The Queen Of Spades

Chapter 6, Continued, Again

As I made my way to the side doors of the school to leave, something on the floor caught my eye. There, partially hidden by a vending machine, was a bracelet. A bracelet that I had seen before, I tried to think of where I saw it and a Christmas tree came to mind. Jade gave this bracelet to Aiden last year at Christmas, it was a charm bracelet with all her favorite things on it to remind him of her. He had said he loved it and wore it every day after. When did he lose it? How did he lose it? More questions are the last thing I need, answers better come soon. I thought. But in the meantime, a fight would do. There was a daytime fight club close to the school, only a couple of blocks away at a gym. I looked at the money in my bag, thirty dollars, that should be enough to get into a fight. I looked around as I opened the door and saw Noah, covered in raindrops, looking at me from the stairwell. He had been skipping. Good, now he couldn’t snitch on me. I put my hood up and stepped out into the rain, letting the drops break on my face.

I opened the doors to the gym and the familiar sights, sounds, and smells filled my senses. Blood and sweat collided with grunting and cheering in a dimly lit room. The memory of coming here last year floated to the front of my mind, sneaking out, fighting, getting caught and getting grounded. The corners of my mouth curled up in a smile as I paid the man up front and went back to the ring. In the back, they were cleaning someone’s blood off the mat and the announcer was calling for a competitor for the guy standing in the ring. He looked like a low level gang banger, acting extremely confident in himself even though he looked like he had no build at all. I walked past all the men laughing and climbed in the ring. The announcer came over to me and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was here to fight and to ring the stupid bell already. The crowd laughed at the lineup and I couldn't say I blamed them, a teenage girl and a guy who looked like the only violence he'd ever seen was on a video game.

The bell rang and I stood, waiting. He lunged at me and the fight was over as quickly as it began. I stood with his broken arm in my hand and he tapped out, crying.
"I want a real fight this time." I told the announcer when he entered the ring to give me my money.
"Alright then." He turned to the crowd and asked for a challenger. A big man with a scar (that looked totally fake by the way) across his eye raised his hand and made his way up to the ring to join me. A wide smile grew on his face as he looked at our height difference. He was at least two and a half feet taller than me and probably weighed almost triple. I couldn't wait to knock that smile off his face. Again the bell rang and again I stood waiting for the man to attack. As predicted, he did and I dodged his blows, hoping to keep the fight going for a bit. Finally I struck back and punched him square in the jaw. He stumbled back, surprised, and I took that moment to get him on the mat. I started punching him, trying to wear him down before he got up again. He flipped himself so that he was on top of me and I landed on the mat with a thud, the wind getting knocked out of me as I was pinned under him. When I gathered my bearings, I squirmed out from under the man and stood. In the corner of my eye, I saw a clock on the wall and realized I should get back to school before last period. Changing tactics, I took the offensive and broke his arm, knocking him down. He slammed me against the ring and I felt blood running down my face when his fist came away from my nose. Adrenaline surged through me and I felt the life coming back to me like it did with every good fight. I hit him again and again until he was a bloody mess on the floor and I had won.