"Pinned ya!" Nala declared as she pinned Simba down by the water hole. "Again!"
Simba growled playfully at her. Why was this the one game he could not win? No matter how hard he tried, he could never succeed in pinning Nala down. He figured it must be some kind of girl thing that made them impervious to being pinned.
"You know, I don't even see why you bother trying to pin me," Nala told him cockily. "You know you'll never be able to."
Simba smiled back at her. "We'll see. I bet you by the end of the month I can pin you."
Nala grinned, sensing a challenge she could win easily. "Oh, really? What do you bet, then?"
Simba thought carefully for a moment. He smiled once he had made his choice. "All right, if I can't pin you by the end of the month then I'll… kiss you."
"Kiss me?" Nala exclaimed, tempted to jump away from Simba. She then realised that would give him the perfect opportunity to pin her, and she didn't want that. Was he serious? Kiss her? He was good at bets, she'd give him that.
"Yeah," said Simba, confident that he'd pretty much won this bet. She wouldn't want him to kiss her, so she'd have to let him pin her. Wouldn't she? He hoped so. "If I don't pin you by the end of the month, then I'll kiss you."
"I doubt it," Nala said, releasing him from her grip. He wouldn't do that… that wasn't like him. Was it? Was he actually really good at kissing? There was only one way to find out…
She couldn't let him win! She couldn't! She owed it to herself. This was the one game that Simba could never beat her at.
This was all just his sneaky little plan to try and finally beat her. Well, fine! Two could play at this game! She wasn't going to let him win, and if it meant a kiss from her best friend then she could take it. No problems with her.
"I will do it," Simba assured her, getting closer to her. "Right on the mouth," he teased, pointing to his own mouth.
Nala rolled her eyes at his teasing. "Really? Well, if I win then I'll kiss you."
"Fine!" Simba agreed without a complaint.
"Good," said Nala, smiling. Now that the prize was the same, they both had no advantage over each other. That made it fair, which kind of put a dent in Simba's sneaky plan. That wasn't how it was supposed to work… But he wasn't going to exactly tell that to Nala.
Simba started walking away. "Where are you going?" Nala asked, following after him.
"Somewhere that's actually exciting," he replied.
"What happened to not getting in trouble?" Nala questioned him, remembering how he had said earlier that they should take it easy today.
"Too boring," came his quick reply.
"I knew you'd say that sooner or later," Nala told him. She knew him too well. She had a feeling he'd cave in sooner or later. He couldn't go more than an hour without something exciting and adventurous to do.
"Well, I knew that you'd say that you knew that I would say that," Simba retorted with a grin.
Nala couldn't help but laugh. Okay, that was pretty funny! "Okay, so where are we going that's so exciting?"
Simba shrugged. "Somewhere we might die?" he half-heartedly suggested. "That usually does it for us."
Nala laughed again. "Sounds a little… dangerous, doesn't it?"
"Isn't that what makes it exciting?" Simba replied. "You know, the monsters, the bad guys, the damsel in distress – you – and the big hero – me."
"Big hero?" mocked Nala. "Face it, Simba. You're a little on the…" she whispered in his ear, "tiny side."
Simba's eyes widened. "I am not tiny!" He argued. "Watch." He took a deep breath, and puffed his chest out. "See?" he managed to say with his mouth closed.
Nala counted down the seconds until he let his breath out. "Five… four… three… two… one…"
Simba let his breath out with such great force that he fell onto his back. "Ow!" he cried.
Nala helped him to his paws. "Not very impressive, was it?"
Simba shook his head, seeing her point. "I guess not. But you don't need to be big to be brave. Dad said to me once that 'size doesn't matter'."
"And since when did you start listening to your dad?" Nala asked incredulously. "A little odd for you, isn't it?"
Simba waved her away with a paw. "Hey, it's all part of growing up." He pointed to the tuft of hair on the top of his head.
"See my mane? It's growing."
Nala smiled in disbelief, and plucked a single hair from his little tuft and showed it to his face. "What mane?"
Simba's face dropped. "Does everything have to be perfect for you or something? I'm doing my best to try and impress you."
"And why would you be doing that?" Nala asked, curious.
"Uh… Friendly reasons?" he suggested half-heartedly.
Nala rolled her eyes at his answer. "Nice try, Simba. But it's going to take more than a tiny mane to impress me."
"Maybe I'll impress you when I pin you before the end of the month," Simba remarked.
"If you pin me before the end of the month," she retorted.
"I will!" Simba insisted. "Just you wait! And after that, I'll pin you again, and again, and again!"
Nala laughed out loud. "Simba, why can't you just admit that you're not the best at everything?"
"I am so!" he declared. "Who's the future King here?"
"Me," Nala replied sarcastically. "Obviously, it's you."
"Exactly!" Simba exclaimed, grinning. "That makes me automatically the best!"
"Oh, yeah? Well, maybe I'll challenge you in a pinning match for the kingdom. Then I'll be Queen and you'll have to do what I say."
"No one says you have to challenge me," Simba muttered to himself under his breath.
"What was that, Simba?" Nala asked.
"Oh… Nothing."