Fighting, Surviving, & Hopelessly Lost

Chapter 21

Okay, so this thing with Peyton didn't go too well. I envisioned it a little more differently, but then again I envisioned my life differently too. I had wanted to tell what J.C did to me but I guess that was a conversation for another time. On another note, running sucked but I had to get to school without stopping at my house and I didn't want to be too late so the office wouldn't call Hana. I had to get to Cassy and talk to her. I wanted to tell her I was sorry for running off like that. Frankly, I wanted to keep my friendship with her; she was honestly my best friend.

I slipped through the back school doors as quietly as possible. I didn't want to draw any attention to myself because if anyone saw me, especially a teacher, I would get into so much trouble. The last thing I needed was to serve detention and miss championships.

I shifted my mind to finding Cassy. I knew it was her lunch period, so I maneuvered through the halls until I reached the cafeteria. It was crowded with people laughing, throwing food, and cramming in last minute studying but I did not see Cassy. Then as the lunch line moved forward, I saw Cassy waiting to pay for her lunch. I ran across the room to meet her.

"Cassy!" I yelled through the noise. When she saw me, she left her tray and ran towards me.

"Juliete! Where have you been? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I uh, had to take a small detour for a few but I'm back now. Everything is okay."

"Where is Peyton? Why aren't you two in school?" She hissed quietly as we headed to the girls bathroom. I had a feeling I would have some explaining to do.

"Well, we decided to meet up so I could explain further why I left. We didn't really get to that park because we started talking about something else. But that isn't important right now. I wanted to say I'm sorry for running off like that. I should have told you or somebody what I was going to do but I was so overwhelmed."

"Oh honey. It's okay. I understand but I was so worried! I'm just really glad you're okay. But Peyton told me you went back to your old fighting trainer. Did anything happen with that?" She pressed.

"Um, no. Nothing happened, I just had to talk to him," I said quickly, avoiding eye contact. "Look, I need to go train and meet up with J.C for the championships."

"Okay. But Jul, I'm glad you're back," Cassy smiled.

I smiled too, in return, and left the bathroom quickly. I used the same route to leave the school and I continued my jog to J.C's place.

Surprisingly, I was there in no time. I pulled open the big doors and entered the gym. There was nobody here, so I figured that J.C was in his office. The closer I got to the door of his office, the louder I heard voices. Who would be with J.C right now?

I stood outside the office for another couple seconds before curiosity got the best of me. I gripped the handle, turned it, and slammed the door open. The arguing stopped and two pairs of eyes looked over at me. "J.C? Joe? What? What is going on here?" I said angrily?

"Juliet, please come inside," J.C said, sighing. "I understand you went to see Joe a few days ago."

"Yeah. So?" I questioned.

"Well, Joe decided it would be a fun idea to help you practice for championships. For the next three weeks," J.C said, gritting his teeth as Joe smiled sweetly.

"Ahhh," I said, "the famous brothers, or should I say step-brothers, are gonna train me, huh? Well this oughta be fun," I spat slightly. It was bad enough I was under pressure from J.C, Peyton, and winning ot collect the money for my sister, but now Joe was going to be watching my every move. Talk about overprotective adults, or coaches.