Fighting, Surviving, & Hopelessly Lost

Chapter 18 Part B

"Ladies and gentlemen!! This match will determine who will go on to the championship fight!! This is the last fight of the night, so place your bets and get ready as the undefeated champion Jul Anderson takes on...." The voice of the announcer drowned down in my ears as I focused on my fight. I was ready and I was going to win this spot.

I needed to. I wanted to. I had to.

When it was time, I walked down the hall and banged open the doors to reveal the sea of flashing cameras, drunken shouts, and loud cheers.

This was no biggie, right?

I made my way over to J.C who was looking at me with curiosity and a small smirk played on his lips.

"What?" I snapped at him and crossed my hands over my chest.

"Nothing. All I know is that I placed a ton of money on you and you look ready to kick some ass. In other words, you'll do fine. Plus, I can see it in your attitude and your eyes."

I snorted. "I do not have an attitude and a look in my eyes." But even as I said it, I could tell J.C was right. I always put myself in this dark, leave-me-alone-or-else-I'll-kill-you-mood, but honestly that sorta thing helped me.

"Okay, anyways since I was pretty reluctant to let you go out tonight and Peyton sorta helped you escape, you need to try and win the first two rounds." J.C whispered the last part yet I still heard him when he said, "Knowing you, you'll probably lose the first one to get on my nerve."

"Hey, hey. I heard that," I joked as I punched J.C lightly on the shoulder. "Where's Peyton?"

As if he was reading my mind, Peyton scared me from behind but I smiled at him. He was the one that helped me get here afterall.

"Thanks," I said, tuning out all of the noise and clicks of cameras.

"You're welcome. Go and kick some butt for me," he replied while leaning down and giving me a small quick kiss on the lips. It was surprising but I enjoyed every short second of it.

"Alright you two. Break it up, I don't need little Peyton and Juliet's running around everywhere," J.C grumbled. I laughed nervously while Peyton stared at the floor sheepishly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the fight will start in approximately two minutes. May I have the two opponents come up," the announcer yelled over the noise.

Giving both Peyton and J.C one last reassuring smile, I hopped onto the ring and faced my opponent. Tall, a little over six feet, he was well built but not too bulky, and he looked scared. I wasn't sure if it was me or if it was something else but this guy looked like a piece of cake!

Don't be too over-confident, Jul. He looks easy but he could be hell, my voice reasoned. Then again, you are kick-ass, so you'll be fine.

The announcer went over the rules and time seemed to slow down. I was able to look at the crowd, at the ring, and at the overall situation. I was doing it for my sister. Her life basically depended on me; stressful yes, but at this point in time I was willing to do anything for her even if that meant going behind my family's back.

"Countdown! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!!!!" The crowd went wild and I felt such a surge of energy that probably for the first time in my career of being a fighter, I threw the first punch.

One of two things happened when I did that. 1)The guy was not expecting such a hard, fast punch that he landed on his butt and 2)The crowd roared fiercely at my move and that gave me another surge of power. The guy stood up, wiping his face, and I kicked him on his left side, threw a right punch, and blocked his weak punch towards my right cheek. This continued for another few minutes as the crowd cheered.