love never dies

~Prologue~

" Jerky for the Jerk "

~T A M~

"You are a freakin' cheater, Tam Casper!"

"No, Lace. I'm just skilled." I slapped the winning game card down. Fourth time winning...in a row. I grinned. "Wanna go again, Lacey?"

"Heck no. You'll just beat me again." She rolled her eyes and dropped her cards on the table. 

"Well, I think that it offered some pretty fine free entertainment." Cas said from the couch with his mouth full of beef jerky. 

"Hey Cas?" Lace eyed him.

"Yeah Lacey?" 

"Shut up."

"Fine!" He held up his hands in mock surrender and pulled his baseball cap over his eyes. Lace flopped on the couch next to him. I walked past them, holding my hand out to Cas. He let out a breathy sigh and dropped a few crumpled bills in my outstretched hand. 

"Tam?" Lace sat up and looked at the money that I tucked into my butt pocket. I took some jerky from Cas's bag.

"Yeah?"

"Why did Cas just give you money?" 

"Because, Lacey, we had a bet going. If I beat you four times, Cas would give up 20 dollars. Obviously, I won, so I now have money and Cas does not." She looked at me in disbelief, pushing her glasses up her freckled nose.

"You bet on me losing? Tam Casper, that's a new low! Even for a loser like you." She teased. 

"Yeah, and it's a new low that got me money." I chewed on my jerky that was a bit out of date. Somehow, Cas always managed to have a bag with him, much to the inquiry of everyone. 

Cas was a kid who didn't really care about anything around his friends, with the "I do what I want" attitude, but was really a perfect straight A kid at school who always said "thank you" and "sorry" and "excuse me". His full name was Caseareo Marco Denerio Gonzolaz, his Hispanic parents being fond of "interesting names", and he obviously hated his name with a strong passion. So, Lacey named him Cas. Nobody else called him Cas except Lace and I-everyone called him Casey. He hated that as well. 

Cas was the only thing he tolerated. 

Same with Lacey. 

Her name was Annalace Jane Harper, and she hated any nickname. Anna or Lacey being a few. She hated  being called Lacey. Except when Cas and I called her that. 

We were the best of friends, doing pretty much everything together since we met each other. Cas and I had befriended each other seven years ago, when we were in fourth grade. Lace had come along in fifth grade; a quiet, skinny, be-speckled redhead girl who wore overly-large lavender turtleneck sweaters and overly-large glasses that slipped down her nose. 

Cas and I kinda took her in, and she became our little balance between boyishness. 

"Cas! Are you just gonna let Tam take your money?" Lace raised an eyebrow. 

"Nope. And because since you said that, Tam gets to give me my money back." He retorted triumphantly. Lace's jaw dropped and she crossed her arms. 

"Some friends I have." She grumbled. I threw my arm around her shoulders. She shrugged it off in mock anger. 

"But you love us." 

"Yeah. I do. Sadly, I am stuck with you two losers for the rest of my life." 

"Oh yes you are Lacey." Cas said through a mouthful of jerky. 

~~~

Hey guys!!!! This is a thing I thought of while in the shower and I was like "frick yes imma gonna do it" so I hope you like it and may or may not hit the vote button or leave me a comment. <3