Jericho

Training

The next day, I was awoken by Dan, who told me that it is time for "training."

"What training?" I questioned

"Boxing, silly boy! C'mon, up, up, up! We gotta get moving! No time for beauty sleep, no sir-ee!"

I groaned and rolled out of bed, out from under the warm covers. I wasn't used to being woken up, as I was usually the first to wake, but I had trouble falling asleep last night. I couldn't stop thinking about Kindle.

I took a quick shower, fixed my hair, brushed my teeth, and put on jogging pants and a hoodie over a sweatshirt; it was chilly outside.
Dan had on a purple track suit and sunglasses, which looked quite ridiculous in my opinion, but I said nothing. Kindle met us in the hallway, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and a green hoodie pulled over her arms. I could still see the sleep in her eyes, but she was still beautiful.

We made our way out to Dan's expensive car, but he stopped me when I was about to get in.

"No, you won't be riding with us."

"What do you mean?" I asked rather indignantly, as I was grumpy from lack of sleep.

"You are going to run beside the car while we go to the gym to start your training," he replied in an "as-a-matter-of-fact" manner.

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Just a little," he chuckled as he slid into the car and shut the door.
The car pulled away slowly, and I stared at it in exasperation before I began to jog. Luckily, I had spent many years running, so the jog barely caused me to break a sweat.

Once we got to the gym, a fairly new brick building with a hedge surrounding its old metal fence, I heard a deep,repetitive thudding sound that I soon found out was mae by the punching bags. Soon I, too, was creating that satisfying sound against a huge, red hanging bag that Dan bought for me and set up in the corner.

I was nowhere near as talented as the men surrounding me, but I didnt care. I was jumping into the whole boxing-thing with a fiery passion. I had never loved something the way I loved boxing.

However, my love for the sport did not make me good at it. I trained my hardest at the gym and thought about every technique when I wasn't there. I ran through the exercises day and night and even dreamed of practicing. But I was no good. Anytime Dan took a look at me, he gave me a million corrections that seemed impossible to do. I began to get frustrated, but I never gave up. Finally, the day came for me to see how far I had come.

"Hey, Jericho, get over here!" Dan called.

I quickly left the jump rope I was using to find Dan talking to a well-built man who seemed to be around 25 or so. For some odd reason, he was very familiar.

"It's time for you to get some experience. Get in the ring, you're fighting this man." he said as he handed me a pair of gloves.

I was a bit taken aback at first, but did as he told me nevertheless. It was odd, stepping onto that cool surface for the first time. I liked the feel of it under my feet.

The familiar man stepped in front of me and immediately stepped into a fighting stance, bouncing his weight back and forth. It was clear that this man was experienced. The bell rang and we started to circle each other in the ring.

I got into a loose fighting stance and tried to reverse punch him, but he side-stepped and punched me in the gut. He could've done more damage, I knew, but he was holding back since I was new.

Again, I struck. Stepping out with my front foot, I jab-stepped and punched him in the jaw. I stepped back triumphantly, but he wasn't dazed as I had expected him to be. Instead, he lunged forward and hit me twice in the gut and once in the jaw, after which I fell into the ground.

I saw Kindle in her normal spot on the bench watching me with a concerned look. I know my face turned red once I realized she saw that.

I stood up and got back into my fighting stance, but Dan called the fight to a stop.

"I think that's enough for today. I don't want you to get too bruised up on your first day, Kid!" he chuckled.

"Don't call me that."

He ignored me.
"So, do you know who this is?" he asked me, gesturing to the man I fought.

"No."

"He is Peyton Aria. The man from the match."

"Oh," was all I could mutter, suddenly star-struck that I had just went up against that man.

"Yeah, he's going to be your trainer. I may know all of this stuff, but I'm just too old to really help you," he laughed.

"Are you serious?" I exclaimed, and he just smiled and nodded. I was ecstatic. I would get better than the show I had just put on. I would become great.

I walked over to Peyton, who was putting his gloves into a bag.

"Hey, good job," he smiled at me.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that," I replied with a nervous laugh. I couldn't believe I was really talking to a famous boxer!

"Hey, that was your first fight! That was really good! You did good at finding openings. Now we have to work on your speed, strength, and making sure that you follow up with your moves. You did good with that jab-step, but you stopped. You need to throw more punches or else someone's going to trample you."

I stared at him wide-eyed, not completely understanding what he told me. He seemed to notice when he laughed, put his hand on my shoulder, and said," Don't worry, you'll get it. It takes time, is all. Well, time and passion."

"Passion?" I questioned. What did passion have to do with being a good boxer?

"Yeah. You need passion to be good at anything, Jericho. Passion leads to determination and dedication, and without any of that, you don't have love for what you're doing. And if you're not putting your heart into it, you aren't going to do very well. What would be the point of doing it, anyway?"

"I guess there wouldn't be a point, really."

"Exactly," he smiled at me again as he walked away. He was a strange guy, but I was beginning to like him.

I changed clothes and got ready to go back to the hotel. Kindle met me as soon as I left the bathroom, concern evident on her face. She gently grabbed my face as her eyebrows rose.

"Are you okay? Your lip is busted!"

I almost told her to stop overreacting, but I remembered that Kindle didn't grow up the way I did. I had seen much worse than a busted lip, but she had not. Instead, I grabbed her hand a pulled it away from my face, cupping it in both of mine and looking her in the eye.

"I'm fine. I'll be okay. In fact, I'll be more than okay. This is my passion."