Rise and Fall

Another week had passed since the incident at Boscov’s. I was finally settled into my apartment and there were no more boxes filled with my crap lying all over the place. The next thing on my to do list was to get some more furniture. I didn’t realize until I unpacked all of my stuff that Shelby and Rob had owned most of the lamps and others odds and ends furniture like bookshelves or an entertainment center.

In between the Boscov’s fiasco and now, I had been doing a lot of research. I couldn’t get all this gang stuff to leave my mind. More questions kept surfacing. It was like once I found out about it, my brain thirsted for more knowledge about the subject. I knew that 3DG had a band. I knew because I loved the singer’s voice and had a few of their albums on my iPod. Of course now I felt guilty about it since they were Avenged Sevenfold’s biggest nemesis. Now I had a sneaking suspicion that they used it as a front, just like Matt had to resort to doing with Daddis.

Then my curiosity piqued even further and I wondered if Avenged Sevenfold was a band. Sure enough they were. And their music was fantastic. I recognized Matt’s voice instantly as the singer’s. I had to admit that he sounded incredibly sexy and I found myself learning the lyrics to some of their songs very quickly. What surprised me the most was that they hadn’t come out with a new album in a little over two years now. Unfortunately it didn’t seem that they had any intentions of making more music. Had something tragic happened? Was it because gang matters had become priority?

In order to distract myself I decided to watch some episodes of Arrested Development. I owned all three seasons and figured I could watch them since they were a little more lighthearted than two rival gangs. Currently I was lounging on the couch watching the DVDs since I still didn’t have cable yet. Honestly I didn’t mind because I had tons of movies. I could keep myself easily occupied for the next month or so. In the mean time I was stealing open wireless networks from my networks. All in good time, I kept telling myself.

Kickboxing was tonight and Shelby was actually going for once. I had another half hour until she was coming over. She had offered to pick me up and I was glad for it. Of course it meant that I’d have to deal with her nagging yet again about how necessary a car was.

After the episode finished I got changed into gray Adidas gym shorts and a black Jay’s t-shirt. I heard Shelby honk outside so I quickly scooped up my backpack with my gear and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before meeting her outside. She grinned and waved at me when she saw me as I stepped out to lock the door.

“Ready to get your ass kicked,” I smirked at her and she laughed. “You probably will demolish me. You’ve put on some muscle, girlfriend. Just don’t bulk up like Shadows,” she teased as she pulled out of the parking lot. “I doubt that’ll happen. I’ll never be as big as Mr. Universe,” I said and we both cracked up.

We arrived with five minutes to spare and signed in at the desk. I was very pleased to see that it was Brian. Vengeance gave me the chills. He pretended not to recognize Shelby since she hadn’t been there in so long and I laughed. “Hey by the way I need to change my address. Just so you guys have it on record or whatever,” I said and Brian raised a brow.

The main door that led to the gyms from the front desk opened to reveal a sweaty Shadows. He must’ve been teaching the previous Jiu Jitsu class. I basically had his schedule memorized anyhow since the majority of the classes I went to were taught by him. He walked behind Brian to grab a towel and type something up on the computer. He looked nice today in his black Daddis staff t-shirt and gray basketball shorts. Honestly, he could wear a trash bag and make it look like the latest sexiest fashion.

“Ah finally freed yourself from Shelbs’s fortress huh,” Brian grinned. “You act like I was keeping her prisoner! She’s the one who wanted to leave so badly! And now she’s living in a super shady neighborhood,” Shelby said and I rolled my eyes at her dramatics. Everyone always made it sound much worse than it actually was. It wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle.

Shadows perked his head up in my direction once he got the gist of the conversation. “It’s not so bad. I just don’t go out at night. Much,” I said, giving a pointed look at Shadows and I noticed a small smile formed on his lips. He knew exactly what I was referring to and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from returning the smile. I gave Brian the address and he quickly changed it for me.

“Hey by the way the Urban Defense class is coming up and I know you were interested in it. It’s a three-week class. Three Saturdays. If you can handle it,” Brian challenged. “Depends on who’s teaching it I suppose,” I smirked. “Shadows and… Zacky I think,” Brian said, looking over a sheet. “Zacky,” I asked, confused. “Yeah Zacky. He’s here all the time. You know him. He’s got those snake bite piercings… bright green dreamy eyes,” Brian described and my heart sank as I realized who he was talking about.

Shadows was staring at me again. I forced myself to look back at Brian and took the paper from Brian, forcing myself to stop thinking about Zacky and the images of him licking blood off his hand. It made me want to vomit just thinking about it.

“Ok right. Well thanks for the reminder. Better get to class,” I said and yanked on Shelby’s arm. “See you on the mats,” Shadows said and I nodded, feeling my face heat up.

“You definitely need that Urban Defense class with the looks of your neighborhood,” Shelby said as we put on our hand wraps. “Stop hating on my turf,” I pouted and she laughed at me. “C’mon let’s get some jump ropes before all the good ones are taken,” Shelby said and quickly jogged over to grab two. I waved at Jeremy who grinned and gave me a wink.

“Alright Muay Thai class line up according to rank,” Shadows voice bellowed. Once everyone was in line with the proper shirts, we gave Wai for respect. Wai meant that we brought our hands cupped over our mouth and nose and bowed towards the instructor. We did this in the beginning of every class before the torturous jump roping began.

The clock beeped letting us know to begin and the music started blaring. I loved the music because it got my blood pumping and motivated to keep me going. Shelby and I moved down to the right where there was more empty space and started jump roping. Over the past month or so, I had noticed huge improvements in myself. I was now able to shuffle my feet, move to the sides, and do high knees while jump roping. I still broke out into a massive sweat afterwards but I didn’t have to take breaks anymore. I guess I had built up endurance for it.

Shelby on the other hand was practically dead on her feet. I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing at her loud gasps for breath. Her mouth was gaping open and the expression on her face reminded me of a fish out of water. I distracted myself by looking at the posters on the walls. I chanced a look up front and saw that Matt had his colorful, muscular arms across his chest and had a bored expression on his face.

His eyes were scanning across the room at everyone and stopped when they landed on me. I felt my face flush under his gaze but didn’t break it, even though his stare was so penetrating that it practically made my heart beat out of my chest. I bit my lip as the clock beeped to warn us that thirty seconds remained and his expression darkened and changed to something that resembled hunger or desire. Suddenly he broke the gaze when the song changed and I nearly tripped over my rope when I recognized it but I caught myself.

I watched surprised as Matt fumbled with the iPod and quickly changed the song. But I knew just from hearing the first few notes from the guitar riff that it was Unholy Confessions. That was really weird. Why did he change it so suddenly? It was his band after all. Then a familiar Rise Against song played and that was the end of it. Like it never even happened. No one else seemed to notice Matt's odd behavior. The clock beeped again to let us know that jump roping was over. As a whole class we counted out our push ups, sit-ups, and jump squats.

“Partner up,” Shadows announced and Shelby handed me her rope. “I need a drink,” she gasped and I gave her a sympathetic smile as she jogged off the mats to get to her water bottle. I put the ropes back and felt someone tap me on the shoulder. Jeremy. “Guess I’m out of a partner today huh,” he said, faking a pout. “Sorry bud. I’ve got Shelb for the hour,” I grinned. “I’ll catch you next time,” he winked and walked off. “You need a kicking shield,” Matt said softly, breaking my thoughts from Jeremy. “Oh right. Thanks. Hey um… why did you change that last song so quickly,” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. I never seemed able to hold my tongue when I was around him.

“Does it matter?” he asked and I responded with a shrug. He was getting awfully defensive over one simple question. “Didn’t like it,” he said shortly. “Well that doesn’t make any sense,” I said, crinkling my nose. Before Matt could respond Shelby was calling my name and signaling for me to come over. I looked at Matt one last time before making my way to Shelby and saw that he was giving me a weird look. I felt more confused than before, wondering why he would say that he didn’t like a song by his own band.

“Put the shields to the side for now. We’re doing leg stretches,” Shadows informed us. I actually liked these. I always felt stretched out afterwards and it forced me to work on my flexibility. We put our leg against our partner’s side, right above the hip, as if we were delivering a body kick and held our leg there. The higher you could hold your leg, the better. We switched so now I was holding Shelby’s leg against my side. After another a few minutes, we had stretched out both of our legs and I volunteered to hold the kick shield first.

“Today we will be working on leg kicks. These kicks are not as high as the body kick but if they’re done properly they can deliver significant damage to your opponent. Jeremy, help me out,” Shadows said. “For the leg kick, you want to aim just above the knee. Right into the lower thigh. It’s a sweet spot and can really weaken your opponent,” Shadows said.

He proceeded to demonstrate how to do leg kicks on both sides and I noticed that Jeremy was gritting his teeth, obviously in some pain from the power of the kicks. “You’ll be switching leg kicks. Do a kick with your right leg, then your left, and so on. You’ll be moving across the gym and when you reach the other side, you swap and your partner will do the leg kicks. Understand,” Shadows asked. “Yes sir,” we all cried out in response and clapped our hands in unison.

I started with the kicks while Shelby held the pad against her leg. I swiftly moved from my right kick to my left and Shelby hurriedly tried to keep up with me. I slowed down the pace for her and she looked relieved. I was used to working with Jeremy who always kept a fast pace with me.

When we switched and I held the pad for her, Shadows approached me. “When you’re doing the kicks, make sure you’re jumping out to the side a bit. This way your out of your opponent’s punching and elbowing range,” Shadows explained and I nodded as I switched the side of the pad when Shelby kicked. I gave her some tips with her kicking and she gradually made her way across the gym. This continued for a few more trips back and forth until the clock beeped to let us know the round was over.

Shelby immediately darted to get a water bottle but I wasn’t thirsty. The mats cleared so it was just Matt and I for a few seconds. “What difference does it make if I don’t like a song,” Matt asked as he made his way over towards me. I looked around to make sure no one was nearby and overheard us. “Because it’s your band,” I whispered and he looked surprised by this statement but quickly recovered. “Are you determined to discover all of my secrets,” Matt asked. “Last time I checked being in a band wasn’t a crime,” I retorted and Matt rolled his eyes. “And since it’s not why aren’t you-“ I began but he cut me off. “Enough. Go back to Shelby. She’s staring at you,” Matt said and I stomped off.

“Hey. How’re you making out,” I asked. “I’m exhausted. Clearly I need to start coming here more often,” Shelby smiled. “Ya think,” I teased and she stuck her tongue out at me.

For the next drill, Shadows informed us we would be doing punch combinations and ending it with two leg kicks. Our partner would give out the punch combination to us so we would have to react quickly. We switched out the kick shields for Thai pads. I held the pads for Shelby first as Shadows called out the different punches. She had some trouble with her balance at first but by the end of it she was nailing it. Her face was bright red I noticed and she was drenched in a thick layer of sweat. But she held her own as Shadows announced that they’d be doing ten body kicks on each side and fifty straight punches.

I followed her to the side and we both chugged our water bottles. I happily put on my gloves and was ready and raring to go. Shelby put the pads on but after I did one combination she put them down. “Kells I’m sorry… I can’t. I… I’m getting dizzy and I feel like I’m going to pass out,” Shelby said and she stumbled a bit. I immediately threw the gloves off and helped her get the pads off. I walked her to the side and she sat down in a chair and put her head between her legs. I got her some water and she shooed me away, telling me to get back on the mats.

As I made my way back to the gym where sounds of grunting and gloves hitting the pads filled the air, I saw Matt staring at me. He was wearing the Thai pads that were previously on Shelby’s arms. “What are you doing,” I asked. “Filling in,” Matt shrugged. “Whatever,” I said and put on my gloves. A rush of nerves and excitement ran through me at the thought of working with him. I had never done it before but he had done it sometimes when there were an odd number of us.

“One two three two,” he announced and positioned the pads for me to hit. I hit them and hesitated before delivering the kicks. He wasn’t moving the pads down. “Hit my legs, cupcake. It won’t kill me,” he said, smirking at me. Just for that I hit him extra hard, not that it made him stumble or sway in the slightest. “You’re built like a linebacker,” I grumbled. “One four three. Mom did want me to join the team in high school but I wasn’t interested,” he said. “Too cool,” I asked as I delivered the punches. “Not my style. Didn’t fancy helping the jocks who bullied me win the championship. Two three four,” Matt said.

“You don’t seem like the type to be bullied,” I said as I responded with the punches and kicks. “Well I didn’t start getting this built until after high school and… nevermind. Well cupcake what did you do in high school? Theater? Newspaper? Sports? Four five four,” he said. “Band geek actually,” I grunted and gave him the hardest punches and kicks I could muster. I could feel the sweat trickling down my back as I did so. Gross. “One two three two. Ah let me guess. You were the sexy flute player,” he said and I felt my face heat up when he referred to me as sexy. “Clarinet actually. Sorry to disappoint,” I said, practically missing the kick. I was still flustered over the sexy comment.

“Five two three. Even better. So you’ve mastered the art of blowing and sucking,” Matt said, grinning wickedly at me. Asshole. “Yes. And I practiced my fingerings as well,” I said sarcastically, smirking proudly as I caught him off guard because he stumbled when I delivered the kick. Clearly he hadn’t expected a response like that from me and his reaction was totally worth it. I was actually really enjoying myself. It was very rare for him to let his guard down and actually talk to me.

The clock interrupted our conversation, letting us know that the round was over. “Careful cupcake,” Matt warned as he licked his lips, and I saw that his eyes had darkened just like they had earlier. His tone and expression frightened and excited me at the same time. Yeah there was definitely something wrong with me.

For the rest of class he had us jog around the gym in a circle, throwing straight punches as we did so. In between the jogging he would have us stop and do push-ups and other drills to get our adrenaline pumping. By the time class ended I was exhausted. I wanted to stay for the kettlebell class, but now I wasn’t so sure since Shelby didn’t feel well.

“I wanted to stay for the next class… but if you’re not feeling well I won’t,” I told her. “No stay. I know you like it. I’ll be fine. I think I might head home though,” Shelby said. “Yeah I’ll see if Jeremy can give me a ride. Will you be ok to drive,” I asked, concerned. “Yeah I’ll be fine. I’m sorry I crapped out on ya,” Shelby said, frowning. “It’s ok. You tried to do too much. Go home so your adoring fiancé can wait on you hand and foot,” I teased and she gave me a small smile and said goodbye.

I grabbed a ten-pound kettlebell when I got on the gym floor and saw Matt standing there, waiting for the rest of the class to show. It ended up being a small class and only four other people stayed. Jeremy wasn’t one of them so I figured I’d be getting a cab home. Ah well I was used to it.

We did different exercises like lunging forward as we held the kettlebell and lifting the kettlebell from between our legs up in the air to our hip length. Then we rotated and twisted the kettlebell around our heads. This was another class that I enjoyed because it helped build up your endurance and it was only a half hour long. In between we did different exercises like the plank or mountain climbers. Matt always had us work our asses off. Sometimes I was convinced he was trying to kill us. After the class ended I put the kettlebell back and went to get a drink of water.

I was packing up all of my gear into my bag when someone behind me cleared their throat. I glanced behind me and saw that it was Matt. “Are you free for the night,” he asked. “Um… yes,” I said. What was this about? “Good. Come with me,” he said and grabbed my bag. “Wait… what,” I asked. He ignored me and I quickly slipped into my sandals to follow him.

“Later Bri. We’re going out,” Matt informed him as we got to the front desk. “We? Ooh… we. Have fun,” Brian said, grinning widely at me and giving me a wink. What the hell was going on? Brian had a look on his face that clearly indicated he knew what this was about. I wanted to shake the answer out of him.

I followed Matt in silence out to his car and watched him toss my bag into the backseat. I got into the passenger seat and he revved the engine. “Where are we going,” I asked as I buckled my seatbelt. “It’s a surprise,” Matt said as he peeled out of the parking lot. “I don’t think the words gang leader and surprise should go together,” I stated and Matt laughed at me. I relaxed a little at his laughter. It was nice hearing him laugh. Even better than his gorgeous smile. “It’s a good surprise. I promise,” Matt said, grinning at me.