Survival Of The Fittest

((Continued from What's in the Past is History))

The most noticable thing about the abnormally small parking lot of Shooters was that it was jam-packed with cars. Motorcycles and bicycles were parked up on the sidewalk of the building and on the side of the street for want of a better parking place and the other vehicles were packed into the spaces like sardines. It made Kallie Majors cringe just a little bit as she pulled into the stuffed parking lot. From the looks of it, traffic was even overflowing into other parking lots nearby, but the blonde-headed girl had no desire to park too far away and have to hoof it into the grimey-looking establishment. It didn't really look like it was in the safest of neighborhoods.

It took a few minutes, but Kallie finally managed to find a spot, near the very back of the Shooters parking lot, that was empty. On the bright side, she wouldn't have to worry all that much about the pretty little convertible her father had bought her as an early graduation present. At least it was sitting near the road, where if somebody got the bright idea that they were going to key it, slash the tires, or, God forbid, try to steal it, it would be within viewing distance of everybody driving down the street. She sighed as she cranked the shifter up into park and killed the engine of the car.

She definitely looked out of place here. She didn't even have to walk into the building to gather that much. The group of people loitering right outside the doorway confirmed Kallie's suspicions that "her type" wasn't exactly a common sight around here. The goth kids standing outside could best be described as... well, emo. They were standing there, casually taking a drag of their cigarettes every once in a while, and she could only spectate on what they were probably talking about. They were the kind of kids who stood out like a sore thumb in Southridge, but here, they seemed to fit right in.

Kallie, on the other hand, was definitely standing out like a sore thumb in this grunge pit. The tight-fitting white baby-doll tee that exposed just a tiny bit of her midriff and the holey and faded blue jeans that fit like a glove made her seem out of place among the rest of the loiterers, who were clad in all black. She reflexively grabbed the jacket out of the passenger seat of her car before heading up to the door. Part of her was chastising herself for even coming down here, a place like Shooters just wasn't quite her cup of tea. Kallie was still getting used to the "quaintness" of Highland Beach, but this was something she just couldn't bring herself to divulge in. This was the first time she'd ever been in the building, actually.

"S'cuse me," she muttered as she pushed past the group of kids surrounding the door, completely ignoring the fact that they were practically staring her down as she pushed through -- mostly because she didn't care.

The interior of Shooters wasn't all that impressive. Then again, she wasn't all that surprised. Nobody seemed to pay much mind as she entered the door. A handful of people looked up before resuming what they were doing. It didn't take much time to figure out that Keith wasn't upstairs. Virtually nobody was upstairs. That meant that more likely than not, he was in the basement. Kallie sighed audibly before heading down the stairwell and into the pit below. Her first thought was that the whole place stunk of sweat and body odor. Her eyes scanned the crowded room for signs of Keith Jackson, but she couldn't seem to spot him.

Really, it wasn't all that much of a surprise. The place was packed to the brim with people. Keith wasn't exactly a hard person to miss, so she figured that sooner or later, she'd run into him. She slowly made her way through the large crowd until she could spot the small area that the tournament contestants were apparently fighting in. She wasn't all that interested in the fights themselves. Actually, she wasn't quite sure why she had come down here in the first place. Keith had blown off the group the other night for some family dinner or something, so when he'd told her to come down to Shooters to hang out, she had simply headed that way. She hadn't been doing anything anyway, and it was a chance to hang out with one of her friends. It seemed like a good idea... at least, at the time.

((Continued from Round Two, Fight One; Paul vs. Melissa))

What was totally apparent about the fights taking place in the basement of Shooters was that several people were undoubtedly enjoying themselves. Keith Jackson was definitely one of them. While he wasn't getting as involved in it as some spectators were, jumping around, hollering and being generally obnoxious, Keith couldn't help but enjoy the fact that people were getting their asses beaten in, and doing it for the simple fact that they were trying to win a prize.

Money. That was what it always came down to for some people, was money. Keith likely would've joined the competition himself, simply to show the rest of the guys that he could've done it, but he'd been far too late for the signups and hadn't been able to take part. As such, he figured that he at least owed it to his friends that were fighting to come down and cheer 'em on.

He also had ulterior motives for coming down, and while they were nothing too menacing, Keith couldn't help but feel like a bit of a jackass in what he was trying to do. The previous night, he'd blown off his friends' outing for a night of raiding on World of Warcraft, and although he'd made up a lie about a family dinner, he had still regretted missing out on the occasion for a completely different reason.

And as Keith got out of his seat to head to the bar, intent upon grabbing a drink to help quench the thirst that had built up from sitting in a hot, smelly, dank basement, that reason walked right through the door.

Kallie Majors was always a girl that Keith had figured was a hottie. It wasn't a shock that guys all over were trying to get a piece of her, and from what he'd heard, not a lot of 'em had been successful in their pursuits. As of late, Keith had been bored out of his mind with his potential romantic pursuits, as it all boiled down to ex-girlfriends and girls who were already otherwise occupied. But Kallie...there was a different story. How a girl who was so beautiful, and a pretty cool chick at that had managed to stay single was a mystery to him. Kallie was a part of his group of friends, and while sometimes it'd been said that chasing a girl in your clique was a bad idea, he really didn't give much of a shit.

Worst that can happen is I get shut-down, things don't work out, and I head back to my ex and get a sympathy-fuck. And then to drown out my sorrows I'll just steal a couple'a dad's beers and work on my Tier 4 shit. No biggie.

Stretching things out were too complicated, and complications weren't something Keith enjoyed dealing with. He wasn't a womanizer, nor did he really consider himself that much of a Ladies' man, but some things just kind of happened naturally. And he figured that hell, let's face it - he was a horny 19 year old guy. The shit was bound to come up sooner or later.

So when Kallie herself walked through the door, looking as hot as ever in a white t-shirt that didn't leave a lot to the imagination, Keith almost wished that for an instant, the guy behind her carrying the pitcher of beer down the stairs would topple over.

Fuck, wouldn't that be a sight to see...

Chuckling a little, Keith shook his head to himself and started to make his way over in her general direction. Due to the amount of people in the basement, it was very likely that she hadn't seen him yet, but judging by the amount of guys sitting around that were making eyes at her, Keith figured that getting over there was definitely his most prudent course of action.

In his mind, he was a little surprised that she'd actually shown up. He'd usually blown off his thoughts as nothing but wild fantasies, where the unattainable or unwanted becomes reality, but here she was, by herself (which, for her, and really most girls, was unusual) and looking around the basement subtley, obviously trying not to catch anyone's eye.

So if she wasn't here for the fights - which in itself was a bit of a joke, then there really was only one option. She'd come in acceptance of his invitation. Gently moving aside a smaller student who stood in his way with a quiet apology, he stepped over to the staircase, and gently tapped her on the shoulder. He'd somehow managed to make his way to the opposite end of the staircase from where she was looking, and at this point she was still looking around aimlessly, obviously uncomfortable and trying to figure out what to do with herself.

"Hey you, ya' showed up!"

The light tapping on her shoulder caught Kallie somewhat offguard, and she spun around to see who it was that had interrupted her search for Keith... only to find out that it was Keith himself. She grinned as she caught a glimpse of her friend, she was starting to think that he had already left when she hadn't been able to find him through the cluster of people scattered around the basement of the building. Keith almost sounded surprised that she had shown up, and she couldn't help but find it somewhat funny.

Then again, she had to ask herself why it was she had come down here in the first place, and she couldn't really seem to find an answer to that question. To hang out with her friend? Maybe. To watch the fights? Perhaps, that guy from her political science class -- Darnell -- was supposedly competing in one of them. Really, she didn't quite know what had brought her down to Shooters, but now that she was here, she might as well have some fun, right? She always seemed to have fun when she was hanging out with Keith, though the two of them were normally accompanied by a rather large group of people.

"Of course I came," Kallie replied with a laugh, "You had me at free dinner."

She smiled, and her attention momentarily turned away to the crowd of people looming over the designated "fighting circle". Kallie wasn't an ultra tall person, so she was having a bit of trouble seeing over the heads of some of the six foot plus people that were standing in front of her. She frowned slightly, and her attention turned back to Keith.

"So who's fighting?" she inquired curiously.

Kallie might have been what most people would consider stunning in terms of appearances, and she was definitely aware of and willing to use her looks to her advantage, but when it came to personality, Kallie wasn't much of a girlie-girl. It floored some people how someone "like her" could be into things like fighting and video games, but Kallie had always been a little bit different from the norm.

She wasn't a stereotypical "girl", that much was for sure. For most guys, it came as a very pleasant surprise. Because of it, she'd had many friends develop crushes on her in the past. Unfortunately, Kallie seemed to be the slowest person in the world to pick up on things like that, even if it took her no time to figure out if her friends were into someone else.

"Standing in a room full of hot, sweaty men isn't quite my idea of a nice date, K.J.," she commented sarcastically.

She was still straining to see the fight that was ensuing in the ring, but after a few more moments of trying, she finally gave up and turned her full attention to her companion. She gave a light shrug and laughed again, as though she hadn't been all that interested in the fight to begin with. She hadn't known Keith Jackson all that long, and they had actually met through a few mutual friends -- it hadn't taken Kallie all that long to make friends at Southridge, most of whom wound up being "athletic" guys, and Keith just so happened to run with the same crowd.

Despite the fact that she hadn't known him all that long, she considered him a pretty good friend, even if he came off as being a bit flakey at times. She could only attribute it to the fact that his parents were some of those oddball people who randomly decided to do family dinners or have "movie night" and were scarily insistent that the entire family be there for them. At least, that was how they came off from what Keith had said about them.

OOC: Continued from Darnell vs. Lance. I swear, this computer fucks up in the middle of a post ONE MORE TIME, I'm gonna shoot it.
IC:

Keith would not get much chance to answer Kallie's question about who the current fighters were, as almost as soon as she asked a loud roar erupted from the crowd. From where they were, Montezzo's announcement of the fight's winner would be hard to hear, and they may not have heard the exact name. However, they would soon find out as it was obvious the crowd in front of them was parting, making way for someone. After a few seconds, this person would be visible, easy to make out with his very dark skin. Sweat from the heat and two battles seemed to glisten on the flesh and muscle on the boy's frame as he walked towards them with a small limp in his right leg. At first though, Darnell didn't seem to notice either Kallie nor Keith, to look in his eyes betraying that he was lost in thought. He could only hope Lance was alright, as he could tell that the doctors were still checking him.

He really could be hurt...did I do the right thing?

There were many possible outcomes of his knockout victory; it was highly possible that he had given Lance a concussion, or maybe even brain damage. The older man had been willing to throw away all his progress in his attempts to go clean in order to have enough money to help and support his child, and even knowing that Darnell had dashed those hopes.

It's my responsibility, now.

Anyone could tell you that when Darnell Butler promised something to somebody, anybody, he did all he could to keep that promise. Everyone in attendance had heard his promise to Lance, and he would have to follow up on it. He would fight either Paul Smith or Melissa Diaz next, and he couldn't hold back against either, as much as he hated to think it.

The adrenaline rush from his fight with Lance was now starting to wear off, and now he could truly feel the pain in his knee. He had landed hard on the right knee when Lance pulled him to the ground, and now it was starting to hurt quite a bit. He could only hope he didn't mess it up too badly.

That was when he noticed Keith, however, cutting off his train of thought as he smiled at the other athlete, raising his hand in a wave to the man.

"Hey, Keith!"

Now ignoring the pain in the knee for a bit, he lowered his arm and quickly jogged over to Keith Jackson, deciding to briefly ignore the sounds of everyone else in the basement as he greeted his friend. He knew Keith from athletic events and the like, and the two got along pretty well most of the time.

"Man, I didn't know you'd be here! Should've told me," he said, unconsciously trying to avoid putting too much weight on his right leg, "the crowd hasn't been too bad, has it?"

Just before Keith could reply though, Darnell noticed Kallie out of the corner of his eye. Drawing back slightly out of surprise and blinking once, he turned his head to look at her. He wasn't afraid to admit that he had startled himself a bit with that, having no idea how he'd missed Kallie standing there when he initially approached Keith. He had spoken to her a few times since he'd first met her that one day in Political Science class, and for some reason he always felt some kind of attraction to her. It wasn't just because she was hot, though that certainly helped (especially today), but he couldn't really explain it.

"Oh. Um...hi, Kallie. Sorry, I didn't see you," he managed to say with a small stammer, "I didn't know you two were, y'know, together. So how are you?"

Gah, this is just great! With all this sweat I probably smell horrible, I didn't even know she would've wanted to come watch. I did not need this distraction...

The roar of the crowd made Kallie's two companions almost completely inaudible as one of the competitors currently in the ring went down, signifying the end of that round of the tournament. Kallie strained to see over the much taller spectators standing in front of her, but she couldn't quite make out what had happened inside the ring.

Apparently, she had missed something interesting, because the crowd was in an uproar about it. She didn't hear the phone ringing inside the back pocket of her jeans over all the commotion. Thankfully, she felt it vibrate notifying her that she had a voicemail. With a groan, Kallie pushed her way into the women's restroom nearby. There was no way she could even hear the voicemail out here.

The women's restroom in Shooters wasn't quite what someone would refer to as an elegant establishment. In fact, it could hardly even be referred to as clean. The walls were a deep, dark brown in color and probably hid all sorts of dirt and filth behind the grimey coloring, and the single lightbulb that hung overhead didn't provide much lighting either.

There were a few chairs in the "lobby" area of the bathroom where the sinks were, and further back five stalls, a plain metal in color, lined the walls. Random names, numbers, and phrases were carved into the sides of the walls, obviously from some delinquents who seemed to get joy out of damaging public property.

Overall, the place screamed grunge.

Sighing audibly, Kallie pulled the phone from her back pocket and flipped it open, examining the screen in front of her with a light frown. She was somewhat surprised to see the number listed as her missed call. After all, it wasn't a number she saw too often these days, and when she did, it usually meant something bad.

The voicemail icon flashed in the upper corner of the screen, but Kallie didn't really care what the voicemail she'd been left said. She'd known the caller for far too long, and if she had her guess about it the only phrase uttered would be either "Call me back," or "Pick up the phone". Instead, she simply pressed the call button, and after a few rings a voice answered on the other side of the call.

"Where the hell are you?" the masculine voice inquired angrily.

"What do you want, Jeff?" Kallie responded with annoyance.

"Where're mom and dad?" her brother responded.

"Well," Kallie stated simply, "If you called them once in a while, you'd know that they went out of town."

"And they left you there by yourself? I'm sure that was a mistake."

"Did you want something, or did you just call to insult me?" she shot back in frustration.

"Come get me," Jeff sighed resignedly.

"... What? Why?" she asked, a bit more curious than annoyed now.

"Look," Jeff responded flatly, "The truck broke down and I'm stuck sitting on the side of the road. I've called everybody I can think of and nobody will answer. I'm calling a tow truck now, but I need a ride back to my apartment."

"Don't you think you should be a little bit nicer about asking?" Kallie inquired smugly.

"Yeah, yeah... whatever, just get down here," Jeff groaned, "I'm on Lakewest, across the street from the church."

Kallie didn't have time to give her brother a final response before he hung up on her. She sighed resignedly as she closed her phone as well. Once upon a time, she and Jeff had been close. As they say, all good things must come to an end, and as Kallie got older, her relationship with her brother fizzled, and died.

There had been one incident in particular that had sealed her fate in terms of relations with her older sibling. She had been young and naive, barely sixteen at the time, and Jeff had just started college. Kallie pushed the memory out of her mind. It wasn't a bad memory, at least not for her, but what had happened then had virtually destroyed her relationship with her brother, and they had never quite been able to pick up the pieces.

It wasn't even worth thinking about anymore.

Kallie pushed open the doors of the grungy restroom and headed back toward the area she, Keith, and Darnell had been standing in. When she returned, though, Keith was the only one left standing there. The previous match had ended, and Darnell had vanished to prepare for his final match against Paul Smith.

Kallie frowned slightly. She had almost wanted to stick around for the match. She was enjoying it, even if she acted like she wasn't, and she was having fun hanging out with Keith, but unfortunately, she had family members to attend to. Even though her brother treated her like dirt these days, he was still family, and she felt obligated to at least give him a ride back to his apartment.

"Hey," Kallie murmured quietly, grabbing ahold of Keith's arm and turning to face him, "I'm sorry, but I've gotta split."

She really did feel bad. She'd driven down here because Keith had insisted on it, wanting to make up for blowing off a party their group of friends had gone to, and now, she was blowing him off. Well, it wasn't exactly blowing him off, seeing as the person calling was a relative and therefore at least somewhat important. Still, she felt bad for having to split so early.

"I promise we'll make it up another day," she grinned, "You still owe me dinner... and don't think I'll forget, either."

Kallie smiled at Keith and gave him a hug before heading toward the exit of Shooters.

((Continued in Monday Mornings))