Chapter 14 - The Rematch Nobody Expected
A year after the park incident, Cedar Ridge held another festival.
Someone jokingly suggested Travis and I stage a rematch.
I refused.
Tessa accepted for me.
Traitor.
But this time it wasn’t a fight.
We held a youth demonstration about de-escalation.
Travis showed teenagers how quickly arguments became dangerous.
I showed them how to create distance and leave.
At the end, Travis tossed gloves at my feet.
The crowd laughed.
I picked them up.
Handed them back.
“No.”
Everyone cheered louder than they had during the original confrontation.
Travis smiled.
That was the point.
Once, he needed violence to feel respected.
Now he could laugh at the person he had been.
Afterward, a twelve-year-old boy approached me.
“My dad says walking away makes you weak.”
I crouched slightly.
“Sometimes walking away is the hardest thing you’ll ever do.”
He nodded.
May you like
I hoped he remembered.
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