AN: This may have been inspired by a recent encounter with a stubborn orange. Maybe.
...I still haven't managed to peel it fully. /sobs
Luke Triton and the Impossible Orange
It all came down to this. A battle of the wills. The final showdown of determination and skill. Who would win? It could be anyone. Would Luke lose? Would he admit defeat? Would he call the professor?
No. No, he wouldn't. Luke was strong. He could win this fight. He didn't need the professor to take care of him anymore. At 13 ½ years old, he was going to claim victory by the golden lion throat and shake it in his tiny child fist until it begged for mercy.
He was going to peel this orange.
Luke didn't want to get up to fetch a knife. He didn't need a knife. True gentleman can peel oranges with their bare hands. He struggled to pierce the thick skin. He failed. Finally, he bit a small section of the orange.
Bitter taste filled his mouth for several seconds. He spat out a bit of peel, disgusted. Why were orange skins so awful? Oranges were delicious. Marmalade was okay. Orange skin was what Satan ate for breakfast.
Pushing the thought aside, Luke began to claw at the small opening he had made. He desperately dragged his fingers over the orange, trying to work his way under somehow…
Finally, the orange skin relented. Luke tore piece by infuriatingly tiny piece off. Was this normal? Did oranges normally peel like this? Whenever he had watched the professor peel an orange, the skin would come off in long, clean hunks. This orange was different. It had been five minutes and Luke had barely made a dent.
Eventually, he succeeded in pulling the majority of the thick orange skin off. The stemmy bits were still lodged deep inside the orange, however, coated in the yellow-white second layer. The layer that had all the stringy bits. Except thicker. More frustrating.
Luke began again to claw at the orange. The white layer taunted him, remaining unharmed no matter how much pressure he exerted. He tried to separated the wedges, but they were stuck fast together. If he tried too hard, the orange would burst and leak sticky juice everywhere…
A true gentleman was never sticky.
At long last, the white layer began to give way. Luke pulled sheet by fluffy sheet of stringy bits off. He could now separate the orange pieces without difficulty.
Ever so carefully, Luke pulled the orange in half. Then in quarters. Then in wedges. To insult the orange he had so valiantly fought with, he made sure to peel every stringy bit off until he was left with the perfect slice.
Luke opened his mouth triumphantly, popping the orange into his mouth. He bit down, expecting the sweet taste to fill his mouth and—
Bitter.
Luke choked. Seeds? SEEDS?
"Professor!" Luke coughed, moaning. "Why did you buy oranges with seeds?"
The orange had won this time.
This time.