New Boy (A Javid Story)

The Poker Game

(I make the timeline for this book fit with what's going on in my life at the time. So when I have time off, so do the boys. So please, don't think I've forgotten about the protest, I just wanted to get a chapter up. But I promise, the protest is coming!)

Every year, the day after Valentine's Day, there was a Brooklyn vs. Manhattan poker game. Race held it in his basement, and they all bet candy instead of actual money. Everyone was invited, but not everyone played. Last year, Race won and the year before that it was Flame. This year, Race was hoping to keep his title. 

Along with the game, bets were placed on who would win. Albert was running those bets this year, as he had done in the past, because Race was too busy playing. 

"I bet you're gonna lose." Albert announced as the two set up. 

"Oh, yeah?" Race raised an eyebrow. "How much?" He challenged. 

"A king sized Kit Kat." Albert smirked. 

"Oh, you're gonna be sorry when I win, then." Race grinned. 

"You're gonna be sorry when you lose." Albert shot back. "My candy is on Flame." 

"Flame's got nothing on me." Race scoffed. 

"We'll see how much better Flame is when you're playing, won't we?" Albert crossed his arms. 

"I guess we will." Race nodded, going back to setting up the tables filled with snacks. 

"How many people is we expecting?" Albert asked, putting chairs around the poker table. 

"I dunno, like, 80?" Race gave a wild guess. "Why you asking me?"

"Cause this is your party." Albert pointed out. 

"Doesn't mean I control the guest list." Race shrugged. 

"Yeah, it does." Albert insisted. At that moment, the doorbell rang, and Albert ran upstairs to check who it was. On the front step was Elmer, Jojo, and Romeo. The three were clearly having an argument, but it was also very obviously not serious. 

"I'm just saying, homemade mac and cheese is the best mac and cheese." Jojo insisted. 

"Then you've obviously never had Panera mac and cheese." Elmer rolled his eyes.

"Hey guys, come in." Albert opened the door wider, only to be ignored. 

"No way. Kraft tops them all." Romeo argued, walking inside.

"Disgusting. Homemade is the answer." Jojo stepped into the house. 

"Your answer is wrong." Romeo decided. 

"No, both of you is wrong. The answer is Panera!" Elmer waved to Albert, but kept arguing. 

"Great to see you guys too." Albert mumbled, ushering them downstairs. 

Two hours later, the poker game and the party around it was in full swing. Romeo, Jojo and Elmer were still having the mac and cheese discussion, and nobody seemed to be winning. Race and Flame were in heavy competition across the table, and Spot was losing badly at poker. Finch, as it turned out, had a great poker face, but Crutchie did not. Albert was running bets on who would win the game, but went against what he said before and placed his own bet on Race. Katherine, who was invited as always, was playing and was actually doing pretty well. Both Jack and Davey placed their bets on her, having full confidence in her. 

"You're going down, Higgins." Katherine told the boy two seats down from her. 

"In your dreams, Plumber." Race shot back. 

"If you're in it, it's more like a nightmare." She teased. 

"Oh please, we all know you're dreaming of being with me." Race continued. 

"You wish." Katherine rolled her eyes. 

"Will you two knock it off and play?" Flame reminded. 

"Like I'm gonna listen to you." Race rolled his eyes. 

"Please, we all know I'm a better poker player than you are." Flame stated. 

"Then how come I won last year, huh?" Race challenged. 

"Both of you," Spot interrupted. "Shut up and play." 

"Sorry, Spot." Flame bit her lip. 

"We're just havin' a little fun." Race tried to argue.

"You'll have more fun playing than trash talking." Spot said. 

"Says the king of trash talk." Blue mumbled. 

"Oh, no. I'm the king of Brooklyn, but I ain't the king of trash talk." Spot denied. 

"Then who is?" Blue asked. 

"Probably," Spot started. 

"Hey! Keep the game moving!" Finch reminded. "Some of us just wanna win already." 

"Like you would win, Finch." Race rolled his eyes. 

"Finch actually has a lot of bets placed on him." Albert informed. "Not the most, but a lot." 

"See?" Finch pointed to Albert. "Let's keep going." 

"Wait, who has the most?" Race tried to ask. 

"Racer, focus!" Crutchie reminded, and the game continued on. 

Throughout the night, people came and went, but the party remained pretty solid. Jack and Davey were talking in a corner when the topic of English class came up. 

"I'm just sayin', they never exactly tell you how old Romeo is." Jack pointed out. 

"Still, most people think he's in like, his twenties." Davey reasoned. 

"And most people think tomatoes are a vegetable." Jack rolled his eyes. 

"Why don't we ask Romeo himself?" Davey suggested. 

"Fine." Jack nodded, and the pair started to look around. After a few minutes, they couldn't find him, so they went to the one person they could find who might know. 

"Hey, Jojo, you seen Romeo?" Jack asked. 

"Nope." Jojo shook his head, taking a sip of his soda. 

"Elmer might know." Davey spoke up. "Have you seen him?" 

"Both of them disappeared like, an hour ago." Jojo shrugged. 

"We'll ask him tomorrow." Jack nodded at Davey. "Thanks, though." 

"No problem." Jojo nodded, going back to his conversation with Albert. 

By the end of the night, Crutchie was asleep on the couch and Jack carried him home that night. Race fell asleep on the poker table after winning the game. Jojo won the most candy from betting on Race, but other people won small amounts too. Davey went home fifteen minutes after the game ended, just long enough to find out he had won a king sized Three Musketeers. Albert, Spot, Flame, and Katherine all slept over that night, too exhausted to go home. Davey still felt weird about the fact that Romeo and Elmer were nowhere to be found, but he decided he would call each of them in the morning and find out what happened. 

(If I was to write another book, would you guys want a college AU, another high school AU, or something else? Let me know!)