The First Lost Girl

Chapter Ten: I Challenge Rufio

Pan's P.O.V.
I planned out the day last night and decided that if Rufio thinks she can handle being a Lost Boy, er, Girl, then she's gonna have to get used to how we play.
"Our first game will be something I like to call, target practice."
The boys erupted in whoops and fist pumps as they all dashed off to grab their weapons. This has to be one of my favorite games. Especially with the fact that me and the boys like to make bets when we make it a competition. We mostly bet on getting each others knives or special weapons, but it's still fun.
We all headed to the training clearing and prepared to play the game. I turned to see Rufio nervously whispering to Felix who seemed to be explaining the game to her. I could tell by the expression on Rufio's face that she'd never heard of this game, much less played. Probably hasn't even handled a weapon in her life. What a girl.
"Alright! Grab your weapons!" I ordered them. Felix lead Rufio over to the base of our weapon tree, where there were piles of weapons ranging from bows and arrows to knives and daggers. Felix picked up a cross bow and handed it to her, probably because it was the easiest for a newbie. He was explaining to her how it worked when Patch and Prentiss stepped up to shoot at the target, which was carved into one of the trees.
"What'd they bet on?" I asked Nibs while I leaned against a tree to watch.
"What do you think? Chores of course. One of the two is going to have double the work this week while the other will be sitting on his bum and enjoying himself." He said, voice thick with his British accent. I chuckled and watched as Prentiss lifted his bow and sent the arrow flying. It landed on the fifth ring with a satisfying thunk. He smiled seeing how that's the best he's ever done. Some of the boys aren't exactly ace shots. They should be though, they've been here a couple decades at most. I'd have to make that a minor priority, to get the boys more acquainted with their weapons.
Patch smirked and walked up to the shooting line with his knife in hand. He waited a second, then threw it, landing in the second ring. The boys have whoops and cheers for the winner, and Prentiss was given Patch's chores for the week.
Thomas and Nibs were up next, Thomas betting on Nib's dagger, the one with the leather handle, and Nib's betting on Thomas's tiger claw necklace. It really was something worth betting on. He had killed a tiger that had been preying on our camp. I would have done it myself but he insisted that he do it, but also saying that if he killed it, it was his. Now he's got a tiger skin blanket on his bed and a necklace of claws around his neck.
Nibs won, but Thomas didn't seem to mind. He did in fact still have a tiger blanket and other sorts of things from his trophy, so that the necklace seemed of little worth from his perspective.
"Who's next?" I called, looking around at the group. They still seemed to be thinking about who they would challenge and what for.
"I'll go."
I turned to see Devin stepping up and towards the target line.
"And who do you challenge?" I asked him, seeing how none of the other boys had joined him in the middle of the clearing.
"I challenge Rufio." He answered smirking.
I raised an eyebrow and turned to the crowd of boys where Rufio had been standing in. She was in the back so she had to push her way to the front. I could see her hands were shaking as she walked up to Devin. First time jitters. Geez she was such a girl. The boys were whooping and whistling as she stood to face him.
"And what is your bet?" I asked.
He smirked and leaned into Rufio's ear, whispering to her. I could see where this was going. The boys snicker and whistled while I could see Felix scowling and Beau looking confused. Ah, poor ignorant little Beau, so innocent. I could see Rufio's face turn red with embarrassment as she sucked her lip in to chew on it. I chuckled. Apparently Devin wanted more than her knife. I called out to her.
"And what do you bet, Rufio?"
She looked at me with a bewildered look in her eye, like she expected me to tell Devin to bet for something else. This girl has a lot to learn. In this game you can bet for anything, except for rulership that is. So I just smirked and cocked my head to the side, popping an eyebrow. Her facial expression hardened and she straitened, lifting her chin just the slightest bit.
"My bet is that if I win, Devin has to spend the night in the jungle. At least a mile from camp. Carrying only one weapon with him."
I raised my eyebrows and most of the boys seemed surprised at Rufio's bet, others just snickered, probably imagining Devin out in the jungle by himself, all night long. Devin simply rolled his eyes.
"That sounds fair." Was what he said next. "At least our bets have something in common."
Rufio frowned and he smirked, readying his bow. Rufio backed up to allow him space as he aimed for the target. He waited a second, probably making his aiming as accurate as possible. He loosed the arrow and it landed in the ring closest to the middle of the target. The boys clapped and gave shouts of approval at his being so close. He smirked with satisfaction. But Rufio didn't respond. She simply looked at the arrow with just a bit of fear in her eyes. Good.
She took a deep breath as Devin backed away from the shooting line and held his hand out to it. She walked up, notching an arrow into her cross bow. Felix probably showed her how to shoot before hand but it wasn't like she had trained. Devin was sure to win this one, and he knew it, he had a big grin on his face as he came back and joined the group of Lost Boys.
I leaned back against my tree again to watch even though I knew she'd loose. She aimed the crossbow, took another deep shaky breath, and let loose the arrow. There was a moment of silence after the arrow struck its target. We were all staring in shock at the tree which had two arrows in it. One that was just one ring away from the middle, and one that had landed directly in the center of the target. Then the boys erupted in cheers and whoops. Rufio turned around, even she had and expression of shock on her face.
"You got beat by a girl!" Beau yelled at Devin. The little boy had a big grin on his face, as happy as the others that the new girl had won her first game.
Rufio also smiled, realizing that Beau was right. Devin rolled his eyes.
"Beginner's luck." He said approaching Rufio. "But that won't happen next time." He whispered into her ear. She too rolled her eyes.
"A sore loser you are, Devin. You may be right. It could have been beginners luck. But to me, it looks like you're spending the night in the jungle."