Chapter 12: First Bout

"What did Saskia ask for?" I shouted through the bank doors.

The best man stayed at the threshold while the guard blocked my way back in.

"You heard me," he said.

"I heard you hide behind her. What did she say?"

He looked over his shoulder at the people listening in the lobby.

"Ask her," he said, and retreated inside.

The doors closed between us.

I stood on the sidewalk until his elevator rose out of sight.

Then I called Joel from my replacement phone.

"He has a video," I said.

"Did he give it to you?"

"No. But now I know exactly where to push."

Joel said he would pick me up.

I took the bus instead and met him at the rink.

"You said you would wait for me there," he said.

"I did. I came back."

He put a cup of coffee on the counter, then remembered who had made it.

"I can get you water."

"Keep the coffee. I need to stay awake."

That night I told Toni about the video while she taped the number on my bout jersey.

"Then we go get it," she said.

"After tonight."

"You sure you can play?"

"I didn't train for weeks to sit in the bleachers."

Toni flattened the tape across my shoulder and checked the seams.

"Then put your phone away. You can chase him after the whistle."

I gave her the phone and she locked it in her bag.

The Rollers' home opener filled the lower seats.

Children waved paper signs, and a man near the snack bar wore my photo on a homemade shirt.

Keep reading free with an account. Start She Didn't Fix Her Reputation. She Threw It Away from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.