When Lira and Terence walked into the basement, she saw a big boxing ring, and two guys circling each other. A few people were around the outside of the ring, cheering them on, and Lira let her arms drop. She would have never thought Terence the type to box. He was really beefy (a/n this is what I call muscley), but she didn't think this was how he got his kicks.
"Terence," Lira breathed.
He grabbed her hand, and pulled her over to the ring.
When one of the boys looked down at them, the other used that time to punch him hard in the face. The boy was knocked to the ground, and the other one laughed out loud.
"I'm so sorry man!" He cried.
The boy on the floor looked up at him and bared his teeth.
"Ya, sure Tommy," Tommy put his hands on his hips.
"I told you not to call me that Darrin," He said, and Darrin stood slowly.
"Shut the hell up."
Lira could see these two were getting a bit hot headed, so she nudged Terence, and he looked down at her.
"Oh, right," He looked up at Tommy and Darrin, "Hey guys, this is my friend Lira." He told them, and Darrin walked over to the edge, and held out his hand for her.
"Nice to meet ya, I'm obviously Darrin." He said, and grinned.
Terence pointed to the opposite side of the ring.
"That's my friend Markie, and that's Garcia. The two bad girls in this joint," Terence laughed, and Markie flipped him off.
"Erik." One boy said, and another waved.
"Peter."
"Nice to meet you all," Lira told them, and Tommy looked down at her.
"You a boxer?" He asked, and Lira smiled shyly at him.
"No, I'm more of an instrumentalist myself." Lira told him, and he nodded.
"What ya play?" He asked, and she sighed.
"Guitar," She told him, and he quirked an eyebrow.
"How long have you been playing?" Terence asked her, and she shrugged,
"About four years."
Terence nodded, and looked over at Markie and Garcia. They had their arms crossed, and looked fierce.
"What's up ladies?" He asked, and moved around the ring to them. He put an arm around each of their shoulders and Markie shrugged him off.
"We're gone," Garcia said, and they ran up the stairs, after a rap beat began playing from up that way.
"I'll bet the other guys are here." He said, and motioned for Lira to follow. Darrin and Tommy began to fight again, and Peter and Erik stayed to watch.
Terence led Lira up the stairs to the top level of the building, and Lira was overcome with the fast beating music. It pumped through her chest, and begged her to dance. She would have, but that was exactly what Markie and Garcia were doing. Not only were they dancing, they were break dancing, and they were very good at it. Six other people were watching them, and one of the guys stepped up to dance. He did a crazy haphazard flip, and then he spun around on his hands. Lira wondered how they did it. She would have dance with them, but Terence pulled her away when he noticed one of the guys was staring at him menacingly.
"What's up with that guy?" Lira asked as they exited the building. Terence didn't say anything until they were back in his car.
"Jordan and I never got along too well. I don't know. He's just a creepy guy, and he really wants to go out with Markie, but I told her not to," Terence pulled out onto the freeway, "So, we're pretty good friends, so she listened to me."
Lira nodded, "I see,"
Terence dropped Lira off at her house, and she stood on her curb, watching as he drove away down the road. She wondered how she fell for him so fast. He was really cool to her, and she wondered if maybe they would have a deep relationship soon. She walked into the house, lost in her reveries, and her mother caught her arm.
"Lira, I thought I told you to call me if you were going out." She scolded.
"Oh, sorry Karen, I forgot." Lira told her, and secretly anger burned inside her. She knew Karen hated it when she called her by her first name, and not Mom, but Lira didn't care. Karen wasn't her mom, and nothing she did could change that. Besides, Lira thought, you took me away from my best friends. You really think I'll forgive you so easily? Karen must have caught her thoughts by the way she was staring at her, and she said hoarsely, "I know you are still angry with me, but I'm still you're elder, and I wont take being treated like your dog."
Lira glared, and spat back,
"You're right Karen, but I'm positive I'd treat my dog a whole lot better than you." Lira didn't know why she was suddenly acting so bitter towards Karen, she was in a good mood, but something deep inside her desperately wanted to show the woman she wasn't afraid, and she wouldn't bend to her will.
