When I was a kid, dad would spend every second of his free time training me to fight.

I did it without complaining because his approval used to be the most important thing to me.

So I would punch the bag until my knuckles were bruised and only then would he let me stop.

And if my knuckles bled that was just bonus points to him.

When I met Adelaide in the second grade, I liked her from the start, but I didn't know how to show it.

Growing up I realized that shoving her to the ground and kicking her in the shins probably wasn't the best way to do that.

I blame my dad for that.

But I must have done something right for her to dare me to be her best friend, so it was easy to say yes to her.

And dad didn't like it.

He found me at the park with her one day in the summer when I told him I would be at the library getting some summer reading done.

He yelled at me when we were alone, saying that all she was is a distraction and I could never be a successful fighter with her holding me back.

But he didn't understand that she never held me back, she kept me afloat.

"You forget about that girl or I'll make you." He said to me and then I was thrown into more training.

I didn't listen to him at first, I would still sneak away from a few training sessions to go see her. Because I didn't realize it at twelve years old, but she was my escape.

So I enjoyed every second I was with her. From digging up bugs in the dirt to swimming at her neighborhood pool. From our gas station snack trips to ridiculous nick names.

My favorite part of those days was the sunlight, how it transformed her light brown eyes into pools of shining honey.

Then summer was over and sixth grade came around.

On the first day of middle school I remember seeing her in the hallways and that was the last time I let myself get excited to see her.

Because when I got home that day my dad found out I didn't stop seeing her like he had asked, and he went livid.

And that was the day I truly saw what a piece of crap my father was. Because in his fit of rage, he threatened Ada. My Adelaide.

He was a grown man shoving his own son around screaming threats against a twelve-year-old girl in attempt to set his son straight, and it worked.

So, I stopped talking to Adelaide from that day forward, and it hurt like hell to ignore her when she saw me in the hallways, because all I wanted to do was see her honey colored eyes gleaming in the sunlight again.

But I couldn't.

And then sophomore year, my dad died. It was a stupid drunken bar fight and he cracked his skull when he went down.

That was the year I found out that I had an aunt from my mother's side of the family and she moved in.

As it turns out, she had wanted to visit me ever since I was born, when mom died, but dad wouldn't let her.

We would spend late nights talking about my mother and I found out things from her that my dad would never talk to me about. I lost a father that year, but my home life changed drastically for the better.

Aunt Sofie treated me how I imagined my own mother would have if she had the chance. I thought maybe I can turn my back on underground fighting before I could even start, find a real job so I could help Aunt Sofie with the bills.

But then I met Lachlan. He was the man that ran the underground fights, and dad had left a lot of debt behind that Lachlan was determined to collect.

The first person I had fought in the ring was Tate Pike. He was better than me at first and he had me on my ass within a minute. But that was the last time I let someone knock me on my ass again, and Tate helped me achieve that.

We became close through fighting and training and it was one thing I could be grateful for. The only other thing was that it gave me a chance to help Aunt Sofie pay the bills.

So I guess life was fair at that point, it wasn't perfect but I got by.

And then Junior year happened, and I remembered what I was missing.

When we ran into each other in the hallway, it was the first time I had really seen her since the sixth grade.

And the light from the sunroof was shining into her eyes and I couldn't look away.

But it was just a moment of weakness that I could handle this one time.

Or so I thought, because she walked into my detention room and it was the last place I expected to see her.

She didn't see me looking at her as she sat down in a desk not so far in front of me.

I distracted myself by pretending to work in my notebook, but really, I was just writing random shit to pass the time.

And then she turned around to look at the clock at the back of the classroom and I couldn't help but look at her again, and she looked at me back for a short moment that somehow felt ages long.

I probably shouldn't have said something when I noticed that asshole Walter was bothering her but I couldn't stop myself.

And then I went home that day and thought of how I still couldn't involve her in my mess of a life, because even though my dad was gone, Lachlan reminded me of all his worst parts.

So I shook her out of my thoughts and reminded myself to keep it that way.

But then she gave me her first doodle.

✨Authors Note✨

So he really do be simpin from the start, huh? 😗

As I said before, I did write the kiss in his point of view. For anyone confused, it's in the bonus chapter at the very end of the book! I decided to write it after hitting 1 million reads!! AAAHHHHAHAHAHHHH