The bell rang for their break, and I took a deep breath. I could finally breathe a little bit.
“You have to chill out and just be strong for him,” Ally said.
“It’s hard. I don’t like watching him get hurt,” I said.
“It’s the last fight. If Justin can do it, so can you,” she said. “Tyler’s pretty hot,” she added, and I ignored her. I didn’t want to hear about her attraction to the guy beating up my boyfriend.
I watched as Artie talked to him about something. Justin nodded his head. Then he looked at me in the crowd.
I blew him a kiss. I wanted him to know I was there to support him despite me covering my eyes a lot. I was just glad he couldn’t see it. He blew me a kiss back.
The bell dinged, and they met in the middle again, touched gloves, and Justin hit him right away.
“Damn, Justin,” Ally said.
“He’s gonna win. I just know it,” I said, thinking back to how Margie said the same thing earlier. He was a good fighter, a great fighter; there was no doubt about it.
Tyler hit him, and he almost fell to the ground.
“Justin!” I yelled.
Ally grabbed my arm. “Stop freaking out. He’s okay. Don’t freak out until you know he’s down or actually hurt. He can handle a few hits to the face.”
Ally had a point. He had been doing this for a while, and I needed to trust that he was okay, even if it didn’t look that way to me.
I nodded and clenched my teeth together.
I watched as Justin fell to the ground, and I covered my eyes again.
“Seriously, Anna?”
“Yes. Just tell me when to look.” It made me sick to watch him get hit so much. I just wanted this whole thing to be over. This was the most intense night of my life. I was sure Justin was feeling the same, but from where I sat, I couldn’t really read his facial expressions.
I heard some hits, some cheers, and some boos, and then the bell rang. I peeked through my hands, nervous about what I might see. Justin was taking a drink of water, he had blood on his face, and my stomach turned. But he didn’t look too hurt. I decided to take that as a good sign.
Justin talked with Artie and then looked out into the crowd. At first, I thought he was looking at me, but then I noticed it was someone or something else behind me. I turned around, and a few rows back was the same guy I ran into outside of the bathrooms. My stomach turned.
“Must be Markie,” I said without thinking.
“Who?” Ally asked.
“Um, just some guy Justin knows. He thinks Justin’s going to lose tonight.”
“Why would he think that?”
Markie smiled at me, but it wasn’t a normal smile. It was a creepy one that sent chills down my spine, and that was all the interaction I needed with him to know he was not someone I wanted to associate with.
I turned back around, my stomach now in my throat. “Because he’s a jerk.”
The look on Justin’s face told me he felt the same way I did.
I cupped my hands over my mouth and stood up, “You can do it, Justin! I love you!” I yelled as loud as I could.
He smiled at me and then the bell dinged. I sat back down.
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” Ally asked.
“I can yell supportive things all day. I can also watch him hit his opponent. It’s when he gets hit that it bothers me,” I said.