Panchu! (Chapter Two)

By luck, Michael and I were in the homeroom class and we had multiple classes together. I was pretty happy, I'd have someone I knew in my classes. We chose our seats when we walked into homeroom, the back near the window, he sat to the right of me, I was about to ask about Meghan, but it seems as if he read my mind, because he immediately started talking about her. "So, I bet you're wondering about Meghan, right? Well, you've made friends with the right person, Phil. Meghan's father used to be a professional boxer, but he's retired now. I'm pretty sure Meghan loves boxing, she's always using boxing moves when she fights, and I see her practicing it with her father in their backyard...Ah, pretend you didn't hear the backyard thing." Wait, was Micheal a stalker? I looked at him, narrowing my eyes a bit, great, my new best friend was a stalker. "Anyway! If you want to to get close to her, I recommend joining the boxing club. That's what I'm going to do, wanna do it with me?" I wasn't planning on joining a club, I was actually just planning on being able to go home right after the last class ends, but instead of declining, I found myself nodding, well, it looks like I can't go back now. "Sure, why not." I must really want this girl's affection or I wouldn't be agreeing to sign away my freedom of being able to go home early. Micheal smiled at me, "Cool! Let's go sign up after school!" The rest of the students in homeroom flooded into the classroom when the bell rang. The teacher started explaining everything about how the school year was going to work, what the schedule was like, and other stuff like that. I made sure to pay attention since I didn't want to get lost halfway through the school day. When the class ended, Micheal and I said our goodbyes before heading off to our first class of the day. The entire day was pretty uneventful until the last class period, I had Micheal in my class, along with Meghan, when I saw her sitting with the other girls, that emotionless girl was gone and instead there was a beautiful girl smiling brightly, happiness was clear on her face. It was surprising how much she could change in only a few hours. She noticed my stare and looked at me for a moment before going back to talk to her friends. She noticed me, good to know I wasn't invisible to her. Yeah, I know this may be fast, but I think I have a huge crush on her and I'm not even sure why!

The rest of class was boring, we were just given a syllabus and the teacher was explaining that we needed to give it to our parents to sign and stuff. Boring.
When class ended, Michael and I left the classroom and we walked outside the school, we had no use for the lockers they assigned us, we were both just going to hold our stuff in our bags, it was easier to do than repeatedly go from class to locker on every break. "C'mon, let's go find the boxing club building, it has to be somewhere on school grounds!" His voice was filled with enthusiasm, but I wasn't even sure he was enthusiastic about, getting closer to Meghan, or boxing, probably the first one.
We found the boxing club room after about ten minutes of walking around, the sound of leather beating leather could be heard from the outside. I gulped, I definitely didn't want to get hit by whoever's punches those were. Michael opened the door and we walked inside, the person who was punching the sandbag was none other than the coach himself and a bunch of other guys stationed at other sandbags, heck, two of them were beating the blood out of each other in the ring. He had a whistle around his neck, he was super stocky, when he heard us enter he stopped punching the sand bag and walked over to us. "Hey, guys, you here to sign up for boxing?" Michael nodded, he had a large smile on his face, "Yessir! I'm Michael and I want to be a great boxer! I'll be in your care!" The coach seemed content with his answer and then looked over me me. I knew I had to answer or he'd probably think I was a chicken, which I kind of was, but I was going to keep that a secret. "Yeah, the same as him, and I'm Phil." Coach smiled, "Well, I'm Coach Duram, if you boys are going to join my boxing club, I gotta know you're weight class. Micheal step on the scale over there while I get the paperwork, and Phil, wait until I finish with him." Coach Duram went to his office to get the sign up sheet, while Michael was standing on the scale, when the coach walked back out, he leaned over Michael's shoulder to see his weight, "You're about 124 pounds, I guess you're a featherweight. Here," Coach handed him a paper, "This is the signup sheet. I'll need you to sign these if you want to join." He looked over at me, "Phil, get up here." I obeyed and got onto the scale, "Another featherweight.. Boys these days aren't eating enough. Here, take the sign up sheet." I stepped off the scale and took the paper, grabbing a pen from the desk, I signed my name and then handed it to the coach. "Well, now that you two are official members of the boxing club, I want to see both of you fight." Each other!? Michael and I looked at each other. "Don't worry, I won't make you two fight..Yet. You can fight one of the other members. Ryan!" He called over to a guy who was hitting a sandbag. "We have two new featherweights joining us right here. I'll need you and Darren to spar them. You get to pick who you want to spar." Ryan looked at Michael and then me, before pointing at Michael, "Get some equipment from the bucket and meet me in the ring." He then looked over at me. "I wish you luck with Darren buddy." Ryan walked off and went to the ring, when I looked over in the direction of the bucket, Michael had already put on the helmet and gloves, he was ready. He walked over to the ring and climbed in, he looked a bit frightful, but I knew he'd be able to do it. I went over to the bucket and took out a pair of gloves, there weren't any helmets left, but it seemed as no one else had helmets on except a few people. It wouldn't be too bad if I went without a helmet. I put on the gloves and then leaned against the wall to watch. They circled around each other and then Michael charged at Ryan, throwing a punch, which was quickly counter with a punch to the stomach, Michael kept throwing punches, a couple hit, a couple were blocked, and a couple were countered. The sound of them hitting each other filled the room. Michael was getting beat up pretty bad, his face was bleeding now, even with the helmet, as was Ryan's but not nearly as bad as Michael. "Stop. I've seen enough, Michael, you have definite potential, I'm looking forward to your progress. Ryan, good job as well. Now, Darren and Phil get in the ring." A guy climbed into the ring, before me, he looked intimidating, but I didn't let it bother me, I was going to beat this guy!

What's going to happen next? Find out next time on Panchu!