Karmin was still very much pissed off at Maddox.

But she needed him, so she was willing to overlook his idiocy. Although, that didn't mean she wasn't going to be petty about it.

The entire night at the fight club last week after the meeting with Ezra was very quiet and awkward. Maddox didn't like talking overall, and Karmin was too mad to talk to him, so they just stood in silence, watching some of the fights. It killed her not to speak, but she refused to give in. She knew for a fact that he was happy she wasn't talking by the smug look on his stupid face.

The fights in question were brutal. It wasn't your family-friendly kickboxing match she was accustomed to. The opponents fought with pure anger and aggression with absolutely no mercy. She wasn't happy to admit it, but Maddox was right. This club was no place for a happy-go-lucky girl who spent her weekend's binge-watching teen dramas.

There was so much blood, and by the end of the fights, the opponents came out bruised and battered. Karmin had no idea how she was going to hide this from her parents. The only thing she could think of was lots and lots of make-up. Not to mention, she was terrified for her face. She happened to really like her face, and it being on the other end of a punch didn't sound so fun.

Karmin had spent the last few days attempting to work out to get herself ready for the fight on Wednesday. She was fairly healthy with acceptable stamina, but she kept giving up halfway through the work out videos. It was a lot harder to exercise at home when her parents kept screaming about the sale at Costco, or how they needed more chai even though it was their fourth drink that day.

Speaking of her parents, her Dad wasn't doing very well. He went from eating two meals a day to barely even one. Sometimes he couldn't keep the food down, or he would experience shortness of breath walking from his room to the living room. The dialysis wasn't doing much to help with these symptoms.

She accompanied her Dad to his dialysis appointments that were three times a week. They lasted approximately four hours, so when it was Karmin's turn to go, she would try to get her homework done or watch overly dramatic soap dramas with him.

But Karmin was handling it. They were going to have the money soon enough for the transplant, and that was the mindset she kept when she marched up the stairs of class, heading towards Maddox.

As she walked up, her eyes flickered to Derek who quickly looked away, hiding his face with his hands. A smirk made its way to her lips as she took a seat beside Maddox. "Good morning," she greeted cheerfully.

He looked up from his book to look at her with an expressionless face, and then promptly turned his gaze back to reading.

Karmin disregarded his blatant attempt to ignore her as she flipped her hair back and peered at him. "Whatcha reading?" she asked. She didn't pin Maddox as much of the reader type, but with his quiet persona, it made sense.

Maddox didn't take his eyes off the book, but instead lifted the cover, revealing the title: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

"Oh, I've seen the movie," she recalled. Karmin wasn't much of a reader, since she spent most of her time reading and studying textbooks, so movies were always her go-to. But she really did enjoy this movie as it touched on important issues such as police brutality and racism.

He made no movement as to whether he was listening to her or not, keeping his steady gaze on the book, so she continued.

"So, for tomorrow, I think I'm ready, but do you have any advice? Like do you have any rituals before your fights? Yoga, meditation, or music? Actually, ignore the first two, because you never look relaxed or peaceful," she said thoughtfully, gesturing at his face. "Oh also, who am I fighting? How do the bets work? How much will I get for my first fight?" Karmin asked, firing one question after the other.

Maddox finally looked up from his book and sighed. "I liked it better when you weren't talking to me."

Karmin rolled her eyes. "I'm just a little nervous, okay. The fights last week weren't very pretty, and I don't want to end up like the guy who had to invest in dentures at the age of 30. That shit is not cute," she sassed.

"Seriously, can we go back to you not talking to me?" he deadpanned.

"Just answer the questions, Maddox."

Maddox leaned back in his seat, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking at her idly.

"You're fighting Natasha Reznikov. From what I've heard, she's an okay fighter, but she's intimidating."

From her name, it sounded like she was Russian. Karmin's mind went to all the movies she had watched with the evil strong Russian characters with thick accents. Maybe she was nice.

"People place bets on who they think is going to win. Since it's your first fight, most likely no one will be betting on you. If you win and that's a big if," he emphasized, earning a glare from Karmin, "you get all the money people bet on you and 50% of the losers cut."

"But why doesn't the guy who hosts the fight, Judas, not take a portion?" she inquired.

"He's rich, he doesn't need any more money. Besides, there's an entrance fee for guests, so he has that," he shrugged. "The only way you'll start making more money is the more you win. The more people bet on you, the better. Sometimes, Judas even offers bonuses to the best fighters."

She nodded slowly. "That makes sense. What's the usual range that fighters are paid?"

"It starts at around $500 to $10,000, but sometimes goes as high as $15,000."

Karmin's eyes widened at those numbers. She just needed to win. She couldn't' afford to lose a fight.

"So... will you pick me up?" she asked hesitantly.

Maddox gave her an are-you-kidding-me type of look.

"Please," she urged, giving him a charming smile.

He ran a hand through his hair and finally replied with, "At 7 and this time, if you're late, I will leave."

"Thanks," she sang, gently poking him in the arm.

Maddox looked at her weirdly but shook his head and turned his gaze back on to his novel, his fingers skimming the edge of the pages.

Karmin turned her stare back to the front of the lecture hall, a sense of determination coursing through her. She was going to take down Reznikov. All she had to do was reach deep down into the angriest parts of herself and manipulate it to her advantage. She had to leave the sunflowers and daisies outside the ring and channel her inner Terminator.

She scanned through the crowd of students to see Leo walking up the stairs directly towards her. Karmin quickly smoothed down her dress and adjusted her hair as he shuffled through the row to sit beside her.

"Hey Karmin, do you mind if I sit here?" he asked, a grin gracing his gorgeous face.

"Yeah, absolutely. I mean, no," she said quickly but faltered when she saw a confused expression making its way to his face. "What I meant is I don't mind you sitting here. I would really like that," Karmin ended, letting out a flustered laugh.

She inwardly facepalmed. Why couldn't she speak properly when he was around? It was as if her entire vernacular and suave confidence went up in smoke the second he gazed at with his pretty brown eyes.

Leo chuckled, his smile crinkling the skin around his eyes. "You look beautiful, by the way," he complimented, taking in her white sweetheart neckline dress.

She shyly pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Aw, thank you," she grinned, her cheeks beginning to hurt from the amount of smiling.

Why was he sitting with her? He never did, but she wasn't complaining. Her mind felt as if it was on overdrive as he flexed his arms, her eyes unable to stop looking. Damn, football was doing wonders to his arms.

Leo turned to her, slinging an arm behind her chair. "So, you know the final essay we have?"

The only thought that kept running through her mind was that he had his arm around her, but somehow, she was able to breathe out a simple, "Yeah."

"Do you have a partner for that?" he wondered.

"Um, I was actually going to do it myself." Karmin wasn't a big fan of group projects since she always ended up doing most of the work. She didn't understand why it was so hard for people to do their part, but then again, she did like having the control. She hated having to rely on other people.

Leo shuffled a bit closer, and Karmin thought she was going to go into early cardiac arrest by how fast her heart was beating. "I thought it would be cool if we could do it together. You know, that way we can get to know each other more," he added confidently.

A scoff from Maddox was audible, but she ignored it, turning her entire body towards Leo and blocking him.

They would be able to spend more time together, and maybe he would finally ask her out. She only ever saw him in class, so outside of school, he would see her as more of a classmate and more of a potential girlfriend. Maybe when they were working on the essay, and his hand accidentally touched hers, she looked up and boom, they would fall in love.

Okay, I knew my life wasn't a romantic comedy – it was more of a comedy because my life was a complete and utter joke – but hey, it could be possible.

This was the perfect plan.

"I think that's a great idea," Karmin exclaimed, the smile never once leaving her face.

"Perfect," said Leo smugly, and with one last smirk, he turned his gaze to Winona who was pulling up her lecture slides for the day.

But his arm stayed around Karmin and for the third time in the past two weeks, she couldn't focus.

***

After another class that Karmin had no idea what she had learned, she skipped her way outside the NYU building to meet up with Viola.

Her best friend looked camera-ready as she sat on the bench, flipping through her textbook and highlighting just about everything. The whole point of highlighting was to emphasize the important facts, but according to Viola, every single piece of information was imperative.

"Hey, gorgeous," Karmin embraced, snuggling her head on to Viola's shoulder. "I see you're colouring your textbook again."

"You're hilarious," Viola retorted dryly.

"You're literally highlighting everything," she teased. "The only words not highlighted are 'and,' 'is,' and 'the.'"

Viola shifted her body to the side, covering her textbook. "Hey, leave us alone."

"Fine, fine," Karmin said, putting her hands up in mock surrender. "We won't talk about your incessant need to highlight everything. Let's talk about you and Eva!"

A smile pulled at her lips from Karmin mentioning the name. Viola quickly faced her, slamming the textbook on the stone bench, and whispered loudly, "I think I'm in love."

Karmin stomped her feet on the ground repeatedly in excitement and grabbed Viola's shoulders, grinning at her. "Tell me everything."

Viola sighed dreamily, staring into the distance. "We went to this Filipino restaurant on 1st avenue and ate chicken adobo and halo halo. Then we took a walk around Central Park and just talked," she smiled bashfully. "Eva is in her third year for social work, she's into painting, and she loves k-dramas. She is absolutely perfect."

After texting for roughly two weeks, they had finally gone on a date yesterday, and Karmin's heart swelled listening to her talk about Eva. Viola had been in a few relationships before and most of them never ended well. She was the type of person who loved strongly without regret, but it always hurt her at the end. But from Karmin's few meetings with Eva, she knew that they were perfect for each other.

"I'm so happy for you, Vi," Karmin smiled softly. "But there's something I have to tell you."

She had to tell her about the fights. She told Viola everything, and from what she saw last week at the fight club, Karmin was going to need the support. Also, if she was going to show up at Viola's apartment late at night, probably covered in bruises, she needed to know. It wasn't like she could tell her parents.

Viola shut her textbook and looked up, sensing the seriousness from Karmin's voice.

"I...um figured out a way to get money for my Dad's surgery," she said quietly, twisting her rings.

"That's great," Viola exclaimed. "But why do you look so scared? Are you going to become a stripper? Because if you are, I absolutely support you but don't be ashamed of it, okay."

Karmin shook her head, a light chuckle escaping her lips. "Remember when we heard about those fight clubs?" she asked and glanced at her to see Viola nodding. "My first fight is tomorrow."

"I thought they were just a rumour."

Karmin stayed silent, looking down at her leather-clad shoes as she gently pushed around pebbles.

"Aren't those dangerous, though?" Viola questioned, putting a hand on her leg.

Karmin shrugged, feeling a certain heaviness around her shoulders, but she shook it off, offering Viola an assuring smile. "I'll be fine, and I know you don't like violence, so you don't have to come. I don't want you to."

Viola despised violence and blood with every cell in her body. It would always upset her. Whether it was a movie or two people in an argument, she couldn't help but look away. She wasn't a confrontational person herself, either.

"Just promise me you're going to do anything and everything to stay safe. If it gets too much, you stop," she begged, concern contorting her beautiful features.

Karmin let out a huff of air, attempting to be casual. "I promise."

Liar.

***

Author's Note:

Hi!!

I would love to know your thoughts on Maddox and Karmin's relationship so far!! Also, what do you think of Leo?

Also, does anyone else highlight EVERYTHING while studying and doing notes? Because I do lol!! I feel like all the info is super important, even if it is useless haha!

I hope all of you lovely people are staying safe!! If you enjoyed this chapter, please vote and comment. I need the validation lol.

Until next time – m.k.t