All Hail Masterminds

7: Did I fucking stutter?

Ellie

Song: Poker face by Lady Gaga

It was too easy to read through their poker faces only because they thought they were good at them.

For example, when Dee got good cards, she would lift her brows and Axl Jack would widen his eyes.

I don't know when did I become such a good player, but when you hang out with hooligans it could come in handy.

Especially if you could become rich from it.

It was already the third round and their faces were getting paler and paler from the amount of money they've lost.

"Ha! I won, you crazy bitch!" Axl Jack pointed at me and threw his cards in the middle, a cocky smirk covering his face. "That's a full house."

I smirked back and revealed mine. "Flush, you pussy!" I got up and did my victory dance, which became iconic by now.

"I don't understand how does she always win," Dee threw her cards to Curtis who gathered them for everyone.

"I bet she can read our minds," Owen whispered to Axl Jack, who was tearing up.

"What the fuck? I literally owned that," he mumbled, giving me a dirty look.

"Next time, buddy," Lizzy tapped his back and winked, lighting another cigarette.

"Can you believe it's already September? Like, we had to spend the best part of Summer in a fucking house arrest," Chris changed the depressing atmosphere, glancing at me.

"It wasn't that bad, I got to eat and sleep all day," Axl Jack bragged and laid on one of the beds next to Owen.

"Lucky you, I was constantly harassed by my siblings," Owen complained, whose family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Wright, two brothers and three sisters.

"By the way, how's Max? Haven't heard from him in a while," Dee asked him, referring to his oldest brother.

From what she told me, they used to talk and hooked up last Summer at a party.

And I think nobody even knows about it.

"The fuck do you care about Max?" Lizzy asked her with furrowed brows, suspicion spreading across his face.

Everyone in the room directed their attention to him, including me.

It wasn't unknown to me that they had a special bond, but this sounded a lot like jealousy.

"Oh, so now you're talking to me?" she scoffed, crossing her arms and raising eyebrows. "You've been ignoring me for four weeks and now you're talking to me."

The deafening silence in the room seemed to suffocate everyone because their faces weren't only shocked, but terrified too.

Let's just say it like this - Dee can be intimidating when she's mad and hurt.

"What's the date today?" Owen changed the subject once again as the two of them glared at each other, each for different reasons.

"5th of September," Ellis replied coldly and lit up another cigarette as Dee rolled her eyes and sat beside Curtis on the second bed.

"Holy moly, your birthday's soon!" I exclaimed and looked at Dee and Curtis, who were born on the 22nd of September.

My attempt to bring up the mood was a failure.

"What are your plans?" Chris asked them, knowing their tradition is to throw the biggest party for their birthday.

Curtis looked at Dee, who gave him a slight nod.