CHAPTER 9

A 3 on 1 fight, against people all of whom much largier, heavier and more built than Marcos… it wasn't even a fair fight. For them. Because when Marcos had gotten the engine running, it was nearly impossible to stop him. He was a whirlwind, a ball of pent up energy that took out anything and everything in his path. Starting by going straight for the main bully, before the boy could even react, Marcos had lunged at him and wrapped his arms around his legs, taking him down to the ground in a Jiu Jitsu-like takedown. David hit the ground with a crunching thud, groaning in pain as he felt his back slam against the hardwood floors of the restaurant.

Lying on top of David on the ground, Marcos knew that this was the last place he wanted to be, so he quickly rolled away from the incoming other 2 bullies, and stumbled to his feet. Given how quickly Marcos had taken out their leader, the two of them were filled with a little hesitation, and that would end up being their downfall. They were clearly slightly afraid of Marcos at this point, so it wasn't difficult for him to land a brutal spin kick to the jaw of one of them, and a punch to the solar plexus followed by an axe kick to the back of the head to the other. They both crumbled like a sack of bricks, completely knocked out.

As Marcos stood over the two of them, he breathed heavily, the adrenaline beginning to wear away. His shoulder still ached from his fight with the old man the night before, but the adrenaline had caused him to completely forget about it for a little while. Marcos couldn't help but smile to himself. He was back. A nearly undefeated fighter, the loss last night had been a complete fluke, but that didn't matter because he was back on his game now.

However, in his satisfaction about winning the fight, he didn't notice David slowly rising to his feet behind him. Sarah saw him though, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Marcos! Behind you!" She shouted. Marcos spun around, but it was too late. David was already bearing down on him like a grizzly, and Marcos knew he didn't have enough time to raise his hands to defend. However, as it turned out, he didn't need to, because David's momentum was stopped short when all of a sudden, he received a crushing blow to the back of the head, and he collapsed to the ground again in a heap. Standing over him now was Sarah, her right hand balled up in the fist that she had used to knock David out. Marcos looked at her, impressed.

"Good hit." Marcos remarked.

"Thanks. Right back at you." Sarah replied, panting for breath. "So what do we do now?"

At that moment, the pair of them noticed the rest of the restaurant turning their way, many of the guys - who were probably friends of the 3 bullies - were already walking their way, cracking their knuckles menacingly. Marcos groaned in annoyance. They had two options: either stay here and probably get their asses kicked. Or…

"We gotta go." Marcos instructed, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door.

"Wait! I haven't paid yet!" She exclaimed. Marcos shook his head.

"No time! Come on! Let's get moving!" Marcos replied, just as several of the other teenagers in the restaurant made it over to them. Sarah understood what was going on at this point, and the two of them ran as fast as they could towards the exit, barely making it out the door in time. On the main street, Marcos began to turn towards the main street, while Sarah looked the other direction at the car park.

"My car's over there." She told him. Marcos laughed and shook his head again.

"Come on! You said you were stepping out of the bubble wrap with me today. Can't do that if you're driving a Mercedes! We're taking the bus!"

At that moment, the doors to the Olive Garden burst open once more, and a flood of angry teenagers flooded out, their eyes all filled with rage. When they saw Marcos and Sarah a few feet away, they immediately charged towards them like bulls to a matador.

"Oh shit!" Sarah shouted, and the two of them immediately sprinted towards the bus stop, where they could see a bus approaching as they spoke. The pair had practically broken the sound barrier as they hurled themselves towards the station at a supersonic speed, desperately trying to evade their pursuers. In the heat of the moment, neither one of them even noticed the fact that they were still holding each other's hand as they ran. They watched the bus up ahead get closer and closer to the stop, as they were tantalizingly close. They weren't sure whether they were going to make it in time, or if the bus was going to drive off towards the next stop and leave them at the hands of the aggressive teenagers behind. It was very much up to fate at this point, but luckily the fates were on their side. Just as the bus doors were about to slide shut, Sarah and Marcos made it over and threw themselves onto the vehicle. They had made it with only split seconds to spare!

As the bus started moving, and they watched the rest of the teenagers fade from view, Marcos and Sarah stood by the entrance of the bus for a while, both crouching down and trying to gather their breath back. It took them a while to finally gain the energy to shuffle deeper into the bus and collapse into two empty seats towards the back, their hearts both still racing.

"Okay… that was… crazy." Sarah stammered, still completely out of breath.

"Yeah… it was." Marcos chuckled in response, just as exhausted as she was. "Sarah Gledhill… I'd like to officially welcome you to life outside the bubble wrap. Are you ready for fun like you've never felt before?"

"Heck yeah." Sarah grinned in reply. "So what's next?"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I can't believe we actually did that!"

It was finally the evening time, and just as the sun was beginning to set, Marcos and Sarah had decided to wrap up their day. They had made it back to the Olive Garden parking lot, thankfully now empty and not containing the blood-thirsty, furious teenagers, so they were able to get in the car and drive away without issue. Sarah had offered to drop Marcos home first, before returning home, an offer he gratefully accepted.

The day had been absolutely wild, for both of them. Although Marcos was no stranger to crazy fun, this was the first time he had really been out and around in Los Angeles since he had arrived 24 hours ago. It was an absolutely breathtaking city. In some ways, it seemed similar to Rio. But in most ways, it was absolutely unique. There was nowhere quite like it, nowhere in the whole world. That was why so many people spent their lives dreaming of living here.

Upon arriving at Marcos' house, the two both got out of the car and stood leaning against the front bumper for a while, staring up at the gorgeous, amber-streaked sky above, reflecting on the amazing day that they had just had.

Sarah was still raving about the incredible day she had just had. It had been, without a doubt, one of the best days of her life. For the first time in a very, very long time, she had felt genuine happiness. The laughs weren't forced. The smiles weren't painted on. She had managed to make it out of the bubble-wrap for a day and she knew one thing: she never wanted to return to that cushioned environment again. She felt more thrills in one day with Marcos than she had for years in her private school, leaving her wealthy life. The day had been an absolute roller coaster. After the bus ride, they had gone to a nearby convenience store and snuck out a variety of snacks, before going to the mall and sneaking into a cinema to watch a thoroughly entertaining comedy movie. The day had ended with them waltzing into a restaurant, claiming to be Uber Eats delivery people, and walking out with some random person's food, which they happily ate for dinner.

"I can't believe the shopkeeper didn't realize that we had walked out with an entire bag of candy under my shirt!"

"Yeah, what can I say? You made a thoroughly convincing pregnant woman, sneaking all of that stuff out under your shirt." Marcos remarked jokingly. Sarah playfully glared at him.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that." She laughed. Marcos raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Or what?" He joked back.

"Don't make me kick your ass, because I swear, I'll do it!" Sarah exclaimed, giggling between her words. Marcos slipped off the front bumper and stood at the entrance of his apartment complex, spreading his arms wide in a gesture of a challenge.

"Challenge accepted, Ms. Gledhill." He replied. "I think you forgot the way I was able to beat those guys at Olive Garden. I've spent my whole life training Martial Arts! I'm going to be a UFC champion someday!"

"Then I guess you better hope I don't record this fight and send it to the UFC, or there's no chance you're ever making it as a fighter." Sarah shot back as she hopped off the bumper too, both of them very much playful in their banter.

"Ooh, someone's confident." Marcos commented, before getting into a clumsy fighting stance. "Alright, let's do thi…"

Marcos didn't even get to finish his sentence before Sarah had charged at him and effortlessly judo thrown him over her shoulder, even catching him just before he hit the ground and gently placing him down on his back so he wouldn't get hurt. As Marcos lay with his back on the sidewalk, he stared up at her, his eyes wide in shock.

"What the…"

"I might've also taken 8 years of kickboxing before." Sarah laughed at the perplexed look on his face.

"W-w-when?" Marcos stammered, still laying flat on his back and staring up at her, flabbergasted.

"My dad wanted me to know how to defend myself, so 4 times a week between ages 5-13, I was training. I quit after age 13 because it wasn't lady-like enough and I felt it ruined my image." Sarah's voice trailed off at the last part. "Kind of regret it too, as I really did enjoy it."

"Hey, you can always go back." Marcos encouraged her, finally getting to his feet and walking back over to the car, sitting on the front bumper again and Sarah sitting beside him. "Perk of stepping out of the bubble wrap… nobody really cares about your image. All that 'popular' crap ends as soon as you reach a certain income bracket."

Sarah slowly nodded.

"You know what? Maybe I will go back." Sarah eventually stated. "It can be my one 'non bubble-wrap' activity that truly brings me joy."

"Oh, so you're… you're going back to the old life?" Marcos asked, trying to keep his disappointment out of his voice. He was crestfallen, to say the least. Sarah had not only been his first and only friend here since he had arrived, but there was something so enchanting about her: the way she moved; the way she spoke; the way she smiled; the way she laughed. Marcos didn't know what exactly it was, but he knew that he wanted to spend more time with her. Not that that would be an option now.

Sarah sighed.

"You know, I really don't want to. Today was the most fun I've had in a very, very long time." She told him. "But I… I don't see how I have a choice. I'm going to have to go back to my private school. With the same boring friends. In the same boring neighborhood."

"You could always transfer." Marcos pointed out. "I've enrolled in West Valley High. School starts there next week. Maybe you could do the same."

"Ha. And give my parents a heart attack? If they found out I wanted to go to public school, they would quite literally disown me."

Marcos shrugged.

"This morning, you talked about how you were being dragged along by the wealthy, comfortable life and you had no control over the matter." Marcos told her. "But what it sounds like to me right now, is that you have some semblance of control over how you live your life. You just need to want it enough to push for it, no matter who might get upset in the process. Arguments will fade over time, but you only get one chance at a childhood. Make it one you want to live."

Sarah couldn't help but smile as she listened to him talk. Little did Marcos know that exactly what he was feeling about her, she was feeling about him too. Sarah had been in relationships before, the most recent being with David for a month last year, but none of them had ever lasted very long. The main reason for that had been that Sarah struggled to truly make a connection with many people. There were few that she felt genuinely comfortable to step out of her shell with. Despite having just met him that morning, Marcos was one of those people, and that reason alone made him even more attractive than his admittedly extremely handsome looks.

"Thank you, Marcos." She smiled at him, her eyes flickering from his amber eyes - that were being gently illuminated by a nearby streetlight, and his lips, that remained there invitingly. She really wanted to do it, and it took all of her self-restraint not to do it right then and there. "For everything. Today was so much fan."

"Glad you enjoyed it. It was really cool." Marcos replied in a similarly quiet voice. "Hey, crazy idea… do you think maybe I could get your…"

Not for the first time that night, Marcos was interrupted by the girl opposite him, but this time it was a much more pleasant interruption. Suddenly leaning in, Sarah wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a gentle kiss. At first taken aback, it took Marcos' astounded brain a few seconds to catch up, and he finally woke up enough to kiss back, his own arms sliding up to her waist. The pair made out under the night sky, a dark navy blanket spotted with flecks of white, until they were forced to break apart for air.

"Wow…" Marcos murmured, his brain unable to come up with anything else. Even though they had broken apart, the pair remained with their arms wrapped around each other and their faces mere inches apart.

"That was… incredible." Sarah mumbled, her brain just as fried as his.

Marcos leaned in to kiss her again, although just before he could, Sarah gently placed a hand on his chest to keep him away, and she turned her face sideways.

"Uh uh. You want some more of that, you've gotta take me on another amazing date." She remarked, turning around to walk back towards the driver's door of her car, not so subtly swaying her hips seductively as she moved towards it.

"With pleasure." Marcos replied, his eyes trained on her, and he followed her over to the car. As Sarah stepped inside and turned the car on, she rolled down the window so her and Marcos could have one final word before she left.

"I guess I'll see you around then." Sarah murmured. Marcos nodded, unable to keep the massive smile off his face.

"Yeah, see you soon, Sarah." He replied, unable to take his eyes off her even as she began to drive away, and only turned around towards his front door once her car had completely vanished from his line of sight. However, before he could unlock and open the door, he heard a car behind him pulling up to the compound and coming to a halt. Marcos grinned, assuming that this was Sarah.

"Just couldn't stay away from me, could you? Already back for more?" He remarked, not turning around yet.

"I guess you could say that." A familiar voice, although not Sarah's, responded from behind him. His blood boiling as he recognized it, he spun around, only to find him face to face with someone who he had only met the night before, but already absolutely loathed.

"You…"

A/N

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the other characters. But like I said, I need to have a few more chapters about Marcos than anyone else for the first part of the story, as I ned to completely integrate him and slide him into the story so he feels like a proper character, and not just a random OC that is just there.