6. Alien?

The next day, still skeptical and wanting to gauge her ability to actually hit head-on, I had Bailey work with the heavy bag. She was able to hit, but didn’t have much strength behind her jabs. Somehow, she had fantastic technique. Before I could point that out to her, she stopped hitting the bag, turned to face Cade and Mark, and pulled her wireless earbud from her ear.

Apparently, that was her thing. One earbud hooked to her shirt, the other on her right ear so she could hear her music. Don’t Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers and Daya was one of her favorites.

“What’s Cade doing?”

“Focus sparring. Mark wears the focus mitts—the gloves—but generally keeps the palm, which is the flat side, from showing. Cade has to focus on pretty much everything because the only time he can hit is when Mark shows the flat side of the mitts. He can’t hit anything else. His attention slips, and Mark could just hit him or even throw elbows, knees, or kicks.”

As I explaine