Burning It Down, All the Way to Bat Country

Trinity’s POV

We walked into Hot Topic where we immediately pounced on by a very hyper Lynnie.
“Oh my god Trini, this party is gonna be off the damn chain!” she yelled, pulling me further into the store. I was starting to get extremely worried as she shoved dress after dress into my arms.
“Uh, Lynnie? Why do I need to try on dresses? How big is this thing gonna be anyway?” I asked her, kinda afraid of the answer.
“Well, it started out small, and it’s kind of snowballed into about400people.” She mumbled, I blinked, not sure I heard her right.

“I must be going insane, deaf, or both; you did NOT just say that you have invited FOUR HUNDRED people in two hours. Lynnie, where are we going to put all these people?”
“Well, you know that really awesome venue where the guys played last week for that surprise show?”
“Yeah, the one in Long Beach?”
“Well, they had a last minute cancellation, so I managed to book the venue for your party!” My jaw dropped, all I could do was gape at her like a mute retard. I snapped out of my daze and glared at her,
“Lynnie! It’s just a birthday, I’m only turning sixteen!”
“I know that, but it’s important! Sixteen is a milestone birthday; will you please just let us do this? The party isn’t for three weeks anyway, so calm down!” I sighed; I knew I wasn’t going to win this one.
“Does my dad know what’s going on?”
“He knows that we’re planning a party, he just isn’t quite aware of the scale of said party.” She said sheepishly.

“Alright, I’ll let you do this, but you get to explain to my dad why he’s paying for a concert venue for his daughter’s birthday. I had nothing to do with this, got it?” She squealed, nodded, and shoved me into the dressing room to try all this shit on. Thirty minutes later, and none of the outfits I had tried on were working for me. We put everything back and made our way out of the mall. We were walking back to the car when we saw a ring of people yelling and cheering. I looked at Mitch, who just shrugged and nodded, and we all walked over, pushing through people to see what was going on. We finally broke through all the people to see a girl beating the shit out of some other chick, screaming at her the whole time.

“You FUCKING BITCH! YOU DON’T DESERVE TO LIVE IN THIS COUNTRY!” She screamed, slamming her fist into the chick’s face. I turned around and smacked Mitch,
“Go stop her before she kills the other one!” He just grinned before walking forward and calmly picking the screaming girl up. He walked back over to us, setting the girl on her feet in front of me,

“So, what’s your name and why were you kicking that shit out of that girl?”
“My name is Justice, that’s some bitch I go to school with, and I was kicking the shit out of her because she said that she thanks God every day for dead soldiers. My brother DIED in Iraq to defend HER right to say that shit. So I kicked the shit out of her.” I was clenching my fists as hard as I could by the time she finished,
“Are you fucking kidding me!?! Please tell you at least broke her jaw or something?”
“I think I broke something, I heard a crack.” I smiled and looped my arm through her, getting an idea. I walked over to Lynnie and stood in front of her, crossing my arms.

“You invited bands right?” She nodded slowly, greatly confused.
“Yeah, Papa Roach, Saving Able, Saosin, the guys will be there, Framing Hanley, few other bands. Why?”
“Because I don’t want a birthday party, I want a benefit concert for a fund for soldiers and their families, for like, medical bills and shit. We can still do a party, but I want a donation center set up, and you have to make a donation to get into the party.”
“Oh my god, Trinity that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard! Oh my god, I have to go call the guys, wait, who are you?” She directed the last part at Justice,
“Oh, this is Justice, she was kicking the crap out of some girl who goes to her school, I guess the stupid bitch insulted the troops. So I had this brilliant idea, and here we are. My name is Trinity by the way; I’m turning my birthday party into a benefit concert. How old are you anyway?”

“I’m seventeen, why?”
“Just wondering. Here, put your number in my phone, I’ll keep you updated on the party, I totally want you there.” She grinned and punched her number into my phone before walking away. I shrieked in alarm when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, but relaxed when I heard Mitch’s familiar chuckle in my ear. I turned around and slapped his shoulder, glaring playfully,

“Don’t scare me like that! You ready to go?” He laughed and nodded, kissing me quickly before wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me over to a very hyperactive Lynnie, who was just snapping her phone closed.
“Ok, so the benefit is a go, the guys think it’s an amazing idea and they’re gonna talk to the rest of the bands about it. Now you go have fun with your boyfriend, we’ll talk later at home ok?” I nodded and we walked towards Mitch’s car,
“So what do you wanna do now?” I asked him, and he just grinned at me before starting the car and pulling into the horrendous afternoon traffic,
“Can you grab the bag out of the backseat?” he asked me about ten minutes later.
I turned and grabbed it, opening it to see a pair of my workout shorts and a sports bra, along with my Nikes.

“Mitch, why do you have my clothes in your car?”
“You’ll see babe, just be patient.”
I started to get worried as he pulled up to a large warehouse looking building and shut the car off before smirking at me.
“This is an MMA training gym. I got you an appointment with my trainer; we’re going to see what you can do.”
“Are you serious!? Baby, I’m not a fighter!” He just looked at me blankly,
“You are totally a fighter, it’s just repressed. I was talking to Kat a few days ago and she said that you wanted to learn self defense, this is just kicking it up a notch. Now come on, you’ll love it, I promise.” I sighed and nodded, getting out of the car and following him inside. I swear, I almost started drooling when we walked in, shirtless, sweaty men were EVERYWHERE.

“Mitchell Aaron Carson, you little bastard, where the hell have you been boy?” a voice boomed, and Mitch’s face split into a wide grin before he whipped around and was grabbed up into a hug.
“I’ve been around you crazy old man.” He turned towards me and laughed at my extremely confused expression.
“Jeff, this is my girlfriend Trinity, she’s here to train with Max.” Jeff looked at Mitch in alarm,
“It’s her first time here and she’s going to train with Max? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“I’m sure, she’ll be fine. I’ve watched her with her aunt, she’d demolish anyone else.”
“She has a name, and she does not appreciate being spoken about like she’s not in the room.” I informed them icily, and they both turned and looked at me in surprise, before amusement spread across their faces. I glared at Mitch, tapping my foot.

“Well, are you going to show me where I can change or what? And wipe that smirk off your face before I tell my dad about what we actually did yesterday.” The smirk quickly fell off his face as he led me down a hall to the woman’s locker room. I smiled to myself as I changed, sitting down to lace up my Nikes. I walked out of the locker room, skipping up to Mitch and kissing him softly before shoving the bag with my street clothes in it into his arms.
“Alright, where is this Max character that Jeff seems to be so worried about?”

“He is currently right behind you.” I whipped around and came face to face with a man who was about 5’11” and looked lean, wiry; and realllly dangerous.
“Well hello Trinity, Mitch here tells me you’re interested in Mixed Martial Arts.” I shook my head in violent negativity,
“No, I’m interested in learning self defense; Mitch thinks I’d be good at this MMA stuff.”
“Well, let’s see what ya got then.” He smirked, and I caught a glint in his eyes that, quite frankly, scared the shit out of me. I followed him over to a practice mat, ready to see what he would do to me.

Two hours later and I was laying on the mat, feeling like I was about to die. Max looked down at me, a victorious smile on his face. I guess he was happy that he had managed to throw me on my back for the forty second time in twenty minutes. He held out a hand, I just waved it away and continued to lay there.
“I swear Max; I can’t feel a single bone, muscle, or tendon in my body. I hope you have accomplished something here, because I’m done.” I said, and rolled over, getting to my feet. Mitch walked over and handed me a towel and a water bottle. I leaned against his chest as he talked to Max, zoning out until Mitch poked me in the side, bring me back to reality.

“What, what’d I miss?”
“I was just telling you that you did pretty well, but there are some things we need to work on, so I’m setting you up for three sessions a week. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at four pm. Sound good?” I nodded at Max,
“I’ll talk to my dad and see if it will work and give you a call.”
“No need doll, me and your dad have already talked about this, I’m gonna pick you up from school those days and bring you here, then take you home.” I crossed my arms and glared playfully,
“Well fine then, looks like you and my dad have my life and time all figured out. I’m gonna go shower, I’ll meet you out here in twenty?” He nodded and kissed me quickly, letting me pull away and walk to the locker room. I didn’t know how this MMA thing was going to turn out, but it should one hell of a ride.

Matt’s POV
“Daddy I’m home!” came Trinity’s yell, along with the sound of the front door slamming.
“In the living room!” I called back, wrapping my arm tighter around Steph’s shoulder and pausing the movie we had been watching, waiting for my daughter to bounce into the room.
“So you and Mitch have been planning this little MMA thing have you?” she questioned, putting her hands on her hips. I grinned and nodded,
“How did Max treat you?”
“Oh my god daddy, my entire body hurts! It was so much fun though, thank you.” She said, and jumped in my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“No problem little one. Now, you’re getting up early tomorrow to help the girls plan your party benefit thing, so it’s time for you to go to bed.” She nodded and kissed my cheek, jumping off my lap and running to the stairs. She paused at the bottom, turning to look at me,

“I love you daddy.” I felt the grin take over my features, my heart swelling,
“I love you too baby girl, good night.”