𝐆𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 || #𝟏

Chapter 33

"Emily, you are a strange person," Alice mutters. "And also, thank god for this distraction because I wasn't ready to present."

"Everyone," Ms Smith calls out. "We'll do our presentations in the spare classroom next door."

"Fuck," Alice swears. 

-- ------ --

Luke invited me to come over to his house to play video games. I'm sure that he's seriously regretting his choice, because I am smashing him. His older brother decides to join, but not even he can match my superior skills.

"How'd you kill me, again?" Luke complains, throwing the controller in his lap. "This is so annoying!"

His older brother lazily grins, "usually Luke's the best gamer in our family. At least now I don't have to deal with his constant nagging about how awesome he is. He needs to be humbled."

I laugh, and Luke collectively groans again once I snipe him, again.

"That's not fair!" Luke cries, "I had just spawned! And plus, how'd you snipe me when I was that far away?"

"Do you want to play minecraft, then?" I suggested playfully, "I'm sure it'd be much more in your wheelhouse."

Luke groans, but agrees. His older brother leaves because he only came to see Luke get smashed by me, and Luke is in a bad mood. He opens up a minecraft world, and then fixes on a playful grin.

"What if we did a competition? Who can build the best house in creative? And we'll get my brother to judge."

"That is a dangerous game that you do not want to play," I warn. "I was known in primary school for being the best minecraft builder, and if I end up winning you can't get mad."

"Deal," he agrees, extending his hand for me to shake. "If I win, then you have to... You have to give me a kiss on the cheek."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that I wasn't going to lose. "If you lose you have to watch Attack on Titan with me." Yes, I had gotten into Attack on Titan, thanks to Alice. I watched seventy-five episodes of the anime in five days. If you thought that was concerning, I also watched ninety-seven episodes of My Hero Academia in five days.

I have a slight problem.

"Deal."

We both shake out hands, and start building. An hour passes by, and we're both ready to present our houses to Luke's older brother. He looks around them for a bit, before declaring the winner.

"I declare... That it is a tie," his brother admits. "They're both really good. Jasmine's house is like a castle, while Luke's house is like a mansion. Can't choose, they're both equally great."

Luke looks over at me, and I smack my hand on my forehead. "Does this mean I have to watch Attack on Titan with you, and you have to kiss my cheek?"

"Fine," I sigh. "Let's just get it over with."

Luke smirks, as I shuffle a little closer to him. Quicker than light, I peck him on the cheek. He gasps.

"That's not fair! That was so quick I didn't even get to-"

"That's all you get," I shot back. "Now you have to fulfill your part of the deal." Despite me acting as if I hated every second of that awkward peck, I didn't. Instead, it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Luke never saw it, but I inwardly smiled. Careful to not let him know that I enjoyed it.

"Is this the first episode?" He asked, motioning towards the television. I nodded my head.

Not even twenty minutes later, his brother joins in to watch the show. We all watch in anticipation, and end up binging all of the first season. I had given my thoughts, and comments about the show during the episodes, which made them snigger.

"Is it just me, or does Erwin look like Ken from Barbie?" I commented, looking at the Survey Corps leader. Luke laughs.

"Look at how thick his eyebrows are," he points out. Poor Erwin, I'm pretty sure when he was younger he was bullied about that in school.

Our comments undermine the serious show, and we end up laughing the whole time. We start talking about how ugly the titans look, and then I point out that one of them looks like Luke. His older brother howls in laughter, and Luke looks offended.

By the time we finished the first season, it was already night. I wave goodbye, waiting outside his house for Claudia to pick me up. Claudia texts me, and tells me that she's on her way - but might be five minutes late because she was practising on how to be a lawyer.

When she arrives, and I get in the car - the whole way she is talking about how much she had learned. She brags about how she knows what a subpoena is, and surprisingly gets the definition of it correct.

"I also learned that I want to be a prosecutor."

I choke on air, looking at her. "I thought you wanted to be a corporate lawyer, and make a lot of money..?"

"But," she reasons, "they just... Read documents, and I don't like reading."

"All lawyers have to read, and plus don't you read your fancy law book everyday?"

"That's besides the point," she reasons. "I just think that putting guilty people in jail is something that I'm interested in. Of course, the justice system isn't always going to be fair, so I want to try and make it fair." Something seems different about her, and I remember that she's coming back from dad today.

"How is he?" I asked, "is he holding up alright?"

"No," she gulps, "he's not. I think I want to stay at mum's full time... He's drunk, Jasmine. He's constantly drunk, I don't even know how I made it through the week without... Yeah, I guess you could say that my epiphany may have something to do with him."

"He's just... Drunk? Addicted?"

"I guess you could say that," she agreed. "But his temper is also horrible, it always has been but... Now he's smashing things, he's lost his grip on life. I'm going to talk to mum about it." She looks at me, "it'll be okay."