Chapter One-Hundred and Fifty-Four

John smiled as Chance happily trotted along beside him to boxing tryouts, knowing that he couldn't let her into the gym or she would get protective of him when the punches started flying. "Alright Chancie, you've gotta stay in the locker room. I can't take you into the gym with me this time." He scratched her head, pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it into his gym locker. He could feel the eyes of the other boys on him, knowing that they were staring at his scars. He quickly replaced his t-shirt with an old tank-top, knowing it would give him more range of motion and harder hits.

"Hey, um, Bender?" Asked one of the Jocks who'd bullied John since he'd started at this school, motioning to his back. "What happened to you?"

John combed his hair out of his face with his fingers, the oily locks shining in the light. "You might not know this… but back in Chicago, I grew up in the hood. My old man beat the shit outta me every day after school, until he was thrown in the slammer. Most of these are his doing, but a few are from street gangs and old fights back when I was too high to remember my own name half the time."

The jock's eyes widened, guilt flooding his chest as he thought about all he'd but the kid through. "Fuck man… how can someone do that to a kid?"

John gave a broken smile, a breath that passed for a laugh escaping him. "I'd blame it on booze and drugs, but let's just say my folks were really fucked up."

"Alright. I want only the best fighters in the team. The one's who have the drive to take us to nationals. You'll be put through a series of tests." Coach Lauchner paced before the like of teens, noticing that one of them had shaggy hair, was well underweight, and looked about ready to drop at the first hit. "First, you'll run the mile. We do this every day before practice, it is not an option. Next, you'll weigh in, if you're under the 140 mark, you won't get on the team. Then we'll start you on the heavy bags, and move to sparring. Am I clear?"

The teens all gave a loud 'yes Sir' and within second's Coach Lauchner had blown his whistle that signaled for them to start running. He took a seat on the bleachers, taking a drink of water as he noticed that the skinny kid was already falling behind. "Poor son of a bitch…" He mumbled, his brow furrowing as the kid suddenly kicked up his speed. He watched as the muscles in the kid's legs flexed with each stride, passing up most of the athletes who'd been the sport stars of the school since freshman year. He stood, taking his hat off as the kid sprinted for more than a half mile, passing up each and every one of the jocks and stopping at the finish without even being short of breath. "How the hell?" He looked at the sickly kid, checking his clip board for a name. "What's your name kid?"

"John Bender." He stated, taking a slow drink of water as he wiped a little bit of sweat from his brow. "New kid."

Coach Lauchner gave him a puzzled look, leading him over to the scale to weigh in. "How tall are you?" He asked, moving a little weight until the bar was balanced with John's exact weight displayed.

"Five feet ten inches." He stated, standing as still as possible.

"That can't be… You're too light to be that tall…"

John bowed his head, able to see that he hadn't made it in the weight class. "I promise Sir. I'm five foot ten."

Toby saw the embarrassment wash over John, stepping forward to speak up so he didn't feel so down. "He's just a little thin. It runs in his family." He smiled as John looked up at him, able to see a glimmer of thanks in his eyes. "He can put the weight on though. I've seen him do it." He stepped on the scale after John had stepped down, showing that he was high in his weight class. "I'll go on a diet with him. If I can take my weight down and he can get his up in a week, you have to let him on the team. I've seen him fight. He's the best in the school -against any class."

Coach Lauchner shook his head, doubting that either boy could get to the weight they needed. "One week. You each need ten pounds to get into the class you're saying you can. Toby needs to lose ten and John needs to gain ten. Come back on next Monday to weigh in again."

Toby smiled, looking over at John as he gave a little smirk. "We can do it man."

John nodded, shaking Toby's hand as they settled on the bleachers to watch the other's finish tryouts. "Why'd you do that?" He asked. "You were in. You could have been in the next weight class."

Toby chuckled, patting John's shoulder. "It's the least I could do… you were so freaked when that storm hit, that I knew something had to have happened to you."

John breathed a laugh, the feeling of Toby's skin on his sending a jolt of fear down him as he remembered the harsh hands of the gang on him. "Thanks."