet in excitement. Beside me, even my father claps along with the crowd. Me however… well I couldn’t so much as move my hands from my lap. Instead, I was just stuck focusing on the female on stage and what would happen next.

“Our first fighter is Bryan Holland! He comes to us as a representative of Olympian Fitness. He’s newer to the circuit than some of our other competitors, but he’s already proven he has what it takes to make it to the top!”

A tall pale male steps out from behind the black curtain wearing a black suit that helps hide his muscles well. He looks to be on the slimmer side from this far away. His red hair is cut short but shines brightly with the lights on him, making it appear almost blonde. He isn’t horrible looking but just not really my type.

“Our second contender comes to us from Unrun Dodger MMA Gym. He has been in the MMA circuit for six years now and travels not only around the United States but also around the world. Let’s welcome Avery Marshalls to the stage!”

I was already starting to tune out the contenders and I wasn’t sure how many were left. I didn’t particularly care right now until the fights were further along for me to really get a sense of who would possibly be my future partner. I knew I needed to listen just enough to hear the names in case my father asked me questions later.

One by one names were called, and everyone erupted in cheers as the fighters walked on stage. We were four names in until I about had a panic attack and couldn’t breathe.

“Please welcome Parker Ryan to the stage! He is representing Rockport MMA Gym. He has been involved in the MMA world since high school but took a small reprieve for several years to help his family. Now he is back to show the world what he’s got and reintroduce himself into the fighting world!”

The second the bright lights show me his face when he walks across the stage my breath hitches. There’s no way it isn’t possible. Unless he changed his name, that man standing on stage is Trevor. My high school sweetheart and Alexis’s father. I would know him anywhere. He’s bulkier than he was in school, but it’s him. His black hair is now cut buzzed off, and his jaw looks a lot more chiseled. He’s definitely grown and changed. Long gone is the bad boy look that I fell in love with.

I continue to stare at him the whole time through the last of the introductions, taking everything in me to keep still and not give anything away. I don’t know if my father or brother recognized him, but I’m really hoping that they didn’t.

He came home. Finally. I’m still pissed at him for leaving as he did, but I also know that now that he’s home, I won’t let him leave again without a fight. Maybe, just maybe he finally came back for me. To save me like he always promised he would.

My attention gets broken when a bright light shines in my eyes, making me blink. My first reaction is to cover my face to get the light out of my eyes, but I know that would be frowned upon.

From beside me my father lifts a microphone and begins to speak to the crowd. For the most part, I ignore what he’s saying until he partly turns to me. I take that as my cue to stand.

“This young lady here will be the winner's prize! Her hand in marriage and your chance to join the Decloure family! Good luck to all the fighters and may the best man win!”

As my eyes adjust to the light, they lock with Trevors or well Parkers. I can see his shock mirror my own. That alone gives it away that it really is him. He came home. Now, I’m not sure if that was the smartest move. If my father is the reason he left, I can only imagine what he will do now that he’s back. It’s been several years since my father truly beat me. I wouldn’t put it past him to do it again and blame me somehow for Trevor's return. For now, the only thing to do is hold on to hope my father doesn’t recognize him and that Trevor keeps his head down.

SIX

EMMA ~ 13 YEARS AGO

“You can’t avoid me forever,” I hiss across the walkway between our desks.

Trevor doesn’t answer and continues to stare forward. Mr. Howard, our history teacher, is busy droning on about the Renaissance period and the different ruling factions. There’s no way Trevor is actually paying attention to what he’s saying, but he is acting like it to ignore me. For two weeks now, we’ve sat side by side in classes. He refuses to speak a single word, and when I do catch him looking at me, he immediately turns away. It hurts like someone is dragging a knife along my chest. I have no idea what happened or why he hates me now. Before he disappeared a year ago, we were best friends, even if it was in secret, and now the one person I trusted most in this world is treating me like I don’t exist.

Before I can try again to make him talk to me, Mr. Howard breaks his speech and begins talking about a group project he will assign to us all. The whole classroom groans, me included, as the project is announced. My father hates when group projects are assigned because I get stuck at school even longer some days to work on them after school when he expects me to be home.

Mr. Howard starts to assign everyone into groups of two, with no rhyme or reason. Under my desk, I’m crossing my fingers that Trevor and I are grouped together. Then he would have no choice but to talk to me.

He can’t ignore me forever, right?

“Miss Decloure and Mr. Griffin, the two of you will be working together. I want you to focus on the art, literature, and inventions of the time. Tell me why they were important and what they meant for the world.”

I almost groan at the assignment because I was hoping for something a little easier like looking at the royal families or something. I expect to hear Trevor groan at the assignment, but he doesn’t make a sound. I guess getting him to talk is about to be a lot harder than I expected.

At the end of the assignments being given out, we are told to begin now, and we have three weeks to do our research, write a paper, and create a PowerPoint to present. Turning to look at my partner I watch as he doodles in his notebook, not bothering to look up.

“Do you want to meet after school to do some research together?” I keep my voice down as I ask, afraid he will say no. I’m only free today after school because I have cheer practice for the rest of the week. We're getting ready for a big tournament this week so it’s all hands on deck.

“Can’t,” Trevor grunts, still refusing to look my way.

I miss the way his blue eyes would stare at me. It was like he could see into my soul and everything I was trying to hide from myself was bare for him. It should have scared me, but I knew I could trust him. I’m not sure at this point what hurts the most. That he won’t look at me or won’t speak to me, it’s obvious something happened, but I only want to help him.

Turning back to my textbook, I reread the chapters we were assigned and begin taking notes on anything relevant to our project. Eventually, he’ll have to talk to me even if it’s just for the assignment. For the next fifteen minutes I was so engrossed in my notes I jumped when the bell rang. Knowing Trevor would bolt out of class, I try to be quick about packing everything up to follow him, but I’m not fast enough. When I looked back up from grabbing my bag, he was already at the entrance, and a folded piece of paper was sitting on my desk. Slowly I open it and see a beautiful drawing of myself. It’s a side profile that lets me know he had been staring at me through the class to be able to draw the exact position I was in several times while listening to Mr. Howard drone on and on. At the bottom of the drawing was a time and place with no other information. Hope starts to rise in my chest that maybe this is his way of reaching out to me.

The rest of the school day passed in a blur while I counted down the hours til I was to meet Trevor. I tried to find him during our lunch period, but he wasn’t in the cafeteria. When I had gotten up from the table with my friends to go check outside, my best friend stopped me, pulling my attention back to them. After that, I knew trying to track him down would be a lost cause. Not unless I wanted to bring attention to us but I knew that would just cause potential issues at home.

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