The Legend of the Hill | Book I of the Meribah Trilogy

× Chapter Three

"Actually, I think you're right. But be careful, she's smart."
~

"Jeez, you scared the ever-living crap out of me!" AK puffed, looking angry.

"Jeez, it was just a harmless trick!" Belmont mocked. The two never got along, and I mean never.

"Anyways," I butted in, hoping that an argument wouldn't start. "We have a warni-"

"You didn't have to fall out of a tree!" AK fought back. Great, I thought. We'll be here all day.

"Better safe than stupid. I didn't want it to be a trap."

"A trap? Really, Belmont, we wouldn't betray you like that."

"They wouldn't." Belmont pointed at me and Samuel. "You would."

"We're on the same side, bozo brain." AK defended.

"So? It would give you a chance to torture me."

"Torturing you? Being around you tortures me!"

"Stop!" Samuel yelled (Well, whispered-yelled). "Belmont, we have something urgent."

"We're not sure of this, but-" I started, but was interrupted again.

"Wait, where's Prince Jackson?" Belmont said, batting his eyelashes at me.

"We're just friends," I tried to explain.

"You two flirt a lot." AK pointed out.

"Who said it was flirting?" I defended.

"We're getting off track!" Samuel whispered-yelled again. "Just let Cass explain without annoying her!"

"Why? Oh, that's right, Samuel loves Cassandra..." Belmont sang.

"I do not!" Samuel's face flushed red with embarrassment.

"Okay, Belmont, stop it." I demanded, half-embarrassed myself. "We're here on a very urgent matter."

"Ugh, fine." Belmont sat on the side of the block stage. "You guys never let me have any fun."

AK rolled her eyes. "Anyways, me and Cass saw Lucius talking to Jackson-"

"Prince Jackson." Belmont corrected, turning around to face AK.

"Well- whatever, Lucius was talking to Jackson this morning at breakfast, and the only thing we could think of was that Lucius suspected that he knew where you were."

"And this is mere speculation." Belmont raised an eyebrow.

"Well, better safe that sorry."

"Better safe than stupid," Belmont corrected again.

"You rather be stupid that safe?" AK retorted.

"Why, if it means I won't have to see you again, then yes."

"Oh, you-"

"Can't you two agree for once?" I sighed. "You fight like-"

"No, we can't, obviously." Belmont interrupted once more. "She's too hard-headed."

"Who are you calling hard-headed?" AK took a step forward, while Belmont stood up on top of the Stone Chapel.

"Why, you, of course." Belmont took a step forward as well, to where the two were standing directly in front of each other. "Who else could it be?"

"Maybe you should actually disappear, like your Dad!"

"Alright. That's it." Belmont jumped down off of the stage. "I'm done here. And never again-" Belmont pointed back at AK. "-you bring her here."

"You'll stay more careful?" Samuel yelled (not whispered this time) at Belmont.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

We stood there in silence for about a minute. "Should we head back now?" I suggested.

"I guess." Samuel trudged forward. AK said nothing, but started walking.

I wish we could all get along, and not have to fight about every little thing.

×+×

We headed back to Ken-Mac just in time for the pre-championship match of badminton, against Matthew and Jackson. Glad to see he's alright, I thought.

I then thought back to my conversation with Belmont, and how AK pointed out the flirting between me and Jackson. I've never had feelings for him, I thought, confused. Does he have them for me?

I hardly payed any attention to the game, since my thoughts were elsewhere. I snapped back into reality when Eli yelled "And the winner is Jackson Martin!"

"You hear that, Cass?" AK said, jumping up and down. "Jackson beat Matthew! You've got to go against him now!"

"Wait, I do?" I wondered, then remembered that I won the last championship. "Oh yeah, I've already forgot."

"You've got this, Cass!" Samuel cheered, along with half of my friends, while the other half was cheering for Jackson. I took the racket from Matthew's hands and readied myself for the serve.

"You think you've got what it takes, Prince Jackson?" I smiled.

"Oh, you've already lost." Jackson smiled back.

Instead of narrating the badminton match, I probably need to explain the whole "Prince Jackson" thing. You see, Jackson is the Crown Prince of the Martin Clan, a group of people who are, well, mind-readers. Technically, he can read anyone's mind, when he wants to. Usually when he's in a crowd their are too many people to focus on one person's mind, but if he's in a room with about two or three different people, he can zone in on one person. Only me, AK, Samuel, and Belmont know that Jackson is a mind reader.

There is only a few people who's minds Jackson can't read at all. Lucius' (which would help if he could), Dotson's, and the strange Millienium Knight. The Millienium Knight (or Millienium, for short) is Lucius' strange bodyguard that randomly appeared one day. We aren't one-hundred percent sure Millienium is even a human, because it seems like an empty suit of armor. Jackson's theory is that it doesn't have a mind.

I easily won the badminton match, Five-to-One. "And the champion is Cassandra De La Carté!"

Jackson collapsed to the ground in amusement. "At least I tried."

"I let you score that point!" I laughed.

"Naw, that was pure skill." Jackson smiled. "One-point guaranteed."

I couldn't help but to laugh. Maybe we do flirt a lot, I smiled inside my head. I noticed that Jackson's smile turned into a grin.

Uh oh, I thought. You heard that, didn't you?

"Yep." Jackson grinned even brighter.

"My bad." I laughed in embarrassment. I could tell by AK's face she knew exactly what went on, causing my face to be even redder.

Me and Jackson sat down our rackets and walked over to AK and Samuel. "Wanna go hang out at the Loft?" I suggested. The Loft was a small open upstairs area in the Hall, which was an unpopular hangout spot. The four of us usually hung out there by ourselves.

"Sure." AK said. We started to walk toward the Hall when Sharp, Lucius' "Messenger Boy", was running toward us.

"Cassandra? Lucius needs to see you."