I felt very on display right now.
It was Super Gladiator day, a little name I made up for it since the real one was something cheesy like the Hero Tournament or whatever. Anyway, it was basically one big gym class. All. Effin'. Day.
Coach Boomer had decided to pull in more supplies courtesy of his endless government funding and set up this elaborate obstacle-type arena, told us to split up in groups of ten (regardless of grade, thank god. I doubt I even know nine other freshman that I'm on speaking terms with.
So me, Betsy, Janice, Quinn, Warren, Will, Layla, Ethan, Magenta, and Zach added up to ten people. Exactly. Man, did I luck out. Everyone else was scrambling around, kicking people out, accepting complete strangers into their cliques, and all the people I've spoken with so far and did not end up completely hating (although I wasn't so sure about Stronghold, the weirdly awkward patriotic boy) filled up the requirement completely.
We were supposed to act like we were in super teams, coordinate our attacks, and basically take down the opposing team using our mad skills.
Like Save the Citizen, only less forgiving and we only had to avoid hitting the cardboard cutouts of innocent bystanders.
Our group was labeled as heroes, of course. We get to wear blue armor. The villains wear red. Warren doesn't look disgruntled by this at all, though if the colors were switched I probably would've thrown a hissy fit over how Warren gets to wear his designated color but I don't....
Oh well, Warren was ignoring me again anyway. The bitch. And Stronghold kept giving me these awkward glances ever since this morning when I passed him in the hall.
"Hey, dipwit." I snapped, feeling very fed up with the shifty looking patriotic boy, "Either grow a pair or pay attention to the game."
What, were my gym shorts riding up? I quickly glanced behind me and found that my shorts looked completely normal and the armor didn't make me look as horribly disgusting as it did on Speed. No offense to him.
I sighed. Of course my team was the first one up, since we had the wonderful Will Stronghold that everyone loved seeing fight. Just like his parents, cue mental eye roll.
We were teamed up against kids I'd never seen before as the villains. They were supposed to steal a bag of fake jewelry from our end in the next ten minutes, and if they managed to do that they would get another ten minutes to bring it back to their spot. According to Magenta, they were just a bunch of sidekicks, which would explain why they kept sending terrified glances towards Warren.
Our job was to defend the loot and detain the villains.
The timer rang, indicating that we were to commence with the butt kicking.
Quinn, being the lazy bastard that he was, smirked and ended the game as quickly as it started.
"Everyone in the opposing team; fall asleep until you're disqualified." He had to be specific, ever since he almost killed Warren with his vague commands.
Warren growled at him for stopping the game so early.
Damn, he's creepily powerful.
But the best gym partner ever.
~*~
It turns out that Super Gladiator Day is Super Gladiator Rest of the Week, something that I threw a hissy fit over as Lash and his team completely destroyed their opposing hero team. Because of course they're villains, right? It wouldn't be cliche enough if they were picked as hero's once in awhile.
So, anyway, Ethan says that for the rest of the week, it'll be elimination match after another until finally there's only one team. And the winning team'll get $10,000 to split up and a shiny trophy. Which means a thousand dollars. Each.
Oh God, think of all the Top Ramen I could buy with that kind of money... 5,000 packets of instant Top Ramen.... And maybe if I bought it in bulk I'd get a discount....
Better yet, think of all the cool belts I could get.
"Emily, stop drooling. It's disgusting." Janice sneered, slapping me on the back of the head, "I know you had a brief affair with the Elasti-linquent over there, but have some dignity!"
I blinked, noticing that when I started staring off into space imagining all the things I could buy, it was in the general area of where Lash was cackling and torturing a team of sidekicks.
"A thousand dollars can buy so much..." I said wistfully, completely ignoring her except to lean my head on her shoulder and imagine diamond bling on my fingers.
"I could adopt eight cats." Janice nodded, smiling a little.
"Only eight?" Quinn asked, surprised. He thought that kittens came from cardboard boxes with the word 'FREE' scrawled on it.
"The adoption fee is $125 at Tabby's."
"But if you spend all your money buying the cats, how are you going to pay for their food and shit?" I asked, and smirked as her smile dropped quickly.
"Think of all the cat litter you'll go through." Quinn wrinkled his nose, "Your house'll stink."
"We probably won't win anyway." Ethan shrugged.
"Yeah, it's always one of the seniors who ends up beating everyone's asses." Magenta scoffed.
"We were close last year, though," Layla said encouragingly, "We got down to the top ten."
"Yeah, and that was just with Warren and Will doing most of the work." Zach waved his hands around excitedly, "Just think of how much butt we're gonna kick with a team that doesn't suck!"
"Who was on your team last year anyway?" Quinn asked.
"Stacy was with us last year. She could turn into a beach ball." Layla smiled in a way that discouraged any laughter at the power.
"Along with a human calculator and this one junior with selective hearing." Magenta snorted.
"Selective hearing? How is that a power?" Janice frowned.
"He's completely immune to whatever Coach Boomer can throw at him." I whistled low, impressed.
"Unfortunately he wasn't immune to Larry's fist." Warren scoffed.
"And the winner is," The coach boomed, "The villains: Team six!"
As if Lash's team would've lost on the first round.
"Hey," I frowned, seeing two familiar hot men who were part of that whole Brotherhood fiasco talked about two chapters ago, Jacques and Petrakis, paired up with Speed, Lash, Penny, and five other people who I vaguely recognized, "Didn't Lash and that guy get into a fight?"
"Huh." Layla frowned, "That's strange."
Jacques' eyes suddenly flickered towards me, as if he knew what we were talking about, and smirked. Very seductively.
"Oh man, that guy is a villain." Janice gasped, "Guilty for the crime of being so fu-"
"Janice!" Betsy squeaked, speaking for the first time all day.
"Yeah, we have to keep the ratings down for now." I frowned, but agreeing with Janice entirely. "Man, him and Petrakis both... Is that group they're part of have something to do with male modeling?"
"I wish." Janice sighed.
"Yeah, because then green boy would have to look nice, too." Magenta scoffed.
I spotted a boy in Lash's group with green-tinged skin and spiked green hair, walking with his back hunched slightly and a wicked smirk on his face.
"He's not that unfortunate looking." I shrugged. I mean, his coloring wasn't schmexy, and he was a little slimy looking, but just because he was green didn't mean he was ugly. In fact, I wish every guy had bone structure. He was like Adrien Brody with a slightly smaller nose.
Warren, who had been ignoring me all morning like a jackass, suddenly turned to me and glared.
"What?" I asked, defensive. I hissed at Will for good measure, who was starting to give me those awkward glances again.
"Um," Will started awkwardly, "What Warren means is that those guys have a bad reputation, and you probably shouldn't hang with them."
"I didn't say anything in the first place, dumbass." Warren snapped, glaring at Stronghold, too.
"Then what were you going to say?" I huffed, feeling fed up with his male PMSing.
"Nothing! He wasn't going to say anything." Will smiled and Layla, who received some psychic message from Will, nodded enthusiastically.
"You know how Warren is," Layla laughed in a playfully nervous way when Warren sent her an offended glare, "He gets offended at the strangest things."
I frowned, knowing that she was right, but still feeling like they were hiding something from me. My eyes narrowed at Will, smirking a little when he gulped. Layla was probably just supporting Will blindly, trusting in his actions, and Warren wasn't going to tell me anything without acting like a huffy little girl.
But, Will....
Will was going down afterschool.
Author's Note: I know what you're thinking. What the hell did Will and Warren talk about after the bomb dropped!? Well, it's a mystery for now. I'll have a flashback in a few chapters, after a bunch of planned out drama.
Oh, and don't expect publish-worthy action scenes for the tournament. Writing about fights? Not my forte.
