Sins 5
Reid continued to grin at her. "Reid?' she said he just smirked and she wondered if she had just made a major mistake. He saw the worried look on her face and said "don't worry I won't tell, but it might make it a little easier around here if you do" he smiled at her answering smile. Then the teacher cleared his throat and class began.
They were covering the civil war, which Max was actually familiar with. She was taking notes when she heard what sounded like a snore coming from next to her. She turned to see Reid his head on the desk. The teacher had his back to the class. So Max reached over and pinched him under the desk. He jumped and glared at her." You were snoring," she said softly. "Ow, did you have to pinch so hard?" he said "wimp" she hissed back he glared back. The teacher chose that moment to turn around.
"Is there a problem Miss Rhyde?" said the teacher. "No sir" answered Max. "Then why do you feel the need to interrupt my class?' said the teacher. "I ah" said Max "I was just asking to borrow her notes, Mr. Davies " said Reid. "Then I suggest you do so after class or take your own instead of sleeping in my class" said the teacher. Then he turned back to the board. "Thanks" Max mouthed. "Your welcome" he mouthed back
The rest of the day consisted of her being harassed by girls from her PE class or their friends and teachers yelling at her for stupid shit. By the time Max returned to her dorm room she wanted to just go home. She briefly considered repacking her bags. Then decided she just needed some aggression therapy. She changed into what she called her Biker slut look and she headed for town, to a place named Nicky's.
When she got there it was mercifully almost deserted. So she checked out some pool balls and set up at a table. Maybe she could find some suckers tonight at least. She was rewarded a few minutes later by some idiot, who fell for her. I'm just practicing because I'm not really that good line.
He fell for it mostly because he was looking at her chest the whole time. After letting him win a couple of rounds, she upped the ante. With a playful batting of the eyelashes he agreed. Then she started to really play. She let him think it was going to be another simple win. That was until she started doing trick shots and near impossible bank shots.
She soon had his wad of cash and he was walking away angrily. The next sucker came by an hour after the last one. She sharked him too easily taking his money. She was making bank tonight it was almost compensating for the horrible day. Until they showed up that was.
She was just finishing up with another sucker when she felt someone watching her. It turned out to be that Abbot prick." I've got winner," said Abbot. "Only if you got cash," said Max. Aaron held up a wad of cash, proving he was stupider than he looked. She finished the last shot. Winning the game. She picked up her winnings and reracked the balls.
"Would you like to break," she said. She knew she couldn't pull the I don't know how to play scam on him, but there was always the maybe I was just lucky maneuver. So she employed it deliberately missing shots she could easily make and making those that were more luck than skill.
She lost one round to Aaron, and then he proved again how stupid he was when he accepted her challenge of double or nothing. She continued the ruse from the last game mostly to put him at ease.
Then when he was good and confident he would win, she turned the tables on him. Aaron watched with growing frustration as her balls disappeared from the table with unerring accuracy. She sank the eight ball and picked up the cash. "You're a cheater" Aaron accused. "Nope, won fair and square I was just paying attention to the game not my opponents ass" she said. His friends laughed and Aaron stalked away all pissed off.
Aaron's friends decided to join him so that left her to once again await another sucker. "Good game" said a familiar voice. "Thank you" she said turning to see Reid and Tyler standing behind her. "So how much did you get off of him?" said Tyler Max pulled the wad from her pocket and flipped through it, doing a quick count. "About six hundred why?" she asked "wow ouch!" said Reid. She shrugged "he just is really as dumb as he looks" said Max. "Play you," said Tyler. "Are you sure about that Kid?" said Max
Tyler looked at Reid; Reid smirked at him and shrugged. "Your cash baby boy," said Reid. Tyler pulled a fifty out of his pocket and laid it on the table. Max did the same with her own money. Tyler almost reconsidered when he saw the second wad of money in her other pocket. "This is a friendly game?" asked Tyler "friendship has no place in competition," said Max "would you like to rack?" she said with a smile. Tyler could have sworn he saw sharks teeth.
"Sure" he said. He racked the balls and lifted the rack. He gave Reid a look as he did so. "Would you like to break?" asked Tyler. "Sure" she said and made her shot. Since they had already watched her play she saw no point in pretending she didn't know what she was doing. She sank the solid ball and took another shot. Sinking three more until she missed. She never missed, but she had felt dizzy a second before shooting. She watched her opponent and happened to glance at Reid. She felt the dizzy sensation again and Tyler made the shot.
For some reason Gorman's voice played in her head in that instant,"four brother's with the power" it said her eyes went wide, they were trying to cheat her. I don't think so she thought and decided to play their game. The second she felt him use to knock one of Tyler's balls in. she used to knock it off course. Which gave her an opportunity to shoot. Something she found difficult when her attention was divided between shooting and keeping them from messing with her shot.
It took every skill she had to keep her balls going where they should. She now understood what Gorman meant by training. these boys were strong, but were they the right ones? She made her last shot barely. She was fighting Reid all the way. The ball fell in and she just about collapsed. She regained her composure and picked up her money. Stuffed it into her wad and said, " that was fun but I need a break boys"
"Don't I get a turn?" asked Reid. His eyes told her that he had felt her fighting him "maybe after I take a break" she said. She then walked away towards the little girls room.
Her head hurt like someone had played handball with it.
Tyler watched her walk away with his money stuffed in her pocket "Reid what happened?" asked Tyler. Tyler was looking at Reid like he was blaming him for something. "She fought me," said Reid. He sounded surprised "she what?" said Tyler." She fought me and won," said Reid as though he were trying to confirm it in his own mind. "We need to tell Caleb," said Tyler. "We will but first I'm getting your money back," said Reid.
Max was taking her time composing herself, she had banished the headache and was preparing herself for what was coming next. She had no doubt Reid would not let himself be beat so easily. She just hoped kicking his butt wouldn't cost her a potential friend. She could always lose but they would know it and it would probably make them madder. She growled she came here to relax; maybe this was just what the doctor called for.
She strode out of the bathroom grabbed a soda at the bar and headed back to the pool tables. Reid was engaged in a game with someone else. Tyler wasn't beside him as usual. She glanced around the room and found him talking to Caleb. Caleb had a serious looking frown on his face.
Reid was finishing his game. So she walked over to them. "I've got winner" she announced calmly the guys nodded and Reid took his last shot. Winning the game easily and collecting his own winnings. "So do you want to make it more interesting?" he asked "more interesting how?" she asked, "oh I don't know, how about the winner gets something besides money" said Reid "like what?" she said "oh I don't know how about a kiss?" said Reid. "You have a girlfriend already" said Max.
"Ok kiss Tyler than" said Reid "and if you lose are you going to kiss Tyler too?" she teased. "Hey?" said Tyler as he walked into the conversation. Caleb and Pogue followed him "I don't think so," said Reid "so what else would you want?" Reid asked. He held his arms out to his sides like he was implying something she smiled "how about that jacket you're wearing?" she suggested. "My trench coat?" he asked "yep" she said "ok, but you also put what you won from Tyler on the table" he said "only if you match it" she said Reid pulled out a wad of cash peeled off a fifty and laid it on the table
Max did the same Tyler racked the balls and Reid let her break. With a condescending "ladies first"
She shot and sank a stripe right away. Then sank two others before she felt him engage his old tactics. She gritted her teeth for another fight. Employing slightly altered tactics she managed to keep her shots where she aimed them. She didn't bother to interfere with his shooting but instead concentrated on keeping her own shots accurate.
It gave her less of a headache than the first time around. This time she had a much closer audience than before so she had to curb her use a little. She watched Reid take his shot her mind half on his shooting the other half on Reid's changed tactics. Then something in her head snapped to attention. The tactics were different because it wasn't Reid. She looked closer at her audience when she took her next shot. Watching them for signs of undue concentration.
She caught Pogue staring hard at the balls on the table and deflected what he was trying to do. Then another tried to assert themselves she pushed back. This one felt like she was trying to move a brick wall. But she did it and took another shot. She realized what they were doing now. they were teaming up on her now. If she thought Reid was hard to fight this was the battle of a lifetime. She gritted her teeth and took her shot pushing tendrils of power off her cue stick and then the shot she made.
She had one left and so did Reid. It was her shot and she took it now thoroughly feed up with their tactics. She was starting to get angry with them. She made her last shot aiming the eight ball into a corner pocket. It weaved all over the table with the external forces being plied on it.
Till at last Max withdrew her power letting them fight each other for a second until they realized it was themselves they were fighting. then at the last second she grabbed it and pushed it into the hole. It clanked into the hole and Max picked up her soda downed it. Then picked up the money and shoved it into her pocket. She walked over to Reid and held out her hand "jacket" she said. Reid took it off and handed it to her. She took it and put it on. Dropped her cue stick on the table and walked away.