Shattered

Nine

"So, you're a boxer now." Dallas said, giving me a deadpan look.

"Yup! It pays real well, too. By the time I'm eighteen, I oughta have enough for an apartment." I grinned.

"You gotta be kidding me. You're going to die." He shook his head.

"C'mon, don't be such a drag, I can fight real good. I'm gonna be good at this, just you wait," I said, and he shook his head.

"You're going to be the death of me, you got that? My cause of death will be you." Dally poked me in the chest.

.

My first match was that weekend, and the whole gang had come to watch me "get my ass beat", as Two-Bit so lovingly put it.

"Shit, that's who I'm up against?" I heard the guy I was fighting hiss to his coach. "That's Charlie Winston, he'll kick my ass!"

"That kid seems pretty scared of you," my coach, Lawrence Knight, said. He was a balding man in his sixties, but he could still fight. All week I'd been training, and I was definitely ready.

"Coach, ain't you heard of my reputation?" I asked. "I'm notorious for always winnin' fights. Guys try to jump me and they run off without their wallets."

"Attaboy." Coach clapped me on the back. "Now get your mouth guard in and get your gloves on."

It was a recent rule that boxers had to wear mouth guards to keep teeth from gettin' knocked loose. And also to keep guys from spittin' on each other when they lose.

I popped the mouth guard in before I fastened on my gloves. I climbed over the ropes and so did the other guy. I knew him, he came to the DX occasionally. He was shorter than me, but he was strong. His name was Collin Jefferson, he was a nice guy.

"Hey, Charlie," he said, but it sounded all muffled and weird 'cause he had his mouth guard in, too.

"Hey, man,"

We both laughed at our weird voices before the ref started talkin'.

"Alright, you boys know the rules. I want a good clean fight, if you're down for five seconds- you're out, and if you're gonna throw up, for the love of god, don't puke on the math." He shot a glance to Patrick Frank, who was in the bleachers and pretended not to notice. "Three- two- one- start!"

The bell dinged and I threw the first punch. He dodged it and socked me in the gut, but I retaliated by punching him in the face. It didn't take long for me to win. I had another match in half an hour, so I wasn't allowed to see my friends yet.

Me and Colin shook hands when we were both outta the ring. "Good fight, man." I said. "Nice shot, I'm gonna have a black eye for a week now."

"Boy, I can't even feel my stomach," he laughed. "You're good."

"Thanks, man. See ya 'round."

He was out of the rest of the matches, so he went and changed before he sat in the stands.

"Aw, shit," I said under my breath as I saw my next opponent. He was a Soc guy- Bradley Wilkes. He was tall, ripped, and definitely good looking. I looked at his ass when he was turned around.

Alright, so maybe I'm a little gay. Nope. Can't think about this right now.

"Oh, you're so screwed." Coach said, and I scoffed.

"No! I can take him!" No, I can't.

He raised his eyebrows at me and I pretended to be offended.

Twenty minutes later and I was up. I knew I was gonna lose the match, but I still had to fight.

"Hi." I grinned at him, exposing the mouth guard covering my top row of teeth.

"I'm gonna crush you."

"Oh. Nice to meet you, too, pal."

He socked me in the jaw.

"Hey! That's against the rules!" The ref snapped. "Disqualified. Winston is the automatic winner."

"Neat." I spat my mouth guard into Coach's hand and he grimaced before wiping his hand on his pants.

Bradley punched me again. "Stupid greaser,"

"I'd like to be insulted, but a fourteen year old has called me worse than that." I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'll show you worse than that-"

"Hey! Ow!" He tried to beat me up but his coach and the ref dragged him out of the ring and both were yelling at him.

I went down to the locker rooms and changed into a pair of jeans and a white shirt. I showered briefly so I didn't grease my hair and just combed it back. I put on a pair of Ray Bans that I'd stolen and lit a cigarette before I shoved my boxing gloves and my clothes into my bag and jogged upstairs.

"Hey, y'all, thanks for comin'," I said as I met up with my friends outside.

"Nice job, kid." Darry nodded, and I felt proud of myself. Darry was the sports guy in our gang, and if he told you nice job.

"Thanks." I said, then noticed Colin talking to a few of his buddies. "Hey! Colin! Sorry for beating you up!"

He gave me a thumbs up. "You're good!"

"Hey, look at that Bradley guy, and his stupid fancy car." Two-Bit pretended to be disgusted as we watched Bradley.

"Think he's compensating for somethin'?" Soda grinned.

"Yeah, his inability to insult me." I replied with a straight face. "Also his dick."