IIIIIIII Kal IIIIIIII

"Man, what is wrong with you today? I beat you three times in a row!"

The Sun beats down on the two specialists as they finish sparring in the practice field. Kal wipes the sweat off his forehead. His breath is quick, and his chest heaves as he sheathes his sword. "I met this girl last night, and I can't get her out of my head."

"You got it bad, my friend." Kal's friend, Spencer says. He rolls his shoulders and adds, "So who's the lucky girl?"

Kal sits on the bench, picks up his water bottle, and gulps it down. Finally, he takes a breath and says, "She's a fairy from Alfea. Scarlet."

Spencer's dark eyes grow wide. "Scarlet? I've heard that name- the one with the eyes rumor?"

His eyes widen for a moment, but Kal quickly recovers. Of course Spencer knows about her- he's dated almost half of the fairies at Alfea. "Yeah," Kal says, "and the rumor's true."

Spencer shakes his head and bends down to stretch his legs. "Her powers are freaky, man. I once saw her make a troll act like a dog. You should've seen the prison guard's face when I brought that thing in barking like a miniature poodle." He pauses and straightens. The wind tugs at his dark hair as he says, "Wait- how do you mean the rumors are true?'"

"I ran into her at the park- literally- and apparently threw off her illusion." He gestures as he says, "She has these eyes that look like fire. And how long have you known her?"

"Eh, not long," Spencer says. He plops down on the bench, and his knee knocks against Kal's. "I was assigned a couple of missions with her. Doesn't talk much, and doesn't like teamwork. But she gets the job done fast." Spencer raises his brows and adds, "But, judging by the tone in your voice, she's super hot now? I mean, she wasn't bad looking-"

Kal elbows him. "Dude, seriously?"

Spencer shrugs. "What? Is she not super hot?"

"That's not the point." He shakes his and takes another gulp of water. I need to get it together, he thinks to himself. I wonder what she's doing right now?

Spencer frowns and says, "Give me that. You're guzzling all the water."

Kal sighs and hands it over. Spencer holds it up and waterfalls it as Kal mutters, "I told you to bring your own."

Spencer gulps it down and stands. "Yeah, yeah. Look man, I'm happy for you. But just be careful, okay? I heard she's got a dark side."

Did Scarlet really have so many rumors about her? How secret was even her secret? "Yeah," Kal replies, "I've heard too. But how did you hear?"

He rolls his eyes and extends his hand. "Zera, back when we were dating. Or was it Vanessa?" Kal grabs his hand and stands as Spencer continues, "I can't believe I dated that chick. She's as moody as Riven."

"You used to say she always made things interesting," Kal replies. Interesting indeed- Kal had trouble sleeping for weeks because of those two either arguing or saying sweet nothings over the phone at night.

The path meets a larger one, and they follow it. Their shoes thunk against the walkway as Spencer says, "Then interesting turned into a hassle. I call first dibs on the shower, by the way."

They pass a group of specialists, and one throws a stick for his dog. Kal snickers and says, "Interesting turned into a hassle? You know you're a hassle, right?"

Spencer's eyes widen in fake shock as they reach the back doors of the housing wing. "Me? Why, you wound me!"

Kal pulls out his key card and holds it up to the scanner. There's a beep, and Kal pulls the door open. His shoulders instantly relax at the feeling of cold air on his skin. He replies, "Oh, come on. Do you know how hard it is to keep you out of trouble?"

"If you're talking about that time with the dragon, that was a one time thing."

Kal laughs and adds, "And when you dated a witch?"

He raises his hands as if innocent, saying, "She looked nothing like one! What type of witch wears bright pink and has blonde hair?"

They head up the stairs and nod at a passing group of specialists. "I think you were distracted more by her assets."

"Please, any guy would have!" He replies as if it's obvious. Spencer grins and elbows him, saying, "Speaking of assets, what do you think of Scar-"

"I'm not even going to let you finish that sentence," Kal replies. His quads ache as they reach the top, but he ignores it. Kal shakes his head, but can't help but smile as he adds,"You're crazy, man. This is why no girl will date you longer than a month."

"Oh yeah? You're the one to talk. Bet you 100 bucks you and Scarlet won't last a month."

They turn down the hall, and Kal drops his voice at the sight of a specialist walking towards them. It's Jack, their impressively buff and silent neighbor. "First off," Kal says, "we're just talking. Secondly, I wouldn't stoop down to your level."

"You're such a chicken." There's a pause, and Spencer whispers, "200?"

He rolls his eyes. "Fine," Kal says. "But just so you know, my family's filthy rich, so this bet doesn't even matter."

The specialist bumps into him, and Kal turns back with a frown. But Jack doesn't apologize or look back. Kal furrows his brows and opens his mouth tp say-

Spencer wraps his arm around Kal's neck as Jack goes around the corner. "Forget about that guy. There's always a stick shoved up his butt, remember?"

Kal rolls his eyes. For the most part, Jack was pretty docile, and only picked a fight when someone got on his bad side. But Kal hadn't done anything to mess with him, in fact, Kal made it a fact to avoid Jack whenever possible. So what was his problem?

Kal's phone vibrates, and he gets it out of his pocket.

Spencer raises a brow and asks, "Is it your little lovebird or your mom? Wait- those are the same thing!"

Kal shoves him off as Spencer laughs. "Shut up."