"Check." She placed down the knight, flashing him a grin. She switched over the timer, leaning forward in her chair. "Make a move, Lucine. The clock is ticking"
Lucine scowled at the timer, watching as the seconds counted down. "I already told you, I don't want to do this with a timer. I'm not good under pressure."
"Liar. You sweet-talked all those teachers into not expelling you, which would have been pretty hard if you weren't good under pressure."
He leant back on his chair while he surveyed the board. "It was hard. The teachers were nice to me. I prayed to every god I knew before I got called in." He fingered the king piece, pursing his lips. "I got lucky, Xena"
"Yeah, right." Xena leant in closer to him, whispering. "I still don't get what you were thinking. Bleach and a lighter? Were you trying to blow something up?"
He furrowed his brows, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Yeah, I was gonna put some under Gemu's chair and blow him to hell." He brushed his hair backwards with his hands, moving his queen in defence. "Cause bleach + fire = an explosion apparently."
Xena winced as people turned to look at the two of them, her eyes flashing around the room. "Hilarious. " She muttered. "Still doesn't... doesn't explain what you were trying to.... do."
Lucine glanced at her, grinning. He leant forward. "Awww, is little baby Xena nervous that people are looking at us." He moved his hands, brushing a strand of her curly hair out of her eyes. "Don't worry. I'll make sure they don't hurt you~"
"StOp!" she said, her voice cracking as she slapped his hand off her face. Her eyes darted back to the board.
"Oh, wow." Lucine grinned. "Your face got WARM. You're blushing over your friend's boyfriend. You should be ashamed of yourself."
"And you made your girlfriend's friend blush, so you should be even more ashamed." She cleared her throat, recovering quickly, attacking him on the chess board. "And that move loses you your queen. Great job."
Lucine rested his head in his hand, nonchalant. He was silent for a second. "When all's said and done-" He moved another piece on the board, muttering quietly. "The king has to live. No matter how valuable the piece, no matter how attached you are, no matter how much you think it'll cost you the game, you absolutely can't win without the king."
"That, and it's also basic chess rules." She smirked, taking one of his knights. "Just accept I'm better than you, and resign. The clock is-."
"And that loses you your queen." He slammed his bishop down on the queen, capturing it with a satisfied look on his face. He held up the queen to his face, sneering. "Looks like someone forgot to pay attention to the board."
Xena stared at the board for a solid 5 seconds, mouth agape in confusion.
Lucine placed his finger on her face, taking it away quickly. "Owww, that's really hot." He cackled, a shit-eating grin on his face. "You fucked UP-"
She stood up quickly, slamming her hand down on the desk, messing up the board. "That bishop wasn't there before, you moved it, didn't you!"
"It's gonna be hard to prove that now, genius." His grin faded from his face as he glanced down at the pieces all over the desk. He sighed. "Sit back down."
"I- Uh..." Xena hesitated, looking down at the board, before reluctantly sitting back down. "I'm- Sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"Nah, it's fine." He waved his hands in the air, a small smile on his face. "I was gonna win anyway."
"By cheating."
He shrugged.
"All's fair in love and war."
"Geneva conventions say otherwise."
"The fuck is Geneva? You're a proper geek."
"No, you're just stupid."
"Alright, genius. " He leant back in his chair, stretching. "Does Einstein wanna go grab something to eat? I'll buy you a nice meaty burger if you accept that you lost here."
Xena frowned. "A nice, meaty, haram burger, that you expect me to eat?"
Lucine shrugged. "Do they have halal burgers? You can just-"
The door slammed open, making everyone jump. Lucine stared impassively forward, as if he didn't just notice the dudes who'd just kicked the door open.
"AY LUCINE." Two boys walked into the classroom, the shorter of which noticing Lucine and speedwalking over to him. He slammed his hands on the table, rattling the pieces once again "Lucine, guess what this fucking dickhead-"
Lucine grabbed his arm and shoved it off his chair, scowling. "Fuck off, Rogan." He got up, brushing himself off. "I'm going to go get lunch."
Rogan stumbled backwards onto a table, shaking it and knocking over the pieces. He muttered an apology to the scared year 8s, turning back to look at Lucine. "Lunch? Do you even know what happened?"
He tucked in his chair, patting his belly. "I haven't eaten in two days, so I'm gonna go-"
"What did you do this time, Rogan?" Xena furrowed her brows. "Don't tell me it's another girl."
Rogan stared at her.
Xena stared at him.
He looked back at Lucine. "Actually, I think we should talk about this without Xena."
"I don't think we should talk about this at all."
"And without me as well?" The other boy, for some reason wearing sunglasses inside, grabbed Rogan's collar from behind him and pulled him back. "It's rude to talk about someone behind their backs."
Rogan fell back on the same table, knocking over the entire board this time. Growling another apology to the shaken year 8s, he leered at sunglasses boy. "Real quick to get physical now, huh? But when a few people gang up and insult you like that, you just shove your hands up your ass and let them." Rogan started clapping, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Real masculine, Fugo. All that gym and body building to have smaller balls than a castrated church boy."
Fugo stared at him. "I don't get why you're so pissed. They didn't do anything to you."
"Cause you're a fucking pussy!" Rogan slumped down on Lucine's vacated chair, glaring at Lucine and grabbing his arm tightly. "You're not leaving."
Lucine shook his hand off, sighing. "If this is who I'm thinking..."
"Yeah, it was Gemu."
Xena and Lucine groaned in unison.
Fugo closed his eyes, wishing that he was somewhere else, away from Rogan. Except no one noticed, cause he had sunglasses on. "I don't know what you want me to do about it-"
"Beat their asses, obviously." Rogan scoffed
"The 5 of them against 1 of me?"
"Course not!" Rogan glanced at him, then to Lucine. "5 v 3. How'd you like those odds?"
"They're horrible. I'm not fighting." Lucine said, deadpan.
"You could fuck them up so easily. Grow some balls." Rogan shot back.
"So I'm just not here?" Xena said, finger on the pawn.
"I don't want you getting hurt, Xena..." Fugo said.
She crossed her arms, fighting back a smile on her face. "Thanks for the chivalry but I-"
"But I'm gonna go eat lunch." Lucine grabbed his bag, and slung it over his shoulder. "Good luck with your fighting."
"Oi, Lucine! Don't pussy out, you're legit-" Rogan started. " Oh, right, already gone. Nicely fucking done. That dickhead was our best bet at beating the 5 of them in a fight."
"Lucine was your best bet?" Xena laughed. "You want him to pour bleach on them or something?"
"What are you talking about? No!" Rogan stared at Xena. "You mean he didn't tell you?"
"No?" Xena looked at the two of them. "What didn't he tell me?"
"APPARENTLY..." Rogan said, putting great stress on the word "Last Tuesday, he got called out by some year 12s and he-"
Fugo wrapped his elbow around his throat, and clasped his hand across his mouth, clamping his mouth shut. "And he did nothing. They all sat around, chilled for a bit, nice cup of- EUGH." Fugo recoiled, his hand flying off Rogan's face, tightening his lock on his throat. "Did you just lick my hand?"
"Wow." Xena watched Rogan go red, struggling to find the words to describe how she felt. "Fugo, I don't think he can breathe."
"Does he really deserve to breathe after that?"
"..."
"..."
Fugo let go off Rogan, shoving him into the same year 8s table, completely wrecking the game for the third time. The elder looking of the two angrily got up, shot a dirty look at Fugo (who stuck his tongue out in response), and stormed off, followed by the other.
Rogan coughed and choked on the table, clutching his throat. "A-Are you fucking-" He hacked and spluttered, struggling to breathe. After a few seconds of this (with everyone in the room watching), he turned to Fugo, massaging his throat. "AM I YOUR BITCH FOR YOU TO GRAB MY MOUTH LIKE THAT."
"You clearly are." Fugo held up the wet palm of his hand. "Why else would you be licking my hands?"
"Yeah, bet you enjoyed that." Rogan sneered. "Bet you're gonna remember that feeling and wish it was that slag Freya."
Fugo tensed up. "Don't. Call her that."
"I don't know who you're trynna fool, that girl's a slag." He started laughing, looking around the room. "How many guys she was with? Four? Five?"
"Ouch. Low blow." Xena raised her eyebrows, eyes turning towards Fugo.
Fugo briefly took off his sunglasses, and rubbed his eyes, before putting them back on. He turned his back on Rogan. "Well, Xena, see you period 5 then-"
"You know, Fugo." Rogan slipped his blazer off. "It's been, what, 5 years since we met." He unbuttoned his shirt. " We haven't fought at all. Not once."
Fugo pocketed his sunglasses, icy blue eyes narrowed in distaste.
Xena scrambled to get her phone, recording with baited breath.
Rogan stepped forward, grabbing his shoulder. "So why don't we change-"
Fugo's elbow shot towards his face, sending Rogan back two steps in reflex.
"Wow, so you really CAN fight!" Rogan leered, lifting up his fists in response. "All that muscle isn't just for show?"
"You talk too much." Fugo said, throwing off his blazer. "You're gonna lick my hand again, and you're gonna apologise for everything you've said."