Wanted Assassins

Wanna play basketball?

"I threw it off a bridge," Alice says.

"You WHAT?" Lukas roars.

"Blaze and I were on the mission together. I had your pistol. To save my life, I threw it off a bridge," Alice crosses her arms.

I give Alice a confused look. Alice didn't go in the mission with me; It was a solo mission.

"I'm going to break your pretty little face," Lukas says.

Lukas charges at Alice. She easily steps to the side. Lukas runs straight into a study table, knocking it over.

Lukas grunts and gets up. He grabs Alice's wrists with one hand and punches her in the face. I charge at him, but he throws me off.

Alice bites his arm. Lukas yelps and releases Alice's hands.

By now, pretty much everyone in the rec room is watching. It isn't uncommon for fights in the rec room, there's at least three a day. People bet on who's going to win.

Alice twists Lukas's arm backwards. She knees him in the stomach repeatedly.

Lukas yanks Alice's hair. Her grip on his arm loosens and Lukas pulls his arm free. He hits Alice in the jaw.

Alice drops down and uses her leg to sweep Lukas's legs out from under him. She puts Lukas in a headlock. She tightens her grip on Lukas's neck. His face is turning a strange shade of red.

Lukas taps out and Alice releases him. She springs up and walks away, leaving Lukas on the ground.

People watching either cheer or sigh and hand over money.

"You didn't have to do that," I tell Alice.

"We both know that if you took him on, you'd end up in the clinic again," Alice says.

I sigh and roll my eyes. "I would've been fine."

"Sure you would have," Alice says. Her eyes move to look past me. She smiles at whatever she sees and pushes past me. I turn around and see Lucy, Alice's best friend. Lucy was on a huge mission; she must have just gotten back.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn around. Kai stands behind me, grinning. "Did you make your move on her yet?"

I feel heat rush to my cheeks. "What? No, no way. We're friends."

Kai rolls his eyes. "Dude, you told me you liked her."

I groan, regretting telling Kai anything.

"Come on, man. You gotta do something," Kai says.

I glance over my shoulder. Alice is laughing at something Lucy said.

"Forget it. It doesn't matter." I say, turning away from Alice.

"Whatever, man." Kai says. "Anyway, Bear is doing a fighting match after dinner at The House. Wanna go watch?"

Bear is one of the biggest, most aggressive guys here. He has these fighting matches about once a week. Basically, anyone who wants to can challenge him. It's a great way to kill a Tuesday evening.

"Yeah, I'll come," I say.

Kai and I start talking about who we think will challenge Bear, and who would win.

The tree o'clock bell rings. Kai and I both have a class on poisons. The class would actually be interesting if our teacher, Mr. O, wasn't extremely boring. I've fallen asleep in his class before.

Kai and I walk into Mr. O's classroom just as the bell rings. We take our usual seats in the back. This class is one of the only classes that has desks.