Fighting for Freedom

| TEN |

"You're not covered in paint or some other shit." Clay comments as I walk up to our lockers. I hold up my hand showing him the pencil markings. "Ah." He smirks. "Where is the gym?" I ask not bothering to swap any books. "Did you drive?" He asks as we head out to the car park together. "Yup." I answer looking at a lot of people watching us. "It's not far. You can follow me." Clay says before climbing into his SUV.

I follow Clay for 10 minutes until we pull up outside a gym. I can't help but laugh at the name. Above Ground Gym. "Cool name." I laugh as I make my way over to Clay. "Clever right?" He smirks leading me inside. "How often do you train?" I ask looking around. There's heaps of boxing bags hanging off the roof, two rings, a bunch of weights and a couple of treadmills.

"Almost every day." He answers. "I'm just going to change." Clay tells me before running off to the changing rooms. "Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you here." A sweaty looking Connor smirks coming up to me. "You stink." I say scrunching my nose up at him. "You never fail to surprise me." He laughs. "You here with Clay? He asks taking a long swig from his water bottle.

"Nah she's with me." Phil says throwing his arm around my shoulder. "Fuck off." I laugh pushing his arm off my shoulder. "Kenzie! See I got your name right!" Tony laughs joining us. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asks as he pulls me into a hug. "I came with Clay." I smile hugging him back, feeling comfortable in his presence. "I had some terrible students today." Phil says dramatically.

"You're a teacher?" Connor laughs. "I am. Got a problem with that?" Phil says stepping towards Connor. "Nah man. I'm in law school." He laughs. "Zombies a dentist." Tony adds as Clay joins the group. "Ah here's my third terrible student of the day." Phil laughs.

"You taught at Clays school? Wait who could be worse than him?" Connor asks all humour gone from his face. "Kenzie was definitely the worst then that annoying girl she was with then Clay then Wyatt's cousin." He says giving Clay and I both a pointed look. "Please Kenzie is an angel." Tony scoffs giving me a wink. "Alright I'm going to warm up." Clay states as heads to the treadmills.

"You can come sit with me." Tony smiles at me pointing to a bench seat off to the side that has a perfect view of the whole gym. "You his girlfriend?" Tony asks as soon as we're away from the others. "Oh no. We're friends I guess?" I try and explain. Were we friends? We definitely didn't yell at each much the past few days.

"That's not what Declan and Jen are saying." Tony laughs. "What?" I ask snapping my head to him. "They said you stayed the night last week. In his bed. With him." He smirks. "Oh yeah, my mom's new boyfriend stayed over and Clay offered the sofa but Declan was on it." I explain. "Clay! Ropes!" Tony yells as Clay climbs off the treadmill looking sweaty.

Clay rolls his eyes before picking up a jump rope and starts skipping. "He told you why he fights?" Tony asks keeping his eyes focused on Clay. "No." I answer watching as he expertly does some criss cross jumps. "We usually just yell at each other." I continue. "He was pretty worked up that day you yelled at him for not breaking into your locker." Tony smiles leaning back.

"Clay! Bags!" He yells. "Do you train him?" I ask watching Clay rip off his tank top and holding his fist out for a large guy with a cobra tattooed on his back to strap his hand wraps on. "I just tell him what to train. He does the rest himself. You seen him fight?"

"A little at the last fight and a few times at school." I shrug not being able to tear my eyes away from Clays chest and arms. "You're not scared of him?" This comment is what makes me tear my eyes away. "No. He asked me the same thing." I say furrowing my eyebrows together. "Usually people are after they see him fight."

"Why?"

"Let him tell you."

Tony and I sit in silence for almost a hour until Clay finishes training. "You good?" He asks catching his breathe. "I'm good." I smile standing up. "Are you coming next weekend?" Tony asks standing up stretching. "There's no fight this weekend, for thanksgiving. There'll be two the following weekend." Clay explains at my confused expression. "Sure." I smile.