To The Sky

one.

"Watch me, don't take your eyes off me," Ant cut through his thoughts. He did just that, refocusing. Once he was completely focused, and 'in his zone' as Ant put it, it was hard to predict his next move, his next step.

The sounds drowned out around him, his vision tunneled as if he had on blinders and the only thing in front of him was his opponent. His only thoughts were of what's next, never thinking back on what was done.

He tapped the mitts with precision, no matter where Ant's hands moved, his hands followed. He ducked another hit, dodged another, and threw punches back at the same speed.

"That's time!" they both heard as a bell sounded, and Xav backed away from Ant, taking a short breath. Xav looked around, seeing the younger boys watching him, As they did most days. "Nigga was givin' us a show," the oldest of them, Kyle smirked.

"Man quit," Xavion chuckled lowly, waving him off.

"When he go pro, we finna be watchin' PrimeTime on primetime, feel me?" one of the other boys gassed him. He had been called PrimeTime in the ring since he was 10 years old, he was known for entertaining, even though he didn't mean to. Watching him in the ring was like watching a movie.

"Gone wit' allat," Xavion laughed, remaining humble as he always did. Let these kids tell it he had every reason in the world to brag and boast, but he never did. He let them do it for him, he always let his work speak for him.

"G, when you gon' come round and train us," Tyson, the youngest boy asked, as Xavion exited the ring, heading to his locker so he could go home. He was exhausted and all he wanted was to be in bed.

"When yo' progress report and yo' report card don't look like shit," he said seriously. Although Xavion didn't go to college, he still felt that good grades and education were extremely important, and he he knew a lot of these boys didn't take school seriously. He acted that way for a year in middle school and his mother snatched him out of the gym faster than he could blink.

"Man, them damn teachers don't be fuckin' wit me, Tyson sucked his teeth.

"Well, start doin' yo damn work maybe they would," he smarted back, shutting his locker. "Come back to me wit' honor roll, we gon see," he lightly tapped Tyson's chest. "Ant, Ima head out,"

"Aight, good work today, don't forget Saturday," he pointed.

"I couldn't if I tried," he chuckled, pushing the door open and headed back to his car. Before he could even start it, his mom texted him.

Mama: hey sweetie, could you grab Dymond from school later on?

: yeah I gotchu ma
Mama: thank you honey! Love you ♥️
: I love you too ma

He was glad it was only 8:30, he could shower and sleep until his sister got off school, where all those boys were running to right about now. He shook his head, they always did this. Came to the gym early and made themselves unnecessarily late for school just to get some time in the ring.

They reminded him so much of himself.

As a teenager boxing was his sole focus. He didn't care about school, or college or anything else he just wanted to box. As he got older of course he gained more responsibility and put his life into perspective, but he could see himself all throughout those boys.

He figured that's why Ant and the other trainers said they look up to him. He was them, and they knew it, they'd watched him grow and sometimes he felt like they knew him better than he knew himself.

When he arrived back at his apartment, he wasted absolutely no time finally scrubbing his long morning down the drain. This was his favorite part of the day, a scorching shower and an unnecessarily long nap, he felt he deserved every minute of sleep he got, and he would not waste it.