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Chapter 7 - Brad

Juliet

"Juliet!" Bella nudged her arm as the pair stood at the side of the room with their eyes scanning each and every person.

"Yeah?" She replied, without even turning around to look at her best friend.

"He's over there!"

Their search for Brad had very quickly become successful when Bella caught sight of him standing over in the corner, cheering his brother on. He was stood with a friend called Jake, who they also noticed from school and Juliet felt her body fill with nerves just by catching sight of him.

"Come on. Let's go over." Bella grabbed hold of her hand and began trying to guide her towards them however, Juliet pulled back.

"Wait, no! We can't."

"What? Why not? That's why we came here."

The sudden nerves pouncing through Juliet were enough to make her regret every decision about coming here. She had been overly excited when they had been planning their night yet now she was here, she didn't really know what to do.

"I don't know what I'd say to him." She shrugged her shoulders as she took a few steps back.

"Um... hi, how are you? The usual." Bella looked back at her as though she was crazy for even questioning it.

"Yeah but I've never spoke more than 3 words to him before. He might not even know who I am."

Brad was one of the guys in school that a lot of the girls liked yet he was also one of the guys that Juliet avoided. It wasn't because she wanted to, it was due to her being unsure of the response she would get in return.

He was so used to the female attention that she never thought he would even care about hers. Therefore, she had instead kept herself unknown and in the shadows so he wouldn't ever approach her.

"I'm sure he knows who you are, Juliet. He's in our class. Come on."

Without giving her any more time to stall, Bella had taken hold of her hand and pulled her closer towards them. Their fast speed had been reduced a little as they got closer, just so they could keep up their act of looking cool and calm.

"Oh my God, Brad?!" Bella started the conversation with fake surprise as she pretended to pass them. "What are you doing here?"

Turning at the sound of his name, Brad looked at Bella and it took a moment for him to process who it was.

"My brother fights here." He replied before pointing over to the ring. "Evan."

"Oh right, of course! I completely forgot." Bella smiled before purposely looking towards Juliet to direct Brad's attention her way too.

He did just that, as his eyes focused in on her, scanning over her in that usual manner that made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Hey." Juliet smiled yet her voice came out as more of a whisper and she was mentally slapping herself for acting so stupid.

"Juliet isn't it?" He asked and she immediately nodded while trying to hide the excitement over him knowing her name.

She felt ridiculous and childish for acting in such a way and knew she needed to push it off. She was at a fight meant for over 18's; she couldn't be acting like she was 12.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"My sister's boyfriend is fighting too." Juliet replied, this time speaking with some volume so he could actually hear.

"Ah, right. Aaron?" Brad began to chuckle. "I heard he's a good fighter. He's a bit of competition for Evan."

"Yeah, he's pretty amazing at it." Juliet teased back, already feeling all of the nerves naturally fall away.

She had once been told by Sophie herself that confidence was key and when Juliet had argued that she didn't have much of it, Sophie had insisted that it didn't matter. She had told her that as long as you faked it, it would work just as good. The more you faked it, the more you would feel it and the positive reactions you'd get in return would just cause the confidence to happen anyway. It was a piece of advice that her sister had proved to be right on, as Juliet had practised it many times.

"So you're into all of this then? Do you come here often?" Brad asked as he leaned up against the wall a bit closer to where Juliet was stood.

"Er no..." She began before Bella immediately interrupted her.

"She is into it; she doesn't like to admit it." Bella grinned as she gave Juliet a look in attempt to force her to play along.

Juliet had never been to one of these fights in her life and she had also never taken much interest however, Bella clearly didn't think that Brad needed to know that.

"Oh really?" Brad smirked as his arm brushed her own and Juliet felt her stomach do a number of turns.

"Yeah, I think it's pretty cool." She nodded.

"Well that's good to hear because I've just started training." He began, sharing a piece of information that they didn't actually know about him.

"Wow, really? With your brother?"

"Yeah, sometimes." He nodded. "How about you come and check me out soon? You can tell me all of Aaron's tricks."

Smiling, Juliet was beaming up at this guy as though he had just got down on one knee and proposed. She felt that buzzing feeling running through her, as all she wanted to do was screech with excitement.

This one guy that she had liked for years had just asked her to go and watch him train. Before today, she had never spoken more than three words to him yet now he was practically asking her out on a date.

"That sounds like a very good idea to me." Juliet replied, trying to keep it cool. "But I won't be sharing any secrets straight away."

"Oh shit, mysterious. I like it." Brad smirked as he dug his hand into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. "Put your number in and I'll text you."

Juliet briefly glimpsed over at Bella for a second who was also expressing the exact same excitement. Her friend was her biggest cheerleader when it came down to situations like this and she knew that was the best she could ever ask for.

"Sure." Juliet then smiled before taking the phone from his hand and putting it in.

When she passed it back his way, Brad intentionally made their hands brush before biting down on his lip in a way Sophie would have insisted was cringey but Juliet did not care.

"Are you both hanging around after the fight? We're going to go back to ours after if you want to come."

Brad's next question had Juliet stunned on the spot, as she wasn't quite sure what to say. The thought of going back with Brad and Jake seemed like a good enough idea. However, going back with his brother and friends too made it all a bit more daunting.

Regardless of the nerves, Juliet wasn't given much chance to come up with some kind of excuse as Bella began answering for them.

"We'll be there!" She beamed as she nudged Juliet's side. "Right Ju?"

All attention was now on Juliet as her faced flushed red.

"Er, yeah. Of course."

"Cool." Brad replied with a smug look across his face as his attention was focused on Juliet.

She instantly felt extremely uncomfortable but knew that she couldn't let that ruin the moment. So instead, she forced a smile back as all four of them then got lost in conversation as they watched the fight play out before them.

Things couldn't have gone more perfectly and Juliet had envisioned this moment so many times while lying in bed. She had finally built up enough confidence to actually approach the guy she liked and it had very swiftly moved on to an instant friendship being caused.

Things at school on Monday were going to be so much different to what they previously had been and now she actually couldn't wait.

Although she may have done something that Sophie would hate tonight, some good had come out of it in the end so all guilt she had previously felt had vanished.

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