Camilla

fourteen

 C A M I L L A

I pick up Gilligan the next night at eight. His mother was more than happy to get to watch Mae while Gilligan and I went on what she thought was a date. Taylor was originally supposed to babysit, but when Gilligan asked if he could go, where she thought was a restaurant, with me, she jumped at the chance to watch Mae another night. I offered to pay, but she told me Mae was enough payment. 

He seems nervous, but I decide not to tease him about it. I mean, I hadn't exactly given him the best impression of the arena. It really wasn't that bad. Most of the people there were nice.

Except for Zero, if he didn't like you.

"Hey," he says, buckling his seat belt.

"Gilligan," I greet, backing out of his driveway and turning left.

"Um, how far away is this place?"

I calculate in my mind. "Probably twenty minutes."

He nods but doesn't say anything else. God, the nervousness is just pouring off of him. I'm fighting every instinct inside of me that's yelling to make fun of him. 

we sit in dead silence for ten minutes before I can't take it anymore. I stifle a laugh. "Look, you're going to have to at least pretend to be tough when we get there."

"I'm fine!" He defends, but his voice raises an octave and he answers to quickly.

I laugh and turn right. "Not everyone there is mean, you know. I was just bullshitting you yesterday to try and keep you from coming. I don't want to have to feel guilty if the cops show up, especially with you. And Daniel will be there. I told him to keep an eye on you."

I can feel Gilligan's gaze on me, but I don't turn to look at him since I'm pretty sure he's trying to be discreet. "Why would you do that?"

I sigh. "I don't think it would be a good thing if I brought you back home from our 'date' all battered and bruised."

"Oh. Right."

"And, I mean, you're my friend," I add, muttering. "It'd be shitty of me to just leave you defenseless in a room with street fighters." I still don't like admitting that we're, as he says, "pals."

I can see him smile a little out of the corner of my eye as he turned his gaze back to the road. 

When we're five minutes away, I decide to explain to him how the whole thing will go down. "Listen, when we get there, Daniel will meet us in the back. He'll take you down to the conference room, and after I change I'll meet you guys back there. All of the people I'll be fighting, because today it's a tournament, will be back there as well. I'll hand over my cash each round I'm in, which is hopefully all of them, and whoever wins gets theirs back as well as the other person's. You'll just be hanging out with Danny in what we call the box, which is just where all the viewers stay so they can't interfere with the fighters. Sound good?"

"Um, I think so."

"Good. Because we're here." I pull into the old parking lot and find a space close to the back door before turning the car off and grabbing my gym bag from the back seat. "You ready?"

Gilligan nods and I get out of the car, him following my lead. I'd told him to dress comfortably so he wouldn't stick out, so he was in a pair of black joggers and a white long sleeved shirt. He'd fit in perfectly despite the air around him that screamed, I've never been here before. Please beat me up. I'm scared.

"Stay close, alright? It's going to be kind of packed. A lot of fights are scheduled today."

I look up at him and notice he's about to piss himself. For a minute, I hesitate, but then I grab his hand. He looks surprised at the skin contact but smiles and grips it tighter. "Careful," I smile back, trying to tease him but in a nice way. "I need that hand to punch with."