Brandon and Austin were both ready to begin the bet. When the two had still been in grade school and Austin was Brandon's closest friend. Now, since graduation, they both wished to be selected into the army. Austin was a tall and muscular German boy with long, dark brown hair and even darker black eyes. Brandon, on the other hand, was a homegrown Netherlands boy with icy blue eyes, a mess of light brown hair atop his head, and a lady-killer's devilish smile.
Over the years, both boys had grown into their figures and either would be thought a man from their firm set jaws and perfectly molded faces. On their summer break, they both had decided to save up money and find work for the summer. Taking a break from their demanding work and celebrating the Annual Spring Festival every year was more than necessary for both.
"Don't soil your pants when you get rejected, pretty boy," Brandon mocked Austin and began to laugh as they both prowled into the crowd in search of suiting women. There were people all over the place; and all types of people too. Austin could easily spot busty women showing off their butts with skimpy clothes, and other women who didn't seem to give a second glance, but Austin wanted to win the bet no matter what. Throughout his high school life he had lost every single bet ever placed to Brandon; this time he wanted it to be different. A girl with glasses, a skinny figure, and a cute round face walked by Austin.
"Okay, this my chance!" He slicked his upper lip with his tongue and held himself straight and proud, with his chest puffed out; just as a real man would.
"My, my, I wonder if you would look twice as beautiful in my arms as you look with these glasses?" Austin stepped forward languidly, trying to make himself clear in front of the young woman. He continued his useless speech, "I'm certain a figure such as yours..." he glanced over her completely flat bosom, "...would perfectly compliment mine!"
The woman turned her head to look at Austin, who seemed to have appeared from out of thin air.
"And who exactly are you? Oh never mind." She waved her hand in the air dismissively. "I can answer my own question; you're just some weirdo trying to be cool and impress your friends. Well, let's just say you look good with those pants on, so why don't you keep them on, slick. I wonder how ugly you would look in just your underwear?" she insulted, chomping on a pink wad of chewing gum. She walked on without giving Austin a second glance.
That was a direct slap to his face but he continued to walk with her; he didn't want to lose this time.
"You have a great sense of humor. The name's Austin," he said, a conniving grin plastered to his face to hide his agitation.
"I also have a great boyfriend. Reece?" the girl called for her boyfriend who appeared in front of them. The burly African American man's face was scrunched up in an annoyed sort of anger. Austin swallowed hard. There was only one direction he could escape in.
"Darling, this guy seems interested in showing off his puny balls. Do you want to help him keep his pants on?" The girl smirked, placing her hands on her boyfriend's beefy shoulder.
"I'd love to help," the black guy said in a heavy, drawling voice that sounded like he had marbles stuck in his throat.
Austin took a cautious step back. "Uh, I think me and my balls should be going now. Thanks anyways for wanting to help." Austin quickly turned on his heel and walked away as fast as he could without running.
Brandon's smug smirk announced that he had watched Austin's exchange with the woman and her man. Just at the sight of Austin's crestfallen face, Brandon mocked him and began to laugh so loud the whole fair could probably hear.
"Oh man, there isn't a worse way to get rejected! She wanted to see you in underwear! Way to go!" Brandon kept laughing, though now it sounded more like wheezing as he was out of breath.
"Shut your mouth, you punk!" Austin growled as Brandon kept laughing without a care.
"I can't believe you tried to pick up a woman who isn't a virgin! You're sick, bro!" Brandon burst out laughing even louder.
"Fine! Why don't you try?" Austin grumbled, glaring at surrounding people who were busy working game booths and food stands.
"I will, this is nothing to me!" Brandon said arrogantly.
"We'll see about that!" Austin rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into his shorts pockets.
"You're challenging the myth of a tough guy!" Brandon proclaimed. Weaving through a particularly rushed crowd, Brandon noticed that a woman had dropped a paper from her purse. Snatching at the chance, he picked up the paper and ran after her. He patted her shoulder to get her attention.
Austin followed Brandon curiously.
"Excuse me, miss?" Brandon asked the woman whose deep frown said she was lost. "I think you dropped this paper of yours, I thought I'd lose you in the crowd, but I'm just relieved I could get it to you," he smiled sweetly as the woman gazed at him, lost in his eyes .
"Oh, thank you! You came all the way to give it to me?" she said in her low voice.
"Yeah, but it's not a problem," Brandon assured her with a gentlemanly nod.
"You seem a bit tired...mind if I carry those for you?" Brandon pointed to the woman's bags as he grinned, sending a smile to Austin who clenched his fists in frustration.
"Thanks!" she handed the shopping bags to him.
"I'm Daisy," she told him as they walked towards the exit together.
"Brandon," he replied.
"Well thank you, Brandon. It was nice meeting you," the girl blushed as he looked intently into her wondrously beautiful eyes.
"May I?" Brandon whispered softly as he leaned a little closer to her. She closed her eyes and Brandon placed his finger on the bottom of her lips.
"Your lipstick, it was spread all over," he said, gently removing it with his digit.
On an instant, Daisy turned scarlet red, "Oh my goodness, thanks!"
"No problem," he smiled again. The girl's driver came and she bade her goodbye to Brandon.
"Hope we meet again," Brandon said to Daisy.
Brandon turned back to face Austin with a grin on his face.
"What the hell, man? How did you even do that?" Austin kept asking Brandon, who was smiling proudly.
"Forget everything! There is nothing better than free food!" Brandon patted Austin's shoulder as they headed towards a food stand.
***
"Bye dad!" Emerald called in a bubbly voice, her excitement for the festival spilling over into her voice. All their way to the main city, Emerald kept blubbering about the festival and Anna, who was sick of her talking, was still listening intently.
Mike, who had driven them, pulled the car to a stop and turned around to face the girls giggling in the back seat. "Here we are! Make sure you don't stay out too late!" he warned them.
"Whatever! Just leave us be already!" Emerald said to Mike, who hated her for some unknown reason, as she and Anna climbed from the car.
"Wow!" Emerald remarked, seeing the festival in all its bright light glory. There were a lot of people and everything was decorated with flowers and lights. She had never been to any festival before. Her eyes gleamed and she was eager to go in and explore the grounds.
"Let's go!" she grabbed Anna's hand and rushed through the entrance. There was a lot of noise but still she could not hear exactly what people were talking about. The words were always unclear to her.
"Anna! Stay close to me! I can't hear anything clear here because it's too noisy!" Emerald grabbed Anna's hand tightly.
"Yes, Mistress," she said.
"What about that stall in the corner?" Emerald walked quickly as she saw a game stall where people had to throw an arrow and hit a target's bull's-eye to win a goldfish.
"Let me try!" Emerald ran grabbed a token and waited for her turn.
"Here you go," the man running the stand handed her three arrows and took her token.
The first shot was close to the bull's eye. Second and third were out of the order.
"Fuck this shitty game!" Emerald scowled and grit her teeth together.
"It's okay," Anna tried to calm her.
"They are so damn... Whatever... I needed that gold-fish!" Emerald was acting like a baby crying for her lost toy.
"Okay, okay, my turn then!" Anna tried for her and she luckily won the damned goldfish.
"You did it!" Emerald smiled happily.
"Here, it's yours." Anna handed the prize to her.
"It's yours, I can't take it!" Emerald finally acted like a grown woman.
"Come on! We are friends!" Anna stated and handed the orange fish to Emerald.
"Thanks!" Emerald held it in her hands and looked at it through the plastic bag and water which it lived in.
"Adorable!" she smiled.
"Wanna buy some candies?" Anna asked and they both rushed from one stall to another, searching for things to buy.
"I am so tired!" Emerald said, breathing heavily after they had finished running around.
"Me too! I will be back, I am going to go buy some water. If anyone talks to you just smile or nod if you don't understand them," Anna spoke in a clear voice right next to Emerald's ear.
"I'll be fine!" Emerald said, standing in a secluded corner.
After a bit she got bored and began wandering here and there. She saw a poster saying that 'The Rock Band Of Amsterdam coming in Spring Festival: 5:00 pm'
'What's that?' she asked herself and walked through the huge crowd where many people were gathered in clusters.
"What the hell are they doing?" she mumbled and quickly made her way into the heart of the crowd.
The rock band was playing their music and singing the songs in the loudest frequency. The music was hard and people were all stuck together in the heat. Everyone was so lost in music that they were pushing each other around mindlessly. Emerald pushed herself through the crowd to see the band but there was too much noise and too many people. Just walking near there she was feeling smothered to death.
"These people are crazy!" she muttered but going back seemed impossible. On the other hand, Anna who had just returned to where she'd left Emerald, couldn't find her anywhere.
"Oh My God! Where is she?!" Anna panicked, sweating and trying to find Emerald; a near impossible task.
"Excuse me!" Emerald kept shouting and somehow managed to escape the crowd.
Brandon and Austin were standing in a corner, staring at women and making fun of their figures. Emerald was passing by them and they looked at her.
"Hey, Brandon, check her out! What a piece!" Austin remarked as Brandon gave her a glimpse.
Emerald caught them noticing her but stared at them, giving the most unwanted of glares. She gave them an ugly glare and they both turned back.
"It looks like she murdered someone!" Austin said, laughing hysterically.
"Looks like a complete bitch!" Brandon laughed.
Emerald noticed that they were making fun of her. She couldn't just stand there letting people making fun of her. She hated that kind of men; especially men who would call a woman a bitch.
'Let me teach him a lesson!' She grinned.
Brandon was taking a sip of the pina colada he bought from the Spring festival. He kept his arms under his neck and closed his eyes.
"I'll be back in a minute!" Austin said, leaving Brandon alone.
Emerald slowly walked by him seeing him alone, she moved closer and took on last sip on the soda she held carelessly in her hand. Not even pretending to trip, she walked right up to the man and dumped her drink on his head. She quickly walked off without a care in the world and with a sway to her hips.
"Hey! Hey!" Brandon yelled with the fizzy orange liquid spilled on his new T-shirt. This was his favorite one gifted to him by Mariah and now he was out of control. Without even apologizing she walked recklessly through the crowd. Brandon ran after her and began to shout in front of her.
"What the hell, woman? Why the hell did you do that? You did it on purpose!" Brandon fumed.
"Excuse me? Get out of my way, you pig faced mutt!" Emerald snapped rudely.
"What did you just call me?! Never mind; this is the most expensive shirt I had and see what you did!" Brandon shouted, pulling his drenched shirt away from his toned form.
"Listen, there's this thing called detergent; ever hear of it? If you can afford an expensive shirt like that one, then you can buy a bottle of detergent to clean it up!" she replied in an icy tone of voice.
"Wow! Who knew such a retarded woman would be wandering around this festival, ruining the fun? You have a dog biting syndrome! Apologize to me now and I'll show mercy and forgive you!" Brandon boomed.
"Apologize? Huh? Apologize, my ass!" she snorted.
"Pay for this!" Brandon could not control himself any more and grabbed her neck. The whole crowd gathered and people stared with wide, expectant eyes. Anna saw what was happening and she rushed over.
"Emerald!" She came running and punched Brandon square in the jaw. Austin bolted over and struggled to hold Brandon back.
"Come with me!" Anna grabbed Emerald's arms in a steely, vice-like grip.
"Let me go, dammit! Let me teach him a lesson! That asshole!" She pushed Anna away and, finding her pocket, she threw a fistful of money at his, Brandon's, face.
"There, buy a new shirt you pig!" With this she flipped him the bird and went away with Anna.
Brandon was feeling embarrassed as the crowd dismissed, still muttering about how terrible of a man he was. His face was all red and Austin was now making fun of him.
"Wow! See, this happens when you try to act smart!" Austin mocked Brandon whose eyes were burning with hatred.
"There you are!" Mariah came and gently kissed Brandon's cheek.
"What just happened?" she asked but Brandon seemed too embarrassed even to mutter a single word.
***
"Emerald, why did you do that? Answer me!" Mr. Morgan came to know what had happened there.
"Dad! I didn't do it on purpose! It was an accident!" she tried to explain but he didn't want to hear her excuses.
"That's enough! You have to learn how to act like a normal, civilized person!" he told her but she was too stubborn to realize it for herself.
"You can't go to school, I am sorry Emerald, but I can't do this. After this incident no!" he rejected her request of sending her to a proper school.
"But Dad...!" she tried to convince him.
"I have my reasons, if I send you to a public school people will soon realize your deafness and I don't want people to know that you're my daughter. I need some time," he said, lighting a cigarette.
"Fine! You are just too afraid to tell!" she cried.
"That's not... I am just waiting for the right time!" he tried to say but she ran away in tears.
Lying on her bed, she took her mother's picture and held it close to her heart. "Mom! I am sorry! I am the worst daughter ever!" she cried with tears falling from her eyes.
Days passed and it was the later days of May. Emerald was sitting sketching the sea gulls sitting on a rock.
"Emerald, Mr. Morgan wants to talk to you," Anna said to her softly.
"I don't want to talk to him," she said, continuing to sketch.
"You love arts, don't you? He has a surprise for you!" she said excitedly.
"Really?"
"Yes!"
Mr. Morgan called Emerald and made her sit on the chair in front of him.
"Look, Emmy, I can't let you go to school because it's late and I know it will be hard for you too. I have decided to let you join summer art classes. They are for two months and I know you're going to learn a lot there," he told her.
"I will be learning arts there? Really, dad? Arts classes?" she inquired.
"Yes, you're allowed." Without saying anything, she hugged her father.
"Thank you, Dad!" she was very excited.
***
"You got a job?" Mariah asked Brandon who said the sudden news.
"Yeah! Art teacher! And you're going to help me out!" he told her and they both seemed excited.
"All those students are going to be from our high school?" she asked.
"Yes! I can't wait to work there!" he said.
"Me too! Back to school days!" They both touched their wrists and laughed.
A/N; hey guys did you enjoy the chapter? Who loved the war between Brandon and Emerald?? Comments please, I would love to read them!