AN-Hey, Happy holidays This chapter is a sequel to chapter 178, where Freddie fences Jonah, but looses.
….
Loss
"Man, who knew a fencing tournament could go on for so long," Carly said as her and Sam climbed down from the bleachers to meet Freddie.
"I know, and the concession stand didn't even have decent food," Sam said. "I think those corndogs were low-fat."
"You guys didn't have to stay for the whole thing," Freddie said. "You could've left after Jonah eliminated me."
"Eh, we decided to wait for you, since you had to stay the whole time," Sam said. "But dude, you owe me some decent corndogs now."
"All right," Freddie chuckled. "Hey, I'll meet you outside. I want to just put my stuff in my locker."
"Okay," Carly said. "Come on, Sam. I want to see if I can find that cute guy who fenced in the fourth round."
Freddie watched as his girlfriend and Carly hurried out of the now near empty gym. He picked up his fencing gear and was about to head into the locker rooms, when he heard a voice behind him.
"Well, well, well, Benson."
Freddie turned around and saw Jonah strutting towards him. He felt his jaw clench. "What do you want?"
"Just saw Sam leaving. Did she finally come to her senses and dump you?" Jonah smirked.
"No, unlike you, I can actually manage to keep her as a girlfriend for more than a week," Freddie retorted.
The grin on Jonah's face vanished. "Pretty tough talk coming form a guy who got eliminated from the tournament in the first round. By me."
"Getting eliminated in the second round like you did isn't much better," Freddie said. "Besides, we both know who the better fencer here is. You're just lucky I let the comments about Sam dumping me that you made before the match get to me. If I had my head in the match, I would've beaten you."
"Oh, really?" Jonah said, stepping closer to Freddie. "Is that what you think?"
"That's exactly what I think," Freddie said, trying not to be intimidated by the fact that Jonah had a good six inches on him.
"Well," Jonah said. "Mat's empty now. What do you say you and I have a little…rematch?"
"You want to fence me again?" Freddie frowned.
"That would be the definition of a rematch, nub," Jonah said.
Freddie felt his blood boil. There was only one person who was allowed to call him a nub…
"Fine," Freddie said, pulling his gear out of his bag. "Let's fence. First one to three hits wins."
"Good, this will be easy," Jonah said, pulling on his mask. "I think I'll really enjoy beating you twice in one day."
"Just call it," Freddie snapped.
"En guard," Jonah said, pointing his fencing sword at Freddie.
The boys began their match.
Okay, Benson, Freddie told himself as he avoided a jab from Jonah. You can't lose to this moron twice. Just stay focused, and you'll be fine.
And sure enough, a second later, Freddie's sword made its hit on Jonah.
"Hope you enjoy that point," Jonah sneered. "Because that's all you're going to get."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Freddie said, feeling rather confident now. The two re-started their match. It seemed as if loosing to Jonah earlier that day had given Freddie a second wave of energy, for he had his second hit on Jonah in a matter of seconds.
"Yes!" Freddie cheered, pumping his fist in the air.
"You still need one more," Jonah reminded him. "And now that I'm warmed up, you might as well just surrender. No point in embarrassing yourself twice."
Freddie flexed his sword. "Let's just go, Jonah."
Come on, Freddie, just one more point, Freddie told himself as the two resumed the match. Then you can go tell Sam all about how you beat this loser…
"You know," Jonah said, a bit out of breath as he continued to dodge Freddie's sword. "At the beginning of this tournament, I've got to admit; I was a little shocked that a girl like Sam Puckett would be into a dorky guy like you. But after seeing Sam today, I have to say…she's lost her appeal to me."
Freddie narrowed his eyes. He knew what Jonah was trying to do…
"Nope, she doesn't really seem like "girlfriend material", if you know what I mean," Jonah continued. "Maybe it's best I dumped her and let you get her."
That did it…Freddie jabbed his sword into Jonah's chest forcefully, getting him his third point and the match.
"First of all," Freddie said, crossing his arms menacingly. "If I recall, Sam dumped you. And second, you'd be lucky to have a girl like Sam. If you don't think she's girlfriend material, then you must not have good taste at all."
"Whatever," Jonah snapped, gathering his gear. "I still beat you in the tournament…where it counted." And with that he turned and headed towards the locker room.
"Hope you enjoyed you loss!" Freddie called after him, grinning. He turned around, about to head out, only to find Sam, leaning against the door of the gym's entrance.
"Sam?" Freddie frowned. "I thought you were outside with Carly?"
"Eh, she found a boy to flirt with, so I let them be," Sam said. "And also, I'm starving! I came in here to see what was taking you so long, but well, looks like you were pretty busy."
"Oh…you saw that, huh?" Freddie asked.
"Uh-huh," Sam smiled. "Man, Jonah must've really gotten in your head earlier. If you would've fenced like that earlier today, you could've won this whole thing!"
"Nah," Freddie said modestly. "Hey, let's get out of here. I'm sure your stomach's probably ready to implode."
"If that's a fancy word for shrivel up, then yes, it is," Sam nodded. But as Freddie headed for the door, she grabbed his hand, stopping him in his tracks.
"So," she said, a bit softer. "You really think I'm "girlfriend material"?"
"Shoosh yeah I do," Freddie nodded. "You're a great girlfriend, Sam. I really mean that."
"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" Sam grinned. She leaned up to give Freddie a quick kiss. "But you're not that bad yourself, Benson."
