THE FIGHT CLUB continued to practice every day after school and after a few weeks, the girl's had become popular at school. Josie still couldn't believe it.

"You little bitch, it's actually working." she said to PJ.

"I told you." she sang in victory.

"I know. I feel like if we keep it up we can actually take on Huntington, you guys." Hazel said.

She was walking behind the pair, holding hands with Peyton. Since their date at the drive-in, the two became way closer and acted as a couple all the time- even though they still convinced themselves it was only to keep Allan away from the blonde.

"No, if we keep it up, we can put our fingers inside of each other, grow up." PJ replied.

"You're gross, PJ." Peyton told her.

The girl glanced at her and had a roll of eyes. "You don't get it because you have a girlfriend you can put your fingers in."

Peyton's eyes widened. "Oh, my God."

"You know, PJ, I feel like people are actually liking more than just the hitting and the tackling part of the club." Hazel added to hide her embarrassment.

"Yeah, I know we're empowering them. Duh."

"No, I mean, seriously, to have a safe space like this, it means a lot to people and I think that if we took some time to spend a meeting and actually get to know these girls, like, it would be really important, instead of just, like, sweating on them..."

Hazel's voice lowered at the end of her sentence, due to her intimidation when the three pair of eyes turned to her.

"Hazel, that is a genuinely brilliant idea." Josie said.

"I love talking about trauma. I literally jack off after every single therapy session." PJ exclaimed.

"What?"

"It just makes girls weirdly horny, it does."

Peyton frowned. "I don't think that's what she meant-"

Tim, one of the football players, stepped up. "Bonjour!" he exclaimed. "I just wanted to say that I'm loving what I'm hearing about the club. It seems so supportive of women. Especially the hot ones."

"Yeah, well, all women are hot to me." PJ replied.

"Listen, it's really cute and everything, but we're getting a little close to the game now and, um... I'm just a bit concerned it might be taking away attention from our team."

"I think that's like impossible to do." Josie told him as she showed a photo of Jeff with the description 'get horny' on it.

"Okay." Tim smiled before walking away.

The girls shared a confused look and Peyton commented. "That was a weird conversation."

★

"So we know that the club has been a place where we can feel empowered physically but we also thought, it could be a safe space and a place where we can open up and talk about our feelings." Josie explained as the girls and Mr. G were all sitting in circle.

"Okay, so who's been raped?" PJ asked.

Peyton put her head in her hand with a sigh. PJ was exhausting. "Just you know, raise your hand. Gray aera counts too." the girl said as everyone was staring at her in silence.

They all raised their hands and Sylvie started talking. "Everyone knows the situation with my stepdad. He's just obsessed with Friday movie nights. I mean, God, I get it, you're my new stepdad but, fuck, whatever. You know?"

"Every time I call the police about my stalker, they tell me to fill out an online fill." Stella-Rebecca spoke. "And then the form tells me to call, so I call and then they say they can't get involved until he tries to kill me. And he keeps saying he's going to, but that doesn't count. So, it's just, like, annoying."

"Been there." PJ replied. "We've all been there."

Peyton uncomfortably started playing with her hands as she spoke. "So, once, I slept with Allan, even though I really didn't want to. He insisted very heavily and he made me feel guilty for saying no." She gave a reassuring smile as everyone was staring at her. "No, but that's fine, I'm not traumatized or anything. But it's a bad memory and I don't want it to happen again."

Everyone nodded with understanding. "Yeah."

"Well, I've been assaulted, like, a million times." Brittany said. "But I'm more annoyed that everyone knows me for being beautiful and popular and no one knows that I'm actually smart and super driven. Like, I literally own a jewelry business and no one talks about it!"

There was a silence for a second before Hazel started telling her story. "Well, ever since my parents' divorce, my mom has been doing this, like, midlife crisis. I don't know how that's really sitting with me, you know? It's been really, really dark. This just has been really meaningful to me to, like, get to know some new people who actually want to, like, get to know me-"

"I want to bring it back to Britanny for one second." PJ cut her off.

"PJ!" Peyton exclaimed with shock as Hazel looked down.

Josie raised her hand. "I can go next if that's okay."

The blonde girl looked towards Hazel and gently took her hand in a comforting gesture. The Callahan girl looked up at her and gave her a soft smile but Peyton could see she was upset so she just kept holding her hand.

"I don't really like talking about Juvie and everything that happened this summer... You know, obviously, we get a lot of props or whatever 'cause people thinks it's so badass. But really wasn't." Peyton frowned as Josie was talking. Was she really taking advantage of a moment of confession between the girls to lie? "I mean, unless you consider getting hazed horrifically every single night, like, badass. I mean, obviously, you know, we had to survive the Tributes, and you know, I did have, to, like, fight people basically every single night. People were betting on us and we were given, like, shivs and rusty pockets knives and splintered wood and, um, pipes as well. And, we had to just, like, fight people, sometimes to the death."

Hazel and Peyton shared a look. Josie really was a good liar. She seemed very sad and upset. The Holloway girl gently stroked the back of the Hazel's hand with her thumb, making the brunette smile.

"I still hear their screams at night, and that guilt will probably always, like, shackle me forever. I realize now, I don't have to be that person anymore." Josie continued. "Like, I don't have to just let things happen to me 'cause of you guys. And, um, I am, like, really grateful for what the club has become and um, just especially, you know, from where we started and... uh, yeah, sorry." she laughed awkwardly. "I feel like I kinda killed the vibe. I've never really, I guess, said that to anyone before. Sorry. People wanna, like, wrap up maybe or-"

"I'm going through a divorce." Mr. G said and everyone turned to him. "Whoo! That shit felt good to say. Ooh, I'll tell y'all, men- men need therapy."

"I think that's a good place to maybe wrap up." Josie declared.

- fake couple but no fake feelings