South Side

Chapter Two

And here is where you learn where I earn my money. Ryder, Jack and I laid in our beds until around 9. The three of us shared a tiny room, our twin sized beds only about five feet apart from each other.

  "We should get going." Jack said quietly. I nodded and swung my legs to the side of my bed. I crouched down and lifted the side of my mattress to pull out the nicest clothes I had. They were official fighting shorts and shirt, red, white, and black. I put them on and then threw a sweatshirt and sweatpants over. I slowly opened our old creaky door and looked into the hall. I went left when the others went right. I quietly knocked on the girls door and stepped in.

"Sabrina." I whispered. She sat up in bed, already dressed and hurried after me. We went as silently as we could down the steps and out the back door. The other boys were already out there, cans in their hands drinking already. I took one and cracked it open. Ryder slung his arm around Sabrina as we walked through the dumpy backyard and to the sidewalk. It didn't take long to get to the center of South Side. We walked up the steps to an old building that was a jewelers on the main level. Jack knocked four times and not a second later a pair of eyes appeared behind a peep hole.

  "X" I said in a low voice. The eyes disappeared and the door opened. We walked through the jewelers and through a door off to the side leading to a set of stairs headed down. When we got into the smoky and dark room I saw my coach leaning on the ropes of the fighting ring and talking to some guy. We walked over and he smiled over to me.

  "X glad you could make it!" He slapped my shoulder. "We're expecting a lot of people tonight. There's already people at the back door. You have 30 minutes. We're letting people in in 15." I nodded and went to one of the two small rooms attached to this huge one. I took my sweats off and started stretching. The others were chatting it up off to the side. Trevor, my coach, came walking in a little while later.

"Alright this fight should be easy. You're going against Moro and he's a little pussy. Go for the right side of his body. Rumor has it he got into a petty street fight the other day and got hit a lot on the abdomen. You know this guys stupid so just hang in there." He said as he wrapped my hands. "Do what you do best and fight dirty. The fee to get in is $20 and as you know you two will split that. I'm hoping you'll get $500 from that and then there are the bets. You can do this X." He said patting my cheek. "You ready?" I nodded and looked to the others. We could hear the yelling coming from the other room. I knew what was on the other side of this door. It's the scum of the earth. A bunch of low life's from the south side, aka my people. I loved it. This guy I'm fighting is from the other side of Greene. He thinks he's the shit because he has money. I'm ready to make him think twice about that. Trevor opened the door and the screams became five times louder. I put on a hardened face as he led me with my friends behind me to the ring. I climbed up and held my hands up, basking in the screams. I reached down and pulled my shirt over my head, revealing my six pack and strong arms. I had a few girls right behind me who screamed. I smirked and turned the them. Maybe I could get laid tonight too.

It quieted down as the other door opened. A very tall and lanky guy came out. He looked like one of those annoying people who had a lot of money. There were a few people cheering for him but not nearly as many as me. I had a reputation around here. He didn't. He still walked slowly to the ring. His clothes slowly came off and we were soon both only in our fighting shorts. There was nothing really official about this. There wasn't much we couldn't do to each other. The "official" who wasn't too official went over to me first. I held out my arms and he checked me for weapons. He slid his hands against my arms, felt my shorts and put his fingers between the waistband and ran them around my waist to make sure there wasn't anything tucked in there.

"Beat the shit out of this kid." He mumbled to me. I smirked and nodded. He went over to Moro and checked him the same way. He motioned us together and put his arm between us.

  "Just don't kill each other." He mumbled before stepping back, signaling the beginning of the fight. My fists went up to block my face as I bounced on the balls of my feet. He threw a weak punch which I easily blocked. I rebounded with a hard punch to his face. His nose burst with bright red blood. He groaned and threw a slow punch to my stomach not even hurting me.

  "Aw come on you rich piece of shit. That all you got?" I taunted with a smile, holding my hands out. He growled and threw himself on me. I kicked him in the chest making him fall back on his ass. Behind him I looked at the crowd. My eyes locked on the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. I got lost in them. I was confused, however, when I realized they belonged to a...man? I was so distracted I almost got hit in the side of the head with a fist. I felt a new wave of energy and hit him so hard he fell to the ground. I straddled him and punched him over and over, feeling the slickness of the dark red blood. The official shoved me off of him. His eyes were squeezed shut and it looked like he was crying. Little bitch. The room was filled with cheers. It was deafening as the official held my hand up in the air. I smiled and looked to my siblings. They were all cheering as well. I scoured the crowd for those eyes but it was to no avail. Whoever it was had disappeared.

"Awesome job X!" Ryder said excitedly slapping my shoulder. I was brought out of my head and focused on my foster siblings.

"Thanks man. Now let's go collect that money." I said grabbing my shirt and pulling it over my head. People bustled around us but we eventually made it back to the room where all my stuff was. Trevor was on the other side of the door. He had a stupid grin on his face as he shoved a wad of cash at my chest.

"1000 bucks right there kid! Enjoy it and make it last."

  "Thanks coach. Practice Thursday?" I asked stuffing the cash in my bag.

  "Yep. Gotta train for the next one. See you then." And with that he left. I pulled my sweatshirt over my head and put the hood up.

  "Let's have a celebratory joint!" Ryder said excitedly.

  "Dude we start at Greene high tomorrow. I heard their drug testing all the south side kids." I mumbled. It was so stupid. We used to go to Ashland High school because the other side of Greene is so prissy. You see, there are two very distinct sides of this town. There's the side for all the rich people with huge houses, nice neighborhoods and all that bullshit, and then there's the south side. We're a "pit of poverty" as they like to call us. There's shitty motels people live in, falling apart houses, and a 50% higher crime rate. They separated the schools a while ago but because of some legal issues we're now forced to go to school with the rich side of Greene.

  "Fuck I forgot about that. I smoked two days ago." He groaned. I rolled my eyes at him as we walked through the now deserted room and out onto the street.

  "It's just a rumor. I wouldn't worry about it too much." Sabrina said leaning her head on his shoulder. I sighed and rolled my shoulders back. I was worried about school tomorrow, but it was hard to think of anything other than those bright blue eyes boring into me from the crowd.

A/N
Hey guys! Decided to update a little early :) I hope you guys are liking it so far. Vote and comment to let me know!!!