If the Story Aligns

Chapter 7-Confusing Actions

Asher Reed

I've decided that Rhea Griffin is one of the most perplexing people to exist, but I want to be able to know everything about her. For some strange reason Rhea is the first girl to capture my attention in a long time.

After hearing about her lack of parents, living alone, and seeing her bike at that fighting place, I can't help but wonder who she is as a person, once you really get to know her. I wasn't lying when I said my mom and Nia liked her, they really do, but what I didn't tell her was that I also liked her.

"Ashy," Nia whines. "will you pretty please bring over Rhea again?" I like her, she was nice to me and you've never brought over a girl before, just those weird, smelly boys."

"Don't worry Ni, I want her to come over more too." She raises her eyes and gasps.

"DO YOU LIKE HER, YOU HAVE A CRUSH," She screams "Asher and Rhea sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. I have to tell mom!" Nia giggles and runs away.

Maybe that was a mistake telling Nia, I do like Rhea but not exactly the way Nia is thinking, at least not yet. As I head up the stairs to my room I pull out my phone and go to Instagram, maybe I could figure out more about her from there. I type in her name and nothing appears, so I check Snapchat, Tik Tok, Twitter, Facebook, and there's absolutely nothing about her anywhere. Which means I just have to find out more about her the old fashioned way.

. . .

Rhea is already in class seated with her hood up looking downwards, most people at this school wouldn't even give her a second glance with how she dresses, if only they knew what was under the hood. Sitting down next to her she slightly looks up at me and nods in acknowledgement, after last night I thought we made progress by shutting out the whole "quiet persona." The way she talked to my mom showed me how social and confident she could be if her guard wasn't always up.

"How's it going?" I try.

"Eloquently fantastic." She dryly responds.

"If I didn't know any better I would think you're being sarcastic."

"No shit, sherlock." There was the snarky, shut out Rhea we all know and love.

I chose to ignore that comment and change the topic by asking "So, since we have a lot of the project basis done, do you want to come over tonight to work on it some more?"

"I can't, I'm busy."

"Doing what?" I Pry.

"None of your concern." She's making this whole fucking thing so much harder then it needs to be. I just sigh and go back to paying attention which is met with a hum of approval from Rhea.

A few minutes of listening to the teacher talk I realized I already knew all of this and whipped out my phone to text Roman and River. If Rhea was busy tonight she could very easily be going to that fighting ring. Our group chat is called ARR, like a pirate, or our initials.

To ARR: You guys busy tonight?

From River: Never for you ;)

I hear Roman laugh from the other side of the classroom, but quickly covers it up with a cough.

From Roman: Nah, whatcha got in mind?

To ARR: I stumbled along this place the other day, I'll tell you more about it in person.

. . .

"So what you're saying is that you saw Rhea's bike and then accidentally stumbled upon an underground boxing club?" Roman says.

"Why the fuck would Rhea be at a boxing match?" River says confusedly.

"I don't know, why do you think I want to go to the place tonight? Rhea said she was busy and she has no friends here, except kind of Elysia so what else would she be doing? There's a pretty good chance she'd be at this place again." I retort.

"Ok, let's figure this out then." River adds, we wait a bit to leave because last time I saw the was past 10, so I'd assume these are late night fights, so they could hide better.

Eventually, we all get kind of restless about waiting and decide to head over, we all home in Romans car. A gorgeous new Challenger with a V8 engine, and drive towards the arena, as we near I keep looking for things that are familiar because I don't exactly know where I'm going.

"Ash, when the fuck are we going to get there, I feel like I've been driving forever."

"Umm, I'm not actually sure, I am trying to remember." Roman sighs while River decides to complain. "What do you mean you don't kn-" "STOP" I yell interrupting Rivers complaint, Roman slams on the brakes as I point "That's Rhea's bike turn here."

"What the fuck is this place." Roman mumbles. River looks extremely happy and I just know he's pretending to be a spy right now. As we walk in I notice it's more packed than the last time, so it would be hard to find Rhea with a crowd.

"Did you ever think maybe she comes here because she has a boyfriend or something who is fighting?" River whispers.

"If anything, I hope it's just a friend." I grumble.

Everyone in here is cheering loudly and it sounds like they're saying a name.

"Are they chanting 'Storm'?" Roman asks

Getting closer you could easily make out the loud "STORM, STORM, STORM, STORM!" Just when I'm about to say something, River and Roman see the people fighting and both gasp, there's blood and bruises everywhere but both people are still going, and I realize the one everyone is cheering for is the same person I saw fight last time. "Here he is, Storm, back once again keeping up his unbeatable streak, if he wins this fight he will be ranked #2 of the fighters here, will he take the beloved 'Cavemans' spot or will he be defeated and forced into his first loss." The announcer booms.

River looks at the ring and then towards Roman and I and says "How the fuck has this guy never lost a fight he's tiny, and the guy he's going against right now is huge."

"Just watch the fight River, it's obvious this guy has some serious skill and power." Roman retorts in awe, just as River was about to argue 'Storm' through a wicked punch to the opponent's head and knocked him out.

"Once again 'Storm' wins, maintaining his winning streak, I know we are all wondering who Storm is and where did he come from, no one comes out of nowhere and beats all their opponents, especially in only a little over a week." States the announcer, a lot of people clap, but some boo, probably from losing money betting on the wrong guy.

Soon everyone starts leaving, and I forgot to look for Rhea because I was distracted by the fight.

"Fuck guys everyone's leaving and we all forgot to look for Rhea." I tell them.

"Let's go out front to see if her bike is still here." Roman suggests.

By the time we made it through the people, Rhea's bike was already gone.

To Rhea Griffin: Hey, come by tomorrow to work on the project, I won't have much time next week with basketball and it's a Saturday so we can get a lot of the project out of the way.

Looking over the text, I realized the only way I will be able to figure things out is getting to know her better, and with that I hit send.

. . .