Free Lost by Francine Pascal

her like a bag of laundry over his shoulder and she landed on her back behind him, looking up at the staring faces of her classmates. The somewhat-embarrassed-for-her faces of her classmates.
    God, she was hitting the floor a lot here. There was a chance, even, that she might not be winning this fight. Not acceptable.
    Gaia rolled over onto her stomach and got to her feet again. She swung a right with every ounce of her strength, but Jake dodged and it just glanced off his cheek. He responded with a nasty uppercut, and Gaia’s head snapped back again, her nose jabbing up into her skull.
    She saw spots. She couldn’t think. Blood seeped from her nose. She had to get it together before Mrs. Argeski figured out what was going on. Gaia quickly wiped the blood off her nose with the sleeve of her shirt, then folded back the fabric to hide the stain. Then, as a preemptive strike, she caught Argeski’s eye, put on a goofy face, and pointed to Jake while flexing her muscle, as if to show how much fun she was having “toying with the new guy.” Jake picked up on Gaia’s charade and added his own little touch of authenticity by turning to Argeski and pretending to bite his nails in fear. Their performance did the trick—Argeski smiled and left them to their own devices. They were quite the little improv team, Jake and Gaia. But the moment Argeski was out of sight, it was back to business.
    Jake took a fierce swing at Gaia. There was no way for her to block what was coming before it came. All she could think was, Who is this guy? Where the hell did he come from? He hit her blind side with a left hook, then swung back and backhanded her with his right. She wason her knees again, and she was definitely losing. Right here in front of everyone. All she’d wanted to do was vent everything out of her system and instead she was getting everything beaten out of her system.
    â€œI should’ve figured,” Jake said from somewhere above her as she stared at the ground, trying to get her bearings. Blood spotted the mat in front of her, and she sniffled. Her nose was entirely clogged.
    â€œWhat was I thinking? You’re just a chick,” he added with a laugh.
    Gaia’s throbbing fingers curled into fists. Her eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched, sending out electric shocks of pain. It only made her angrier.
    â€œNow you done it,” one of the guys in the audience said.
    Gaia stood up, sprang into the air from her right leg, and landed on her left while kicking up with her right. Her foot whacked right into his jaw and kept going, cracking his head back. He staggered, surprised, and she pummeled his stomach with a left, right, left, right, left, right until he was backed up against the wall. Then she threw a right jab so hard, she came up off her feet from the force of it. He tried to counter with a right, but she ducked it. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him past her, shoving him to the floor. Then she grabbed his shoulders, yanked him up again, shoved him away from her, and jabbed a kick right into his chest.
    Jake leaned back into the wall, choking for air. Gaia turned her back to him, grabbed both his arms and flipped him over her head onto his back.
    Gaia was beyond ready to finish this. Jake was just too good, and this was the first moment she had him where she wanted him. The only people who fought like he did—the only people who made her think and pause and reel—were Loki’s men. Was it possible that Jake was one of them? Had he been sent to her school to keep an eye on her, maybe to even kill her right here in gym class?
    Jake sprang from his back and threw himself to his feet, and Gaia jumped back just in time as a roundhouse kick swung past her face, his foot so close, she could see the lines in the bottom of his sneaker. The force of throwing the kick and hitting nothing kept Jake spinning, and when he was turned away from her, Gaia jabbed a kick into the