Wanna Bet?

Chapter two: Catching the First Stone

The sky outside was clouded with a bright, blinding grey as drops of pure white innocence fell softly from the sky, landing gently upon mounds of fluffy snow and obscuring windows with delicate shards of winter.

A bitter wind howled, tiresomely through the glass panes in the bay window whilst Relena watched the grounds outside, build with a November's frosty chill, from the warmth of her bedroom chamber.

"Oh, Hilde, what have you gotten me into?" Relena groaned, leaning her head warily against the cold glass, her forehead pressed against it and her breath fogging the windows with dense drops of vaporised water.

"The most exciting thing that's ever happened to you, Relena Darlian," Hilde countered from her bed, where she lay, catching up on some last minute studying for their Christmas exams, "What's the definition of 'electrolysis' again?"

Relena sighed heavily, causing even more water to be condensed against the cool glass, "The decomposition of a compound by passing through an electric current," she breathed out quickly, rhyming the line off from the top of her head.

"Oh," Hilde's face peered at the back of Relena's head from behind her Chemistry textbook, "I knew that."

Relena turned away from the calming atmosphere outside to stare at her dark haired best friend, who was characteristically biting her nails as dark eyebrows furrowed down deeply, in a state of confusion.

"And the anode is the negative electrode, right?" Her eyes averted from the tiny scripts of the book to meet amused cerulean blue orbs.

"No, that would be the cathode. The anode is the positive electrode." Relena astutely corrected, shaking her head of honey blonde hair as a girlish laugh escaped her small lips.

Hilde simultaneously shook her head as a pure look of fury adorned her pretty face, "Agh!" She yelled, throwing the book to the floor, where it collided with the dusty wood to form a heavy slam, "How the hell can you learn that rubbish?"

"It's not that complicated once you learn the basic facts, in fact, I often find electrolysis experiments quite exciting," Relena stated, her light eyes scanning, in boredom, around the room.

Hilde threw her a shrewd look of contempt, tossing her dark bangs carelessly out of her eyes, "You're strange, did you know that?"

Relena rolled her eyes towards the ceiling, "Say what you wish, Hilde. It's your own grades that will be suffering in January when the post-Christmas results are sent out."

"Hmm, well okay, I think the only practical I will be able to recall during the exams will be the 'flamethrower technique', you know the one where we feed the flame of the Bunsen burner oxygen, to make it increase." Hilde responded, her eyes lighting with raw excitement as she recalled the experiment in her head.

"Would that be because you were able to set Lani's hair on fire?" Relena giggled.

"Well, yes, but it taught her that she shouldn't wear so much hair lacquer when attending chemistry classes," Hilde remarked, a proud grin bracing her face.

"Talking about classes, what time is it, Hilde?" Relena asked enquiringly, standing from the bay window's sill and yawning lightly, her arms twisted freely into the air as she stretched.

"Umm," Hilde started, looking hesitantly down to her watch and then biting her lip, "eight, fifty-five…"

"What?" Relena cried, jumping out of her lazy stupor and grabbing her bag and books from her bed, "We've got class in five minutes; we're going to be late."

Hilde sighed, frowning at her friend's panic-stricken face, and stood slowly from her position, lifting her things carefully before sauntering to the door, which Relena was holding open, bouncing from foot-to-foot, impatiently waiting for her.

"Come on, get a move on slow poke, won't Mister Hudson make you do laps or something, if you're late for Phys Ed?" The blonde asked, frenetically.

"Nope," Hilde beamed as she turned into the corridor, "he loves me, I'm one of his best students," she then flexed her arms in a 'macho' way, as if the emphasize her point.

"Whatever, I've got to get to my Government and Politics class, see ya at lunch!" Relena dashed off round the corners, before being halted by a prefect and scolded for running in the hallways.

Hilde snickered at her friend's antics before heading out of the main doors, to the gymnasium, which was situated on the far grounds of the school. "Idiotic girl," she muttered jokingly under her breath.

"Now that's not very nice, is it?" A taunting voice called from behind her, its tone deep and humorous with a fair amount of amusement.

Hilde froze in her steps, and spun around on her heel, forgetting to be cautious of the icy pavements. Immediately she regretted her carelessness as her Mary-sues slipped on the frozen grounds beneath her, causing her to lose her balance with the earth and topple ungracefully to the ground.

That would have happened, however, if a pair of strong hands had not quickly made their way around her small waist, allowing her body to fall into the arms of the stranger as her face rapidly blossomed a deep red as the blood heatedly rushed to her face in embarrassment.

"Whoa there, I wasn't quite aware of the meaning of 'falling in love at first sight,' until just now." The voice told her, chuckling comically at his own joke.

Hilde grimaced at the lame choice of words, and opening her eyes to stare at the stranger, she quickly snapped them shut again as she saw who it was that was holding her. Her heart was racing wildly and jumping to her throat and she was conscious of the fact that she undoubtedly looked like a tomato.

She stood up quickly, trying to regain her composure and her pride as she faced her fellow student, smiling weakly.

"Duo Maxwell… wishful thinking, much?" She asked, staring into the roguishly wild, cobalt blue eyes that stared deeply into hers, almost seeming as though they too, were laughing at her actions.

"You think so?" He asked playfully, grinning mischievously and bending to his knees to pick up the many scattered books of Hilde Schbeiker, "Damn, I must be losing my touch, eh?"

Hilde giggled, mindlessly as the braided American rose to his feet, handing her a pile of textbooks, but as she went to reach for them, Duo frowned and pulled the books out of her reach, "Umm… Maxwell, could I have my books back please?" she asked, unsurely.

"No," Duo stated plainly, his infamous grin still apparent on his handsome face, "I will carry them for you, m'lady, and you are, after all, in my class, aren't you?"

Hilde blushed even more so, feeling her heart increase in its frantic pace, 'What's wrong with me?' she asked, silently as they both turned, walking over the freezing grounds and towards the sports hall, with Duo keeping an extra close eye on Hilde, due to her recent clumsiness.

The frozen grass and soils crunched noisily under their heavy treads as they walked in a shivering state, through the harsh wintry winds, the cold, bitter hands of frost clawing callously at their bare, uncovered skin, and by the time they had reached the large hall, they had been adorned with red noses and cheeks, blemished by the chill.

"Well," Duo said, confidently, offering Hilde her books, which she graciously accepted, "See ya later, mate…" and he disappeared quickly into the boys changing rooms.

Hilde stood for a moment, looking pensively at the closed door, 'Mate? Well… I guess it's a start,' she thought, before being suddenly startled by the loud, boyish cheers echoing from the changing room as Duo Maxwell, infamous sports player, and overall 'player' arrived leisurely into their sights.

Sighing deeply, Hilde turned away and strolled into her own changing rooms, trying to shake the famous, stunning Maxwell from her mind.

-x- -x- -x-

"You didn't!"

The mindless girlish rambles drawled on as Relena continued to block them out of her mind, ignoring their useless squeals and mindless giggles.

"Ah! Oh my God, YOU DID!" Tiffany screamed, this time however, Relena wasn't able to obstruct the high-pitched cry from echoing through her eardrums and ringing in her mind.

"Tiff," Relena moaned, morosely, "Keep it down, would you? I'm trying to study here!"

"Relena look," Tiffany exclaimed, bouncing up and down with a piece of clothing in her delicate hands, "she got them, Cara snatched Reuben's underwear, can you believe it?"

"Well, I don't really have much choice, do I? I mean, the proof is right here in front of me, now would you please remove those disgusting things from my face?" Relena asked, wrinkling her nose in repulsion.

"You're such a bore," Tiffany retorted, jutting her chin out in self-arrogance, "you need to lighten up, hopefully this bet we have going will be able to do just that. Otherwise, God help us all."

Relena rolled her eyes in irritation, and biting back a bitchy remark, she focused on the page in front of her, studying Pythagoras' theorem.

"You'll never guess who I crashed into today," Hilde whispered in her ear, after jumping on the bed to accompany her, "literally crashed."

"Oh, I don't know," Relena said, already bored, "Dagger?"

Hilde frowned, "No, not quite, but I haven't seen him around in ages… Duo… Duo Maxwell."

Relena, now interested, dog-eared her book to mark her page and studied her best friend warily. "Really?"

"Really, really; he even carried my books for me."

"Honestly?" Relena protested, disbelievingly.

"Honestly, "Hilde cried, "Score one for the… uh… the Relde's!"

"Huh?" Relena's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "The what's?

"Well… mix both Relena and Hilde together, and you get… Relde! See?"

"And I'm the weird one?" Relena asked, pointedly.

"Don't burst my bubble!" Hilde grumbled; sulking slightly, before a pair of grey boxers landed on her head.

"Whoops sorry!" Lani cried, trying to muffle her giggles.

Hilde's face contorted into one of amusement and disgust as she shook her head violently to rid herself of the briefs, yelling in indignation, "Eww, that's gross!"

Relena's body shook intensely as she tried to control her laughing fit, whilst staring at her best friend who was currently staring at the grey cloth, her lip curled in revulsion.

"That is sick!"

Okay. So this chapter isn't quite as good as i had imagined it to be, but the next one will be up soon, and it shall be good. Or i hope it will, if not, well then, i will resign myself to believing the i currently suck at writing. Which isn't that hard to believe, but I am currently a tormented victim of the cruel 'writer's block'... poor BLaH...

Review please? They do help me to write faster, they give INSPIRATION! That's why this one was up so fast! hehe

Love y'all

Allura