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“Whatever,” I murmur to myself as I push out of my chair and make my way to the equipment room to set up for the first class. We’re going old school today, completely in line with my nineties rock. We’re playing dodgeball.
Usually, I would be in the staff room right now, hanging out with everyone before school starts. But I just can’t do it this morning. And I know one of the other teachers, Andy, is going to be looking for me later. He went to the fight, so he’ll want to talk about it. And I don’t want to talk about it.
Once everything is set up and I’m back in the office, I hear the first class coming down the hallway towards the gym. I take a deep breath in and blow it out, ready to put on a happy face for the kids.
Just as I’m about to head into the gym, my phone starts buzzing on the desk, and I sigh. It’s probably Andy wondering why I didn’t go up to the staff room. But as I look down at the phone number on my screen, it’s an unknown caller with a St. Louis area code.
My heart rate spikes as I continue to stare down at it.
No way. It can’t be…
As the kids’ voices get closer, I slowly slide my thumb across the screen and bring the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Yo, buddy! Look at that shiner… nice and purple.”
I hold up my middle finger for Aaron as he punches the heavy bag with a laugh. I head over to a bench at the far end of the gym and drop my backpack, pulling off my shirt and getting ready to roll. I’ve been looking forward to this all day. I’ve known I need to tighten up my grappling, but after losing to an armbar this weekend, I’m eager to get started on this now.
Drew eyes me from across the gym and makes his way over. “How are you holding up?”
I shrug and kick my shoes off. “Best as can be given the circumstances.”
He nods and pats my shoulder. “Well, let’s work on changing those.”
I nod back at him solemnly. “What if they already have?” And I can’t keep it in any longer as my face breaks out in a huge smile.
He stares back at me for a moment before he lets out a breath of laughter. “No fucking way.”
My smile widens. “Max called this morning. I’m in.”
“No fucking way!” Aaron drops his gloves and stares at me from the middle of the gym, pulling everyone else’s attention to us as well. “Seriously?”
I nod. “Seriously.”
“What about Ty?” Sam asks as he approaches me.
“What about him?” I ask, my smile quickly falling. “Who fucking cares. Max said he likes the way I fight, so I guess it didn’t matter who won.” I raise my finger and point it at Drew. “See, I knew I fought better than him.”
He chuckles, batting my finger away. “You earned it. So, when do you leave?”
“Two weeks.” I glance around to everyone in the gym as they listen in. “I have to give my notice at work.”
“In-fucking-sane. Insane.” Aaron shakes his head.
Sam punches my arm. “Dude, that’s so awesome. Fuck rolling, let’s go get a drink!”
Drew huffs a laugh and shakes his head, pushing Sam away. “Lucky for you dickheads, I have beer in the fridge. Roll first, then drink. I only have a couple weeks left to push Luca around and tell him what to do, and I want to make the most of it.”
I laugh, and gladly accept all the hugs and fist bumps from everyone.
As Sam and I head to the mats, I feel a new sadness creep in. While I’m pumped to be going to Max’s gym, I’ll be sad to leave this one. It’s home. It’s where I spend almost every evening and weekend, training with friends and teaching kids Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing.
To leave this gym and my job is going to be hard. I’ve worked hard to get where I am, finally landing a permanent contract at my school and building a tight community in training and teaching at the gym. I love being a part of all of it. It’s a lot to give up… but this is what I want. I want to fight in the UFC, and this is what I need to do to get there. If Max Fairburn thinks I have a shot, then I have to do it.
So, I’m fucking doing it.
FOUR
