Lukas's POV
I woke up to the sound of Aiden, Gill and Maya quarrelling – again! I sat upright with a groan and got changed into my pants, striped shirt and leather jacket.
By the time I had finished changing, the house was silent.
I went to the living room and saw that Aiden and Gill were gone and Maya sulking on the sofa, staring at her hands, which lay limp in her lap.
"Hey," I went up to the sofa and plopped down next to her.
"Hey," she replied, still staring at her hands.
"What did Aiden say today?" I asked.
Aiden was a jerk to us all, but he had saved our lives countless times, so we couldn't kick him out of our group. If we did, though, we would be goners.
Maya ran from her parents a couple years back (we still don't know the reason) and lived in the forest for almost a month, until Aiden found her. And he was mad. She had invaded his area of the forest (he didn't have an area of the forest though, he just marked the area when he was 12 and he still kept it that way until he was 16). When Maya begged for mercy, the nicer part of Aiden took her to us. Maya was very, very sensitive. Not physically but psychologically sensitive. And Aiden was very good at physically and psychologically hurting people. Big problem.
"Ugh!" cried Maya, tears stinging her eyes, "so, basically, only groups of three can join this fist fighting competition, and I get it. I'm not that strong. So Aiden told me I couldn't join in. And Gill backed him up."
I was annoyed at the situation. The fact that only groups of three were allowed. The fact that Aiden told Maya that she couldn't join. This is supposed to be a team event. Not a three quarter team event.
"So what? It doesn't matter if we win or don't win. We don't have to take the grand prize every single year! I- "
"Aiden made a deal with this creepy guy," she said suddenly.
"What?"
"If we win this year, creepy guy gives us diamonds, and if Aiden loses, we give him 36 enderpearls."
"Why 36?"
"I have no idea," she glanced up at me, "But we don't have that many enderpearls. And Aiden gets mad at us for losing."
I was still confused.
"So, is that why you're mad?"
"No," her voice started to break, "I'm just being silly, you won't understand."
"Tell me, Maya," I lay my hand on her shoulder.
Maya pauses, takes a deep breath and then looks away.
"Because… I'm a girl."
"Yeah, and I'm a boy…?"
"No, no. I can't join because I'm a girl."
Maya buried her head in her hands and bent over.
At that, I stood up and walked towards the door. I lay my hand on the handle and turn around: "Let's lose that match and show Aiden what a jerk he is."
And at that, I turned the handle and walked towards the lights shining against the sunrise.