Gambling In Love

Chapter 2: Saotome Mary

"That bitch!" Mary yelled as she flipped the table she and Yumeko had been playing on a few minutes ago. In fear, the girl who served as a dealer sprinted off. "Hey! Wait!" Mary yelled after her, "Not a word of this! Do you hear me?" The girl didn't respond, and Mary couldn't help but scream. Eventually, screaming turned into crying, and it took her a few moments to pull herself together.

She quickly wiped her eyes and rushed out of the basement she had been in. Lucky for her, everyone had already left school, or so she thought. "Mary," a sweet voice stated from behind her. Immediately, she knew who the voice belonged to.

"Kirari," Mary stated evenly as she turned to face Mary.

"I hear you won your match against the new girl today," Kirari stated, "Congratulations. It seems you're still undefeated."

"Who told you that?" Mary snapped, trying not to sound desperate.

"I heard her telling that Fido boy about her loss. She kept saying she was bummed about it or something. Apparently, you mopped the floor with her," Kirari laughed a little.

"Yeah," Mary said flatly as she continued exiting the school.

The whole walk back to her house, Mary couldn't stop thinking about Yumeko. Why had the girl lied for her? What did she want from her? Surely she wouldn't have lied for no reason. What kind of idiot would do that? It's obvious that she just wants Mary to bow to her every whim. That's it.

By the time Mary entered the Saotome residence, she was fuming. "Whoa there honey, calm down," her mother said while placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Mary shrugged it off and walked to her room. She didn't have the patience to deal with her parents acting like they care right now.

When she finally reached her room, she had about 5 seconds of down time before her father entered, almost as angry-looking as Mary herself. "You don't get to treat your mother like that," he said firmly.

"Of course," Mary said, trying to sound as genuine as possible, "My apologies."

"What's eating you?" he asked, noticing his daughter's mood.

"Nothing," she said simpy, laying down in her big bed.

"Still undefeated?" her father asked with a smirk.

"Of course," she sighed.

"That's my girl," he smiled as he gripped her shoulder a little too tightly to be friendly, "because if you lose, you'll never hear the end of it." Her father released her shoulder and walked out of her room.

Mary exhaled a sigh of relief when he left her room. She had felt a little guilty about lying to her father, but had she said she lost, she wasn't sure how he'd react. Then again, if the truth came out, she'd never hear the end of it. Lying and losing? They'd practically disown her.

"Dinner's done!" she heard her mother's voice. Lazily, she walked down the stairs to her kitchen, grabbed a plate of food, and sat down at the table.

The table was filled with boring conversation entirely based on gambling. Her parents were some of the best gamblers out there aside from those in the Bami families. Bami families. Suddenly, she was thinking about that goddamn Yumeko Jabami bitch again. All the Bami families are manipulative, compulsive, pathological liars; it's what makes them such great gamblers. She should've seen right through the girl from the beginning.

"Honey, what's wrong?" her mom asked.

"What?" she asked, confused. Then she looked around and realized she had smacked her fist onto the table in frustration, "oh, sorry. There's just a lot going on in school today. I guess I'm a little stressed."