•|•|•

"Man that was humilating."

•|•|•

HE RAISED AN eyebrow at me, probably wondering why the small African girl was staring at him wide-eyed I suspect, before shaking his head and delivering his attention back to an amused Lira.

"Lira Wayne," he replied whilst I watched his jaw tick before sighing, "You know why I'm here," he grunted his shoulders falling, dispelling a soft sigh.

"Of course, I do fish boy," Lira replied still with that smug look on her features.

Fish boy? Did he have fish powers of some sort? Like breathing underwater?

I could see no gills on his neck... So probably not. But what if they were placed somewhere else on his body?

My eyes trailed down his figure, trying to spot any fish scales but only coming into contact with the green band on his wrist.

I could see the tightness in Andrew's jaw as he replied, taking out a black plastic bag from his back pocket, handing it over to her,

"Good, because god knows I want this over with, " he muttered.

"Aww, don't be like that," Lira urged, taking the small package from him, "it's cute when you fail," she pouted.

"I did not fail," Andrew scoffed, glancing over at Claire and me momentarily before lowering his voice, something that changed nothing except the amount of strain pressure on my ears, "You know Thandi would have won that match, Raskei is just a cheat," he huffed.

"Nobody likes a sore loser Andrew," Lira sang, with a smug look on her face, "My calculations are always right, you should know that by now. The probability will always be in my favor, it's my dilect. Only a moron would continue to bet against me."

"You guys bet against the Red's match?" Claire suddenly asked, probably forgetting we were supposed to be flies on the wall in this conversation.

Both Andrew and Lira's eyes were now set on us,

"What does it sound like princess?" her roommate responded.

"Is that even allowed?" Claire added with a displeased tone. I could tell she didn't like it when anyone broke the rules. I was against it too.

Gambling at their age? Disaster waiting to implode.

Andrew shook his head slightly while Lira took the question head-on,

"What are rules if no one is there to break 'em, huh princess?" she grinned, raising one dark eyebrow at Claire who frowned in response, "now back to Mr. Sore Loser here," she moved on taking her attention back to Andrew.

"You know just as well as I do Thandi is one of the only ones capable of defeating Raskei and if she played her cards right she could have drowned that little-" he began explaining his fists tightening whilst he talked, "little-"

"IF is such a pretty word, don't you think so Claire?" Lira cut, slightly turning to Claire who let out an amused chuckle, as Lira opened the black plastic, "I hope everything's here," she stated, looking directly at Andrew.

He sighed in response, tucking his hands into his pocket with a nod.

Lira's eyes squinted over at him,

"My M&M'S?"

"Yes."

"Milky Way?"

Andrew sighed eyes trailing momentarily to the ceiling,

"Yes,"

"Gummy bears?"

"Yes,"

"My special Purple Turbo Gum?"

"Yes! Would you just look through the bag?" he huffed, his eyes widening a little as he expressed the point.

"Someone's snappy," Lira cheerfully sang, subtly glancing over at us, which we returned with light snickers at the expense of Andrew. She sifted through the contents of the bag, eyebrows arching as she inspected what I assumed was candy, "everything seems in order," she finally smirked closing the bag.

Andrew rolled his eyes but kept quiet, eyes still on Lira.

She folded her arms, adopting her previous smug look,

"It's a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Myers" She grinned.

His eyes trailed slowly to Claire and me before moving back to Lira,

"Alright..." He trailed off as if expecting her to say something. After a short silence, he then added, "I'll take my leave then."

He waited yet another expected moment before turning and walking away, moving out of my line of sight and disappearing into the hallway. My eyes then fell to Lira's lips which were counting down from 3.

"2, 1" she whispered, "oh, and Andrew!" she called out. Her expectant face soon turned into one of mischief.

"What now?" Andrew's voice could be heard from somewhere I couldn't see, yet I could still sense the irritation in his tone.

"Aren't you forgetting something? As I recall you still have one thing left to do." She grinned with a sly smirk.

Andrew soon came back into view, his gaze once again trailed to Claire and I's ever-attentive figures, sitting cross-legged on her bed, his voice lower, and his tone a little shaky,

"Here? Really Lira?" he scowled; his brown eyes focused on her.

She shrugged, folding her arms, raising an eyebrow, "A deal's a deal..." she trailed off lifting both arms wide open and calling out to him, "Come to momma."

At this point, I had no idea what on earth these two were yapping about but I watched attentively as he took a step forward,

"You're seriously going to make me do this?" he huffed.

"Come on," she repeated, offering him a wide smirk.

He took a breath out shaking his head,

"I'm going to get you back for this," he muttered right before he lowered his head so that it was bowed low before her.

She clasped her hands together in glee before they dived into his silky curly locks running through it like you would when petting a dog. My descriptions were pretty good because she said, "Who's a good boy? Such a good doggy," she cooed as she ruffled his hair.

Claire and I jumped back at the sound of a warning growl that suddenly raptured. We all looked at a fanged Andrew, growling once again at Lira's words,

"Good boy," she purred still ruffling his curly locks.

"That's three seconds too long," Andrew grumbled standing up to his full height. He ran his hand through his hair as if trying to fix it, "Man that was humiliating."

"Oh please, every dog likes to be petted," Lira cooed pouting her lip.

"I'm not a dog, I'm a wolf," he scoffed.

"Wolf, Dog, Gigan...All the same." Lira shrugged.

"Only they aren't," Andrew countered in a final tone.

"What's a Gigan?" Claire blurted out before Lira could get a word in. Both Andrew and Lira glanced at her, to which she thought it decent to reply with a slight red blush appearing on her puffy cheeks.

"Newbie huh?" Andrew commented, turning his attention back to Lira.

"As clueless as they come" Lira replied which I took a slight offense to, before she turned back to Claire, "Gigans are a kind of deception. You will learn about Deceptions with your Origins teacher when the time comes so don't ask," she added.

Claire's, eyebrows drew together as Andrew and Lira talked while I as usual maintained my silence, taking in as much information as I normally did.

"So, what's your bet on today's match?" she asked with a sly smirk, folding her arms.

"It's been canceled," Andrew informed with a sigh, "Miss Beaumont has not yet arrived, and so, naturally rumor has it the next fight will be between two colors tomorrow."

"Who's going to be in the Dome?"

Andrew paused, breathing out,

"Luca and Harvest."

Luca?

Lira's jaw suddenly dropped, eyes wide as saucers as if it was the most unexpected thing to ever happen,

"Luca and Harvest! W-what are they crazy? H-have the Prime lost their minds?" she stuttered out and I couldn't help but wonder why.

"Those two will tear the Arena apart! It will be the biggest fight in history! I- have to start calculating the probability, let's see uhh... Luca has super strength as an advantage, right?" she asked to no one in particular as paced in front of him, "But Harvest...Man harvest could destroy his mind from the inside! I thought yesterday was epic but man..." she rambled on, "this one's going to be-"

Andrew chuckled raising a hand,

"I'm just kidding," he teased, shaking his head with a laugh, "you didn't seriously believe that?"

She gave him such an ugly look I was very much content with being nothing but a fly on the wall at this point,

"You're a douche you know that?"

"Whatever it takes to see that stupid look on your face," he smirked.

Lira didn't reply but even I knew the look on her face was much of a comeback as any. She however added, "Either way, that fight is bound to come soon, I have no doubt both of them will make it to the King's Round, and then they will have to fight to determine their rank."

Andrew nodded, "And when that day comes, you already know who I'm betting on."

"Of course, your little Gigan leader."

"Little?" Andrew chuckled shaking his head, "the understatement of the century."

Lira frowned then paused, "Yeah it is, isn't it?" she giggled and Claire and I watched for the first time as she did. Lira laughing.

She turned towards us, "Get it? Little because he's a Gigan..." she chuckled before shaking her head, "you won't get it, newbies am I right?" she asked turning to Andrew who grinned in reply,

"Newbies."

After an awkward second, Andrew cleared his throat, glancing over at us,

"Uh...I should take my leave. Luca wants all of us at trackers' practice since there will be an unknown green and whites match tomorrow," he hummed.

Lira nodded, running a hand through her hair, biting her bottom lip.

I looked at the action, raising an eyebrow at this but brushed it away.

"All right, I'll see you later."

•~•
I hope you enjoyed the update! Leave a comment on your thoughts on the chapter, vote to boost the book if you're enjoying it! Feel free to leave me a comment or a question on my discord channel, (link in bio)
•~•