Faking Love

Megan’s POV

It was my first day on this court. I didn’t know how to react. I knew most of the fans were excited to see me, and believe me, I was excited to see them too. I would have given up a long time ago had it not been for them. They keep me pushing.

“Megan, are you alright?” My coach, Jane, asked.

I forgot to add, she was one of the reasons I did not give up either. I had met her a few years ago after one of my many bar fights. The first words she had uttered to me were, “Such wasted gifts and talents.”

“What did you say?” I asked, wanting her to repeat herself if she dared to.

“Such wasted gifts and talents,” she repeated emphatically.

I had decided to go over and teach her to mind her own business when one of my friends, Josh, stopped me.

“Meg, you don’t want to do this,” he said.

“Get out of the way,” I warned.

“Meg, I have never lied to you before, and I will not start now. Just trust me, it’s all you need. Come on now, let’s get out of here,” he insisted.

Thinking about what he said, he did sound right. Perhaps it was all for good. He had better have a good explanation for this.

“Thank the heavens that today is not the day for you to learn your lesson,” I finished before storming off with Josh.

“What was the meaning of that back there? You had to let me embarrass myself by walking away and you of all people know that I never run from a fight,” I started to say when we were out in the clear.

“I promise you, I saved you a lot more respect than you would have had you decided to take her on,” he maintained.

“What do you mean?” I asked, perplexed.

“Just tell me what you have been on about,” I added.

“Take a look at this,” he said, handing me his phone.

“I don’t want to be looking at videos, man. Just tell me already, so I’m getting out of here,” I warned.

“Just take a look, that’s all. I promise it will be worth it,” he assured me.

“Well, let me see…” I agreed and stretched out my hand to get his phone.

“Say something, Meg,” he chided me when he saw I had suddenly become speechless. Something inside of me wished I should not have seen that video in the first place.

All my life, I had been told I was very talented and was the best at what I did, and I had believed that too. For a very long time, I never saw anyone who could stand or come close to a one-on-one with me. Now, that belief and self-esteem had just been crushed.

I was looking at one of the most if not the most brutal fights I have ever seen. And it was her, the lady from earlier. As much as I hated to admit it, Josh was right. She was indeed better than I was, and she would not even break a sweat had she taken me seriously on my challenge.

She fought like she was hungry. A hunger neither I nor any boxer I have seen had. It was like she needed it to breathe, to live, and to survive. Such hunger, something that I clearly lacked.

“You get my point now?” Josh inquired.

“Yes. I guess I should be thanking you for saving my life, right?” I asked with a scoff.

“Well, for starters, that would be the most appropriate thing to do, don’t you think?” he retorted.

“But knowing you as much as I do, I doubt I would ever be hearing that from you, seeing as you would rather…” he was saying before I interrupted.

“I would rather die,” I stopped him just before he finished his sentence.

“Unlucky me,” he added, shaking his head.

A few weeks later, I’d run into Jane again in another one of the bar fights, and she had convinced me to come work with her and put my gifts to better use.

She would only tell me a few years later that she knew I would be a star from the first time she saw me at that bar.

“But how? I didn’t have your passion or power,” I said to her.

“But you had the strength, the power. In some successful boxers who were lucky, that’s all they ever had, their strength. But, I can put the hunger and passion in you,” she had said, and boy did she.

The speakers immediately brought me back to reality.

“Tell me what bothers you,” Jane chided.

“Nothing ever bothers me,” I said with a convincing smile.

“Do not try to fool me with that smile. You might fool others, but not me. Had I not known you any better, I would have thought that you were scared or nervous about your opponent, but we both know that that’s not true. You will tell me what it is,” Jane insisted.

“Not now, please. There’s so many people here,” I begged, knowing Jane would stop at nothing till she got what she wanted out of me.

“If you cared so much about the people here or what they think, you would do better and not keep your face like you are scared to death of your opponent. If I were you, I would be more worried about what the bloggers would write about me in a few hours with that look on my face and spreading all the sought of misinformation about the fight. I know the fight would be a walk over for you, but we cannot afford to have any negative energy now,” she explained.

“I will behave,” I promised as I flashed a smile to the cameras.

It was now time for me to step on the weighing scale. Thank God it will finally be over soon. I hated weigh-ins because of the long interviews and sometimes, boring opponents. Nothing has interested me that much in the last 3 years of my career.

Just as I stepped on the scale, something, whether metal or wood, I could not tell hit me on the head. Next thing I knew, I felt my knees going weak and then, it was all black.