Nepenthe | Sapnap |

Get Good, I Guess

Originally published on AO3 under the same title. This will be published in both places under the profile names of lilysaplings. I'm on my college arc so this is just for fun, updates are a time construct, enjoy.

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"No!" Morgan screamed. "Screw you!"

All I could do was double over in laughter as I held my stomach with one arm, holding my bow in the other. "Let's go!" I cheered in victory once I caught my breath.

Morgan just groaned again in frustration and loss as she hung up her bow on the wall with the others before turning back around to face me with her arms crossed over her chest. "You suck."

"Oh, come on," I let out another chuckle as I straightened my back and swung out my arms in defense. "It was fair and square. You lost."

She just shook her head at me when I passed her to place my bow back where it belonged with the others as well and we headed out across the dirt range to receive the arrows we just shot to determine the winner of our little bet.

"I want another round," Morgan complained as she propped her foot up on the target to give herself the extra leverage to pull the first arrow out. "There's no way I'm doing it."

I scoffed, pulling out three arrows in one go, "We agreed best out of five. I won, and you're not getting out of it."

Our bet was to ask one of the boys to be our date to this year's Winter dance. Every season Jackson, the small yet stable town that we live in, held a small dance where everyone would take the night off and relax from all the responsibilities for just a few hours. The main hall in the center of town would be decorated with strands upon strands of lights and a few of the town's musicians would play. It's just a good time overall to forget about everything.

Usually, people would bring dates or go together as groups. And so of course, there was always drama revolving around that, but it was just easier to ignore it and dance the night away under the pretty lights.

"Nope, oh shit-" she cursed as she flew back a bit as the arrow finally released its death grip on the target. "No, I am not asking one of them."

"Morgan," I let out a huff, "why make the bet then if you're not going to do it?"

"Because I thought I would win and make you ask Ni-" I smacked her in the side of her arm to cut off her sentence. "Ow! Why?"

I started walking away to toss the arrows in the bucket, throwing my words over my shoulder, "To make you stop saying lies."

"I'm not lying! It's so true! You're the one lying. Lying to yourself." She gasped out as she followed me to also return the used arrows, waving said arrows around as she spoke. "You like him, just ask him out."

I let a breath out roughly through my nose, swinging my backpack on and pulling my hair out from underneath it. "You don't know what you're talking about. I barely know him."

Morgan followed my lead, putting her backpack on and joining me by my side as we exited the shooting range. The rest of Jackson was starting to wake up and beginning to move about to start the day ahead of them. There was a fresh coating of snow on the ground that began to show the tracks of more and more people as the morning passed by.

"What do you mean you barely know him? Kate, that's ridiculous." Now it was her turn to let out a scoff as she ran her fingers through her curly hair, tying it up in her usual bun on top of her head to keep it off the back of her neck. "We've been in the same friend group since we were practically eighteen. You know him."

I sighed as I looked back and forth down the road before starting to cross, heading towards the stables. "I know, but I never hung out with him one on one before. It's always been in a group setting before." I tucked my hair behind my ear, the wind blowing it out and waving to my uncle as he rode past on his horse.