Eye of the Tiger

Part 2

Dani POV

There is nothing louder than my dad's silence. Remember when he told me to be home by 9am? Yeah, try 11am. I woke up to Rachel shaking me awake, it took me a few seconds for my surroundings to click in my head but when it did I was suddenly overcome with sadness to see the other half of my bed empty. But I didn't have time to miss the beautiful girl I spent the night with because I was already an hour and a half late. Now here I am, sitting with the silent treatment from my father in this car rushing our way to my tournament today. Part of me is thankful for this; I don't think my hangover can handle yelling right now.

I know the only reason he didn't yell at me when I got home was because we were already late for today. Check in is at 12, so at this rate we will probably barely make it. I can't help but pass the time thinking about the night I had. God, Santana is the sexiest girl I have ever laid my eyes on. I underestimated her. Every touch still lingers, and my heartaches at the lost of her touch now. I crave her fingers gracing my skin and squeezing it. I crave her lips against mine, her tongue against my other ones, and her teeth finishing off that amazing pleasure she works on my neck...

"Dani what is on your neck?" My dad's voice booms in the car and I jump in my seat a little. Wait did I say that out loud?

"What?" I rub my neck to try and wipe off whatever my dad was referring to but my hand came up clean. I also rub my temple in an attempt to soothe the pounding headache I have.

"Don't play dumb with me Danielle, I know what a fucking hickey looks like!" My eyes widen and I feel my entire body freeze up. Fuck. I rip the overhead mirror in front of me to see myself and there it is. Undoubtedly, a big purple and red hickey with some hints of teeth marks. The collar of my t-shirt barely covers most of it, which is probably why he didn't notice sooner, but FUCK. I don't think my dad knows I've even kissed somebody before. "You better tell me the truth of where you were right now."

"Can't we discuss this after the tournament..."

"No, you're going to tell me right now." This tone of voice breaks me faster than anything in the world. It's a rare occasion to hear it come from my dad so when it does, I know I fucked up bad.

"Uh...Rachel and I went to a party."

"So you went out and got shit faced then let a random boy mark you?" Boy. Boy. Oh how badly I want to scream out no it was a fucking girl because I hate when people automatically assume like that. But it's my dad, and for all he knows I am straight.

"I'm sorry Dad. I know I messed up." The thing with me is, I don't really like confrontation and I really hate people being mad at me. So the fastest I can gain forgiveness the better it will be for me. I can see the white on his knuckles with how tightly he is gripping the steering wheel and I cringe.

But I am saved as we finally pulled up to the venue and park, which means I am off the hook. For now. Before we get out, my dad reaches over and pulls out a bottle of Tylenol from the glove compartment and throws it in my lap.

"Take care of that hangover and cover up that thing on your neck. Don't want anybody thinking you're a slut." That's all he said before leaving the car and my mouth dropped open. My dad...daddy...he just called me a slut. A slut. Tears rimmed my eyes and I just start shaking with anger. I'm angry with myself for being such a fuck up. All I could do in that moment chuck the stupid bottle of pills at the dashboard in front of me, spraying little white pills everywhere and to finish off my teenage tantrum of angst I slam the door behind me on the way out. I kind of deserve to suffer through this throbbing headache the rest of the day.

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"Come on Dani, you're going to have to move a little faster if you want to place today." I roll my eyes as I snatch my bottle of water from the ground.

"Because I didn't hear you the first 100 times you reminded me." I mumble out before taking a sip of water. It's no secret my body is exhausted from last night. My dad thinks it's because of the alcohol but my mind reminds me of the real reason. I can't get her out of my mind; I have never been so thoroughly fucked before in my life. Not that I'm complaining.

"And I'll reminded you 100 times more, now let's go." I honestly feel like crying in this moment. I feel like a thousand hammers are hitting my head at once, and I could swear there was somebody punching my stomach with brass knuckles.

"Dad come on, shouldn't I be resting before the fight?"

"You need to warm up, or else you'll end up being stiff in the ring."

"Yeah, yeah and I'm warmed up now. I don't feel good, I need a break."

"Well maybe you should have thought about that before you went out on your little rendezvous last night."

"I get it okay! I fucked up!" I seriously am so fed up with this. The day has been filled with my father's little snappy comments about me going out. Him talking my ear off about it should be punishment enough.

"You watch your mouth Danielle."

"Just get off my back okay? Damn." I can't stop my words now, I've unleashed the anger and now it's going to just pour out.

"You better watch it with this attitude of yours."

"I could say the same to you! Practice what you fucking preach." If I'm being completely honest, I'm angry about what my father called me in the car. At first I was angry at myself but the more I thought about it, how fucking messed up of him to talk about his child in that way. The look on his face was rewarding in that moment, I had to hold back the smile wanting to curl back. He was pissed. But then something changed. He was heavily trying to mask it but the disappointment in his eyes punched a huge ball of regret in my gut.

"Grab your stuff, we're done here." Wait, what? He has to be bluffing. It's CHAMPIONSHIPS.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I'll keep pushing myself okay?" I have to suck up my pride and be nice. There is no way I'm missing today. My dad wouldn't take that away from me...would he?

"You wanted a break; you're getting a break. You're not competing today."

"I've trained months for this you can't just take me out just like that!"

"I'll be waiting in the car." That's all he says. He doesn't yell back or nothing. No there was no way it would be that easy to take me away from what I love most.

"I'm not going."

"This isn't up for discussion Danielle."

"I've had it up to here with your teenage rebellion today so you better get your ass in that car in two minutes or I will be dragging you out there myself."

"Fuck you!" The words left my mouth before I even thought about them and I immediately regretted it. I can see people staring now and I know my dad sees it too. It's the only reason I haven't had my ass whooped yet.

"Two minutes." He growls before turning around and walking away. As I watched him head towards the registration booth I can literally feel so much anger boil up in me. I felt myself shaking and the frustrated tears sting the rims of my eyes. I needed to let this anger out now, there was no holding it back.

"FUCK." I use all my strength to fling my damn water bottle into the wall next to me, I didn't care who was watching at that point. My next move though, this burst of anger was the worst mistake I could have made. Even worst than my alcohol intake last night, and even worst than yelling at my father just now. Now that I have nothing in my hands I fling my fist into the hard wall.

Needless to say the wall won and I may have just ruined my chances of ever stepping in the ring again.