(Outdated) The King of Elements (part 2)

Chapter 10

"I hope you don't mind the extra people, guys," Dre said as they all walked farther into the living room.

"No biggie, guys. Make yourselves at home. We're going to be doing each other's nails in a minute." Ian paused as he was taking a seat on the love seat, looking shocked at Toney. "Kidding, man. I'm only kidding."

"I hope you were," he said, plopping down on the couch. He turned his attention to Rose, patting on the extra space in the seat. "You wanna take a seat?"

"I don't think so. I'd rather- hey!" Dre swiftly slid into the armchair.

"Sorry, dude. First come, first serve." he said, grinning.

Sighing, she sat down beside Ian. "Let's set some ground rules. If you even consider touching me in an intimate way, I will make sure you regret it."

Michael strode behind the sofa and rested his arms on the backrest, looking at the screen. "So, who's all playing?"

"Right now, just me, Kim, and Dre," Megumi said as she tossed her controller to Dre.

"Who said I was playing?" Dre asked, arching a brow.

Megumi simply grinned as she said, "I did. Anyone else want in?"

"Sure," Ian sighed as he raised a hand, "since my original plan got shot down before I could even say it."

~~~~

Ten minutes passed as they began playing, and Dre had already reduced Megumi's lives from ninety-seven to fifty-one. "Dre, oh my God, stop dying!" The group began laughing, excluding Dre.

"You know how much I suck at this, Megumi," Dre said with an edge. "I grew up on Sonic, not Mario."

"They are both basically the same," Michael said. "The only difference is one moves faster. If anything, your reflexes should be much sharper due to the speed difference. That is, of course, if you didn't suck at Sonic, too."

"Shut up."

"Oh, Kim," Megumi began after a moment, "have you talked to your crush yet?"

Kim went red as she dropped the controller. Every eye had shifted to her. "You have a crush? May I ask who it's on?" Rose asked.

"No one was supposed to know," Kim said in a low voice. "His name is- er... Richard. We go to school with him in Prescott. I haven't been able to talk to him as much as I used to, though."

"Oh, that's easy," Megumi said, unpausing the game. Everyone went back to playing. "Just talk to him the way I talk to boys." Dre lost another life. "Ke'Undre Wolf, stop playing like such garbage!"

"Leave me alone!" Dre said, feigning sadness.

"Er... I think I'll pass," Kim said.

Time passed since they've started playing. "You play pretty well at this game, Ian," Rose said. Ian seemed too focus on the game to notice that her tone had lightened.

"I've played Mario games to death when I was younger. I still play from time to time, but I'm too busy with school to play."

"You're still in school? Are you still in high school, or have you began college?" Rose asked, a look of expectancy in her eyes.

"High school still. I started school late, so I'm a year behind what I'm supposed to be in." He shrugged. "It won't really matter much once I start going to college."

"You're also thinking of going to college?" Loyalty may have been right all along. I may have had Ian figured the wrong way. He's probably too focused on the game to stick to his other persona.