Love is a Losing Game

LIALG - Chapter 19

"You cheated!"

"Did not!"

"There's no way you got that much money! Last time we looked, Carlos was winning!" I argued, reaching over to try to sneak a peek at Jay's cards. The telltale squeak of our hideout's door sounded, but I was too angry to pay it any attention.

"That was, like, an hour ago! You were here the whole time! How could I have cheated?" Jay argued, pulling his cards out of my sight line suspiciously.

"Guys," Carlos' feeble voice spoke.

"Because you're a sneaky little shi-"

"Guys!" Carlos said more forcefully, pulling on my jacket sleeve and finally earning my attention.

"What?" I asked, still agitated from losing our made-up game.

Instead of answering me, the boy simply pointed in the direction of our shared mattress in the middle of our little house-of-sorts. There Evie was, sitting tentatively on the edge of the bed, arms wrapped around her waist and her head hung low.

The three of us exchanged worried glances before throwing our cards down and making our way over to her. Jay swiftly leapt onto the bed, sitting behind her and wrapping his arms around her comfortingly. She leaned into his embrace and sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Carlos crouched beside the two and held her hand, stroking it with his thumb.

I came around to the front of her, taking in her slightly disheveled appearance and fishy odor. I didn't even need to ask to know Uma had something to do with her tears. My hands gently cradled her face and lifted it so she would look at me. "What'd she do?" I asked sternly.

Red-brown avoided my gaze and a rosy lip trembled.

"What. Did. She. Do?" I repeated.

"It wasn't that bad. Really, I'm just being a baby," she groaned, trying to put on a brave face.

"Evie," I warned, not settling for anything less than the truth.

Her shoulders slumped as she sighed. "She called me a land whale and threw shrimp at me," Evie revealed, still not meeting my eyes. Although it truly wasn't that bad, the three of us knew Evie was really insecure about her weight. Her mom was on her case enough about it; Uma didn't need to make her feel any worse.

"I'll kill her," I growled, already on my way to do the job. Her hand grabbed my wrist and held me back.

"No, Mal! Don't hurt her!" she pleaded, eyes wide in fear.

"Why not? She hurt you!" I reasoned.

"Only my feelings!" she corrected.

"Fine, I won't hurt her," I agreed, taking my wrist back. "Physically."

* * *

As we made our way to Ursula's Fish And Chips, I formulated a plan to get back at Uma. It was simple, really, but hopefully effective. The four of us crept around to the back of the restaurant, where the dumpsters were located. It didn't take long to find exactly what I was looking for—a plain metal bucket labeled 'slop'. "Perfect," I whispered, lifting the lid to see how full it was. My three companions gagged at the foul odor, but to me it just smelled like sweet, sweet revenge.

"Oh my evil!" Carlos exclaimed, pinching his nose between freckled fingers.

"I'm gonna be sick!" Evie cried, covering her mouth and taking a few steps backwards.

"Are those eyeballs?" Jay asked, approaching the bucket with morbid curiosity.

"Eyeballs, guts, bones—everything too nasty to eat," I informed them.