- Swayer's POV -
After the last hour of school | hopped onto my motorcycle and zoomed off towards the fighting warehouse. This was the place where | could clear my mind.Today had been a busy day of girls constantly throwing themselves at me and kissing my ass. | had gotten so used to the fact that | was simply irresistible.But what disturb me the most is that new girl, she is different, Her aura is different and she is like a closed book I am dying to read. She isn't like some other girl at the school throwing themselves at me, she is different and it feels like my charms have almost no effect on her. She fascinate me with every action of her and now, I just want to clear my head...
My hands were aching to punch something and let all my stress out. | had walked in ready to relax when a sight | saw made me stop.Penelope punched Henry right in the jaw and then in the groin. | winced myself and stared in awe and confusion."She could fight?" I whispered to myself.
| had no idea what to think. | knew she was a little different from everyone else. She had that mysterious bad vibe coming from her.And I would be lying if I say | wasn't intrigued by it.
She stalked off to the back of the gym and | noticed all the guys' staring at her. They were scared of her, and frankly, | was too. But just a little.
| made sure she wouldn't see me and then went over to get a bottle of water. She took off her jacket was only wearing a sports bra underneath. | couldn't stop staring at her toned body.
What the hell?
| shook my head and ignored my thought.
- Penelope's POV -| took off my jacket and pulled my brown hair up into a ponytail. The band twisted around the second time but then snapped suddenly. | groaned in frustration. Curse my freaking thick hair.| turned around to my bag to grab another hairband but then jumped slightly at the sight of Swayer leaning against the wall. I was shocked to see him here in the gym"Are you stalking me?" | asked.He chuckled and shifted his balance onto his other leg. "Whatever floats your boat, babe." Did he just really call me 'babe'? That bastard."Then what are you doing here?" I said.He stood up straight and walked over to the bench | was standing by. "I could ask the same for you." He said, or you can say he whispered in my ear."| asked first." I said, moving a bit away from him and facing him."Fine," he let out a sigh, "I train here."| raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly aware of how | was only wearing a sports bra and shorts."Why are you here?" he asked me."| just started training here." | answered.He looked at me and then smirked. "Needsome help training?"
| scoffed and turned back around, tying my hair up with my new hairband. "No thanks. I'm done taking orders from amateurs."He glared at me before leaning back against the wall. | looked over at him and he waved his hand. "Go on."| rolled my eyes and turned back to the punching bag. Taking my stance, | got ready to start swinging hits when an annoying voice interrupted me.His annoying voice to be exact."You need to have more weight on your back leg." He started. | turned around and glared at him. He had the nerve to smile."Excuse me?" | said."Your weight,' he walked closer, "it needs to be more on your back leg. You're depending too much on your front foot."He got into the same stance | was in."See? If you stand like you are now, you'lltopple over. Lean back the weight..."
"Thanks, but | don't need a coach." | said back.But even though | tried to sound annoyed, | knew he was right. He looked over at me with a smirk and | internally rolled my eyes. | felt kind of silly letting him stand there and watch me while | slammed my fists into the bag.
Mentally, | made Sawyer's face appear on the bag in front of me and | punched it with all my might.I don't know what overpowered me and why I was annoyed by him. He didn't really do anything to annoy me maybe it is that person henry I was annoyed at but I punched him twice and now the anger should have gone, right? Then why the hell I am so annoyed by swayer. I have no answers to these questions roaming around my mind so I just got carried away with puncing the punching bag.
That stupid little... (punch)Who does he think he is? (punch)Telling me what to do... (punch)"Whoa, dont go breaking your knuckles and the bag sweetheart, his voice interrupted my thoughts.| stopped and glared at him. "Could you possibly not be here and not criticize me?" | retorted."What would be the fun in that cutie?"Did he just seriously call me that? Ugh, the boy needs to learn his lesson.| stalked over to him and shoved my fist against his hard chest. "Listen up, punk. | don't care how you spend your time. Whether it's banging up a few girls or partying all night, | don't care, but | will not, | repeat, will not let you smirk around and act all smug and cocky towards me. Your first impression for me wasn't good, and frankly, first impressions are extremely important. So great job. | now think of you as a pathetic son of a bitch."His face was emotionless and pale. His mouth was slightly open and he was stiff as a board. | turned on my heel, grabbed my bag, and walked out of the gym. | could've sworn that there was steam blowing out of my ears.Guess I'm never training here again.After | had gotten home from the gym yesterday, | took a nice long bath and relaxed. My head hurt from arguing with Swayer and | was sick of his attitude. He was so egotistical and vain that | just wanted to punch him in the face. | probably will another day...| sighed after changing and laid down on my bed. | had to sadly admit, he was attractive. Scratch that, he wasnt attractive, he was very attractive. Those brown eyes and soft hair could lure in a girl from miles away, but not me.| finally fell asleep, the last thought being of Swayer's stupid face...The next day.
At school,
"Sorry!"A girl bumped into me and made me slam my finger into the locker door. Ouch.Before | could turn around and say that it was alright, she stopped me."Pl-please don't hurt me," she begged with her hands across her face.| raised an eyebrow. "Why would | hurt you?"She peeked out from underneath her arms and looked at me with wary eyes. "Well, because th-that's what you do. Fight people."How the hell did she know | fought?So | asked her. "What do you mean?""The video, about you, it's all over YouTube."| frowned and looked around. Many people had begun to form a circle around me and the girl.What video? | glared at some of the people videotaping and they quickly shoved their phones back into their pockets."Look, | don't know what you're talking about, but | don't beat people up.""Are you sure?" She said| scoffed. "Yeah, never been surer. Why?"
"Well, the video is of you beating up a big guy at a gym. And another of you yelling at...Swayer."| finally remembered the little inconvenient argument last night. There were gasps from the crowd as they hurriedly tapped on their phones to look up the video."Here it is!" One guy shouted and a form of people circled around his phone.| pushed past a few and stood next to the guy. On his phone, there was a shaky video playing. And what | saw made me cringe.It was me.Beating up the guy at the gym. And then it switched...To me arguing with Ryder.
Sawyer's POV| can't believe she had the nerve to talk like that to me. Who does she think she is? Shoving me in the chest and telling me what to do.| decided to ditch school today and go work out instead. The gym was where | could do anything, and felt like | could do anything.Except Penelope. My mind said.| ignored my thought and pushed into the doors. | immediately looked around to make sure that Penelope wasn't here.Am | scared of her? No. Not me.After yesterday, | had thought about what she had said. Yeah, | am a cocky dude, but that's just who | am. But the fact that she called me pathetic... | couldn't let her get away with this one.No one, and | mean no one, talks to me that way. If you do, then you're asking for a death wish.But Penelope...| don't know what came over me. Maybe it was her closeness, or maybe it was her intimidation. | don't know. But all | can know is that it will never ever happen again.| pushed past the doors and made my way to the back of the gym. She had used my punching back yesterday. Mine. There was definitely hell to pay.| was pulling off my shirt when the voice of Trey Bozzili popped up next to me."Hey bro, haven't seen you in a while,' hesaid.
| slapped his back and pulled him in for a hug. "Hey Trey! Where've you been?""Back in Italy, fighting off the burglars, youknow?"
"That's great man, how's Jenna?"His face suddenly turned sad and he shrugged. "I don't Know, man. | proposed to her, but | guess she freaked and ran off."| patted his back. "It's okay bro, she doesn't deserve a man like you."We laughed for a while until Trey pulled out his phone. "I didn't know you had a girl of your own, Swayer."| frowned and looked over to what he was doing. "What do you mean?"He pointed to a video playing out on his screen. "This."Swayer's POV| watched in horrifying embarrassment as the video played out. Penelope had shoved me back and pointed her fist in my chest and was now arguing with me. | could hear every word.I am embarrassed but I can't say if I am angry at her or on the video."What the hell?" | turned back to the punching bag and slammed my fist against it. "Who posted that?"He shrugged. "| dunno man, but she seems scary. But she's hot. Nice job, bro."No, no, no, nice job was definitely not it. | bet everyone at school had seen it. Now they know that there is someone out there that can talk to me that way. Girls throw themselves on me not yell at me or tell me what to do or what not!"My reputation is at stake, Trey! Shit."| grabbed my things, not bothering to train today, and walked back to the doors."Sorry T, I'll see you later!" | yelled back at him."Where you going?"&nbs
Penelope's POVAfter taking a shower, brushing my hair, and then applying on some mascara and eyeliner, | stood in front of my closet, just staring.The weather said it would be chilly, what a surprise, so | picked out a dark maroon colored shirt with a black leather jacket. | pulled on some light jeans and vans, thenwent to grab my phone.| looked to see there was a message froman unknown number.Unknown: hey sweetie, you ready for tonight? ;) - Swayer| wondered how the heck he got my number.Penelope: how'd you get this number??Swayer: | have my ways...Penelope: ok? And yeah, I'm pumped!Swayer: alright then babe, see you in a few ')| chuckled and slid the phone into my back pocket. | checked the time and it read 6:47. Crap, | had to get there soon.Running down the stairs, | came to a halt w
Swayer's POV| walked to the center of the mat and faced my opponent. He towered a good half foot over me, but | Knew | couldn't let his height intimidate me. Before the referee started the fight, | glanced around with my eyes to scan out the room for Penelope.| instantly saw her right in the second row, her eyes locked onto mine and | felt a rush of adrenaline in me. She smiled and cheered out, and | smiled to myself and faced the beast.The bell rung and | shifted from foot to foot, holding my hands in front of my face. The crowd went silent and all | could hear the breaths of my opponent and me.He threw the first punch but | ducked right before and swung to his stomach. He grunted but quickly repositioned. We kept throwing punches to each other, and once| knocked his jaw sideways.Without me knowing, he lunged and tackled me to the floor. His body weight pinning me down as he threw punches repeat
"Ingrid Thatcher. Thank you so much for saving me. Really, it means the world tome." She said.| smiled and nodded. "You're welcome. | wouldn't let some lunatic get away without a fight.""Where did you learn how to?" she asked."In California, my old home. My dad taught me part time and | got really interested. If you want you can come by and-"She shook her head furiously. "Oh no, | mean, | can't do that. | hate fighting, especially watching it. That's why it took me a while to build up the courage to smack the guy in the head with your sandwich..." she looked down at the smashed lunch in the plastic bag she was carrying. "Sorry about your sandwich." She apologized.| waved it off. "No problem. Your life was more important anyways. Don't worry about it."She thanked me and her cellphone rang. Ingrid looked at the caller, listened to the other end, and told me that she had to get
Swayer's POVMonica stood, picked up her purse, and shook her head at me. "You should really try and get to know her better, Swayer. Maybe you'll actually realize that you like her soon enough. | dont want you growing up and looking back at your life and remembering all the girls you've slept with and thrown away. Maybe she's the one."| laughed my ass off at this one because no way in hell would Penelope ever marry me or | marry her. We weren't soul mates, we weren't even dating for that matter and Monica was already trying to plan weddings."Well, | have to go. But think about it." she came back over and kissed me lightly before walking out of my room.Why was she telling me this, and more importantly, what is Penelope doing to me?Penelope's POVA few weeks passed without me seeing Swayer. | began to worry but thought nothing of it. He did live next to me, maybe I could go check up on him.&n
Penelope's POV| looked around, astounded by the amount of flowers covering the meadow-like clearing. | looked over Swayer's shoulder and saw a crystal clear pond."Wow." | whispered and Swayer turned around to glance at me with a grin on hisface.The dirt road stopped at the edge of the pond. Swayer and | hopped off and | speedily walked to the pond.| stopped when | saw small twinkling lights hovering over the water. Fireflies.| reached out to grab one and lost my footing, but Swayer's arms pulled me back before | fell face first into the water.My body was turned back towards him and my chest was pressed up against his. Our breathing was shallow and my nose was mere inches away from his. | looked into his deep brown eyes and felt a tug towards his lips.| looked away and gently pulled myself out of his arms, immediately blushing."How did you fin
Penelope's POV"It's complicated Swayer.""Bullshit."| pulled his hand slowly away from my face and he stood there with a confused expression."| need to get going." I said.He followed me out without a word until | came to the doors."How'd you get here?" he asked.| pointed to my mom's white Mercedes. It's sometimes nice when your mom's a lawyer, though is she ever found out about my deeper past and secrets back in California, she would kill me."Just think about it Penelope." Swayer called from the doorway of the gym when | was loading into the driver's seat."Think about it."Swayer's POV| don't understand why Penelope doesn't want to fight. She said something about 'not being able to tell me' or 'it's complicated', but | had an itch to find out why.The next morning | went for a jog to the gym ins
After a while.Penelope's POVSo here | was, massaging Swayer's shoulder while he sat on the couch with a bowl of cheetoh puffs. | was currently standing behind the couch, wishing | could take a break from this pretty exhausting work."Catch." Swayer said and before | could comprehend what was happening he threw a cheetoh puff in my face. It whacked me in the forehead and | stopped my hands and just stood there with my eyes closed and mouth in a straight line. | breathed in slowly and calmed myself from his laughter. Oh how | wanted to suddenly massage his neck. With my hands. Very, very, tightly."You have a little cheese right there..." Swayer pointed to my forehead and chuckled lightly."You won't be laughing when | strangle you to death in your sleep." | said."Here." He sat up from the couch and leaned over the back. His fingers slowly brushed off the cheese dust from my forehead and
Swayer's POVWhen we got there, there were five guys standing with cameras and cards, trying to get Penelope to attend another match. | grabbed the cards and ushered her inside,shutting the door."Oh my gosh, | won." She finally said and chuckled, pulling her into another hug."Yeah you did! And by the way, you stink."She hit my arm playfully. "Now you knowhow you smelled like that first match."We laughed and after she pulled on her jacket, we rode our bikes to a diner nearby. While we tried to get out of the arena, many people and reporters took pictures and handed me cards that | stuffed into the pockets with the rest.We got a seat in the back corner of one ofmy favorite diners in this city."This place has the best onion rings you'll ever taste." | said as the waitress placed a small basket of onion rings down
After a while.Penelope's POVSo here | was, massaging Swayer's shoulder while he sat on the couch with a bowl of cheetoh puffs. | was currently standing behind the couch, wishing | could take a break from this pretty exhausting work."Catch." Swayer said and before | could comprehend what was happening he threw a cheetoh puff in my face. It whacked me in the forehead and | stopped my hands and just stood there with my eyes closed and mouth in a straight line. | breathed in slowly and calmed myself from his laughter. Oh how | wanted to suddenly massage his neck. With my hands. Very, very, tightly."You have a little cheese right there..." Swayer pointed to my forehead and chuckled lightly."You won't be laughing when | strangle you to death in your sleep." | said."Here." He sat up from the couch and leaned over the back. His fingers slowly brushed off the cheese dust from my forehead and
Penelope's POV"It's complicated Swayer.""Bullshit."| pulled his hand slowly away from my face and he stood there with a confused expression."| need to get going." I said.He followed me out without a word until | came to the doors."How'd you get here?" he asked.| pointed to my mom's white Mercedes. It's sometimes nice when your mom's a lawyer, though is she ever found out about my deeper past and secrets back in California, she would kill me."Just think about it Penelope." Swayer called from the doorway of the gym when | was loading into the driver's seat."Think about it."Swayer's POV| don't understand why Penelope doesn't want to fight. She said something about 'not being able to tell me' or 'it's complicated', but | had an itch to find out why.The next morning | went for a jog to the gym ins
Penelope's POV| looked around, astounded by the amount of flowers covering the meadow-like clearing. | looked over Swayer's shoulder and saw a crystal clear pond."Wow." | whispered and Swayer turned around to glance at me with a grin on hisface.The dirt road stopped at the edge of the pond. Swayer and | hopped off and | speedily walked to the pond.| stopped when | saw small twinkling lights hovering over the water. Fireflies.| reached out to grab one and lost my footing, but Swayer's arms pulled me back before | fell face first into the water.My body was turned back towards him and my chest was pressed up against his. Our breathing was shallow and my nose was mere inches away from his. | looked into his deep brown eyes and felt a tug towards his lips.| looked away and gently pulled myself out of his arms, immediately blushing."How did you fin
Swayer's POVMonica stood, picked up her purse, and shook her head at me. "You should really try and get to know her better, Swayer. Maybe you'll actually realize that you like her soon enough. | dont want you growing up and looking back at your life and remembering all the girls you've slept with and thrown away. Maybe she's the one."| laughed my ass off at this one because no way in hell would Penelope ever marry me or | marry her. We weren't soul mates, we weren't even dating for that matter and Monica was already trying to plan weddings."Well, | have to go. But think about it." she came back over and kissed me lightly before walking out of my room.Why was she telling me this, and more importantly, what is Penelope doing to me?Penelope's POVA few weeks passed without me seeing Swayer. | began to worry but thought nothing of it. He did live next to me, maybe I could go check up on him.&n
"Ingrid Thatcher. Thank you so much for saving me. Really, it means the world tome." She said.| smiled and nodded. "You're welcome. | wouldn't let some lunatic get away without a fight.""Where did you learn how to?" she asked."In California, my old home. My dad taught me part time and | got really interested. If you want you can come by and-"She shook her head furiously. "Oh no, | mean, | can't do that. | hate fighting, especially watching it. That's why it took me a while to build up the courage to smack the guy in the head with your sandwich..." she looked down at the smashed lunch in the plastic bag she was carrying. "Sorry about your sandwich." She apologized.| waved it off. "No problem. Your life was more important anyways. Don't worry about it."She thanked me and her cellphone rang. Ingrid looked at the caller, listened to the other end, and told me that she had to get
Swayer's POV| walked to the center of the mat and faced my opponent. He towered a good half foot over me, but | Knew | couldn't let his height intimidate me. Before the referee started the fight, | glanced around with my eyes to scan out the room for Penelope.| instantly saw her right in the second row, her eyes locked onto mine and | felt a rush of adrenaline in me. She smiled and cheered out, and | smiled to myself and faced the beast.The bell rung and | shifted from foot to foot, holding my hands in front of my face. The crowd went silent and all | could hear the breaths of my opponent and me.He threw the first punch but | ducked right before and swung to his stomach. He grunted but quickly repositioned. We kept throwing punches to each other, and once| knocked his jaw sideways.Without me knowing, he lunged and tackled me to the floor. His body weight pinning me down as he threw punches repeat
Penelope's POVAfter taking a shower, brushing my hair, and then applying on some mascara and eyeliner, | stood in front of my closet, just staring.The weather said it would be chilly, what a surprise, so | picked out a dark maroon colored shirt with a black leather jacket. | pulled on some light jeans and vans, thenwent to grab my phone.| looked to see there was a message froman unknown number.Unknown: hey sweetie, you ready for tonight? ;) - Swayer| wondered how the heck he got my number.Penelope: how'd you get this number??Swayer: | have my ways...Penelope: ok? And yeah, I'm pumped!Swayer: alright then babe, see you in a few ')| chuckled and slid the phone into my back pocket. | checked the time and it read 6:47. Crap, | had to get there soon.Running down the stairs, | came to a halt w
Swayer's POV| watched in horrifying embarrassment as the video played out. Penelope had shoved me back and pointed her fist in my chest and was now arguing with me. | could hear every word.I am embarrassed but I can't say if I am angry at her or on the video."What the hell?" | turned back to the punching bag and slammed my fist against it. "Who posted that?"He shrugged. "| dunno man, but she seems scary. But she's hot. Nice job, bro."No, no, no, nice job was definitely not it. | bet everyone at school had seen it. Now they know that there is someone out there that can talk to me that way. Girls throw themselves on me not yell at me or tell me what to do or what not!"My reputation is at stake, Trey! Shit."| grabbed my things, not bothering to train today, and walked back to the doors."Sorry T, I'll see you later!" | yelled back at him."Where you going?"&nbs