—"I want your life, the game is blackjack."

The workers of this place makes the game's preparations, the boxes of earlier contains the cards and the other things necessary for this game.

Hmm... This doesn't make sense. He certainly would choose a game favorable to him. Maybe he counts cards? Well, it's useless to start thinking now. I must focus on.

—"Face cards are 10, Aces worth 1 or 11, the others are self-explanatory. One play only. Easy, right? Now make your bet." The King of Lust says to me.

Hmm... My strategy, for now, should be an attacking bet. I must require something instead of trying to avoid casualties since I don't know what can come eventually. Still, I have something that needs to be done.

I turn to Dean, and I talk to him in a casual tone.

—"Hey, Dean... you said that Francis was getting married, right?"

He takes my hint, and answer in a carefree tone as if trying to remember something.

—"Ah... Yeah. He was bragging about this all the time. His father arranged for him."

I nod to him as if understanding, and I turn to the King.

—"This guy set me up, now I have to deal with this situation... My bet is for you to make his father call off that marriage."

—"Hey kid, I thought that you could be smarter. You should make a bet more carefully, your life is at stake, you know? Well, fine." He answers laughing, as if not caring.

This way, it'll sound more like revenge against Francis than me trying to help Lisa.

We get our cards from the dealer, my hand is 3 of hearts and 5 of clubs. The 5 is the hole card, and his face-up card is an 8 of diamonds. The expression on his face doesn't reveal basically anything... Well, let's use what I have.

—"I hit."

—"Me too."

He got a 3 of spades, and I a 4 of clubs. Now it's dangerous to me... But with this number, I surely lose, so I say to the dealer.

—"Hit."

—"Stand." He says with an expressionless face.

I got an 8 of spades. Good, now I have 20, with this I can fight. His face doesn't say anything, he must have experience in this.

I call the stand, and we both reveal our cards.

—"Sorry kid, Blackjack." He says grinning.

SHIT! I already lose? You're kidding, right?

My mind goes numb looking at the result.

—"Sooooooooo sad... That's what YOU get for defying ME." He says smiling, with a joking tone.

The people around us start clapping their hands and laugh. Everyone is looking down at me...

I can't let this bother me, otherwise, I'll fall even more.

—"Next game... The same. My bet is to remove all the other rounds."

Dammit... I must stick to the plan. 

—"My bet is the same from before."

He looks at me as if pondering with a questioning face, not understanding anything. That's what I wanted.

He's confused, trying to find an answer for my behavior.

How much information he has about me? Somehow he can't connect the dots so, for now, this is useful for me.

—"Fine."

Again, we take our cards. I have now an 8 of clubs and 2 of spades, the 8 is face-up. He has a 10 of hearts faced-up.

—"Hit."

—"Hit."

He got a King of clubs, and me too. Wait... I think that...

—"Stand."

—"Stand."

We reveal our cards... I was right.

—"You're lucky, kid." He says with an angry expression.

He's busted. His card was a 2 of hearts.

The people around us are silent. They are only looking, with a curious expression. Now the situation changes, but he still haves my life.

—"The next game is... We'll try guessing Dean's ability for soccer. He'll make 3 shoots to use as examples. Based on that results, we'll guess how much he'll take to hit a target at 30 meters. The one who gets closest wins. You used your experience in card games. I'm using my experience."

—"The same strength in all the shots? From the same place?"

He's smart... But I have confidence, I already played with Dean many times.

—"Yes." I say looking at Dean, and he nods.

—"Okay, my bet is the same from before."

—"My bet... I want the use of your connections." I tell him with a confident face.

Again, he looks at me, not understanding. He must be thinking about something, but he's not sure.

—"You... Don't know how to play this, kid? I'm starting to feel a little sorry." With a joking tone again, he tells me.

The people around us laugh again... But Mr. Blake is in silence.

Everyone proceeds to the open field, and one of the employees puts a target on the distance I told. Dean takes a ball that he was carrying in a bag and chooses a spot.

He prepares... and after the kicks, we have the results: He hits the target 2 times, and miss 1, on the third shoot.

The King looks and keeps pondering. After a few minutes, he tells.

—"3 kicks." Alexander says.

—"4."

Dean takes the ball again.

After a few seconds preparing... He kicks.

Miss.

An employee goes to take the ball for another shoot, and Lust says to me.

—"You're cheating."

—"You can use the previous results to make a guess. And I haven't said anything to him about the contents of this game. Everything only happened in 2 days. You think I had the time?" I say to him.

The people around us nod to my words as if understanding.

—"... Still dubious." He answers.

—"So prove it." I say to him.

He was paying attention, it was kinda obvious I could manipulate. He accepted the game without putting too much thought. I already made him confused. Still, I didn't say anything to Dean about the game. I'm using only the experience we had playing all those years.

Dean prepares again... And miss.

After the same things from before happens, he shoots. And miss again.

With an angry expression, He tells me, while looking at the field.

—"I won't accept this game anymore. This is bullshit. My next bet is the same."

—"We'll play your blackjack again. My bet is... You can't refuse the game of the next round."

He turns to me, with a red face.

—"You... I'll make you regret, kid."

—"You already have my life, what difference this make?" I say to him.

He and everyone around keep in silence. They're kinda curious, but only looking.

We go back to the table, and the employee deals the cards. It's all or nothing.

I got a Queen of hearts and a 3 of spades. He haves a 9 of clubs faced up.

—"Hit." I say to the dealer.

—"Hit."

Now he has an Ace of spades. His face is expressionless but is staring at me. I look back at him but trying to keep the same face. Because now... I got an 8 of diamonds.

—"Go to hell, kid." He says.

I make a smug face.

He knows, but he can't do anything. 

We reveal our cards, and he makes an angry face again. He's really pissed, he can't beat my hand.

But I haven't won yet. We have one last round. If I lose, nothing in my life changes. I kinda already solved Lisa's problem, but I won't be alive to see if I lose. And I can't let Dean experience this bad situation, without any possibility to retort. 

If he sees me losing, he surely will get mad and go on a rampage.

—"The game is the same from the 3 round. My bet is to annul the prize in the first round."

He looks at me again. With an expression of anger and hatred, he only looks at me. Anything he wants from me, he can have. In fact, I don't have anything. The information about me, he possibly already has.

—"My bet... is annulling your prize in the second round." He says with a face full of madness and hatred. There's nothing much he can do.

I risked everything till now. At every round, I was playing with death. That round is no different.

We proceed to the open field, where the employees and Dean make the preparations. Dean does the trial shoots. He now missed 2 and hit on the last kick.

—"5 shots."

—"4." I say to him.

Dean prepares... and miss.

When I was younger, playing with Dean surely was fun. Since our homes were closer, we played often. I already stopped counting how many times he appeared at my home for training. On raining days, sunny days, he was always ringing the bell calling me.

After doing the same procedures, he shoots and misses again.

He plays at the school team. I think that he's the 3rd or 4th best player at school. He's a center forward, and are friends with basically everyone on the team. Those people see him as a carefree, almost sloppy guy... But for me, he's a person that I always respected.

Why, you ask me? When we played at the neighborhood's field many times it was just the two of us on the field, the other kids weren't playing there often. I was the goalkeeper with breaks from time to time. I think that can be also the motive that I gave up playing since I never tried another position.

I never really cared about sports. But I cared about Dean, he's my friend. From that very time, almost any person could've stopped at some point; going to my home every day and calling me for training, talking with me at the school...  I kinda didn't really was interested, so people would get mad with this eventually.

But he never did this.

He puts the ball on the spot again and kicks. Miss again.

You can imagine such a friend? That doesn't give up on you, and won't forget the people around him?

I have my mistakes. I'm a human. But I disappointed this kind of friend, Lisa and Alice too. I'm worthy of this friendship? Leaning on them, making use of them... A person can certainly say that I'm ungrateful. And I can agree since I know how that person reached this conclusion.

There was a time that I asked him about this. At that time, he made a face as if not understanding what I was talking about.

It was a rainy day. I remember clearly, we were seated on the grass, feeling the water in our skins, when we were 1st-years. I was tired, with my body lying on that ground when he approached me walking. His body, all wet, was reflecting all the training he had from the time I met him. At first, I thought he was crazy, spending so much time on this since he never had any intention of playing professionally.

His brown hair was loose, with drops of water falling, and looking at me with his also brown eyes. He ended showing a smile to me.

-"I don't really know... But... I see you as my friend. Even if you don't feel the same, we already are friends for me. So you can say that I must be a fool for keeping this behavior when I know that you are not really interested... But I don't care. If you're worried, make sure to pay my courtesy." He told me, laughing.

I learned two things that day. Dean is probably the best friend I could wish. In a few friendships, you normally can expect from someone's help and support in various ways and aspects, while you also do the same. But Dean was never like this. He never cared about this. He was always present, and basically never wanted something from me.

He puts the ball on the spot. I look at Dean... Then at the King... Then at the crowd.

He kicks, and after a few seconds, everyone starts laughing.

The King of Lust cornered me at the start. I basically lost from the very beginning. But now, I played in a way that he can't take more things from me. I don't have anything anymore. Only pocket money, but for him, it's probably ordinary. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

He hits.

The people start clapping their hands, and I look at Dean with a smile on my face.

The other thing that I learned? ... Dean trains the accuracy of the shots during almost all of the time on training. So after 3 shots, it's almost certain he hits on the 4th.