Spar

Chapter 1

I love martial arts, more specifically muay Thai. I was nervous for my class, the awkwardness of punching, kicking, elbowing a bag or the air in front of the other people in the class. it's just awkward, my dad was always the one teaching me muay Thai otherwise teaching myself. I never did it in front of other people. I walked through the door and a man at the front desk introduced himself. "Hi, you must be bonnie. My names john I'm the owner. I'm not usually at the front desk but you caught me at a good time." he walked me through to the class just before class started to introduce me to the instructor.

 "G,day my names Brian, class is starting in 10 minutes so just take your stuff to the locker room and don't worry, I won't embarrass you by introducing you to the class." Brian introduced himself. I head towards the locker rooms and when I enter, I see a tall brown handsome guy, his shirt defining his abs with plenty of tattoos. he looks over at me and smirks, I quickly look away and walk over to an empty locker. I put my bag in my locker, I go to close my locker and see the handsome guy standing next to my locker. 

"Uhm hello?" I say confused. "what's a princess like you doing in a muay Thai class?" He asked. The audacity, I would like him to say that again after sparring with me. "Excuse you?" I replied in shock. who asks that? "You heard me." he said with another one of his smirks. "don't judge a book by its cover." I spoke. "Okay then princess, be my spar partner." He replied. "Done." I said crossing my arms. I closed my locker then went to class. it had a big mirror like they do in ballet classes and a wall of kickboxing bags and a sparring ring on the side. everyone was on the side wrapping their hands and wrists, I sat down and started doing the same.

 "Alright listen up! everyone stands in two rows in front of the mirror." Brian yelled.  we all stood in two rows. Brian starts to tell us what to do like sets of punches and kicks and it was just as awkward as I thought but I got over it eventually. I caught myself glancing over at the handsome guy. although I hadn't figured out his name yet. Brian stopped us all and told us to get into pairs for sparring. "Alright, while each pair are sparring in the ring everyone else will be on the bags." I looked over at the handsome guy and see him walking towards Brian. "Brian, me and that girl will go first." Handsome guy said.  "Alright then, Bonnie! do you wanna spar today?" Brian yelled out to me. "Yeh for sure." I replied, "Are you sure? it's your first class, have you sparred before?" Brian asked. "Yeh my dad has been teaching me kickboxing since I was little, I've sparred with him plenty of times." I replied. Brian took me over to the ring and he set the timer on the wall to 5 minutes. me and the handsome guy put on shin guards and gloves. 

"You ready Princess." He asked. "No shit." I replied, "The girls got sass." he smirked. our eyes locked on each other. With a calculated step forward, I begin to circle him, gauging his movements, searching for an opening. His guard is tight, his stance solid. I go in with a jab, I watch for his reaction. he counters with a low kick aimed at my lead leg. I check it just in time, feeling the impact reverberate up my shin. I unleash a combination of punches, aiming for his head and body, hoping to break through his defense. But he's quick, slipping and weaving out of range, his counters coming back with precision. 

A sharp elbow narrowly misses my temple. We trade kicks and knees, each blow landing with a thud. As the rounds progress, fatigue begins to set in. My muscles ache, my breath comes in ragged gasps, but I push through the pain. I go in with a high kick, he grabs my leg then places his other hand on my shoulder and kicks my standing leg, As I hit the mat, the timer goes off. he looks down at me and says, "Not bad princess." he then reaches out his hand to help me up, I grab his hand then pull him down with me. "Are you going to tell me your name?" I asked him. "Malakai." he replied. "I'm bonnie, now you don't need to call me princess." I spoke. "I know your name; I just like calling you princess."