Chapter 22. Harrington’s Rage
Next thing I knew we were both back on the field tagging in and out for each other against the tennis drills the captain kept running us through. Both Jayden and I were dying from the amount of running we had to do in the sweltering heat. Meanwhile Harrington kept yelling stereotypical working out rhymes to get us to work harder. “Does he just spend all of his free time thinking of new ones himself!?” I grumbled under my breath to Jayden as we were both gasping for air while sweating a storm. Jayden let out a weak chuckle as he was trying to breathe. “You gotta hustle to build that muscle!!” We both laughed some more at how he talked.
Just as he was about to serve us another round we were stopped by Mindy calling out for Alexis. “Alexis!” Harrington stopped immediately to try and get a look at her as I sighed and rolled my eyes. Happy to have a break. Jayden was catching a breather too as we both looked to see Syrus, Jasmine, and Mindy all together. Alexis was walking over to us right beside Harrington. “Hey Alexis! So good to see you again! Sorry I’ve been working up a sweat beating these two slackers.” He was really trying to win her over, but she just ignored him and came over to us.
“Hey guys! You’ll never believe what happened. I bumped into Banner, and he told me that someone spotted Chazz.” This caught both my and Jayden’s attention. I didn’t fully remember what the arc was for Chazz so I did wonder a bit of where he was right now. “No kidding… Well where is he?” Jayden said. I tried to stay out of the conversation as much as possible. Both to not get roped up in Harrington’s insanity, and also to keep Alexis from thinking too much about what happened last night and exploding.
“Hey! Timeout!! You both can’t talk to a first round girl like Alexis!! You both couldn’t return a ball with just a little top spin! So stay away from my little Obelisk Pixie!!” I frowned when he started, but as he continued I had a hard time holding back my laughter. The Obelisk Pixie line threw me into the deep end as I belted out my laughter while facing away from the others so they couldn’t see my smiling. I couldn’t stop myself from holding my stomach as the pain from laughing and smiling too much started to set in. “Obelisk Pixie!!” I yelled as that spurred more laughter on.
When I was finally done everyone was just staring at me as I tried to lower my grin with my hand pulling it back down. “If neither your dueling career or tennis work out for you… Please pick up comedy, or become a jester of some sort.” I said while still trying to pull my smirk back down. The girls started to chuckle and look away to not show Harrington that they were laughing as well. Alexis failed as she giggled a little from my laughter, causing Harrington to feel like I made fun of him in front of his girl. He growled in anger as fire almost seemed to alight itself around him. “Rakki!! I challenge you to a duel!! Winner becomes Alexis’s Fiancée!!”
Everyone froze at that, as I started to smile again. “Just as I finished smiling… You really should become a comedian.” I chuckled a little, and so did Jayden. Alexis frowned as she looked over at Harrington. “Whoa! I’m not something to be played for!” She said in an elevated tone. I pointed to her and nodded. “Yea… Just like a jester, you're kinda stuck in the past too.” This only aggravated him more, as his hatred for me grew. Clearly he was blaming me for everything that was going wrong between him and Alexis, rather than just coming to terms that she just wasn’t interested in him. ‘Clear Narcissism’ I sighed and shook my head.
I then came up with an idea to get some free DP and a few other things. “How ‘bout this? We can Duel. If you win… Then I have to stay far away from Alexis… If I win… Then you cut that mullet off of your head, stop both Jayden and I’s punishment, and stay away from Alexis as well…” Everyone was silent as Harrington thought about the terms. “What does the mullet have to do with anything?” Jayden asked me in a whisper. “I just hate it.” I said back with a smirk. Jayden chuckled a bit before Alexis came over to me. “Harrington is a good duelist, Rakki.” She said with slight worry in her voice.
I shrugged at her and smirked. “Then all I have to do is be better.” Alexis saw my expression of confidence and her own expression softened as she felt there was nothing to worry about. Harrington, seeing Alexis this close to me, agreed fervently. “I agree to the terms!! You have to stay away from her if I win!!” I grinned evilly and nodded. “That is correct.” Is all I said to not remind him of what would happen if he lost.
“Duel!!”