The Heart Of A Fighter

"... And the winner is Murphy!" The announcer yelled into his microphone. "This makes it her 5th consecutive win!" The referee held Murphy's arm up as her opponent, Ebony Rose, was being carried out. A little girl watched from the stands, sitting on the edge of her seat. Finnola Murphy was her hero and she wanted to be just like her. Her father had brought her to the tournament as a surprise. He smiled down at her, "was it everything you hoped it would be, Cass?" She beamed, "yes. When can we go again daddy?" "I don't know, Cass, come on, daddy has to go talk to some people, okay?" He stood up and held out his hand for her. 7 years later... "Cassandra Lynn Rourke! You better be out of that bed!" Her mother yelled from the bottom of a creaky old staircase. She groaned and rolled out of bed. It was the first day of school, she had gotten in trouble with school, had been expelled, then her mother and her moved to this small town after living in the city their whole lives. It was a huge adjustment, but something that had to be done when her dad's 'gambling buddies' wouldn't stop trying to collect from them. Her father had died a few years ago, leaving a huge debt. Cass picked up the picture frame next to her bed and glared at it, "thanks a lot, dad." "Cassandra, if you're not awake, I'm going to get the bucket!" Her mother yelled. "I'm up!" She yelled back. If Cass didn't wake up when she was supposed to, her mother got a bucket of cold water and dumped it on her. Cass hated it because it got her and her bed all wet, then she'd have to hand wash all her bedding and hang it on a clothesline to dry. They didn't have a working washer and dryer. She took a quick shower and sloppily put her school uniform on. She came downstairs and grabbed an apple and a piece of bread. Her mother looked over at her and frowned. "That's not how you're supposed to wear your uniform Cassandra, here, let me," she came over and tied her ribbon for her, tucked her shirt in, then pulled the skirt lower to meet the dress code. "Your lunch is in your bag, remember, no fighting, don't even think or talk about it, you know what'll happen if you do. Please do well in school, don't skip classes, and get along with everyone." "That's impossible, there's no way a person can get along with everyone," Cass griped and grabbed her bag. "No it's not, you just have to exercise self-control and patience, you'll do great honey, if you would just put in the effort. Promise me?" Her mother pleaded. Cass sighed, "fine, I promise." "Thank you dear, have a good day now. Oh and I'll have to work overtime tonight, so there's food in the fridge that you can heat up for dinner," she kissed Cass's forehead and grabbed her purse and house key. "See you later, don't forget your house key." Cass grabbed it off the key hook on the wall and hurried out as her mother locked the door. As soon as her mother was gone, she loosened her ribbon and got on her bike to ride to school. She passed a group of high school boys picking on a middle-schooler. She hadn't noticed they were wearing the same uniform as her. Cass hated bullies more than anything. She checked her watch, she had plenty of time to get to school. "Hey! Leave him alone!" She shouted as she jumped off her bike. One of the boys, who looked like the ring leader, faced her, "what are you going to do if we don't?" Cass was about to show him, but remembered she promised her mother she wouldn't fight, "trust me, you don't want to find out. Let him go." He stepped closer to her, "you think you can take me? Tell you what, I'll leave him alone if you give me something. What do you have?" "I don't have any money if that's what you're after," Cass glared. "I can get money whenever I want, so no, I'll take that bike though," he smirked. Cass clenched her jaw then threw the bike on the ground in front of him, "fine, take it. But if you have money, why don't you just buy one?" "Oh, I'm not going to use it, I'm going to break it in front of you," he pulled out a pocket knife and slashed the tires, then he kicked the chain as hard as he could and busted it. Cass just stood there and stared him down as the kid ran off, since she had them distracted. She smiled smugly. The bully was annoyed, "it doesn't bother you that I've ruined your bike?" "It's just a bike. But you're really pathetic, you know that? Picking on little kids and girls, you're a coward, and a complete waste of life," she picked up her bag and walked away. He watched her leave, just realizing he had been embarrassed in front of his gang. One of the other boys tapped his shoulder, "hey Landon, she's wearing a uniform from our school." He snapped his head back in her direction, unsure of how he missed that, "why didn't you say something before i***t?" "I don't know, you were kind of busy breaking her bike," he shrugged as he averted his eyes nervously. Cass had already reached the school and walked through the gate when she was stopped by a teacher, "your ribbon isn't up to standard, fix it please." Cass turned red, "yes ma'am." The bullies came in shortly after, the teacher stopped them too. Their shirts were untucked and their hair disheveled. When they disobeyed her, she gave them detention. Cass was glad she didn't ignore the teacher. "Good morning class, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Mr. Howell, I'll be your home room teacher. Alright, first order of business, we have a new student, Cassandra Rourke, please stand up, let everyone know who you are." Cass stood up and greeted them stiffly, "hey." She could already feel people sizing her up and evaluating her appearance. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the bullies from earlier. She quickly sat down and focused on the front of the class. She would try her hardest not to draw attention to herself, even though she knew she stood out like a sore thumb. The bully had already spotted her. He noticed the other girls were already whispering about her, noting the evident holes on her face and ears from piercings, the faded red dye on the tips of her brown hair, wondering where she transferred from, and came up with all sorts of ridiculous theories about her. He looked in the far back corner of the classroom where another young man was sitting. His name was Cade Bourne, the toughest guy in school. Landon had been trying to get him in their gang for years, but Cade didn't join gangs. There were rumors circling that he was a fighting club champion, that mobs were scouting him for his skills. Cade seemed to be observing Cassandra Rourke. Cass had felt eyes on her the whole time she was sitting there. Every time she looked around though, they pretended like she wasn't there. At lunch time, she found a spot behind the school to hide from the others. Unfortunately, a tall guy with dark hair came and confronted her, "hey, this is my spot." "You should've gotten here first then, sorry," Cass refused to move. He got in her face, "I was here first, I was sitting right there." He pointed at a 12 foot ledge, Cass looked at it observantly, "yeah, right." Cade's scowl suddenly broke into a smirk, "you don't believe me? I'll show you." Cass was going to ignore him, but in a matter of seconds he had jumped from place to place and reached the ledge. Her jaw dropped, and so did her sandwich, then she shook her head and muttered, "show-off." Luckily, her sandwich was still wrapped up. She picked it up and left. Cade laughed as he watched her go. He took pride in the fact that people didn't like to mess with him. He wanted to be sure any new kids felt the same way. Suddenly, a blur whooshed by him, on the roof above his ledge stood the new girl, brown hair blowing in the breeze and an expression of contempt, challenging him. "Interesting. Where'd you learn to do that?" Cade asked intently. She dropped onto his ledge next to him, "I grew up in the city, I've scaled larger buildings than this." "In a school uniform?" He teased. "Pervert." She dropped back to the ground and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Underestimating me is one of the biggest mistakes anyone could ever make." The bell rang to end lunch and they parted ways. But Cassandra Rourke had definitely grabbed his attention. He was looking forward to seeing what she might do next.