Alby was already in the training room with his University coach, but when Jorge and Emily walked in he came striding over, with a huge grin on his face. 

"Jorge!" He cried. He clasped Jorge's hand. Then he turned to Emily, holding his arms out, "Come 'er Squirt!" 

Emily dropped her bag and threw her arms around his neck, he picked her up off the ground for a second, squeezing him tight. He placed her down and then indicated with his head to Minho who was standing at the door with his mouth dropped open. Emily grinned and turned. 

"Did I forget to tell you that we were in Alby The King Einstein's coach corner?" 

"Yeah, you might have left that detail out." He cleared his throat, and his smirk was back, he held his hand out, and Alby grabbed it and shock it, giving him the once over. They were both tall and broad. Minho had a little bit more height and was quite possibly broader in the shoulders than Alby. 

"You must be Minho." 

"The one and only." He grinned, folding his arms.

Alby eyed him up again, then nodded, apparently in approval. He turned back to his coaches. Minho came over to stand beside Emily, he leaned over and whispered, "So. Alby The King, huh?" 

Emily just chuckled, folding her arms and smirked at him. 

"I need the story." 

"We grew up in the gym. Dad was his coach, and his first sponsor. His parents couldn't afford the training and tournament and fight fees. Dad paid for the both of us. He managed to get a sponsor, and then a scholarship."

"Well that's awesome!"    Minho grinned, he glanced back at her and his smirk slipped a little. "Ya know, if more people knew you are friends then they might leave you alone." 

Emily had thought about it, especially when her dad first died and the bullies started, and he life started to go down hill, she had thought about it. Emily ran a hand a hand through her long hair, and sighed.

"No. I'm not flaunting him and my friendship with him for popularity. We're like siblings, aways have been. Do you really think people will believe me when I say I'm friends with him?  And Ava and Teresa know, it doesn't stop them." 

"Stop them doing what?" Minho asked, turning towards her now, fully frowning. 

Emily clamped her mouth closed and shook her head, looking at the floor again. 

"Emily, what are you not saying?" He pressured.

"Nothing. I'm saying nothing." 

"Emily-" 

Emily shook her head and walked away, towards Alby who was warming up. Emily pulled her up into a pony tail, and plastered a smile on. She was having a hard time keeping her homelife situation to herself especial with Minho. He was just easy to talk to, even if she felt like her tongue was tied, and her face went pink with a blush when he gave her that smirky smile. She shoved her bitterness, fear and sadness back down and put her mask back on. 

She pulled a pair of training mitts on. To help him warm up, they gently soft boxed, getting him to duck, and jab, keeping his muscles loose and warm. Jorge went over and explained some of the background of what they were doing and why, what a coaches job, a manager's job. Making sure their fighter was physically ready, mentally ready. There was a knock on the door and the referee and doctor came in to do their check and weigh in. Emily and Minho stood off to the side, letting Jorge do his thing, working with the University coach. Once that was done, a camera crew came in. 

The interviewer asked Alby some questions about his opponent and how he got ready for the match. Alby bounced a little back and forth, trying to keep his muscles warm. The camera backed off into the corner. There was another knock and someone with a head set poked her head in. 

"20 minutes!" 

"Thank you." Jorge called back, she nodded and her head disappeared. He turned back and gave Alby some water, did a double check on his tape, and gloves. 

"Squirt come here. Hands up!" Alby called.

Emily pushed off the wall, slipped the training gloves on, and raised her arms, blocking her face. They soft boxed until it was time to go. Emily grinned at Alby, raising her eyebrow, holding her fists out. Their old tradition from before their fights as children. 

He grinned, "You still remember?" 

"Of- shucken-cores!" 

He knocked his gloved hands on top of hers, she moved hers under his bumping his, then one hand the other hand, they held a hand over their heart, and then kissed their gloves and raised it up. 

"To dad."

"To Vince." 

"Go knock 'em dead. Hit hard. Hit fast. Don't die." 

He grinned. Jorge slipped his mouth guard into his mouth and they followed a bouncing Alby out into the hall and followed at the back. 

"That was a cute little ritual." Minho leaned in to talk, the noise from the crowd was getting louder. 

"We always did it as kids, added the last part after dad died. Alby would come find me before ever match." 

"For every match?" 

"As many as I could be here for." 

"That's really cool." 

They followed into the huge arena, 'The Champ is Here- by O Fresh' was blasting, and the crowd went wild. Emily loved this atmosphere. She felt the adrenalin pumping, her nerves disappeared, she felt that wild rush of a fight. 

"Do you miss it?" Minho yelled over the noise. 

"What? Fighting?" She yelled back. 

He nodded. 

"Yeah, yeah I do." 

"How come you don't? You're really good." He yelled, leaning in trying to be heard over the screaming and cheering. 

"'Cause money. I don't have money to pay for the entry fees." 

Minho frowned. It looked like he was going to say something else, but the ref came over to do one last check. Alby held his arms out, the referee ran his hands over his arms, torso, his face and head. Alby opened his mouth, checking to make sure there was nothing hiding in his mouth guard, they checked his gloves one last time. Another lady came and spread some Vaseline over his cheek bones, eyebrows and over his nose. 

The ref nodded and motioned for Alby to go into the ring. Emily and Minho followed Jorge to their corner. Emily spotted their group of friends in the second row. Emily nudge Minho and pointed. They waved, and everyone waved back. Jeff, Sonya Newt and Thomas looked happy and excited to be there. Teresa and Brenda looked a little out of place. Minho leaned in to be heard again. 

"I'm onto you." 

"Excuse me?" She frowned and turned her head to look up at him. He was really close, his dark eyes had a sparkle to them, he leaned down to be heard.

"I'm onto you, you sneak little match maker!" 

Emily just raised an eyebrow. "I have no idea what your talking about." 

"Thomas and Newt?" 

"What about it? I have no idea what your talking about." Emily gave him an innocent look, and he chuckled and shook his head. They turned back to the ring, Alby's opponent was now in the ring. 

"What do we do now?" Minho asked. 

"We cheer." Emily grinned, stepping closer to the ring. 

"Today's match is the spotlight match. The defending champ, so its a five round match for 3 minutes each, one minute break in between." 

"Got it."

"Yeah, at this point, there isn't much we can do. During the break, we can help with ice and water and such, but its Jorge and the other coach." 

Minho nodded. The ref had stepped into the ring. And the announcer showed up to announce the fight to the crowd. 

"In the Blue corner we have, all the way from Colorado Springs, with 5 wins and 4 losses, 3 wins by knockouts we have,  Knox Knockout Miller!"

The crowd cheered and clapped. The announcer turned to Alby who was bouncing and swinging his arms. His face was set into hard stone, his dark eyes were narrowed. He was ready.

"Aaaaaand In the Red corner we have, the homegrown boy from Denver itself, 7 wins and only 2 losses, 4 wins by knockout, we have the defending Welterweight Champ, ALBY THE KING EINSTEIN!" 

The announcer screamed into the mic. The crowd in the area went wild, it was so loud Emily couldn't hear herself cheering. She felt the wild adrenalin and excitement pumping. She heard Minho beside her. Jorge was quiet, he always was. He was a quieter coach, but he was sure and confident. The announcer climbed out of the ring and the ref took over. 

"Blue you ready?" He nodded.

"Red you read?" Alby nodded.

"Touch mitts." 

The guys stepped closer, and touched their gloves together and backed but. They were both eyeing each other, trying to size each other up. The ref waved a hand. 

"FIGHT!" 

The other guy jumped forwards, his hands swinging. Alby brought his hands up, blocking the attempts. Alby ducked and sent a solid jab into his waist, sending him backwards. They circled each other for a few seconds now. The guy kept a slight distance, bouncing and dodging, jabbing here and there, trying to bait Alby into coming closer. Emily watched, her eyes flicking around, her jaw clamped, her stomach twisting, and her mind spinning. The round ended and only a few hits actually connected. 

Emily didn't really have much to do, Jorge had the stool in the corner, the coaches jumped in, toweling him off, Emily handed up the ice bag and water. Jorge the other coach gave a few pointers, encouragements, the bell rang and the second round was about to start. 

The same thing, Alby's opponent sprung forwards, his fists swinging. Again Alby backed up slightly, ducking and blocking. Alby swung a foot, and got him in the knee making him back off. Alby chased after. he dropped his glove just enough, and unfortunately the opponents fist made contact with his face. A cut opened on his forehead. 

"Oh shuck" 

"What?" Minho asked, leaning over, but his eyes glued to the fight. 

Emily pointed, "Alby has a cut, it's alright now, but the longer he's out there, the more his blood pumps, the faster it's going to bleed. If he gets hit again, then that means more blood, and it's going to affect his vision." 

"Well that's not good." 

Emily rolled her eyes. Minho chuckled. 

"So what do you do?" 

"Well, we wait until next break, hope he keeps his fists up- COME ON AL LETS GO!- wipe up the blood, hope we can get it under control. And pray he gets a knock out." 

Alby managed to land a hit to the guys jaw just as the bell rang for the next break. Again Jorge jumped up, and did his thing, Emily passed the ice and water. The other coach focused to the cut, while Jorge gave pointers. Alby was breathing heavy. The third round was messy. They were both tired now, the blood from the cut kept getting in his eye, and the other guys mouth and nose were bleeding pretty bad. 

"COME AL! FINISH IT!" Emily screamed. Her voice was sore. But she had noticed now that they were both tired at the end of the third round, what might help Alby finish the match. 

The bell rang and this time Emily climbed up into the ring, to help mop up his bleeding. 

"Al, he's tired, his left is weaker, he keeps dropping his guard, a solid kick or round house punch and he'll drop. He's struggling." 

"Thanks Squirt." Alby panted. 

"Punch hard. Punch fast." 

Emily climbed out of the ring, Minho held a hand out and helped her jump down. She turned around to watch. She watched with a mix of excitement and nervous. She had bit her thumb nail down to just about nothing. She had yelled herself horse. 

"What did you tell him?" 

"His left side is weaker, he drops it when he goes for a jab, a reach, so if Alby can get a solid kick or roundhouse kick he could drop him." 

"Smart." 

"Just observant." Emily pointed, "Watch. Did you see? He drops his guard. Al just needs to get the right timing."

Alby had either got another burst of energy or he was going to finish the match this round. He swung, fist after fist, keeping the guy busy, he was backing up. Alby just rained the blows, there wasn't much he could do, he was trapped in the corner. His coaches were yelling at him to move his feet. Jorge and the other coach yelling encouragements. The area was at a deafening noise. He managed to wiggle his way out of the corner. And as Emily predicted, he dropped his left guard. Alby swung his leg, and with a power kick, it connected with his head. The guy dropped hard. The ref jumped in front, shielding the guy. 

"One...two...three..." 

Alby raised his hands in the air, the ref called the match. 

"AND WE HAVE OUR WINNER!"

The noise exploded. Emily jumped fist pumping. Alby waved his coaches in, Emily scrambled into the ring, cheering. Alby pulled her into a tight hug, lifting her up, both of them had a fist in the air. 

"FOR DAD!"

"FOR VINCE!" 

They screamed, and placed a hand over their heart and raised it into the air. Screaming and cheering. Minho stood on the ground, his arms crossed and a huge smirk on his face, his dark eyes watching Emily in amusement. Emily could see out of the corner of her eye her friends and Thomas cheering and whistling, fist pumping and celebrating the victory. Teresa however stood with her arms crossed and a look of pure venom on her face. If looks could kill Emily would have dropped dead. 

The coaches climbed out, and he camera crew was back, the announcer was there to give  quick interview of the match. The doctors were checking the other guy, who came around a few seconds after Alby was announced winner. He was helped out of the ring and back down the hall. It took a while to get Alby down and back down the hall. 

They were back in their training room. Jorge stitched up Alby, and then sat down. 

"Hey old man, you okay?" Alby asked, the grin on his face wouldn't leave. 

"Yeah yeah." Jorge rolled his eyes and waved a hand. 

"SQUIRT!" Alby roared and jumped off the table, "You were right!" 

"Of course I was!" She grinned. 

"I owe you my victory!" Alby bowed to her

Emily threw head back and laughed. She couldn't wipe the smile off. After Alby was cleaned up and changed, he waved good bye, he was going out to celebrate with his friends. Minho also said he was going out, he was going to take Teresa out. Thomas and Brenda had left.

~*~

Jorge and her packed up, the stadium was quieter now. The crowd was gone and now just the workers. Jorge asked her to take the bags to the car, he was sitting on the stool flipping through some papers. 

"Sure Papi. I'll be right back." Emily smiled and left to the car. 

On her way back she felt her phone buzz in her back pocket, she pulled it out. 

Newt:

Hey, Love. Amazing match! So proud of you! Sonya and I have to leave the city, last minute trip to see Graps and Gran. Granny isn't doing so good. Driving through the night. So, we'll see you Monday at school!

Thanx! So glad you guys could come!

Did you have ulterior motives?

What could you possibly mean? Like how I asked if Minho could bring Thomas so I would get into too much hot water with his GF?

Yeah...*narrows eyes suspiciously*

Nope. Did it work?

Shuck you Love. But yes...yes it did. Thank you.

SHUCK YES! NEWTMAS IS A THING!

Oh shucken bloody hell no!

Sonya is killing herself laughing. I buggen' hate you.

You love me!

It's a good thing I bloody do!

Drive safe. <3

Emily pocketed her phone, and with a smile went to go find Jorge see if he was ready to go. She was hungry, maybe he would swing by somewhere for food. 

"Jorge? Ready to go?" She called.

There was no answer. Frowning, she pushed the training room door open. Jorge lay on the floor, unresponsive.