An Endless Contest

Liz sat with an arm round Ash in one of their favourite trees as they stared at the sky.

"Liz?" Ash said.

"Yes?"

"Do you like this planet?"

"Umm..."

"I do," he interrupted.  "I love every bit of it.  I don’t understand why people complain about their world so much.  We’ve got a beautiful sky above and seven billion other humans to play with.  What’s not to like?"

"Yeah...I guess so."

"Do you remember when we were kids and we used to play hopscotch?"

"You mean when we didn’t know how to really play it and we just made up our own version?"

"Yes."

"We’d play by hopping to and fro across it and try to best each other by introducing the most complicated moves we could."

"That was so fun.  When we found out the real rules, I thought ours were so much better."

"Yeah it was fun.  One day, you did a back flip in the middle of the hopping.  I could never beat that."

"Oh yeah, that's why we stopped playing."

"What happens when we run out of games to play?"

Ash simply looked at her and said, "We'll just make some more."

***

Jane, paying close attention to crossing the school courtyard, didn't even notice that Liz was approaching her until she stood in her path nearby the bushes.

"Hi Jane, what’s going on?"

"Not you again, leave me alone."

"That’s not a very nice thing to say to your new friend."

"Where’s the other annoying one of your idiot duo?  I thought you two were inseparable."

"I don’t like to think of ourselves like that, but I guess we are.  The only time we split up is when we each have to accomplish missions simultaneously."

"So what's your mission?"

"To distract you," Liz said with a smile.

"Excuse me?" Jane said, oblivious to the fact that Ash was raising his leaf-covered head out from his hiding place within the bushes.  She only knew of his presence when he jumped out and tackled her to the ground.

"Hi friend," he said.

"You remember Ash?" Liz said.

Jane clambered to her feet in irritation and said, "You two are freaks," before stomping away angrily.

"I am really starting to like her," Liz said.

"Yeah, she's fun."

"This one seemed kind of lazy."

"Wait for the next one, it'll be better."

***

With the tired group lazing about in the commonroom, James surprising spoke up.

"I feel like doing something at the weekend," he said.

"Shouldn't we be starting to revise soon?" Liz said.

"OK, raise your hand if you've started revising," James said before receiving confirmation by the fact that no one moved.  "Of course, no one's started yet."

"Well, maybe Stuart," Josh said, directing their attention over to their classmate on the other side of the commonroom, who was hard at work on his laptop.

"Are you kidding?" Liz said.  "That guy doesn't need to revise."

"No one's that smart," Josh said.

"Isn't he 16?" Ash said.

"Yep," Liz said.  "The only one who beat you to the position of being the youngest in the year."

"He was moved ahead a year," Josh said.  "Meant to be some super genius."

"Anyone ever talked to him?" James said.

"Nope," Liz said.

"We only got here at the start of last year," Ash pointed out.  "What about you guys?"

"Oh let's play a game," Liz interjected.

"OK," Ash said.  "What game?"

"It’s called who is the least likely out of those three to have reached out to someone," Liz said.

"That sounds fun.  Let me think.  We’ve got Josh, who is borderline psychotic and Seth, doesn’t say a word."

"Be that as it may, I still think both of them are more likely than James."

"This is true, James would never do anything he didn’t have to."

The two enjoyed the collective analysis of their friends so much that it began to irritate James.

"Quit it," he said.

Jane entered the busy commonroom and pushed her way through the crowds towards her locker, prompting Ash to tap Liz on the shoulder and direct her attention towards the girl.

"Liz, look," he said.  "Good stuff."

"What have you two done?" James said.

"Shh," Liz said, her eyes eagerly anticipating what was to come.

As Jane opened her locker, a bouquet of flowers attached to a spring was let loose, causing her to shriek loud enough for the whole commonroom to direct their collective attention towards her.

Ash and Liz's hysterical laughter informed Jane who was responsible as she took the bouquet of flowers from the spring and stared daggers at the mischievous pair.

A worried Liz grabbed Ash by the arm and said, "Come on, let's go," before dragging him out of the building.

They let their laughter die down as they walked through their school's campus.

"That made me smile," Liz said, as Natasha crossed paths with them.  "Hello Natasha," she said and once again she was granted no response.

Natasha continued walking past them and on to the commonroom, causing Liz to halt in place and slump her shoulders.

"If it means so much to you why don't you just go up to her and say, 'I'm not letting you go till you say hi to me'," Ash attempted his best Liz imitation.

"Was that supposed to be an impression of me?" Liz said.

"Yeah, what'd you think?" Ash said.

A cold stare by Liz was soon followed by, "It wasn't bad," before she continued walking onwards.

"Thanks," said Ash as he ran to keep up.

"Anyway," Liz said.  "I can't do that because then she'd win."

"She wants you to do that?"

"Exactly."

"Your deteriorating mental health is starting to concern me."

"Don’t you see?  If she knows how much it bothers me, then she wins.  It’s a contest that's gone on too long now for me to lose.  I just have to persevere and then the victory will be that much sweeter when it comes."

"You make it sound like she has a grudge against you.  Have you ever met her before?"

"I don't think so."

"Maybe you have when you two were younger and you forgot.  She might have something against you and that’s why she ignores you."

"Hmm...maybe."

"Let's face it, you never did get on well with girls."

"I get on well with you, don't I?"

"Original," Ash said dryly.  "So what should we do now?"

They looked around to see that their travels had taken them near the Gym.  Liz looked out to the school field and said, "Let's go find a nice tree."  She began to walk ahead in its direction with Ash running after her.

"Hey Liz, wait up."

Ash caught up with her, took her by the hand and the pair started walking underneath the pleasant Sun together.

"You wanna do something again this weekend?" Liz asked.

"I’ve got no money."

"How much you got in the bank?"

"I don’t have a bank account.  Bankers suck.  I protect my money by keeping it in a castle with a lava moat and guarded by a dragon.  It keeps it safe and provides me with entertainment if any knight wishes to have a go at plundering it."

"You're so weird," Liz laughed.

A small group of students appeared from the changing rooms, prompting Liz to let go of Ash's hand and walk past them, with Ash soon following.

"Wait for me," he said.

Liz looked back at the group they had just passed getting further and further away, none of them were looking their way.

Once Ash and Liz were past the changing rooms and almost at the field, Liz surreptitiously pulled Ash to one side behind the building and gently pushed him against a wall.  Liz took Ash's hands and pinned them above him, before softly kissing him.

***

As the five friends all ate lunch together in the canteen, Mr. Foster approached.

"Hello Ash," he said.  "Liz."

"Hi sir," Ash said.

"I've heard you've set your eyes on Jane.  Quit bullying her."

"That’s a horrible thing to say.  How is leaving flowers in someone’s locker bullying?  I would love it if someone did that for me," Ash said, shooting an unsubtle glance at Liz.

"I just know what you're like," Mr. Foster said.  "So leave her alone."

Mr. Foster decided he had done the best he could do and quickly left.

"You better do what he says," James warned.  "Gracey will kill you if you keep it up."

"Are you kidding?" Josh said.  "These guys have been pulling stupid pranks since they came here and Gracey’s done nothing to stop them."

"She never has any proof that we did anything," Liz said.

"Oh come on," Josh said.  "Everyone knows you guys are responsible for anything weird that happens round here.  Gracey never even tells you off.  Why is that?"

"I think you’re imagining things," Ash said.

***

Ash sat on a brick wall, playfully kicking his legs as he waited.

"Hey," the newly arrived Liz called out.  "Why did you want to meet here?"

"You see that house across the road?"

"Yeah."

"That's Natasha's house, we're gonna break into it."

"What?"

"We need evidence if you guys knew each other before and I guessed that just asking her would’ve been too sane for you."

"How did you know where she lives?"

"I checked out her record."

"Are you serious?  You went that far?"

"It’s bothering you why Natasha ignores you, doesn’t it?  So let’s find out," Ash said before jumping down off the wall and running across the street towards the house.  Liz smiled gently before realising something.

"Wait...what?" she said, running after Ash and grabbing his arm.  "We can't break into someone's home."

"We're not gonna take anything.  We're just gonna look for evidence."

"No, I mean we can't do it in the middle of the day, we'll be caught."

"Don’t worry, we won’t.  I’ve checked out the family.  It’s just her and her dad.  He’s out to work and she’s at a part-time job."

"Have you staked this place out or something?"

"You could say that," Ash said before hopping over the front gate and getting to work on the door with a set of lock picks.

"Since when do you know how to do that?" Liz asked.

"I’m a very talented individual.  How do you think I got into Jane’s locker?"

The door was soon opened, allowing Liz and Ash to enter.

"Erm...what exactly are we looking for?" Liz said.

"Evidence of a grudge."

"Which is?"

"I just assumed we’d find a picture of you attached to a dartboard in her bedroom."

"Please tell me your joking."

Ash smiled before bounding up the stairs.  Natasha's bedroom was large, coloured in mostly white and light pink and contained a stuffed animal covered bed.

"Looks like your room," Liz joked.

"Don't be silly.  My room's much prettier."

"Looks like there's no dartboard here."

"So it seems," Ash said as he began to search, or at least pretended to.  He approached the cupboard and opened it suddenly.  "Aha!" he said in triumph.

"Found something?" Liz asked enthusiastically.

"No, I just assumed saying aha before opening something greatly increased your chances of finding something interesting."

An increasingly irritated Liz lied down on Natasha's bed and let out a sigh.  "This is the worst idea ever," she said.

"Perhaps," Ash said, rifling through her drawers.  "But then again, perhaps not."  He produced a large book from the bottom drawer.

"What's that?"

"Photo album."

"So?"

"Maybe it’ll have a picture of the two of you together when you were younger, proving that you used to be friends but then something happened…something so devastating that it caused a rift between the two of you forever."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe you blanked her first ten years ago, that would be hilarious."

"You don't think I would've remembered anything like that?"

"No, you can be a little slow sometimes."

"Hey!"

Ash ignored her as he sat down on the bed and began to focus on the contents of the photo album with Liz looking over his shoulder.

"So that’s what Natasha looked like when she was a kid," Liz commented.  "She looks just as stubborn."

"These are all of her and her father," Ash said.

"Where's the mother?"

"Maybe you have something in common with Natasha?"

They continued to flick through until Ash's gaze shot to the door.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered.

"What?"

"It sounded like the front door."

"Are you serious?"

"No," Ash said as he turned back to her with a smile upon his face.

Liz shoved him off the bed and said, "Jerk!  You scared me!"

Ash jumped to his feet and slammed the album shut.  "Alright then, there's nothing here.  Where does this thing go again?"

"Oh for goodness sake…and you have the nerve to call me slow?  Bottom drawer."

"Thank you," he said, placing the photo album back where he had found it.

"So what now?" Liz asked.

"We go, there's no evidence here."

"That's it?"

"What did you expect?  We were looking for evidence that two people don’t get along, we were never going to find anything…I did enjoy getting a chance to practice my lock picking skills though."

"Was that why we came?"

"Partly…plus I was bored."

"And I thought we were actually here for me," Liz said, going for the door.  "I really hate you sometimes."

As Liz left, Ash ran after her saying, "Aww, come on Liz, wait up."