Chapter 57
Laurel was currently walking through her fiance's community center, since Oliver had already told her that later on this week, he'd officially taking control of Queen Consolidated and since he had to do that, Thea had volunteered to transfer her studies to Star City University, since that was just as prestigious as Hudson University, to a, be closer to her family now that Moira was in prison, b, begin her training as Oliver's new sidekick, alongside Helena, who was not only moving to Star City University to be with Thea, but was also joining Team Arrow as the Huntress with her father's blessing and c, she was now taking over the day to day operations of her brother's community center, since that way it stayed in the family.
Anyways, Laurel still couldn't help but smile as she saw how happy all the kids here were. Kids that until now hadn't had much hope in their lives and likely would've become criminals. But now, thanks to Oliver and this center, it was their way out of the gutter and the prison system. She'd noticed one of Oliver's Green Arrow groupies, a kid named Roy Harper, who Oliver had originally saved while he was dealing with Ted Gaynor and now he kept showing up at crime scenes, hoping to see his hero again. Laurel was honestly considering talking Oliver into bringing Roy into the fold too, since the fact that he took Artemis in proved that he didn't exactly have qualms about bringing kids into the fold and Roy was older than Artemis.
But anyways, Roy had been seen helping out at the center a lot and he'd bonded with several of the kids there.
However, as she passed by the gym, she heard the sounds of angry grunting and fists hitting a punching bag, which drew her attention as she walked into the room to see a teenaged latina girl beating punching bag furiously. She looked to be around Artemis's age and she had long black hair.
Her stance was that of a boxer and it was clear that she'd received some kind of lessons before in the past, but more importantly, she had a more intense anger in her than the anger that most people in the Glades seemed to carry. Plus, Laurel recognized her boxing style. It was the same boxing style her grandfather had used back in the day. Which just made Laurel more curious about who this young girl is.
"Excuse me." Laurel said, causing the girl to pause.
"What do you want?" She asked angrily as she turned to face Laurel.
"I recognize that fighting style. It's Ted Grant's." Laurel said and she noticed the girl perk up.
"Wow, not a whole lot of people recognize that. Ted Grant was such an underappreciated boxer." the girl said.
"And he was my grandfather." Laurel said, knowing that she'd gotten the girl's attention.
"Wait, what?" the girl asked her in shock.
"My name is Laurel Lance and my mother was the daughter of Ted Grant, or as he was known in the ring, Wildcat." Laurel said as she held out her hand to the girl, who shook it.
"My name is Yolanda Montez and your grandfather is one of my heroes, since even though his name was Wildcat, he was the underdog and no matter how many hits he took, he always got back up and kept on swinging." Yolanda said and Laurel smiled, since that sounded like her grandfather alright.
"Yeah, he was basically Rocky. But you seem angrier than most people in the Glades are. I know we just met, but can I ask why?" Laurel asked her cautiously, since she didn't want to press, but to her relief, the young girl opened up to her.
"Because my life is shitty even for someone who lives in the Glades. My parents were killed by street thugs here when I was 10 and even before that, they were shit. My dad was a drunk who couldn't keep a job with rage issues that he seemed to enjoy taking out on me and my mom was completely negligent, preferring to drown her own sorrows in wine than trying to be there for me. Boxing was my only outlet, it's the only thing in my life that really makes sense to me. After my parents were killed, I didn't have any family who wanted me, so I wound up in the Glades' underfunded foster care system and I was shuttled in and out of different homes for years before I ran away when I turned 15 before I started high school. I've been living on the streets ever since and been making money through local boxing events. Then this place opened up and I've been crashing on one of the spare beds here since then." Yolanda said, every word breaking Laurel's heart.
"Okay, why don't you go shower off and then I'm taking you out for a real meal. I'm thinking Big Belly Burger, all you can eat, on my fiance's card. And then we'll see about getting you some new living arrangements." Laurel said and while Yolanda was about to protest, her stomach growled at the thought of actual fast food. Something she hadn't had in who knows how long, if ever.
"Okay. I admit that real food that doesn't come from this cafeteria is very nice." Yolanda said, since the center was also equipped with a fully stocked cafeteria and chefs that provided meals three times a day.
"Great. It's a plan." Laurel said as she sent Yolanda off to the locker rooms to change and made sure that she talked to Oliver about maybe turning Yolanda's life around. Especially since, in the middle of her rant, Laurel could've sworn she'd seen Yolanda's eyes, even if it was just for a second, it looked like they'd shifted to become cat eyes.
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