LXXX.        Heartbreak Weather

      Odessa spent all of her free time training for the evaluations happening that week. When she wasn't at the Miyagi-Do dojo, she was in her own backyard training with Eli and Oliver. Her dad tried to make his decision as unbiased as possible but after a while, he gave up on trying not to help them out. "I know you kids have been used to a certain amount of training, but, I'd like to teach you guys some new things," Christian told them when they gathered in the backyard. "Not to brag but I was pretty skilled when it came to kicking."

"Should we be learning new things without Daniel and Johnny?" Odessa asked, unsure.

"Whatever it takes to win, Dessi," Oliver said loudly before her dad could answer. He stood by her with his arm rested on the top of her head. "Y'know, it would be better if Grayson and Hailey were here to train with us."

The blonde scoffed and pushed his arm off her head. "Gray can come over if he wants," she stated and went to stand on the other side of Eli.

He raised his brows. "And Hailey?"

"Yeah, c'mon Dess, you two haven't talked to each other in two days," said Oliver.

"Yeah, it's called waiting for an apology."

Her dad gave her a look. "I thought we talked about this yesterday,"

She nodded. "We did. Doesn't mean I have to apologize for something I didn't do." She argued.

"You know Hailey doesn't apologize," Oliver told her.

Odessa shrugged. Deciding she didn't want to talk about it anymore, she looked forward at her father. "Can we start now, dad?"

Christian shared the same look with the boys before he nodded. "Yeah." He turned his back on the three of them. "Alright, let's start with some warm up punches."

Odessa hadn't felt the need to win something this much since her first All Valley. Nobody, not even herself, expected to hear her name be called as the winner and yet it changed her life forever. She went from being the West Valley High slut to the All Valley champion, a winner. Through everything that happened in those years after the tournament, Odessa carried that win with her as a reminder that she was stronger than what she believed. Even when she hit rock bottom.

Nine fighters were eligible to compete. Odessa wanted to be one of them and she damn well was find to work for it.

They spent all day at dojo the next day training. Odessa was with Grayson, the two of them having an awkward cloud hovering above their heads. It was a terrible feeling. They were best friends, always have been, no matter how many times all four of them have had arguments. But it was different this time. Grayson and Hailey were together. He had an unconscious bias and it showed in how light his movements were with her. Odessa dropped her fists and sighed. "Gray, you're not even trying."

"I'm sorry," Grayson huffed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

On the other side of the yard, Hailey was sparring Sam on the deck. Odessa shifted her jaw side to side. "You don't have to go easy on me just cause Hailey and I are in a fight. I'm not a kid," she told him. "You also don't have to pretend that it's not awkward for us to even be talking right now."

"It's not awkward. It's just. . .confusing," Grayson admitted. He sighed again. "I'm sorry, okay? I don't know how to go about this."

"We're best friends."

"Yeah, all of us are. But it's weird this time. I've never had to side with anybody during our fights."

"You don't have to side with anyone!" Odessa raised her voice, her feelings becoming hurt by his words.

"That's what I'm trying to say. I'm confused!" Grayson raised his voice as well. "Please try to look at it from my point of view."

"I don't have to do anything. If you want to take Hailey's side, then be my guest Grayson. I don't care." She snapped and walked away from him.

"Odessa!" He called her name but was ignored.

She stormed past Johnny on her way to the house. "Whoa, whoa, slow down there blondie. What's wrong?" He asked when he saw how angry she was.

"Nothing. I just don't want to be around anybody right now," she answered without making eye contact and zipped past him.

Confused, Johnny looked over and saw Grayson stomp away to the other side of the yard. He threw his hands up. "What the hell?"

Odessa grabbed her phone and headphones from inside her duffle bag. She shuffled her training playlist that Miguel made for her and started training on her own. She grabbed the dummy in the corner and put it in the middle of the dojo. Odessa worked on simple things like her punches and kicks, but she wanted more. She wanted to make herself stand out.

She thought back to the time when she was a cheerleader. The good times, that is. She was the captain and she was flyer. Odessa had to learn all kinds of flips and kicks in the air when she had to do basket tosses. She closed her eyes and tried to envision one of them and the first thing that she thought of was when she was thrown into the air and she did a high front kick, then she spun around and kicked with her opposite leg before she came back down into the basket.

It could work. It could work. The only issue was she hadn't cheered since freshman year and she wasn't in basket formation. But it could work. She would make it work.

Odessa was on the sparring deck with Tory. They were the definition of night in day and not just by their personalities. Tory fought with impulse while Odessa was more calculated. Sharp versus amicable. She would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous about firing Tory after what happened at the slumber party but surprisingly, they worked well together. Sometimes when Odessa was fighting her, she thought about their last All Valley and how different it was now. They were friends this time. Tory wouldn't hurt her.

With a loud grunt, Tory scurried forward on her front foot and kicked with her other one. Odessa did a reverse spin and shifted to the other side of the deck. She rocked back and forth on her heels for three seconds before going back on. Odessa threw two punches, one high and one low, to which Tory blocked and she took the opportunity when she was distracted to hook her ankle around her leg. The blonde girl pulled her leg forward and Tory lost her balance. Odessa kicked her shoulder and she fell on her back.

"Good work, Odessa." Johnny praised.

She looked down at Tory and smiled. "You good?" She asked and held out her hand.

Tory smiled back. "Yeah." She grabbed a hold of her hand and yanked her downward.

Odessa flipped over her and Tory rolled over, dropping down on one knee and she punched her shoulder. The blonde girl groaned painfully. "Now I'm good."

"Good for you," Odessa groaned again and grabbed her shoulder.

Tory laughed and helped her up.

"That was good girls. Strange efforts," Christian said from where he stood on the platform.

"Now I gotta go check for bruises," Odessa said out loud and dramatically limped off the deck.

"Oh okay, drama queen," Tory said with a laugh and followed her off.

"That's my middle name."

"What's your middle name? Hoebag?" Oliver asked when he walked up beside her, covered in sweat from sparring with Miguel.

"Definitely," Odessa replied sarcastically.

"Odessa Hoebag Beaumont. Has a ring to it." Tory laughed again and walked off to go get her water bottle.

"Thanks!" She called out, also sarcastic, and she rolled her eyes. "I'm ready to go home and soak in an ice bath."

"That sounds tempting. Miguel elbowed me in the ribs and it hurt like a bitch," Oliver explained they also went to get a drink of water. "Hey, I saw you and Gray arguing earlier. What was that about."

"It was nothing," Odessa dismissed and headed toward the dojo where her bag was.

He followed her. The red head furrowed his brows. "You sure? It looked pretty heated."

"Oliver, it was nothing." She repeated a little more harsh and walked into the dojo. She walked over to her bag.

Oliver knew how to read the girl better than how to read Romeo and Juliet out loud in freshman English. He also knew that whatever she was upset about had to do with Hailey and because Grayson was saying Hailey, it only frustrated her more. "Odessa, I'm serious. This fight between you and Hailey is stupid. I don't even know why it's considered a fight."

"Because she thinks she can say whatever she wants and expects me not to get mad!" Odessa exclaimed, finally saying her thoughts.

He raised his eyebrows.

Realizing he got what he wanted out of her, Odessa rolled her eyes and sat down on the floor. Oliver sat down with her. "What happened between me and Robby was hard. I feel guilty all the time that I hurt him like I did. But he's still one of my closest friends. I learned things about him in the time we were together. I feel protective over him. That shouldn't be a bad thing and nobody should make me feel bad for it either."

"You're right," he agreed with her. "It's like if Asher and I continue to be close after we ended things. I love Demetri but I would still care for him."

She quickly nodded. "Exactly!"

"But I would still talk to Demetri and tell him how I feel," Oliver continued, his words slow. "Right?"

Odessa grumbled. "Yeah."

"You've talked to Eli bout it? You two are good?"

She nodded reluctantly.

"Okay then. For the love of god, talk to Hailey. The longest you two have been in a fight is 24 hours. It's been almost three days. We're the core four, remember? All four houses of Hogwarts."

Odessa stifled a laugh. She met his eyes and he smiled at her. "Okay, fine. I'll talk to her." She settled.

Oliver clapped. "Good girl."

"I'm not talking to her."

"I always forget how dramatic teenage girls are," Christian said as he put the bowl of salad in the middle of the table, shooting Thalia a smirk.

The woman rolled her eyes. "This reminds me of the time I got into a fight with Ali," Thalia said and sat at the table across from her daughter.

"Which one?" There a slap to his arm. Christian laughed. "Sorry, sorry!"

"Ali and I got into an argument about Johnny one time."

Odessa raised one of her eyebrows. "Really? Why?"

Thalia titled her head side to side. "Well, I love Johnny to death but let's admit—" she looked at Christian. "He used was a jerk."

The father nodded. "Oh yeah. Big time."

"And I used to tell Ali all the time 'Ali, he's not good for you. You deserve better'," her mother recited. "And she got so mad at me saying 'you don't know anything Lia, so just stay out of it's and I swear that right last what—"

"Two weeks," Christian answered.

"Two weeks. It was so stupid but we were just girls, so boys were the most important thing to us. And you know what happened after that?"

Odessa, now fully interested in the story, leaned forward. "What?"

Thalia mimicked her movement. "Daniel moved to our school and she found out that I was right, so she apologized," she finished the story and smiled.

When the realization settled in, Odessa smiled back and her eyes trailed to the table.

Odessa stepped out of her dad's car at the same time Eli was getting out of his. She eyed his new mohawk, the top half of the spikes red and then slowly faded to blue. "I thought you didn't have to dye your hair?" She questioned and shut the car door.

He smirked. "I didn't, but, thought it would be cool to represent America when we go to Spain."

"Where's the white?"

Eli turned his head left and tight, showing her the thin white stripes dyed into the faded part of his hair.

"Now that's what I call an awesome hairdo," Christian said with a laugh as he walked by them.

"Thanks, Mr. Beaumont," he grinned and looked back at his girlfriend. "What do you think?"

Odessa hummed with a smile. "I still really miss the purple, but, I like this too," she answered with a small chuckle.

The sun peaked through the clouds and shine down her face, making the blue of her eyes shine, and Eli grew another smile. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder and they walked into the backyard.

"Let's go! Everybody partner up!" Johnny yelled once they were all in the backyard.

Odessa looked at Eli. "What do you say?"

"Sure, why not—"

"Uhhh, actually!" Oliver blurted out and crashed into Eli, wrapping a long arm around his shoulder. "Actually, Dess, Eli's gonna partner with me today."

Eli furrowed his brows. "I am?"

"Yes you are," he answered through a large smile.

Odessa was confused. "Okay, um, what about Demetri? I thought you guys would partner together?"

"Oh, don't worry about Demetri. He's with Grayson. You're with Hailey."

Her eyes went wide. "What—"

"Come on, Eli!" Oliver cut her off and dragged Eli away with him.

Odessa stood there with her jaw dropped. She watched everybody pair up until her eyes landed on Hailey standing alone. They looked at each other and she sighed. "This is gonna be fun."