She realized that even if the video was meant to humiliate her, it had given Elena a chance to make the club's expectations impossible to mistake. After the session, Tessa asked if it bothered her that people thought she'd back down. "Of course it does," Nia said. But I'd rather be the person who stopped than the person who kept swinging after coach said no. Tessa smiled faintly.
That's a very old person answer. Maybe I learned it from an old person. They laughed. For a few minutes, the gym felt normal again. Then Nia heard Avery asking Brooke how many views the clip had received, and she understood that normal would have to be defended in smaller ways than she expected.
On Sunday, Denise found Nia cleaning her gloves at the kitchen table. She'd already wiped them once. Now she was going over the seams with a dry cloth, pulling a little too hard at the leather near the thumb. Denise set down her mug. Those gloves didn't spread a rumor, she said.
"I know." Then stopped trying to scrub one out of them. Nia rested the glove on the table. The apartment was quiet except for a neighbor's vacuum on the floor above. Through the window, she could see rain forming tiny dark spots on the sidewalk. Denise sat without asking another question.
That was often the only way Nia could find the right words. Sometimes I think I should withdraw, Nia said at last. From Riverside. Not because I can't fight, because every time I walk into the gym, it feels like I'm asking permission to be there. Denise took that seriously.
She didn't tell her daughter to prove everybody wrong or to ignore people who were hurting her. She asked whether training at Forge Street still felt safe. Nia said Elena had stepped in when a sparring partner broke the rules. She said the coaches watched the ring carefully and treated equipment checks as a real responsibility. Denise listened before answering.
If any part of this turns unsafe, we talked to your coach and the organizers. She said, "You don't owe anybody a fight, but if you're thinking of leaving because a group of kids has decided you're not welcome, I want you to be sure that's your decision and not theirs." Nia turned the glove in her hands. I applied for that spot because I wanted to compete. I did the evaluation. I was ready before any of this happened.
Then those facts are still true. The following day, she asked Elena for 5 minutes after practice. They stood near the ring while the last athletes put away equipment. Nia told her she wanted to stay in the event, but she also wanted to know precisely how the unresolved record would affect her eligibility. Elena showed her Paula's latest email.
The transfer was still being processed, and official verification would be required before the bout could proceed. There was no promise that a glitch could be ignored. Nia appreciated hearing the limitations stated so plainly. If it doesn't clear, I don't fight, Nia said. Correct.
And if it does clear, you fight only if the rest of the checks pass. Same as everybody. Good. Elena studied her face. You sound relieved.
I am. I don't want a special exception. That's what they're saying you gave me. I know what they're saying. I also know what I evaluated.
Elena lowered her voice. You don't need to convince a phone screen. You need to be honest with the officials and be ready for the bell. Nia stayed an extra round to to work on balance. Not because punishment awaited if she stopped, but because she had decided the opportunity still belonged to her.
She moved left and right across the mat, touching an imaginary target, checking that she could finish each combination without falling forward. Her breathing evened out. The room emptied around her. By the doors, Avery was waiting for Kelsey and Brooke. She had heard Elena confirm that Nia's name remained on the entry list.
Kelsey asked why she looked so upset. Avery answered too quietly for Nia to hear. Brooke glanced toward the ring, lifted her phone, then thought better of filming. Nia packed her equipment into the blue duffel, and zipped the side compartment around the old folder. The numbers on the incomplete page still hadn't changed.
She was going to the tournament anyway, provided the officials could verify what she had already submitted. For the first time all week, she could name what mattered and what didn't. The message on somebody else's phone wasn't the bout. The next decision was hers. The first time Avery asked Elena for a round with Nia.
She made it sound like a favor. The Tuesday evening class had finished its defensive drills and the older fighters were gathering their water bottles along the ropes. Avery stood next to the ring with both gloves hanging against her thighs, watching Nia put away a pair of borrowed focus mitts. coach. She needs someone who's actually going to make her work. Avery said, "I can do that." Elena looked from Avery to Nia.
"This is a technical session. "Nobody's proving who's tougher tonight."" "That's what I mean," Avery said, smiling in a way that invited everyone nearby to agree. Nia kept rolling the mitt straps around her fingers. "She knew that smile. It had traveled across state lines without needing any paperwork.
Back in Baltimore, fighters who wanted to test a newcomer always said they were helping. She could decline, but then the next week's story would be that she had refused a simple training round. She could accept and turn it into a fight, which was precisely what Avery seemed to want. "I can work," Nia said, "as long as we're using the same rules." Elena gave them a clear assignment. Three two-minute rounds, head shots at controlled contact, body taps allowed, no loading up to impress the people outside the ropes.
She repeated the instruction with both athletes looking directly at her. Avery answered first. Nia repeated it after her. Elena appointed herself the only person allowed to stop the round and told the remaining athletes to move off the apron. Kelsey looked annoyed that there would be no audience packed against the ropes.
Brooke turned her phone face down after Elena told her recording was not permitted during training. Two younger boxers stayed to watch from the benches. That was audience enough to change the temperature of the room. Avery stepped forward immediately when the first round began. She was quick and the timing on her lead jab had clearly been built through hundreds of repetitions.
Nia took the information seriously. She edged outside the lead foot, parried without striking back, and touched Avery's shoulder with a light jab when the opening appeared. Avery answered with another faster jab and a move to the body that brought a satisfied nod from Elena. For a minute, they worked as they were supposed to. Then Avery added an extra step after a missed right hand, closing distance until her shoulder pressed against Nia's chest.
It wasn't an illegal move by itself. What bothered Nia was the force behind it and the look Avery gave her while they separated. Avery wasn't just testing the range. She was trying to make a quiet exchange feel personal. Nia stepped to her right and returned to the center.
She heard one of the younger boxers whisper that she'd given up ground. She let the whisper pass. Giving up two feet of canvas was not giving up the round. Elena called time and asked both fighters what they had noticed. Avery said Nia kept moving away.