Queen

Chapter 24: Nightmare

I hummed in agreement while Logan nodded.

After a moment of silence, he smiled showing off his dimples.

I wish I could touch them.

Shush! Not the right time Nora!

"Well... I don't mind but I still need to talk to my mom about it. She practically grounded me the last time she found out.", He said looking scared as if remembering what happened last time.

"You could tell her that you're going on a trip with....me?", It came out more like a question than a statement. What will his mom think if he tells her he's going on a trip with me. I shuddered remembering the time I met his mom and how she assumed me to be his girlfriend. Ew!

Logan laughed. "Yes yes! She'll be ecstatic to find out I'm finally going out with a girl."

I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything. I knew how his mom is.

"You can tell her you're going with your friends.", Uncle Tom suggested.

"What if she meets one of them here while I'm gone? I'm sure she'll have a panic attack right there and I'll be grounded for my life. Besides, I don't like lying to my mom.", Logan said in all seriousness.

"Why don't you tell them to come with you. I'm sure your mom won't mind then."

"What? Are you crazy Uncle Tom? If his friends come with us then they will find out about me. What difference will it make then? If that's what we really wanted, we could have taken some professional fighter with us.", I countered in frustration.

Logan sighed while I looked at him in bewilderment. "Don't you need to say anything. It doesn't make sense!"

"There's still two months to the competition right?", He asked and I nodded.

He raked his fingers through his hair and said, "I'm sure I'll figure something out by that time. Count me in."

Uncle Tom's lips curved up and he clapped his hands, "Well, it's decided. You and Nora are going to participate in the USFC. Your training starts from tomorrow."

"Where are we going to train?"

"Remember the place where we had our match and you found out about my secret?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"That's where we have our private gym. We'll be training there from tomorrow."

"A private gym? That's so cool."

Not knowing what to do, I just nodded for the nth time all the way thinking about what I'm going to do with this crazy guy sitting next to me.

The next hour went on in explaining Logan about all the rules and regulations of this competition.

"The rules are pretty simple.", I said. "Each sponsor sends two fighters which sums up to sixteen participants. The first round is just a trial round where the fighters get to show off their skills which is followed by the four qualifying rounds. In each qualifying round, half the number of participants get eliminated."

"There will be two sets of chits numbered from one to eight. Each one of us will pick one chit. The players that get the same number will fight against each other. So Logan, this means that you can be my opponent too.", I stated with a firm voice.

"In each round, the numbers on the chits will reduce and so will the players. You lose, you're out. There's no second chance.
Only two players will be left in the last qualifying round. But that's not the finale! The winner will fight against the last years champion. If he wins, he is the new champion. I he doesn't, the champion remains."

There was a long pause before I continued, "You can wear anything you want but only on one condition. Your outfit shouldn't have any traces of metal on it."

"I don't think that will be any problem." he said.

I clapped my hands and said, "That's it I guess. Do you have any more doubts?"

He shook his head and said, "I think this will suffice."

"Very well then. Does anyone want pancakes?"

"Me.", Both the men said in unison.

I walked into the kitchen - yes! Uncle Tom had a kitchen in his office - and started taking out the ingredients when Logan walked in.

"Need some help?", He asked with his hands in his pockets.

"You know how to cook?", I questioned instead of answering him. It was like I answered his question with a question.
You know what I mean?

Nah?

Nevermind.

"My mom's a chef, so I'm bound to inherit her amazing cooking skills you know?"

"Really? Let's see what you've got then." I stepped back to give him space.

"All yours."

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