The Only Exception

Chapter 6

“Annabelle?”

            I couldn’t believe that Nick, the annoying but sweet guy who had walked me home from school and invaded my house, was standing before me as my opponent. Oh this is just fantastic, I thought to myself.

Nick turned to the announcer. “I can’t do this dude.” He took a couple of steps away from me, holding his hands up in surrender. “I can’t fight a girl.”

“Oh really now? Because if you think for one minute that I can’t beat the ever-loving-shit out of you, then you are seriously mistaken.” People in the crowd around us started to murmur and laugh. One guy even shouted out, “Come on, fight her you coward!”

On the outside Nick just laughed, but I could tell that on the inside he was fuming. What guy wouldn’t be when they were just called a coward?

I took in this sign of weakness, and knew exactly what to do. “Yeah, coward, why don’t you just fight me? I mean a big bad guy like you could certainly take down a tiny little girl like me, right? So why don’t you just do it?”

 As I said that, a flash of something I couldn’t quite detect flashed through his eyes; but the beads of sweat forming on his brow and the slight shift in his stance told me exactly what I needed to know. I threw my head back and gave out a harsh laugh. “Oh that’s rich. You’re scared, aren’t you? You’re afraid that your reputation is going to be tarnished when I beat you, but at the same time, if you back down, then that will make you look equally as bad.” At this point the spectators were dead silent as I stepped a little closer to him. “Here, I have a solution for you. Fight me, and win. Sounds easy enough, right?”

“Yeah. Right. Okay.” Nicked bounced up and down on his feet. “Let’s do this.”

I smiled. “Now that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” I turned away Nick and headed for my corner. I was glad to see Leo waiting there for me. All I gave him was a simple nod, and he knew what to do. Sitting down on the stool that he had placed there, I waited until Leo came back with my supplies. Slowly but surely he returned, and we started to prepare. Leo started wrapping up my hands, as I put my mouth piece in. I bounced up and down, getting my energy and adrenaline up. I could do this. Sure, he was bigger, and most definitely stronger, than me; but I had something he didn’t; speed. I was small and agile, and I could certainly throw a good punch. Leo had made sure of that.

Once he was done with my hands, Leo sat me down. I could tell he was nervous, but I couldn’t understand why. I do this kind of stuff all the time. “Look Anna…” He started. “I already know what you’re going to say. You’re an amazing fighter. I think we all know that. Just be careful, okay? You really worry me sometimes.” He eyed me carefully. “You’re completely clean today, right?”

I nodded. I knew what he was referring to, but I would never let something like that happen again.

Flashback: Two weekends ago.

“You’re high Anna, you need to go home.” Leo stood in front of me, arms crossed and looking grim. “I’ll give you a ride.” He started leading me towards his jet black Corvette, and I stumbled along after him. I was completely out of it. My eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and I could barely even make out the shape of the person walking in front of me. Leo, my brain registered. He’s taking you home. I could not go home. Evan would kill me if he saw me like this. It was bad enough when he found those bottles under my bed.

“No!” I shouted, and pulled myself from Leo’s grasp. I didn’t know what to do, only that I couldn’t go home in this state. So, I did the only thing I could think of. I ran. I started running down the road and past the club, but Leo was right behind me. I was running out of breath, and I knew that Leo would soon be able to catch me. I needed to get out of his sight so I could lose him. I did a u-turn and ran into the back entrance of the Fight Club, hoping that the mass of people in there would suffice as coverage from the bulky man chasing after me. I knew that he was just trying to do what he thought was good for me, but he didn’t realize what would happen if Evan were to see me. I didn’t even want to think about it. That would be some scary shit.