“We got a new girl,” Scarlett said excitedly. “We’re in need of more women here.”

Mel overheard that comment and looked up. She saw me standing next to Scarlett. “Hey, Adrian.” Mel got up.

“Hey . . .” I waved to her.

I didn’t know why she was there, and I didn’t know if it was good or bad, but it was something that I couldn’t quite translate for myself. It’s weird when you live in two different worlds and then they suddenly collide. You don’t necessarily think they need to be intertwined, but then it happens. I didn’t know what to think of it.

“Hey. This was supposed to be a surprise for you. But I’m kind of not surprised you ruined it by being late,” Mel said. “You didn’t reply to my texts. Were you in bed all day?”

“Yeah. Pretty much. I was catching up on a lot of sleep.”

“Get out of bed, lazybones.” She winked at me.

“Are you that girl Adrian tells me about all the time?” Scarlett cut in.

Mel turned red and looked at me. “Yuck, probably. I’m Mel.”

“Ahh, you are. This is exciting. I’m Scarlett.”

They shook hands and made the crossover of my life official. As they began chatting, Ryan entered the gym and said out loud, “Everyone find a partner!”

I looked back and forth between Scarlett and Mel and felt really uncomfortable about it. Scarlett was always my partner for class, and I didn’t want to let her down. She taught me a lot and I wanted to learn more. Mel was my girlfriend, and I felt like maybe I should be her default partner. But her showing up was really unexpected, and I didn’t know what to do so I just kind of stared at both of them, until they made a decision themselves.

“Hey, wanna be my partner?” Scarlett asked Mel.

“I’m down,” Mel replied.

My eyes widened in shock as they walked away from me. It kind of pissed me off.

I ended up finding a partner, at least. He was a new guy, a bit older than me. His name was Mitch. He had long, curly blonde hair. I’d only seen him here once or twice before, and he held up the pads very hesitantly. I was more focused on Mel and Scarlett, though. I listened in on their conversation.

“So, are you new to kickboxing?” Scarlett asked.

“To this form, yeah. I am a black belt in karate, though,” Mel answered.

“That’s exciting. You’re gonna be fun to work with. Show me something fancy.” Scarlett held out a pad.

“You got it.” Mel stepped back, watched her distance, lifted her leg and brought it forcefully down. The impact could be heard all across the gym.

My jaw dropped. I never knew she could do anything like that.

“What an awesome axe kick.” Scarlett was in awe.

“Hey, Adrian.” I heard.

I turned back to face Mitch who was still holding out the pads.