S a l e t é I V

XL - Creux - Deux

"You're terrible at this!"

"It's not my fault!"

Spears was trying not to laugh as Sunshine teased him over his inability to play checkers well, the two teenagers sat on the ground with the board between them as they engaged in battle, Cassia and her friends serving as the audience as they sat together in a line nearby, laughter far from uncommon as they watched.

Now that she was nestled between Sleeves and Shipshape, the boy keeping an arm around her whilst she was close, Cassie was feeling a lot safer. She wasn't afraid to rest against his side either, his kindness making it easy for her to do so.

They'd played several games between them before the teens had begun to duke it out, Cassia winning her game against Sleeves but losing to Shipshape, before Swoopy had beaten him quite well, her delight as they'd praised her success only a little on the timid side. They didn't have all of the pieces anymore, and so Sunshine had kept a few black and white buttons from old clothes, mismatched in size yet uniform in colour, filling in any gaps.

"You're the braniac in this family, not me." Spears was saying in an effort to explain his incoming loss, only she wasn't letting him off the hook so easily.

"Is that why you always boast about knowing everything whenever you're out with Chief? Where to go, what to do... I'd have thought you need to be smart to remember all of that." She replied, her gaze still suspicious, Cassia believing her point to be a good one.

"That's different."

"How is it?"

"It's... It's just different! That's... What do you call it, when you're doing stuff instead of thinking about it?"

"Practical?" Swoopy suggested, to which he snapped his fingers.

"Practical, yeah. I'm good at practical stuff, not dumb games like this." He explained, scowling at the board.

"You have to move the checkers though, don't you? That's practical." Sunshine replied, Swoopybarely withholding a smile as she kept up with poking fun, the playful glare he gave her not helping.

"Since when were you such a bully? I thought you were all about the whole peace and love kinda thing? It's a different story when I'm around, huh?" He asked defensively, his dismay only making the younger children laugh again.

"I like how you only call it a dumb game when you're losing." Shipshape said from his spot in the audience, Sleeves descending into full on giggles when the older lad waved off his attempt to rile him further.

"Alright, let's not pretend that you didn't lose to a chick as well." Spears grumbled in his defence, Shipshape entirely undeterred.

"Yeah, except I didn't moan about it, did I? I got beat, so what? Swoopy was better."

"I ain't moaning."

"All you've done for the past five minutes is moan."

"You'll be moaning in a minute when I crush your face, now shush!" Spears insisted, his rising annoyance just what Shipshape had been aiming for, along with the continued entertainment for the girls at his side.

Spears made his next move, only for Sunshine to retaliate by taking two of his pieces.

"Aww, come on!" He immediately complained, blatantly unaware that he'd left himself wide open to attack, the girl he was playing against no longer trying to contain her own chuckles as he became increasingly desperate.

"See? There you go again, when you're the one that messed up." Shipshape called, Spears now swiping in his direction rather than waving, on the off chance he was within slapping range.