“What is he talking about?” I asked Sophie. But I watched in horror as Jacob pulled on a pair of boxing gloves.

No.

“They fight till knockout,” the new announcer shouted.

“Knockout?!” I turned to Sophie. “What the hell are they thinking?”

“I mean…they’re probably thinking the varsity football team boxing each other is good entertainment. And they’re all going to make a ton of money on the bets.”

“But knockout?” I turned back to the center ring as the bell rang again. I didn’t want Jacob to get hurt. “This is really dangerous, Soph. Someone could get a concussion. Or worse.” There weren’t even any ropes to prevent them from falling off the side of the ring. If someone didn’t get seriously injured from being punched in the face, they would if they happened to fall off the side.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. But it’s cute how much you care about Jacob.”

The lights dimmed around the rest of the space as the spotlight grew around Jacob and O’Reilly.

“You both know the rules,” the announcer said. “Tap gloves.”

I watched in horror as they hit gloves. This was really happening. And what were all the rules exactly? Because if they were playing till knockout it kind of seemed like there were no rules and this was a really, really freaking bad idea.

“What if he gets hurt?” I said.

“You seriously think Jacob won’t win this fight? He has at least half a foot on O’Reilly. And look at his six-pack. And biceps.”

I was all for checking out Jacob’s body when he was lounging by the pool. Or something else not dangerous. But this? I was a little more worried about his face. And his brain. I was pretty sure even heading a soccer ball made you lose brain cells. What would getting knocked out do?

“Soph, we need to stop this.”

Jacob ducked as O’Reilly took the first swing.

“See,” Sophie said. “Jacob’s got this.”

I held my breath as the two of them moved around the ring.

Both their reflexes were fast from their time spent catching footballs on the field. They were dodging each other’s blows left and right.

Maybe they’d run out of time and the match would be called? But the new announcer had said they’d go until knockout… I’d seen boxing matches before on TV. I pictured the black eyes and blood. This was a gruesome sport. And these guys were football players, not boxers. This really seemed like a terrible idea. But I didn’t know how to stop it. Who the hell would even listen to me if I tried?