Elwood Academy

XIV

Kingston and Maddox's heads snapped towards Aviva, surprise coating their features. Maddox opened his mouth to protest but stopped when he realized Aviva had unintentionally played right into his plan.

He smirked; he knew she wouldn't be useless after all.

"I mean...we have been on one date. I was just waiting for this one here to ask me out on another one." Maddox drawled, looking at Kingston when he stated the last part.

Now it was Aviva's turn to stare surprisingly at Kingston and Maddox. Sure, she did ask the question, but she definitely did not expect that answer. It was supposed to be like a little teasing thing...but from the look Kingston was giving Maddox there was something there, or at least something brewing.

Kingston's eyes widened a fraction before his face went blank, staring Maddox down with a calculating gaze. He didn't know what his game was, but he also knew he wasn't going to be on the losing side of it.

So instead of playing into Maddox's scheming hands, he brushed him off with a shrug.

"Oh, really? Because I didn't consider that a date. I don't do dates, especially not with Phoenixes." Kingston said that last part with a smirk playing on his lips as he looked Maddox up and down.

Maddox's smirk dropped as his cheeks heated up from Kingston's lingering gaze.

What?

There was a small part of Maddox that wanted to believe that the random dinner "date" that they shared had meant just a little more to Kingston than some stupid distraction for a prank.

However, as every day passed it became alarmingly clear that this was all one big joke to Kingston and Maddox was the laughingstock. And one thing was for sure Maddox wasn't one to forget being played, it didn't happen to him.

So Maddox swallowed down the little hurt that he felt and thought about what he was best at.

Revenge and manipulation.

He would plant the seed of love (as Olympia liked to call it), let it grow, and then crush it himself.

Phoenixes don't get outsmarted by Serpents.

And so Kingston would have to pay, no matter the cost.

With those final thoughts, he allowed himself to relax, opening his mind to Kingston. He needed to make him believe that that stupid dinner meant something to him, to just reel Kingston in even if it was for a short while.

Aviva watched the pair, her eyes flickering back in forth between Maddox and Kingston. Both of them seemed to be deep in thought. She rolled her eyes, this always happened during practice, the two would get into one of their little arguments and then completely blank out.

"Jeez, fuck, if I knew you guys were gonna react like this I wouldn't have said anything. Why don't we go back to when you two were actually being helpful?"

Kingston glanced over at Aviva before shaking his head, "No. I am done for the day." With that, he began to walk off the field.

"What?? You can't leave me here with her!" Maddox yelled just as Aviva responded, "You can't just leave! I will tell coach!"

"Don't care," Kingston called back before disappearing behind the bleachers.

The two glared at each other before Aviva realized what Maddox had just said.

"Hey! What's wrong with me?"

Maddox rolled his eyes, before glancing over to where Kingston had walked off to. He wanted to follow after him but decided against it.