Erin
My anger seeped through me and I seethed in silence. I clenched my fist so hard, I’m sure I drew blood. I couldn’t do anything about it obviously because they would all see me differently.
Let me zoom out for a minute. My name is Erin Malvore. I am a senior at Wilkinson’s High School. I also have major anger issues. This is mostly due to the fact that I have to allow people at school to beat me up on the regular because, if I fought back, they would know who I really am.
Back to the moment. Celia VonScholl stood over me holding my paper that I spent three days on. She had ripped it to shreds. She accused me of trying to steal her “boyfriend” Dominic. Dom and I have been best friends for years. I was in their group. Dominic Chalet, Nick Forenzo, and my sort of twin Evan. I have known Evan the longest and we were practically related. We were all really close and she thought that because she wasn’t allowed to come to boys’ nights, and I was, that I was dating Dom, or at least trying to. This is so completely false that it makes me ironically want to laugh. Right now, though, I want to do anything but laugh. I stood up and brushed off my black jeans. I grabbed her by the hair and when she whined I growled at her to shut up. “You will not ever, EVER, touch me again. Even if I was going after Dom, which I am NOT, he is not and will not ever date you.” I walked away leaving her guffawing after me. The boys sat there watching me and burst out into laughter when I walked past them. I chuckled lightly, feeling less murderous than I did seconds ago.
We headed to our table at lunch and all eyes were on me. Thank God it was the last day before summer. I am so excited for our trip. Me and the guys are going to a cabin in Virginia. They talked me into it and I felt okay with it because Evan will be there. There will also be another guy joining us. Some Chance kid or something. Doesn’t matter. I trudged through the rest of my classes and sped away in my charger as fast as I could. I have a fight tonight and I wanted to get some training in before I needed to leave. I always get there early because I put in hair dye and contacts. No one can know who I am. If they do, they will go after my “brother”. I took out my keys and unlocked the apartment door. This is the flat that Evan and I share. We bought it 2 months after mom and dad died. We couldn’t remain in the house that they died in so we moved out and bought an apartment. Technically, we were still in my Aunt Cristal’s care for 6 months but she didn’t care enough to do anything for us but send meager checks for 100 dollars a month. Evan and I both worked 2 jobs to make ends meet but we were happy with each other. I went in the shower and scrubbed from head to toe. I would do the same after the fight but I didn’t mind. I have to wash out the hair dye and the blood when I am finished. I broke my wrist a while back and this is my first real fight since then. I was bouncing with eagerness to pummel some poor sap’s face.
The drive to the arena is a long one. My fight is at 11 but I am there by 8 and it takes 2 hours there and back. Most of the time, I don’t get home until 2 or 3 in the morning. This means that by the 6 am wake up call, I am exhausted. Good thing that the school year’s over. I already called ahead to Williamsburg where we will be staying. My manager says that there will be some small fights here and there to keep myself in shape. I put in my blue eye contacts and red hair dye. I only put in enough to make me look like a natural red-head. Walking out in tight black spandex shorts and a long sleeve tight top, I got many wolf-whistles. I can’t contain the eye roll this time. Fine, it’s their choice to underestimate me by my looks. It’s their loss and my reward. Let me explain the betting system.
When someone thinks that they know who the winner is, they will bet whatever amount of desired money on that person. If that fighter wins, the person who bet against the winner loses all of their money. The person who betted for the winner collects said money. The more you bet, the more you make. It is a risk unless you bet for me. I have never lost. Though sometimes I get a hotshot better who thinks that this is going to be the time that I lose. When the night is over, you’ll see him in the office begging for his money back. Now I am no gambler, but I would put my money on me. Today is no exception. I am fighting The Thief. He is called this because supposedly he can get around you and land a punch without you knowing he was even there. I stepped into the ring and he smirked at me. Oh, The Great Scarlet Dragon is a girl. I heard him whisper. “Is this a mistake?” He asked loud enough for the crowd to hear and they laughed in agreeance. I’d been gone for so long that my regular following had diminished to almost nothing. I smiled sweetly. This is perfect. I will pretend to not know anything about fighting. This will be a great advantage. I whispered softly, “Go easy on me please?” He looked sympathetic. “Are you sure you wanna do this sweetie?” I nodded “timidly”. He took a fighting stance and the bell rang.
The Thief came lumbering forward. He was not an agile man and he predictably took the first swing directly towards me. I ducked, chuckling darkly. My fist came around and caught him in the ribs. He doubled over in pain and I used that time to kick him in the face. Blood trickled down his nose. He came back with a vengeance. He did have a strength advantage so I used mine: speed. I waited him out until I saw an ounce of tiredness. He slowed down and I went in for the finishing blow. I swiped his legs from underneath him and caught him in the face once more. He went to sleep like a baby. I walked out of the ring. The silence in the room was deafening. Then applause. They were chanting my name. Scarlet. Scarlet. Scarlet. I went to the outside of the arena where they followed me trying to touch me and get my autograph. I growled at them and they took a step back. No one touches me. I got in my car and drove all throughout the town to lose the weirdos who tried to follow me home. They wanted to know my name and where I lived. When I got home, I took a long hot shower to soothe my aching muscles. I packed for the trip tomorrow. I mean today, I guess, since it is already 2. We leave in 4 hours so I’ll sleep on the way there. 6 AM came too fast. I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to leave. The sun isn’t even up yet so why am I? Good thing Dom is driving the first shift. He went to bed early last night so that he could drive safely this morning. We wouldn’t be there until 8 PM and had a ton of driving to do. I grabbed a banana since we probably wouldn’t stop for food until 9. Only then did Evan come out of the shower. He looked exhausted, funny because he was asleep before I was. 10 minutes later, Dom texted me, “Baby girl I am here.” Only Dom got to call me that because he has since we were 8 years old. He won’t stop even if I ask him to. “EVAN!” I shouted so his sleepy ass could hear me. “Dom’s..” “Right here” His deep voice right behind me made me jump out of my chair. “Jeez!” Dom laughed, looking down at the banana that jumped out of my lap with the sudden scare. “You ready sweetheart?” “One. I am not your sweetheart. Two. Yes let’s go. Evan! We will leave your dumbass here.” We all three walked to the car where we saw Nick sleeping already in the backseat. Evan also took the back so he could sleep better. I took the passenger seat with Dom at the wheel. We made sure we had everything and took off. My eyelids became heavy and I dozed off into another nightmare filled sleep. With one last glance at Dom, I spiralled into welcomed darkness.
