Chapter 22: Awh... Family is Nice.

  If it was up to Zoey, she would've sent out at least 5 challenges on her way back home after the tournament. Once the Coach and everyone else saw who she wanted to fight, they immediately called her crazy and stopped her at once. Coach made a deal with her in hopes to stop her from fighting more people than he thought she could handle. If she could defeat two of the fighters, she wanted to challenge then he would allow her to challenge one more if she didn't take too much damage. And from there, if she could defeat those 3 challengers, she would get the chance to fight one more if she wasn't beaten to shit yet. He said he was concerned for her health and by having so many fights in such a short time period, she'd be sapped of all her strength and have all of her moves analyzed by her opponents in the tournament.

  So, if everything went perfectly right, Zoey would fight against 7 fighters before next Monday arrives. In the meantime, she would have to continue her daily training, track practice at school, keeping up with her grades, demon hunting with Lindsay and Alexander, increasing her teaching skill somehow, and socializing with her new friends! Zoey's heart was telling her to ignore and throw away anything unrelated to fighting and increasing her skills with the Box but her brain was telling her otherwise. It was really a lot to deal with at once considering she needs to learn how to drive sometime soon as well since she's 17.

  Zoey suddenly realized just how hectic her life has become after the Box arrived. Without it, she would only have to worry about studying and that would be it basically. Unless she somehow came across some people to befriend being the loser she was. Well, she's still a fucking loser but she's changing for the better! Actually, maybe not for the better because she was becoming a little bit crazy with the Box. But then again, who isn't a little crazy in this world? Anyone could look crazy in someone else's perspective.

'That makes me feel a little bit better about losing my mind to violence.' Zoey was dropped off at her house by the Coach.

  Neither her mom or dad acted any differently from how they usually did. Suddenly Zoey realized something. She was probably on live tv somewhere beating up two guys. There was no way that someone from her school hasn't seen her fighting! What should she do if someone brought it up around Katlyn and Callie?! Would they think she was a freak or a weirdo? How normal is it for a girl to be interested in boxing? Or fighting against guys in official fighting tournaments? Is it possible that they stop being friends with her over that? Zoey didn't know! Should she hide this side of herself from the people around her?

"Mom. Dad." Zoey called out to them before going upstairs to her room.

"Hmm?" Her step-dad looked up from his laptop at her.

"Yes?" Her mom took her attention off of the broccoli she was dicing.

"I have something to show you." Zoey pulled out her phone and searched for the YFTL fights on Beetube.

  Zoey went over to the couch with her father and gestured for her mom to sit on the side of her. She showed them both of her matches along with a few others from the YFTL. It wouldn't make sense to hide something like this from her parents or anyone else. This was something she enjoyed doing with all her heart. If she had to hide something as important as this from the people she loved and cared about, then what could she share with them? Living her life in such an annoying way would drive her crazy. And not the type of crazy that she is already becoming.

"I knew you were taking boxing lessons but I didn't think you'd be doing something like this." Zoey could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Is this how you got this new phone?" Her mother asked.

"Sure." Zoey just agreed, knowing that convincing her mother that she was actually hunting demons would be an impossible task without shoving a demon in her face and having it do demon shit.

"Why didn't you tell us about this Zoey? We could've come out to support you." Bruce asked.

"I wasn't sure if you would let me keep going to boxing classes when I was doing stuff like this..." This was mostly aimed at her mom. Her dad was usually cool with anything she did.

"Well, do you like fighting and stuff?" He asked.

  Zoey really loved her dad for how simple and straight to the point he was.

"Yes, I do. I want to keep going to boxing classes and keep fighting." She answered, her eyes unconsciously drawn to her mother's face.

  She couldn't tell what her mother thought about it but knew if she disagreed in anyway, it would only hurt their strained relationship more.

"Then that's fine with me. I don't like how you're fighting against boys and the fact that you could get hurt but as long as it makes you happy, I'm happy." Bruce rubbed her back.

"Thanks, Dad..." Zoey felt a tear threatening to drop from her eye.

"Fine! I'm not okay with my little girl fighting at all. I just thought those boxing lessons were something for you to learn how to defend yourself from any perverts. But since it means so much to you, I guess I won't stop you." Alicia shrugged.

"Really, mom?!" Zoey's joy caused even more tears to come out.

"Yes baby... But! If I find out that you're failing in school, that will be the end of your fighting career!"

"I'll go do my homework right now!" Zoey rushed to her room to get started.

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"I really don't want to see my baby getting hurt..." Alicia pressed her hand against her forehead as she laid on Bruce's lap.

"I know honey. But we both saw that look on her face." Bruce moved his laptop so that Alicia was more comfortable on his lap.

"It was because of that look I had to agree... Because of that fight we had, I couldn't have her start hating me. I don't think I could keep myself from crying if Zoey hated me. Am I terrible mother, Bruce? I'm trying my hardest but I don't think anything is working." Alicia felt that her children were growing more distant from her as time went on.

"Of course, you're not a bad mother." He kissed her forehead. "A bad mother wouldn't be trying as hard as you are to make sure that your children love you and are safe."

"What should I do? What if Everett becomes interested in boxing too and wants to fight people? How do I keep my babies safe and well?"

"Alicia. I know this might be hard to hear but you can't protect them forever. Zoey's well on her way to becoming a young woman. She's only got another year until she's 18 and it looks like she already knows what she wants to do as a career. Everett says he wants to become a professional streamer and gamer. He still has a couple years to decide if he wants to be something else but I think he's going to stay on that path. The only thing we can do for them is support them and their interests while making sure that they are safe and aren't doing anything wrong." He told her.

"I love you Bruce... Thanks for being with me and helping me with the kids for all these years even though you never had too." Alicia lifted her head up and kissed him on the lips.

"I love you too. And Zoey and Everett are pretty cool kids so, I don't mind." He smiled.

"You know, I never really knew much about the stuff they were interested in... After they reached a certain age, they just stopped telling me things. When I was a kid, I wouldn't shut up around my mom. I told her everything and anything all the time."

"Sounds like you got plenty of things to talk to them about then. Ask them everything you want to know."

"But what if they don't tell me? What if they don't want to tell me?"

"Why wouldn't they want to tell their mother what their interests are? What they want to do when they grow up? If they don't tell you, who would they tell?" He reasoned.

"I guess that makes sense. Alright, I'll go have a talk with Everett. I'll talk with Zoey later." Alicia saw something on Bruce's laptop once she lifted up. "What were you doing before Zoey came in?"

"Ah, during our talk, I decided to place some orders for tickets to her matches. Before that, I was just reading some comics."

"How much do they cost?"

"The cheapest seats cost 70 dollars while the cage side seats cost 500 dollars. But it does say that immediate family of the fighters can get free seats while extended family gets a 30% discount on tickets."

"When is her next fight?"

"Tomorrow it looks like. Around 7 pm against two boys called Tyler Warden and Mike Douglas at their gyms."

"I don't think I could handle going to her fight alone." Alicia admitted.

"Why don't you take Everett with you? I'm sure he would be interested in seeing it."

"I'll ask when I go up to his room but still... What am I supposed to do if she loses and gets hurt?"

"Don't panic. Losing is part of fighting. Just make sure to be there for her and cheer her on. Even if she loses, support and motivate her to train even harder for next time." Bruce advised.

"I don't want her to get hurt again!"

"Alicia, unless you plan to forbid her from fighting. You'll need to be supportive for her." He explained.

"You're right. You're right... I know. You're always right... I'll be strong for my children." She took a deep breath and then walked into the kitchen, quickly remembering to make sure the food doesn't burn.

"Don't worry honey! I'm here with you every step of the way." Bruce told her before she entered the kitchen.