KNOCK OUT [LH]

Chapter 1: The Plan

"So let me get this straight, Winnie." Calum says with a sigh, running a tired hand down his face as he looks at me with an exhausted expression. "You want to find, seduce, and fall in love with an underground boxer, just so you can see if FanFiction holds up in real life circumstances?"

"Yep." I nod, satisfied, and dare I say proud, with Calum's ability to produce a simplified summary of the long winded and detailed description of my newest project.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Calum stays quiet for a few moments, rubbing his chin in contemplation as he thinks over my proposal, letting the bustling noise of the school cafeteria take place of our conversation; however, in the end I know he'll agree, and deep down I know, that he knows, he will too.

Call it the best friend vibe, because we ride the same wave, my dudes.

"And you need me because?"

"Because," I begin, pushing my wilted salad to the side so I can lean my elbows on the table. "Every main character has an outsider best friend. You know, the one that's not part of the boxer's friend group, until the main character and the boxer hit it off...no pun intended." I smirk at my lame joke. 

I can tell Calum is trying his best to bite back a smile, as he shakes his head in an attempt to appear annoyed. "So I'm the best friend?"

"Exactly." I nod again, happy that he's catching on quickly, but Calum usually does whenever I come to him with a new conspiracy theory or one of my crazy myth busting projects--it's part of what makes us amazing partners in crime. "But you're already my best friend, so this duty comes with the title." I point out with a smile and Calum waits a beat, blinking back at me unamused before continuing to ask the necessary questions.

"And why do you need to track down this Michael Clifford dude?" He asks, taking a bite of his sandwich and pushing it into the side of his cheek. "Didn't he graduate like five years ago?"

"We." I correct, and Calum rolls his eyes waiting for me to continue. "And yes, he graduated from here exactly six years ago, but that's beside the point." I wave off. "We need to find Michael Clifford, because word from Chad Douglas is that he frequents The Rumble--which is true, because I stalked his instagram." I explain. 

Calum's eyes flicker over to where Chad sits a few tables down from us, tossing a football up and down as he chats up a few of Meredith High's cheerleaders, before they shift back over to me, brow quirked.

"Michael Clifford also works at that salon on 3rd, so I scheduled an appointment with him." I add quickly, not wanting to dwell on the stalking bit.

I'm not necessarily proud of my information gathering techniques, but I am aware of the measures I need to sometimes take.

"How long have you been planning this for, Win?" Calum asks, tilting his head to the side as his eyes narrow, finally swallows the bite of sandwich.

I release a small puff of air before pursing my lips and think back to when I developed the plan for my newest 'extracurricular activity'.

The idea had sprouted after finishing another boxer fanfic. It seemed like no matter who the characters were, the majority of these stories plots were all the same: mildly innocent girl gets dragged along by a friend of a friend's invite to a remote place--aka the underground boxing ring, no surprise there. Girl can hardly bear to watch the fight, but somehow makes eye contact with an extremely hot boxer. Girl accidentally wanders off, gets into some kind of trouble with another attendee or accidentally finds her way into a private area of the building. Said boxer from the fight finds the girl, but is nothing but cold and intimidating, because the boxer has major baggage. The two part ways, the girl is flustered and confused because the boxer is literal sex on legs, and she can't stop thinking about the boxer in the days to come. Then BOOM, they run into each other again. Blah, blah, blah, they fall in love, you know the rest...