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24. An Important thing to tell you

"The Los Angeles inter-club boxing tournament." Estrella's father stood in the ring, leaning against the ropes. The rest of the gym members were crowded around the outside of it, looking up at the older gentleman who was their trainer. Estrella had been asked along to hear about it, because it was apparently an important announcement. "We've been invited to compete."
A few mutters ran through the small crowd at these words. "Now, as I understand it, some of you will want a chance at this. Five boxing gyms from across L.A. will be competing, and the winner-" there was a short pause"-will go to the state championship, and will earn three hundred dollars for their club." The mutters now rippling throughout the crowd were much more excited then last time.
"We have been given twelve weeks to decide on our best fighter, and train him to compete." Estrella's father called out over the muttering crowd.
"We have only one champion?" One of the fighters shouted.
"Indeed. It will be a great honour." Their trainer nodded.
"Who's the best fighter?" Another young man shouted up to her father.
"That will be decided in good time, boys. Tomorrow we will begin the decision process." He told them, "it will involve single round fights, refereed by me." He then said. "Everyone will have a chance, however our winner will be someone who can really go the distance, because the winner of the first fight will fight in the next almost immediately, and it will continue until the winning person is defeated. After a fighter has gone for three fights in a row, everyone will break for twenty minutes, then it will continue." This would be rough competition, and glancing around, Estrella noticed a few worried and shocked expressions. The decider would definitely pull the best from their ranks.
Her father quickly dismissed his boxers, and made his way towards the clinic.
Her father's gym was opened decades before by her great, great grandfather; George Kinde, who's stagename was George Starr. The gym had passed through the family, eventually landing in her father's hands. Her father's name was actually Paul Kinde, but in her grandfather's honour, he always wrote his name as George Starr except on legal documents (on which he used his real name). That meant that in the tournament, whoever the gym's champion was, would be referred to as having been trained by George Starr. The gym itself was even called 'George Starr's boxing club'.
Estrella began to walk towards the door leading to the hallway, and went into the clinic after her father.
"Hey dad." She greeted. He was fiddling around with documents over near the fridge, and glanced up.
"Oh, hi sweetheart." He replied, "what's up?"
"Oh nothing, I was just wondering who you reckon will be the gym's champion?" She inquired, "I mean... you know them better then I do." Estrella added. There was eleven fighters in the gym all in all, and Estrella was acquainted with all of them, but she hadn't closely observed most of them as fighters.
"Shut the door." He glanced at it. Estrella did as she was told, and sat down at the table. He father sat across from her. He immediately launched into an explanation, referring to the fighters by last name.
"Heets hasn't got it. He's heavy footed, and slow-- mentally and physically." Her dad began, "Chind and Hall are both a little too ameteur; there's potential there, sure, but the two of them just won't cut it." He added, "Ghert, Schuyler, Dendi and Tomson don't have the stamina. They'll go down after the first three or four rounds and that's it." "And then there's Sommer, who's clumsy and Junsten, who's defense is one of the worst I've ever seen." He concluded. "We only have twelve weeks, and we have to waste time choosing a winner, so it's less then that even; I just don't have the time to bring them up to scratch." He shrugged. "Maybe they'll have a chance in the future sometime, but not this time."
"Okay, so what about Caleb and Eddie?" She questioned.
"They're pretty well matched, so whoever wins that single round wins the honour." He winked. Estrella smiled at him.
"So it's either my best friend or my brother?"
"Yep." He grinned at her, "that's my bet, anyway." He added. Estrella smiled back, and there was a thirty second pause.
"You know I have to go back on the road tomorrow, right?" She said, suddenly solemn.
"Yeah." Her dad nodded,
"So... why did you have me there for the announcement?" She queried.
"I'd really like it if you could come along, sweetheart." He placed his rough hand atop his daughter's on the tabletop.
"I... suppose I could ask for a day or two off." She murmered. Her father smiled broadly.
"I'm glad! Whoever our champion is will want you to be there." He stated. Estrella already knew that, but she gave her dad a gentle smile anyhow.
"Yeah, he will."

Meanwhile...
Axl was sitting on the cushioned benchseat by the window on the bus, which had the white blind drawn over it, his right hand laying limply on the tabletop. He seemed sort of lost in thought. Celine entered quietly through the bus door. Axl was alone except for her, and he didn't seem to notice her until she stood right beside him. He glanced up at her, and she got the feeling that maybe this wasn't such a great idea. Celine worried that he wanted to be alone. That is, until he broke out into a smile and lifted his hand from the table to grasp hers.
"Hey, baby. Come and sit with me." He shuffled even closer to the window, and Celine sat down slowly. "What's wrong, beautiful?" He had a gentle smile, and ran his fingers through her hair once, before bringing his hand back to her face to cup her cheek. Celine smiled ever so slightly in return as butterflies filled her stomach.
"Nothing's wrong." She sighed happily,
"Oh yeah?" He smirked. "Well you know what's right?" He added, and before she could answer, Axl pressed his lips to hers in a delicious kiss. He pulled away quickly, however, and left her stunned. Axl chuckled, sending pleasant shivers down her spine. "You're so cute when you get nervous like this." His warm hand finally dropped from her face.
"Axl... I- I-" she began to say, but she was cut off as he put his finger against her lips,
"I love you Celine." He said. He sounded so sure of himself, and looked her straight in the eye. Celine was trapped in his deep, green-blue irises as she stared back at him. A wave of nervousness washed over her.
"Axl..." she stammered,
"It's okay, Celine. You don't have to say anything, I just had to get it out." He told her, "I needed to say it to you. I needed you to know, because I was afraid that if I didn't say it soon, I'd never have the courage to say it later, and then you'd never know. I'm sorry if it's too soon, and it's okay if you don't-" it was her turn to cut him off, and she did so by pressing her lips softly against his. Axl shut his mouth.
"I love you too." She whispered, and pressed her forehead against his.

Author's note
Hey there dudes and dudettes!
How's it going?
I hope you loved the chapter. I'd really love some feedback!!!!

Seriously, what do you think of the boxing announcement?
And what of Axl's confession?

Thanks for reading! Love you all Xx