Pow. Pow! BAM BAM BAM!
The sound of heavy beating resounded in the boxing gym. Everyone in the area was looking towards a figure on one of the heavy bags.
BANG! BANG BANG!
"Holy shit, he's really going off today..."
The figure was fast as lightning, their hands flickered as they landed on the heavy bag. Despite the booming sounds reverberating throughout the gym, the heavy bag swayed only a little bit. The people in the gym were amazed at the sight.
"Who is he?!" a young man shouted, trying to speak over the loud noises.
"You a freshman?!" a person shouted back.
"Yeah!" the young man nodded.
"He's the Prince of Boxing of our club! Mars Star!" the person pointed at the figure.
Meanwhile, Mars was deep in thought. He had long since lost sight of the boxing bag in front of him; he was immersed in a vision, a dream. His mind was distant from the world.
'Money...'
His feet and legs were constantly on the move as he attacked the bag from different angles. Each jab would let out a sharp noise, as if a gun just went off, while each hook would be like a dynamite exploding.
BAM BAM BAM!
'Would they let me reach out to companies for endorsements...'
His right hand shot out of nowhere and landed squarely on the bag, sending it back a foot. He followed up with a quick left hand as he pivoted. Sweat ran down his body, soaking his shirt as his body constantly rotated and moved.
'But our boxing club is small...'
Suddenly, the bell on the ceiling of the gym room rang. Mars stopped and walked over to a bench to sit. He took in deep breaths and started taking off his gloves. The people around him started moving as well, as they started to pack up and some headed to the locker rooms.
Mars's gloves came off, revealing his wrapped hands. He fluttered his fingers, stretching and relaxing them. The door to the gym opened, and Mars glanced at the area momentarily.
A young, slender girl entered the room with two girls behind her. She wore a plain, white t-shirt with tattered jeans and shoes. Her expression was friendly and she had a hint of a smile on her face. She walked towards Mars with a strut, her two companions staying behind.
"Hi Mars," she greeted him.
"Hey Muriel," Mars greeted back as he took off his wrappings. "What do you want?"
"Oh... you know," Muriel jittered a bit as she twirled her curly, blonde hair with one of her fingers.
Mars sighed inwardly as he heard her words. It was impractical for him to do that with her on that day, he was going to set up numerous events for his clubs, while going to a competition himself.
"What is it?" he asked, acting oblivious.
"Can you... um," her words were stuck in her throat.
Her two companions behind her started waving their hands furiously.
"Do it... ask him..." they tried to communicate silently.
Mars saw their antics and smiled a bit. Angela, noticing his smile, jittered even more, and she started to tap the floor a bit with her shoes.
"Mars, will you be my homecoming date?" she was quiet as a mosquito, but a bombshell was dropped on the boxing club.
Some of the members still in the gym room looked over with wide eyes. Their mouths were gaping a bit as they processed Muriel's words.
"Holy shit!" one of the guys sprinted into the locker rooms.
"The belle asked out the prince!" one of the girls in the club covered her mouth.
Everyone in the room, who were eavesdropping the whole time, waited for Mars's response. Mars felt the numerous eyes on him, but brushed it off. He looked up into Angela's blue eyes, and the two stared at each other for a minute.
Looking into Muriel's expectant eyes, Mars hesitated.
"Sorry, my schedule is full," he sighed.
The room went dead silent. The commotion from the locker rooms died, and everyone turned their eyes to Muriel.
"Oh..." Muriel gave a self-deprecating smile. "Sorry for bothering you, I should've known."
She turned around and walked away; the two girls behind her had shocked expressions. They immediately went up to her and started to comfort her, giving Mars an evil eye as they exited the room together.
Mars stared at her back as she left, turning away after she left the room. He shook his head, either in self-loathing or disappointment, and he quickly unwrapped his hands. He threw the two bundles of cloth into a basket and stood up.
The people around him looked away as he entered the locker room, only speaking once he was no longer in the area.
"Oh. My. God. I need to tell Stacy about this," one of the girls tapped a small, rectangle sheet of metal.
From the sheet at the center, a holographic image spread out and the girl moved her fingers, interacting with the hologram. Other people did the same, and the news spread like wildfire throughout the school, though Mars was oblivious.
About ten minutes later, Mars's free time was over, as the bell rang again. He stepped out of the locker room, with a bit of wet hair. He wore an outfit that consisted of: a blazer, a dress shirt, khakis, and dress shoes.
Entering the vast hallway, a few eyes immediately fell on him. Some of the girls blushed as they looked at his wet hair look combined with his deep, green eyes. Others whispered to each other as they talked about something.
Mars walked steadfast and entered his next class. The whole room was set up as a lecture hall, and Mars took his seat, putting his backpack onto the flat, hard ground floor. He took out a thin, black laptop and put it in front of him.
He leaned back on his chair as he waited for the teacher to begin the lesson. Meanwhile, other students entered the room and did the same. One of the students that entered was Muriel, who had a downcast expression.
She looked at Mars for a split-second before turning her head away quickly. Some of the other students noticed her stealthy movement and whispered to each other. Naturally, Mars, one of the two main people in their conversation, was left out of the loop.
Muriel sat right across from Mars, one level down. She lowered her head as she approached him and took her seat.
The teacher finally entered the room and cleared his throat, ending all the murmurs. He was a middle-aged man with a rough, angry face. You wouldn't be able to tell if he was just looking mad or actually genuinely mad at all from his expression.
"Good," his voice was amplified and it went across the entire room.
He looked around, and waited a bit, making sure that everyone was present and in their correct spot. He frowned as he noticed a missing person.
"Can anyone tell me where Mr-" he spoke before suddenly getting cut off by a loud roar.
"Mars! I'm gonna beat your ass!" a bulky, built brown-haired man entered the classroom.
"Mr. Davis, what are y-" the teacher exclaimed.
"Come down here!" he screamed at Mars, who looked down with apathetic eyes.
The other students burst into conversation. They were surprised, but not that surprised.
"Haha, it's Anthony, look at him," one of the male students snickered.
"He asked Muriel out yesterday, but she totally rejected him," the student sitting next to him nudged him while cackling.
Anthony looked at the crowd furiously.
"Shut up!" his face was tomato-red.
He turned to Mars and gave him the middle-finger.
"Come on coward!" he screamed.
Mars sat still, uncaring. Though, he was a bit surprised inside. It seemed that Anthony had a thing for Muriel. He was always one of the rowdy students in the school that always got off because he had signed a deal with one of the top sport institutions in America.
The institution paid all of his fees, paid off anything bad that he did, and completely suppressed any negativity surrounding their star athlete. Though, the students in the school knew his temper. Mars felt a bit jealous thinking about it, but remained in his position.
He would not lower himself and ruin his standing in the school. He had already established too much prestige to lose it all over Muriel.
The teacher stood still, not knowing what to do. The school administration had told him to not give Anthony too much trouble, or else they would lose one of their main funders, which would not stand with the board.
"A-Anthony! Calm yours-" the teacher stammered, but was ignored and cut off by Anthony's stamps up the stairs.
"Anthony, stop it!" Muriel stood up and berated him.
Anthony arrived next to Muriel and Mars. Mars looked at him with cold eyes, saying nothing, while Muriel blocked him. Anthony pushed her away as gently as he could, and she fell on the floor. Mars's eyes shot towards her for a moment before turning his back to Anthony.
"Mars, how you been bro..." Anthony came up to Mars and got up in his face.
He grabbed Mars's blazer and felt it, nodding in sanctification.
"Not bad bro..." he pursed his lips.
Suddenly, he went in, trying to slap Mars. But Mars, who was expecting Anthony to attack, calmly moved his head back, dodging the hit.
"Not bad... you know, as the 'Prince of Boxing' in our school, you're pretty good at boxing aren't you?" Anthony air quoted as he jeered.
Mars was expressionless.
"Too bad you're a coward!" Anthony taunted, trying to egg Mars on.
After a brief moment of silence, Anthony started to walk down onto the teacher's stage. He gestured at Mars to come down.
"Come on Mars!" he said in a deriding tone. "COME ON BITCH!"
Mars was still. If he ignored Anthony's taunts and actions, there would be no repercussion nor problems. But if he got into a fight, then the school would punish both of them equally, but of course, the company behind Anthony wouldn't let anything serious happen. That would leave Mars to take the full brunt, and maybe get suspended.
However, Anthony's next words was an ice breaker.
"Mars, fight me! You're disgracing your family right now, tsk tsk," Anthony pointed at Mars.
Mars flinched.
"What a disappointment," Anthony stuck out his tongue wildly.
The temperature around Mars started to drop.
"Is this all because I rejected Muriel?" Mars finally spoke.
Veins popped up on Anthony's forehead at Mars's words. That really was the reason why he wanted to beat the shit out of Mars. The burning shame of him asking Muriel, only to be out-right rejected, only for her to ask Mars the next day! Was he some sort of tool?!
"Are you gonna come down or not!" Anthony raised both of his middle fingers up.
Mars had enough and he stood up, drawing a huge reaction from the students around him. Taking off his blazer, and rolling up his sleeves, he walked forward.
"Anthony, I'm gonna enjoy this," Mars's words were chilling.
"I'll break you in half," Anthony snorted arrogantly.
Muriel stood up, looking at the scene. Mars's blazer was in her hands, close up to her face as her wide eyes watched Mars walk down. Everyone was holding their breath, the situation really was brewing now that Mars stood up.
"Is the little bitch finally ready?" Anthony provoked.
"I will show you the difference between us on this stage," Mars pointed at Anthony. "If we were out on an open field, I'd be worried, but here? You're asking to be humiliated."
Some of the students got out their devices and started to film.
Anthony and Mars neared each other, and they started to move. Out of the blue, a lightning fast jab hit Anthony. His body jolted as he stepped back a bit.
"W-"
Another jab hit him squarely on the nose, and his movements became chaotic. Mars circled Anthony as if Anthony was a prey in the wild, and he was the predator. The other students were shocked at what just happened, and looked through their recording.
They played it back in slow-motion and saw Mars's fist flicker and hit Anthony twice in a matter of seconds.
"Woah!"
"Holy shit!"
"What the hell?!"
As Anthony heard their comments, he became more agitated and charged at Mars. But it was useless, as Mars stepped to the side and sent out another jab. Anthony's face had become red, and his eyes were a bit watery.
He stepped back, and furrowed his brows.
"Motherfucker..." he groaned.
Mars coolly stepped forward and sent out another jab.