Jeopardy: The Fourth Quarter Quell

Girltalk - Luxury

Luxury

She screamed. I actually made Diamond Merrit scream. And if Ade hadn't intervened I'd have killed her then and there for letting Elton go. Because it was her, whatever she says. She had a post and she abandoned it and Elton broke for it. Good job he didn't get far, that I saw him coming. I suppose it's surprising that Ade didn't notice, but she's so wrapped up in Crispin. She tries to hide it, of course, she's not the sort to play up any advantage she can get, but it's getting more and more obvious.

In training, just after the companions had arrived, I'd tried to wind her up about it. Or I'd been going to, before Portia poked her nose in. If I had a tessera for every time I'd heard that...

Crispin is dozing off again. Clearly someone never taught him to stay alert, though I'm slightly jealous at his ability to sleep in sunlight. Elton's blood is still splattered down his clothing, runny with where the rain has smeared it. It's stopped now; in the pale morning light, tiny fragments of raindrops drip from the rim. Everything else is still and quiet.

Ade sits next to him, of course, perfectly straight. She's bundled her hair back onto the top of her head again and apart from the slight shadows under her eyes she seems well. I pat mine to check that it's still in place. I'm still wearing the hat. A hideous thing, though not like you expect anything better from Eight or Nine or wherever the previous owner was from. She wasn't needing it, anyway.

"You look ridiculous," Diamond mutters sourly from Elton's old place. Once that would have stung. Now I actually laugh. She's got no right to talk and she knows it; she just wants to make herself think that she's still got some ground here. She even tries to pout a little as she says it but it looks deflated. Her whole face seems to be sagging, those baby-face features sunk and pale and her eyelids drooping over her eyes. One is ringed by a purple bruise. I'm not sure how she got that - I didn't hit her in the face - but it makes me buzz a little with triumph. This is the second time I've beaten her. The third is coming and she can feel it; she knows she's lucky to be alive.

One of her hands grips the bandage around her calf. A proper bandage from inside one of the boxes. Ade had offered to tie it but I wanted the honour myself, as well as the chance to tie it just too tightly. All credit to her, she hadn't winced.

"Oh, zip it," Ade sighs. Venus pokes her head around the entrance. It keeps striking me how much smaller she is that us all, how the way she stands always seems to make it look as though she's not quite in the right place. That and the fact that despite the endless pointless muttering, I keep forgetting she's around. Loyal, but is she of any use? Perhaps I need to check. But the only way I can do that is with Diamond, and Diamond is mine.

"Did you say something?" Venus looks from Ade to me and back again, "Only I could have sworn you said something..."

"Not to you," I say, otherwise she'll go on forever. She nods and vanishes again, and a second later her voice bubbles over the dripping, talking to Chase.

"Strange girl," Ade comments. I nod. I'd rather deal with her than Portia any day, but she's still weird. Then again, there's a reason One are better than Two. We deal with our weirdos, don't even let them into training. Like Onyx, that waste of air. The Two selection process must be almost random for Venus to get in.

Diamond opens her mouth to say something and decides against it.

Curled up on top of the sleeping bag, Crispin shuffles slightly. Ade turns to him, eyes glowing and that little smile starting to seep onto her face. Just good friends. Yeah, totally.

I never did get the chance to wind her up about it. Might as well now, when there's nothing going on. I would never have thought the arena could be so dull. Five days gone now and apart from the blurry scramble last night, it feels like nothing has happened.