AN- Hello, all and welcome, to another installment of The Last Place You'd Look. Sorry for the wait! Thanks to all my reviewers and, before I forget, I give full credit for the title of this fic to my friend Marty. Or, as he's known here, Terry Mcginnis Wayne. Without him, this fic's title would suck (much like the chapter titles do). And one last thing: I'm changing humor genre to general, because while I intend for this fic to be funny, there's too much of everything else (like in this chapter, a little drama and angst towards the end) for it to be specifically romance/humor. I hope no one minds too much. Enjoy~!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. *pout*

Warning: This chapter contains some implied one-sided Grantedshipping (Lance/Yellow), just so you know, folks. The end pairings are still the same, but I had to add it in, because I: 1- love Grantedshipping, and 2- needed it for parts of Blue's gossiping (meaning; it's part of how 'the bet' happens)

Edit: Apparantly, not only did I make a horrible chapter (that's what I think, anyway), but it was also full of grammatical errors! *gasp* I've fixed what I've been told about. In fact, I completely revamped the second half, so hopefully, the end result is much better. I even added footnotes this time!*sigh* This is what happens when I try to rush through a chapter...

The Bet

"Man, wasn't that exam way too hard?"

It was to this line that four colorfully-named friends walked into the cafeteria for lunch later that day. Even though the test had ended a few hours ago, it was still all anyone could think about.

"I mean…" Red paused in his ranting to order his lunch before continuing, "…I even studied for over two hours last night, and I still don't know if I passed!"

Handling her spaghetti in one hand, and her dressing-drenched salad in her other, Blue retorted, "If you think you did bad, what about me? I hardly even studied!"

"And whose fault is that?" Green deadpanned.

Arriving at their usual table, the group set down their array of food while Blue glared at the emerald-eyed boy. "Well, excuse me if I don't want to waste my life away doing something as boring as studying!" When she realized the boy was ignoring her in favor of his food, she huffed.

Seeing this, Red rolled his eyes and turned to the youngest of the four. "How do you think you did, Yellow?"

The girl in question, who had previously been absentmindedly twirling her spoon in her applesauce, mind elsewhere, tensed, blushing lightly. "Huh? Oh, um…" Yellow had never really been comfortable with being in the spotlight, especially when it was Red whom she was talking to. "…I think I passed, but… I really don't know. The professor (1) makes really hard tests! Uh… how do you think you did, Green?"

The brunette just shrugged in response. He didn't really think his friends would like to hear that not only had he not studied, he'd also found the test to be quite simple.

However, at the blonde's words, Blue had perked up. "Yes, speaking of the professor, wasn't he awfully nice to you this morning?"

The other girl blinked in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Blue rolled her eyes. "Dear, sweet, naïve little Yellow, what I'm saying is-"

Catching on to the girl's implications, Red interrupted, "What she means, is that he just… kind of favors you, is all."

The blonde tilted her head, now even more perplexed. "Are you sure? I mean, he treats everyone fine, as long as they're respectful towards him."

The older girl snorted in a rather unladylike manner. "Yeah, right! He is a devil in human form, and the only one he treats nicely is you! You want to know why?"

Yellow still seemed baffled, and Red looked about ready to butt in again, but surprisingly, it was Green who spoke next. "He's not all that bad if you catch him out of class."

There was a collective "Huh?" from the other three at that.

The boy sighed. "I mean, in class, everyone's loud and it annoys him. But outside of class, he's a lot more mellow."

"How do you know?" Red asked.

"Well, one time Miss Winona asked me to go to the library and get a book for her just before class, and I met Lance in there reading. We talked for a few minutes and then I headed back to class. But that day in the library, he seemed more like a regular person, calm and relaxed. Content, even."

The two eldest of the group pondered over this information for a few moments, and Yellow smiled. "See? I told you the professor was a nice person! I don't know what you two were thinking when you said he favored me. He's nice to everybody, when they're nice back."

In response, Blue rolled her eyes again, still disbelieving. Red just smiled lightly, eyes shut in a seemingly friendly manner. Green just went back to eating, trying to ignore the tension he could feel building between the two eldest.

Oblivious as always, Yellow finished her petite meal quickly before standing up and grabbing the skateboard from earlier that morning that she'd stashed by her feet. "Well, I'm going to and try to find the owner of this skateboard, okay? I'll see you later!" Her three friends smiled lightly, and with that, the girl was gone.

The remaining girl at the table waited a moment before letting the smile drop from her face and turning to the boy on her left. "Red."

The boy in question cringed slightly before setting down his half-finished pizza slice and turning to her, feigning ignorance. "Yes?"

The brunette narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't trying to tell Yellow that Lance favors her, you know."

The mahogany-eyed boy sighed and gave up on eating the rest of his meal- Blue would probably spend the rest of lunch telling him off. He sighed, but tried to remain calm. "Yeah, I do know, Blue. But I also know that what you were trying to tell her is completely ridiculous."

The girl crossed her arms, sea-blue eyes glinting dangerously. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really. I mean, he's like ten years older than her! How can you even think of something like that?"

The brunette grit her teeth. He could be so stupid sometimes, and whenever she tried to help him, he thought she was the stupid one! Sometimes, he just... made her so mad. He'd never understand her, apparantly. "Yes, because he's ten years older than her, he can't like her. Yeah, right! Age difference doesn't affect how people feel, stupid! How dumb can you get?!"

Red glared, losing his cool no matter how hard he was trying not to. "I'm not stupid, I just don't have such a dirty mind as to think that our teacher would like Yellow, a student. That's just wrong, Blue! Seriously, how can you even think that?"

Blue slammed her hands down on the table furiously, causing a quite a few people to look their way warily. "I can think that, Red, because I'm not still idiotically naïve like you and Yellow are. I'm not saying for certain that he likes her, I'm just saying it's a possibility! You must have noticed it by now! He treats her specially! And don't say it's because he favors her. He prefers all the shy people to everyone else, but he's even nicer still to her specifically. Do you have a better explanation for his actions, Red? Do you?"

The boy in question looked around uncertainly, just a tad scared at her outburst. "Well… that's because… Ugh! I don't know, okay? But I won't believe that he likes her. That's just disgusting!" Blue huffed and looked about ready to give him another piece of her mind, so he hurried on, "What do you think, Green?"

Until now, the emerald-eyed boy had just been a quiet spectator, and he didn't really desire to get pulled into the fight, so he just shrugged. After all, he couldn't really remain neutral in a case like this, and agreeing with one of the two would anger the other. He didn't want to get involved.

Blue rolled her eyes, her irritation coming off in every word. "Well, that's helpful."

Red grinned. "I bet he agrees with me, but doesn't want to say so and make you feel bad."

In truth, the boy had it opposite. Green had, for quite some time, been watching their professor carefully as to ascertain what his intentions were and why he treated Yellow the way he did. And while the boy thought Lance to be an okay person, he still didn't completely trust the man with the blonde whom he tried so hard to look after.

He just wasn't about to go and inflate Blue's ego by telling her that.

Blue had almost reached her boiling point. "Ugh! Why won't you believe me?"

"Because it's always been like this! Ever since I met you, all you've ever talked about is peoples' relationships and feelings. Like this," Red paused, clearing his throat before striking a rather feminine pose and speaking in a high pitched tone clearly meant to sound like Blue, "Hey guys, guess what? Brock has a crush on Misty! Can you believe it?! Well, actually, I knew it all along..."

Scratch that. Blue had officially gone far beyond her boiling point. The angry waves coming off her now were melting the ice caps faster than Global Warming ever had.

The black haired boy practically smirked at her rather violent and shaking display of rage, continuing, "Hey you guys, you'll never guess what I just found out: Ruby and Sapphire, our young friends? Oh, you know who they are, stupid; we babysat them, remember? Anyway, like I was saying... They totally like each other, but are too stupid and stubborn to admit it!"

The blue-eyed girl butted in, "That one is true, you know."

Red exhaled loudly in annoyance, but otherwise ignored her. He continued on with the one that, in his mind, really just took the cake. "Red, guess what? Misty totally has this huge crush on you! I just found out, she's liked you for years! I mean, I've always suspected it, but-"

"She does have a crush on you, stupid!"

The boy turned an odd shade of maroon. "No, she doesn't!" he screeched.

He stopped in his protests for a moment to blink. His voice still sounded squeaky and girly, and he wasn't going to argue with anybody sounding like that. He cleared his throat and tried again, ignoring his two friends' raised eyebrows. "No, she doesn't."

Blue rolled her eyes and whispered something that sounded like denial, trying to contain her anger.

Red sighed. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep talking. Pretending to be the girl to his right had hurt his throat like hell. "The point is, Blue, that's all you ever do, is gossip, gossip, gossip about who likes who and who's making up or breaking up, and the like."

By this point in time, Blue had gone from being filled with violent rage, to being seriously upset. Gossiping is just part of what makes her her, so why couldn't he accept it? Why couldn't he ever seem to accept her? "So what?"

"So, why can't you just let those people be? Their relationships and feelings aren't for you to know or mess with."

"…I don't hurt anyone with my gossiping."

The boy sighed, running out of steam, but determined to get his message across. "Yes, you do, Blue, you're just so caught up in it all that you don't even realize it!"

Blue lowered her head. Did he even realize how much his words stung? "…I only gossip 'cause it's fun. I could stop if I wanted to."

"Yeah, right! You couldn't stop if you tried! You couldn't even…" he trailed off, seeing her whip her head up to glare at him. Whoa. Where those tears pricking at her eyes?

…No way. They couldn't be. He had to be hallucinating. After all, Blue never cried.

Her words caught him off guard. "Wanna bet?"

He blinked dumbly. "What?"

She stood up quickly. "I said, do you want to bet?"

Red stared at her uncertainly. "…What did you have in mind?"

Her sea-blue eyes stared into his mahogany ones with a determination he'd never seen elsewhere, all traces of sadness lost. "I bet I can last over a whole month without saying one thing about peoples' relationships."

Despite himself, Red agreed. "What are we betting?"

For the first time in over twenty minutes, Blue smiled. "Money, of course. What else?"

The boy felt his stomach drop. If they were betting money, then it was serious. Not to mention, Blue would do almost anything for money, so this could get ugly… "How much?"

Now, the girl's smile turned evil. "Winner gets fifty bucks."

Red gaped openly. "Fifty bucks?! No way! I don't have that kind of money!"

The glare she pinned him with shut him up quickly. He gulped. She may not be upset anymore, but she was definitely angry! "Too late. You already agreed. I win if I succeed in going a whole month without gossiping. You win if I fail."

A tad more confident, the boy spoke, "Okay, so I just have to wait for you to inevitably mess up and gossip? Fine by me, I get a free fifty bucks!"

The girl resisted the urge to slap him and instead dug into her purse for her wallet, and then pulled out a fifty dollar bill.

Red couldn't help but gawk. "You carry over fifty dollars around with you?"

Blue smirked. "Sure. I carry over half of my life savings around with me, numbskull! I'd rather a thief have to go through me, instead of just having to go through my house."

Both boys couldn't help but stare at the girl in awe. Only Blue would think of things that way. Of course, in truth, they knew she was kind of right. She'd probably manage to beat any robber's ass if they tried to get her precious money...

Seeing their confounded expressions, the girl smirked and turned back to Red. "What, you don't carry over fifty dollars on hand?" Her answer was a violent shake of the head accompanied by a Hell, no. "Write a check, then."

He blinked. "Now?"

"Yes, now!"

Deciding going against her probably wasn't a good idea (Blue could get violent when she didn't get her way), Red sighed and did as he was told, handing over the check forlornly.

Blue immediately shoved both the check and the bill into an unsuspecting Green's face. He blinked at the papers for a moment before glaring at the girl. "Why give them to me?"

"Because you're a neutral party in the bet, and you're good at keeping track of money. Duh."

The emerald-eyed boy sighed, but, much like Red, knew better than to disobey. He became one hundred dollars richer with one swipe of the hand.

With that issue settled, Blue turned once more to Red. "I'm going to win."

Red just rolled his eyes. He was already planning on what to buy with Blue's fifty bucks.

Seeing that he wasn't really paying attention, the brunette scowled. "I mean it, Red. I'll show you that there's more to me than just gossiping, no matter how much that may be a part of me. And after I've won, I'll spend the next day doing nothing but gossiping to you, just to torment you."

The black-haired boy looked up, bafflement written clearly on his face. "Blue, what do you mean, 'you'll show me there's more to you than just gossiping'? I know that, it's just…" he trailed off, noticing that she'd stormed off after what she'd said last, not even bothering to dump her hardly-touched tray. He watched her retreating figure in confusion, wondering if he'd said something that seriously upset her, but before he had a chance to turn to Green and ask about it, the bell rang, signaling that lunch was over.

Red sighed and spared his tray a glance. He'd been right, after all. He never even got to finish his slice of pizza. "Thanks, Blue," he murmured sarcastically. "Now I'm going to be starving later on."

He considered leaving her tray on the table and letting her get chewed out for it later. He really did.

Still, he was a benevolent person at heart, so he had to do the right thing. He handed his and Blue's trays to the staff person in charge of washing them and scanned the area for Green. Seeing no sign of him, Red assumed he'd gone ahead to class, and hurried along, as well, thinking he'd ponder the girl's odd behavior over later. No sense in being hungry and late.

After lunch, Green only had one class left: Dinosaur Biology. It was an impeccably boring subject, he thought, and he often wondered why he'd ever wanted to take it. After all, who cared about creatures of the past? He'd rather know what kind of creatures he'd see in the future.

Either way, Dino Bio was quite easy, and often he could get away with not paying attention at all and be okay. Having already finished the assignment they'd been handed at the start of class, he was left to think of the occurrences that had transpired at lunch.

It wasn't unlike Red and Blue to make bets, but something about this one struck him as different.

First off, the amount of money was unusually high. In all the other bets the two had had, they'd never passed fifteen dollars.

Second, the two were taking this bet in particular far too seriously, especially Blue. Having been middleman for the two's bets before, Green knew that normally the bets were accompanied by playful banter and jokes, not the stiff awkwardness in the cafeteria. It had seemed at one point that Red had tried to distill the bad air growing between the two, but to no avail. Not to mention, the subject of this bet seemed far too cutting. At one point, the boy could have sworn he'd seen Blue shaking, near tears. He also knew that Red had seen this as well, but probably didn't believe it. Never once, in all the years the three had known each other, had Blue cried. It was practically a rule by now.

Blue never cries.

The third and final thing bugging the brunette about the bet was something the girl had said: I'll show you there's more to me than just gossiping, no matter how much that may be a part of me. Much to his dismay sometimes, Green knew Blue better than anyone else. While the two fought often, whenever she wanted to talk about something serious, she would go to him. One time, when he'd asked her why, she had smiled and told him it was because he was the best listener.

Green knew that the comment at lunch wasn't the kind of thing she'd say. Even with her friends, that girl didn't particularly care what anyone thought of her, so why had she been so upset by Red's words?

Unless… A thought struck him, and the boy couldn't help but ponder it over carefully. After a few minutes, he admitted to himself that the thought wasn't too far-fetched. In fact, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it earlier.

Despite what Blue thought, Green really was the most observant of their group of friends, and he may have just discovered one of her most well-kept secrets, assuming she even knew of it, herself, which, taking her personality into account, was unlikely.

With the new knowledge on hand, Green could only think one thing: This bet is sure to be interesting…

AN-I'll be honest with you all: I HATE THIS CHAPTER. I think I wrote it horribly, and can't wait to get back to Yellow next chapter, because I think I'll do better with her and Gold than I'll ever do with Red and Blue. So… yeah. As always, reviews are appreciated. Tell me whether you like it, love it, hate it (if this is the case, please explain in a calm manner why), whatever. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask! Until next time~!

(1)- Okay, so, if you'll all recall, in chapter one, it was mentioned that no one could easily bring themselves to call Lance 'professor' due to his age, but Yellow does so easily. That's just taking her nature into account, naturally. To her, it's simple: He's the teacher, and should be addressed as such (her world is so simple, no?). However, in this chapter, when Blue calls him a professor, it's more out of mockery than anything else (hence the italics).