Not So Cinderella

by Rebekah L. Thompson

  Wrapping my towel around my body, I exit the bathroom. I already set my fighting clothes out; today, I chose a teal tank top and some flexible black shorts.

  Once I’m dressed, I go back to my bathroom and dry my hair, letting it fall into its natural curls. In a smooth, practiced movement, I twist my hair up and pin it. Carefully, so no hair falls out, I pull the cap over my head and then grab my silver and gray wig from under the sink. It takes a minute to get my hair situated and pinned tight enough that it won’t move or come off if yanked.

  When I hear the door to my room open, I know it’s Mason. The step-monsters don’t come into my room. “I’ll be out in a minute, Mase!” I call. I apply some black eyeshadow, eyeliner, and some nude lip gloss. My hair gets completely dry, and I walk out of the bathroom, my eyes scanning the room. They fall on the shoes in Mason’s hand. “Thanks,” I say, grabbing the black high-top converse.

  I stand up, grab my leather jacket, and smile at Mason, “Ready?” I ask, feeling excited. He chuckles as we head downstairs and walk out of the house to the shed. Mason pulls the door open, revealing our motorcycles; mine is a sleek black, and his is dark blue. Quickly, I grab mine and push it to the street, with Mason following my lead.

  Once we’re a safe distance from the house, I climb on and rev the engine. I smile as I sit on my baby. Before we leave, we both slip on our jackets. “Let’s go!” I yell, sliding my helmet on and taking off. We drive downtown and pull into the ally that leads to the Underground. We park our bikes, and I pull my helmet off, smoothing my hair down. Usually, we leave our bikes out in the open because everyone knows they belong to me and wouldn’t dare touch what’s mine.

  “CW! What’s up?” Ray, the bouncer, asks as we walk up.

  “Not much,” I reply as he lets us in. He’s one of the more pleasant people here, another friend. Well, a friend that doesn’t know who I am, I guess. Mason is the only person who knows everything. I walk down the stone stairs, through the door at the bottom, the cheers making my blood pump and flow with excitement.

  When Mason and I enter the arena, the coppery smell of blood fills my senses, along with the pungent odor of sweat. Looking down at my phone, I note it’s nine. Each fighter signs up to fight at a specific time, or they’re given a time. I still have a while till I fight. Stepping up to the bar, I nod at the tender as he slides me a coke. He knows I don’t drink and doesn’t ask why, which is refreshing.

  When I turn to the ring, I’m shocked to see Chase up there beating on another guy. After a few minutes, he knocks the guy out, and the Ring Master holds Chase’s hand up. “And your winner is The Lost Boy!” The Ring Master yells. The crowd erupts into cheers. He wasn’t bad; actually, he’d probably hold himself pretty well in a fight against me.

  Searching the room, I spot the guys at a table in a corner. Ross stands up, yelling for his friend, while Drake tries to avoid one of the servers, and Alec attempts to pull Ross off the table. I chuckle at Ross and scowl as I turn to watch the server put her grubby hands all over Drake. A laugh escapes me. Can’t she see that he’s not interested?

  Shaking my head, I turn back to the ring and see Chase walk off. He walks in my direction. When he passes, he bumps into me but says nothing.

  “Hey, you want an extra fight?” Mason asks me, appearing in front of me.

  I scoff and smack his arm. “What do you think? Yeah!” He grabs my arm and pulls me up into the ring. He quickly wraps my hands and tells the Ring Master something.

  The Ring Master turns to the crowd. “We gotta minute for an uncharted fight, so who’d like to challenge the undefeated Cinder Wolf?” He yells into the mic that’s wired through the whole place. Someone from the crowd roars, and I watch as an enormous man steps up. As he steps up, I pull my hair into a bun to make sure he doesn’t grab it.

  “You’re going down, little girl,” he yells, so everyone in the audience hears. A smirk falls on my lips as he gets in a defensive stance. I copy his stance, crouching with my arms up just as the Ring Master yells, “Fight!” The guy clearly thinks he can beat me because he lunges first, swinging a sloppy punch. I block the punch and kick my foot straight into his stomach, making him stumble back. He may be a right foot taller than me, but that doesn’t mean he should underestimate me.

  Drake

  I watch the beautiful girl with the silver hair step up to the ring. Some guy helps her wrap her hands as she slips her jacket off, revealing her toned body- the body of someone who works out often. The guy finishes wrapping her hands, and she stretches a little. I turn to the guys, whose eyes are also on the girl. “Who’s she?” I ask, but I get shrugs and head shaking in response.

  The Ring Master steps up to the ring and holds his mic up. “We gotta minute to fit in an uncharted fight, so who’d like to challenge the undefeated Cinder Wolf?” He yells. The girl’s eyes sweep over the crowd to see who’ll challenge her as she pulls her hair up in a knot on her head. She is beautiful, the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.

  “That’s Cinder Wolf? She’s who I’m supposed to fight later?” Ross asks in disbelief. I don’t answer his question; I just watch as a large man steps up onto the ring and gives the girl a once over. He has muscles on top of muscles. For a second, I want to jump up and stop the fight. Can she really fight him and win?

  From where I’m sitting, I notice how the man smirks and crouches into a fighting stance.

  The Ring Master yells, “Fight!” The man immediately lunges at the girl, trying to throw a punch. She dodges and kicks him in the stomach, making him move back. Jeez. She has to have serious muscle if she can move him with one kick.

  Standing, I move closer to get a better view. I reach the edge of the ring just as the man lands a punch to her side. She clenches her jaw, sends a roundhouse kick to his face, then grabs his shirt, turning him into her right hook. She lets the man fall to the ground with a thud. He growls. He stands back up, and anyone could see he’s angry a girl is beating him. “Shouldn’t have underestimated her, man,” I mutter.

  “What’s wrong? Big man can’t handle a few hits from a little girl?” Cinder Wolf mocks, making him even angrier. His face burns red as he moves in. She dodges the next few punches, but he finally gets one to her right cheek.

  With clenched teeth, I watch as the girl stumbles back. Her eyes widen in surprise. She doesn’t stay surprised for long, though, because she recovers faster and kicks him in the side again. Jeez. She’s lethal.

  Even angrier now, the man lunges at the girl. She darts to the side, grabs the back of his neck, and twists him around. She lands a kick to his legs, causing them to buckle under his weight. The crowd goes wild. Screams and cheers flood around me as I watch the girl fight.

  I’ve never seen anything like her. She’s fast, lethal, and graceful.

  Again, the man knocks the girl back and scrambles to his feet. “You’re going to regret that,” he growls before running at the girl. With my hands tightly wrapped around the chair in front of me, I fight to stay put.

  The man throws several quick hits, landing two of the seven blows.

  Every hit to her feels like a punch in the gut for me. One thing I can’t tolerate is hurting a girl. Sure, I’ve been in fights like this before, but the anger rolling off this man tells me he doesn’t care if he seriously injures this girl. He wants to put her in place and keep her there.

  This isn’t a sport for the man; he’s after blood.

  The girl growls and kicks the man away.

  Her eyes narrow, a murderous look crossing her face, as she runs at him, jumps, and wraps her legs around his neck, using her momentum and movement to twist him and flip him. He hits the ground, and the crowd goes wild.

  She lands one solid punch to his face, knocking him out. The Ring Master scrambles back into the ring and grabs her hand, lifting it in the air. “The undefeated Cinder Wolf!” The crowd screams and cheers while gathering the money from their bets. Cinder Wolf shakes the Ring Master’s hand off and leaves the ring without
a word. She’s amazing.

  I make a move to follow her, but someone grabs my arm. “I wouldn’t do that, kid. She don’t like people,” the Ring Master tells me.

  “Why not?” Curious. He shrugs his shoulders.

  “She just don’t. The only person she ever talks to is the bouncer and her manager, Fang. If you decide to commit suicide and approach her, announce yourself first,” he warns before walking away and leaving me in the middle of a shoving, rowdy crowd. I look back to Cinder Wolf and see her sitting at the bar with a coke. Her expression warns people away, so instead of going over there, I force myself to walk away.

  “I don’t know if I can fight her, man,” Ross tells me when I get back to the table.

  “Give it up for the newbie, Lighting. Tonight, he’ll be fighting our undefeated champ,” the Ring Master announces, and Ross slowly stands up. I can tell he’s nervous, from the slump in his shoulders to his slow movements. Even though he masks it well, I can tell. I’d be worried too. She’s fierce. The crowd makes a path as the four of us approach the ring.

  Ross climbs into the ring while we stand on the side, eagerly watching what’s about to happen. Cinder Wolf is already in the ring. Her back is to Ross, and as she bounces on her toes, she stretches her arms. When she realizes Ross is in the ring, she turns around. Ross visibly gulps. He’s nervous, even though he’s taller, more muscular, than her. Ross is the tallest in the group; he’s 6’2", I’m 6’1", Alec is 6’0", and Chase is the shortest at 5’10".

  “Lighting,” Ross greets, holding his hand out. She eyes his hand before slapping hers to it and shaking it.

  “Cinder Wolf,” she says before retreating to her corner. As she walks to her corner, I notice she has a tattoo of a wolf on the back of her right shoulder. Also, I notice that her outfit and fighting gear make her look even hotter.

  Ring Master steps up to the middle of the ring, and the girl walks back to the center, facing Ross. She smirks. “I’ll go easy on you since it’s your first time,” she tells him, and his eyebrows furrow. He mumbles something that makes her laugh as the Ring Master starts the fight.

  Like a vulture, she circles Ross. I feel kind of bad for him. She beat that large guy. Don’t get me wrong, Ross is a great fighter, but I’m not sure he can win. It surprised me when Ross told me he wanted to fight tonight. Ross is usually not the one to fight; that’s Chase or me. Maybe he just wanted to blow off steam.

  Athena

  Shock fills me when I realize that he’s my opponent- the adorable, supposed bad boy who calls me Button. I feel kind of bad now that I have to beat him up. Ring Master calls the fight to start, and I immediately begin circling him, trying to find a weak spot. I told him I’d go easy on him, but I’m not letting him win. People bet on me to win, so I win and get more money. I can’t lose because this money is what’ll get me out of that house when I turn eighteen.

  Realizing he doesn’t have a visible weak spot, I let him make the first move. If we don’t finish the fight in ten minutes, it’s a draw, and we have to reschedule. Ross throws his arm out, and I dodge it, kicking my right leg out. My leg hits his side, making him grunt. I let him recover a little before I throw an uppercut and hit him in the chin, causing him to tumble to the ground. He’s about to get up, but I put my foot on his chest. “Stay down,” I growl, not wanting to hurt him.

  I know he can take hits, but anything more, and he might get seriously hurt

  He grabs my ankle, twisting it and making me fall. I growl in anger and jump to my feet. He narrows his eyes at me. “No wonder they call you Wolf. You growl like one,” he jokes. I use this distraction to grab his arm and twist it around his back. I kick his lower leg, and he drops to the floor. I tighten my grip and force him to the ground, making him tap out. Ring Master declares me the winner, and I release Ross’s arm.

  “Dang, you have a tight grip,” he complains, rolling his arm. I don’t blame him; if I’d moved his arm anymore, I would’ve dislocated it. If he were any other guy, I probably would’ve knocked him out. But this is the guy who’s slowly worming his way into my business, and I find that I want to befriend him. Stop it, Athena. I scold myself.

  Shaking my head, I rid myself of the thoughts and exit the ring.

  “Money,” I demand, holding my hand out to the guy who collects the winnings. He places a wad of cash in my hand. I don’t count it as I walk away and avoid hands attempting to grab me. Looking around, I search for Mason, but I don’t see him. He’s never far from me when we’re here, so it’s unusual not to see him. I look to the bar. No Mason. The ring. No Mason. The tables. No Mason. The locker room. No Mason.

  “WHERE IS HE?!” I roar. Everyone goes silent, their eyes on me. I yell his name, panic filling me. Nobody better have hurt him.

  Everyone looks around for Mason as I push through people. They know who I’m looking for, so they move out of my way. I get to the area with the tables and spot Drake’s table. I practically run over and climb onto the table. I see Drake hold his hand out from the corner of my eye to make sure I don’t fall. Being angry as I am, I shoot him a glare. “Don’t touch me.”

  He pulls his hand away as I search the crowd, almost screaming when I still don’t see Mason. I spot my jacket on the ground near the entrance. Quickly, I jump off of the table and run to the door. I throw the door open, sprint up the stairs, and shove the top door open. The sound of skin-on-skin contact echoes in the air as I round the corner into the alley. My eyes widen when I see the large guy I fought and a few other guys surrounding Mason and Ray.

  “Leave!” I yell, making them all look at me. The big guy I fought earlier steps forward, and I growl. “I beat you in the ring. What makes you think I can’t beat you out here?” I can’t believe he has the gall to hurt my brother. He laughs and flicks his wrist.

  Before I know it, two guys have my arms and are pinning me to a wall. The big guy steps forward and smirks. “Because I have friends.”

  I look past his shoulder to see Mason and Ray fighting four guys. They’re busy. I guess I have to do this myself. I pull my left arm forward with all my strength and slam my elbow back into a nose. The left guy releases my arm, and I pull the guy from the right side forward, flipping him and kicking his stomach when he hits the ground. Both guys lay on the ground, groaning in pain as I stand to my full height of 5’6". The original fighter is a good 6’5". The word mammoth comes to mind.

  “I’m not gonna let some bratty lil girl beat me,” he yells, lunging at me. Before I can move, his hand clamps around my neck, and he pushes me back into the wall. Pain shoots up my spine as the hard brick halts my movement.

  “Such... a sore... loser,” I gasp out before kneeing him where the sun doesn’t shine. His hands immediately drop to his family jewels as he sinks to the floor, his face twisting in pain. I lean down to his level and grab his hair, forcing him to look up at me. “If you wanna fight, keep it in the ring,” I warn him and drop his head.

  With that, I run over to the guy holding Mason in a headlock and launch myself onto his back. I dig my finger into the pressure point on his neck, and he goes limp, releasing Mason. A yell sounds, and when I look up, I find Drake and his friends finishing the rest of the thugs. Ignoring them, I turn to Mason and inspect him. “You okay? What did they want?” I demand, noticing the purple bruise on his face and the cut on his bottom lip.

  “He wanted you. They dragged me out here while you were in the ring, hoping you’d come to find me,” he tells me, running his hand through his hair. Smart, yet stupid.

  “And look how that turned out for him,” I grunt, motioning to the fallen bodies. Mason laughs, then glances behind me. Mason may be a good fighter, learning some from my dad before he died, but he’s not as good as I am. He usually leaves the fighting for me.

  “Ray, you good?” He nods, walking back to his post at the door. Turning, I sigh because of Drake, Ross, Alec, and Chase standing there.

  “Thanks for the help, guys,” Mason says to the guys. I keep quiet. If I
speak too much, they might recognize my voice. Mason doesn’t seem to care that much since they’re all friends now.

  “What about you, Cinder Wolf? Any damage?” Drake asks, getting my attention. I chuckle and shake my head.

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” I say, and all the guys look at me with unbelieving stares, Drake even raking his eyes over my body with a searching gaze. I ignore them and look at Mason. “We should go before they wake up,” I suggest, jerking a thumb at the guys on the ground.

  “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Mason tells me and turns to the guys. “See ya later,” he calls as we walk away. As I walk, I refrain from limping. When those guys slammed me against that wall, I think they hurt my back, and now every step sends a sharp pain running up my spine. We reach our bikes, and I pull my helmet on before Mason can ask me questions.

  Once on our bikes, we speed off towards the house. It doesn’t take long to get to our street. When we do, we hop off our bikes and walk the rest of the way. Like always, we don’t want Lexi or her mom to hear, so we keep quiet as we sneak inside.

  “See you in the morning,” I whisper to Mason, who answers with the same. When I get to my room, I go straight to my bathroom and unpin what seems like thousands of pins out of my wig. After fifteen minutes in the shower, I dry off and wrap my hair in the towel, slipping on a tank top and some sleeping shorts before I finish drying my hair.

  I hum to myself as I brush through my hair. I can’t turn the hairdryer on since Lexi and the devil are asleep, so I leave my hair to air dry. Putting my hairbrush down, I slide my glasses on, switch the bathroom light off, and dance out of my bathroom as I hum the melody to It’s My Life by Bon Jovi.

  As I dance past my window, something in the house next to me catches my attention. I move to close my blinds and realize it’s Drake. My eyes widen when I see he’s shirtless, covered in tattoos, hot, and… and laughing at me. A blush covers my cheeks as I remember what I’m wearing. I glare at him and stick my tongue out before shutting my blinds. “Why did he have to move in there?” I grumble and groan as I flop back onto my bed.