Bully HUMILI ATED her in front of everyone, not knowing who she really is…
The same signature footwork, the same economical motions, the same way of turning violence into a dance. «Holy shit,» Derek muttered, backing away. «She could kill us.»
«She could kill all of us,» Tyler added. Their earlier bravado evaporated like morning mist. The gym turned into a pressure cooker.
A hundred and fifty students stood frozen, processing the revelation. The quiet girl they’d ignored for three years was actually one of the most dangerous underground fighters in the state. Max’s jaw worked but made no sound.
His whole world, built on the certainty that he was the apex predator in this ecosystem, was crumbling. The script had flipped so hard he didn’t know his lines anymore. «This is impossible,» he finally choked out.
«Ghost fights grown men, pros, killers. And wins.» Someone added.
Anna’s phone buzzed again, but this time it wasn’t a text alert. Victor was calling. She declined without looking, but everyone heard the ringtone.
Rock music. Someone in the underground fighting circuit thought it was funny when they programmed her phone. «So what now?» Anna asked, genuinely curious.
«You wanted me to bark like a dog. Wanted to humiliate me, post it online, grind me to nothing.» She tilted her head, still feeling bold.
The challenge hung between them. Max had two choices—back down in front of everyone and shatter his reputation or fight someone just outed as an undefeated fighter with 47 pro wins. Pride won.
With guys like Max, pride always wins. «I don’t care what you do in some street fight club,» he growled, trying to reclaim his shattered confidence. «This is my house.
My rules. And you’re still just a weird girl who’ll get enough.» A voice came from the crowd, quiet, scared, but determined.
A freshman girl Anna recognized but had never spoken to stepped forward. Alina Martin, small, quiet, the one who tried to be invisible to survive high school. «Just stop,» Alina repeated, looking at Max with tears in her eyes.
«Don’t you see what you’re doing?» «What you’ve been doing all this time?» «Get out of here!» Max shouted. «This doesn’t concern you.»
«It concerns me,» the dam broke. «You made my brother drop out of school. He loved football, but you and your friends bullied him every day because he wasn’t good enough, because he was different, because you could.»
Other voices joined in. Students finding courage in numbers and in the presence of someone who’d just shown Max Thompson wasn’t invincible. «You sent Jacob Frost to the hospital.
You destroyed Becca’s art project because she wouldn’t go on a date with you. You’ve terrorized this school for four years.» Max’s head whipped around, trying to identify speakers, memorize faces for later revenge.
But there were too many. The spell was breaking. «Shut up.»
Max roared. «All of you, shut up. I’m in charge here.
Me. You don’t run anything.» Anna’s voice cut through his hysteria like a sharp knife. She stepped forward, and though he still towered over her, somehow she seemed bigger.
«You’re just a scared boy who hurts others because someone hurt you first, because your dad tells you power is everything, because you’re terrified that if you stop pushing people down, you’ll realize how small you really are.» Each word hit like a physical blow. Max’s face shifted from rage to humiliation to something that might have been pain.
«You don’t know anything about me,» he whispered. «I know everything about you,» Anna replied. «I’ve fought fifty versions of you.
Different faces, same pain. Same need to break anything beautiful because something beautiful in you got broken.» The gym went still.
Even those still filming lowered their phones, caught in something deeper than a viral video. «But here’s the difference between me and you,» Anna continued. «I learned to fight to protect people.
You learned to fight to hurt them. And that’s why you’ll always lose to people like me. Not because I’m stronger, faster, or better trained, but because I’m not afraid of you. And they’re not afraid of you anymore either.»
She gestured to the crowd. Max looked around and saw it was true. The fear was gone.
Replaced by anger, resolve, a collective realization that the emperor had no clothes. His phone rang. The sound shattered the moment like a brick through glass.
He grabbed it in desperation, seeking any distraction. «What?» he barked into it, then went pale. «What do you mean ‘expelled’? You can’t.
Dad? Dad?» But the line was already dead. Principal Coleman’s voice came over the intercom: «Max Thompson, Derek Black, Zach Dudley, and Tyler Roden. Report to the principal’s office immediately.
Security will escort you.» Four guards entered the gym. Real guards—not the usual rent-a-cops.
Anna noticed the police badges. Real cops. «What’s going on?» Tyler groaned.
One officer held a tablet with clear school surveillance footage, ironically installed by Max’s mayor uncle to prevent vandalism. «Assault, threats, conspiracy,» the officer listed. «And that’s just today.
In the last hour, we’ve gotten 23 more complaints from students about incidents going back years. You can’t arrest me!» Max yelled, backing away. «My uncle’s the mayor…
