It's On! Alhaitham x OC (Sk8 au)

Chapter 3 - Deal with the Devil

Thalia's gold eyes glared back at the masked figure before her, clenching her hands at her sides in an effort to seem less scared than she was. She focused her feelings back towards her anger, remembering what the male before her was about to do.

"Why don't you back off, you jerk?" She snapped, having placed herself between Kaveh and Vultur. The board that he was about to break was safely sitting right behind her feet.

Although she was doing her best to remain tough, Thalia was freaking out on the inside. A million thoughts were racing in her mind as hindsight caught up with her. Thoughts of this being a misunderstanding and her embarrassing herself were the hardest to dismiss. 'No.' She jostled those thoughts out of her head, reminding herself of all the signs she'd seen. She was sure of this. She was sure the man in front of her was about to break Kaveh's board as a punishment. It all fit with what she already knew. Which brought her back to-

Vultur.

The tall, masked male walked towards her slowly. Growing nervous about his approach, Thalia grabbed the board behind her and held it tightly to herself as if to shield it from him. Her eyes were locked on to the threat, her body turned away so he wouldn't have easy access.

He came to a stop in front of her. His silence caused Thalia unease as he seemed to scrutinize her with a gaze she wasn't able to see. "You must be new here. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made such a dumb mistake as to get in my way."

Even his words seemed to look down on Thalia, as if they were crafted perfectly to belittle her.

Perhaps it was out of anger, or because Thalia wanted to bluff her way out of the weird situation she found herself in, but she made the decision there to meet Vultur's demeaning attitude with her own.

"I don't think I need to be a regular to recognize a coward."

"Excuse me?" The tone seemed to be testing Thalia, daring her to continue her thought. He was trying to call her out on her bluff, provoking her to either finish that thought or give up while she still could.

Thalia really hoped the sweat she was feeling forming on her forehead wasn't as obvious to him. 'Eh, I think my grave is a little too shallow still. Why not go deeper.'

She scoffed in mock confidence, rolling her eyes to sell the act. "It doesn't take a genius to see you're just trying to hinder any competition you have. I'd guess you're scared to lose."

The whispers around Thalia seemed to grow to more audible mutters. Catching some of their words, the girl felt encouraged that at least everyone else seemed to be buying it, especially since she just ran with the first idea that came to mind.

"Is that what you believe?" The male asked. He seemed to be completely unbothered about the growing mutters of the crowd, like their opinion meant nothing to him.

Thalia turned her nose up at him, declaring, "I do."

'I do believe I should've kept my mouth shut anyway.' She thought bitterly to herself.

That thought only became more solidified as she watched Vultur come closer to her. She stood her ground in some attempt at showing she wasn't scared, although she regretted that upon the male reaching out to grab hold of her chin. He forced her to look up at him, making her strain her neck to make eye contact with him. She could feel the material of his gloves rubbing against her skin, only irritating her further at the nerve this guy had.

"Do you wish to challenge how I run Sk8?" He asked simply.

Thalia stared back at the gold outlined eyes of the mask before her, thinking carefully about what her next words should be.