The room erupted in cheers and whistles, and I rolled my eyes when someone shouted, ‘Don’t hurt her, Cam!’
This Cam person glanced over at the instructor as if to ask his permission. The instructor sighed, almost irritated that I had put him in this position, and then gave a small, displeased nod.
Cam-with-the-ridiculously-blue-eyes, who I’d seen on orientation day but hadn’t spoken to, walked towards me. He had an easy, almost lazy manner about him. Chilled, like he already knew he was going to win.
Asshole.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Don’t hold back,’ I snapped. ‘Wrestle me like you mean it.’
He did laugh this time, and so did everyone else. ‘Fine, it’s your funeral.’
‘I like funerals.’ Not my best comeback, admittedly, but I hadn’t quite honed my sharp sense of sarcasm yet. I was still learning, and over the next two years, I would practise a lot, on Cam.
His first move was pathetic. He didn’t even try. I slapped his hand away so hard that the sound echoed through the room. A loudoohrose from the spectators, not to mention a few guffaws.
‘Don’t you dare treat me like a girl,’ I hissed at him. ‘Fight me properly or I’ll put you on the ground. Or in it. Six feet under maybe.’
Cam stopped moving and just stared at me for a while. Unnerving. Especially because it was impossible to read his emotions. I suspected shock, anger . . . he was definitely curious, and wait, was thatamusement?
I needed to wipe that off his face immediately, so I took a swing at him. The sound of my fist connecting with his arm echoed through the room; it seemed to bounce off the walls, the ceiling, and off the mat a few times for good measure too. I felt the room take a collective in-breath. Cam looked at me and rubbed his arm. At least the smirk had gone.
‘All right, if that’s how it’s going to be,’ he said, finally adopting a proper fight position. And that was when I knew he wasn’t going to hold back.
Fuck, what had I got myself into? A bolt of panic gripped me. I wasn’t sure if I could do this, and I didn’t want to fail. Icouldn’tfail; it wasn’t an option. This was the moment that was going to seal my fate here for the next few years. This was the moment when I either lost the respect of everyone in this room and was never taken seriously again, or I didn’t.
But there was no time to dwell on that, because Cam suddenly lunged at me. And this time, he meant it. He tried to grab my arm, but I ducked quickly and twisted away. I hadn’t told anyone I’d been doing ju-jitsu for years, but the expression on his face told me he now knew. The thing about ju-jitsu is that it’s not about brute strength and force, which I had in abundance anyway. But it was also about balance, counterbalance, trying to get your opponent into a submissionthere’s no way out of, no matter their size and strength. And that was exactly what I intended to do.
He stumbled, but recovered quickly and lunged again. He locked his arms around my waist, but I wriggled free quickly and then hooked my leg behind his in an attempt to trip him. He shifted his weight just in time to avoid what should have been a full-on takedown. The room erupted in cheers as we went for each other.
‘She’s actually good!’ someone yelled. They sounded half shocked, half impressed, and very amused. Soon the entire room seemed to be on my side, cheering me on.
Cam was faster than I expected for such a muscular man, and he definitely wasn’t holding back any more. But I wasn’t just good – I was relentless. And now I also had something to prove. We ended up on the mat, our faces only inches away from each other as we rolled. He looked down at me with his blue eyes, and just for a second, the world outside disappeared. But I couldn’t let that distract me, so I kneed him as hard as I could and then somehow managed to get him into an arm hold.
‘Give up,’ I said, trying to blink the sting of salty sweat from my eyes.
‘Not a chance.’
I tightened my grip, and he grimaced. An arm hold is so painful, that once you’re in it, it’s all you can think about.
‘Tap out.’ I increased the pressure.
‘Not a chance,’ he said confidently, even though I could hear the obvious pain in his voice.
Fuck, fuck, I didn’t actually want to hurt him. Not really, anyway.
‘Tap out,’ I said again.
He let out a chuckle despite the pain. ‘Not a chance in hell, little girl.’
‘What?’ I snapped, but he only smiled at me smugly.
‘I thought you said you didn’t fight like a girl?’
‘I don’t,’ I spat.
‘So prove it,’ he said, and then looked at me in the strangest way.‘Prove it,’ he whispered, and I knew that was meant for me and me alone.
