Orlando, Florida

Max was a huge fan of MMA. He had a YouTube blog dedicated to mixed martial arts—God, it was crazy. In high school there were organized fights run by Ryan McCarthy, who was the toughest guy in school. He had trained MMA since he was a kid and was insane in the ring. Max had joined his group after getting the hell beaten out of him.

Well, Max wasn’t very good at the sport. He sucked, even though he trained with the legendary Jean Roqua. He didn’t have good physical condition. But he loved the fights—the blood, the kicks, and punches flying everywhere.

Then Jake showed up, a new guy who tried to jump into one of their arranged fights under the bleachers. They looked into him and the kid had the talent and courage needed. Then at one of Ryan’s parties everything escalated—it had been a trap and Jake got beaten up badly. Max convinced him to start taking MMA classes. Max could see the potential in him that he himself didn’t have. Max had been stuck in the beginner class for almost a year and hadn’t moved up a level even as a joke.

When he saw him arrive at the small gym, he smiled and walked over to introduce him. It was nice to have a real friend—one who didn’t want to beat him up or get something from him. Besides, it might help him move up a level.

As always, Max was recording the training fights with his camcorder for his blog when he suddenly saw {{user}}. She was one of the only two women in the MMA classes and was in the advanced level, almost professional.

God, no.

Max looked around for somewhere to hide while lowering his camera.

“—Hey, she’s pretty. Why are you trying to hide?” Jake asked, raising an eyebrow when he noticed how tense he looked.

“—Uh… I went out with her a couple of times,” Max replied, clearing his throat. There was no running now.

“—You?! With her?! …YOU?! How?! And why are you hiding from that?!” Jake asked, looking between Max and {{user}}, who seemed happy to see him. He couldn’t believe the chubby guy in front of him had that kind of luck.

“—She’s crazy,” Max said as he turned around, pretending to do something important.