“Are you guys talking about the beast fight from last night?”

Cora, Yara, and Khyrum turn around after hearing a voice. Standing beside them is Eva. They had not paid much attention to her when she arrived weeks back since she’s always hanging around Brandon. They know how annoying Brandon could be if they took away his spotlight.

Cora responds, “Yes, we were discussing it with this knucklehead here,” pointing at Khyrum, “that not only male fighters can be great, but female fighters can also be excellent.”

Not thinking, I blurt out, “I didn’t say that female fighters weren’t good; I just said that they were not as good as males!”

After I said that, I felt the gazes of all three girls zoom in on me like hunters on prey.

Cold sweat starts to trickle down my back. Not even when fighting beasts did I feel this intense hostility.

Thinking the girls might be slightly angry with me, I look for the fastest way out. I slide slightly off his desk as I shift in my seat and get ready to bolt.

“Girls, don’t be angry with me; I’m just stating facts,” I say with a slight chuckle.

“Anyway, I can’t let them get the jump on me. If they do, I will not make it out alive,” I say as I get off the desk.

But Cora is already waiting for me, blocking my path.

“No sir,” she says, seeing that I’m trying to escape.

Cora approaches with both hands on her waist and a devilish grin.

“You can’t just spout that nonsense and then try to leave, Khyrum,” she says.

“If you had the balls to say that, then you need to stay and back up your words,” she says with a devilish smile.

All three girls were fired up after hearing my comments.

“You saw that Vilis won yesterday? We already had a bet from a few days back. Remember the bet, Khyrum?” says Yara, smiling at me.

I feel cold sweat drip down my back again as things look bad here. I squirm and look around to see what options I have left.

“What bet?” I say, acting dumb again.

“I don’t remember agreeing to any bet,” I say sheepishly.

“Don’t even try acting dumb with us, Khyrum,” say both heatedly.

“You lost fair and square,” they say together.

As Cora and Yara are hammering Khyrum for what he just said. Eva can’t help but laugh.

“Serves you right, Khyrum,” she says laughingly.

“Even though I might not know as much about the fights as these girls,” she says, pointing at Cora and Yara.

“I can see that you're a smart ass about it, and that is something we girls can tolerate,” she says in a playful tone.

“If I were your girlfriend and you said that to me, I would make you read poetry to me for a whole week,” she says, “And not that dull stuff but the lovey-dovey kind.”

I look at her with sharp eyes.

“Two things. First, none of these girls are my girlfriends; I would barely classify them as acquaintances. So, we don’t have to worry about the poetry or lovey-dovey stuff,” I say, pointing to Cora and Yara.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Second, and most importantly, how the hell did you get into our conversation? It’s bad enough with these two; I don’t need a third wheel.” I say, a little agitated.

Knowing Brandon likes this girl, I try to get her to leave us alone. I don’t want to deal with Brandon’s unpleasant mood if she does not return her attention to him.

I stand firm on not wanting or needing—anything from anyone, including the opposite sex.

Eva is taken aback. This is the first time someone has rebutted her. Whatever she wanted, she got; she was Grandpa’s favorite, after all.

But before Eva could say something, Cora interceded.

“Khyrum, it's true that we are only acquaintances by your definition, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make you read poetry. Remember the bet? The loser does what the winner asks,” she says in an alluring voice.

“Yeah, as my sister Cora said, neither of us are your girlfriends (slight pause) YET,” as she emphasizes the word yet.

“But that is something that can flourish at any time. No one knows what the future holds Khyrum(long silent pause)….But for now, let’s talk about your punishment,” says Yara with a big smile.

As Cora hears the “Yet” part, she feels her cheeks start to turn red, but as she looks at Khyrum. It’s like he isn’t even on the same planet as them.

I’m sweating bullets by now, but I continue to play dumb.

I feign ignorance to make it look like I didn’t hear the girls. I don’t want or need these types of feelings.

“Give them to Brandon,” I think. He is flashy, showy, and stupid about love.

I want nothing else but to cruise on by in absolute anonymity.

“OK, girls, what is it that you want? A bet is a bet even if I didn’t make it,” I say, looking at Brandon.

“So if it is within my powers to grant it to you, I will do my best to make it happen,” I say seriously.

Brandon is turning purple with rage at this point. He has been listening to this conversation for the past 10 minutes without anyone paying attention to him.

He cannot believe Eva ignored him to talk to Khyrum and the girls. He is about to explode when Khyrum says this.

“Brandon, why is your girlfriend meddling in my affairs?” I say, trying to help Brandon out with Eva.

“Shouldn’t you two be planning your own things, maybe a date or something?”

After hearing Khyrum, Brandon cools down rather quickly.

On the other hand, my suggestion takes Eva aback. She gives me this sinister look like she wants to kill me or something.

“Hmm, what’s going on here,” I say after looking at Eva.

“Aren’t they supposed to be lovey-dovey or something?” I continue.

“Eva would be lucky to go out on a date with me, you know,” says Brandon in a smug tone.

“We could go on many dates if she said yes to being my girlfriend,” he continues.

“I would shower her with lavish gifts and presents as she deserves,” he says sweetly.

He turns and nods at Khyrum but mumbles under his breath, “Not like some poor cretins who can’t even a fort a meal.”

Eva catches this last mumble from Brandon, and a tiny sliver of rejection flashes in her eyes.

Khyrum looks at him and feels sorry for just a minute before realizing that he can’t do anything else for him.

“You know what, let’s do this; why don’t we all go out during the two-week holiday break?” says Eva.

She wants to make a date with Brandon into a double date with a third wheel attached.

“I believe Brandon had a good place he wanted to go, and if we go as a group, we can have more fun. What do you girls think?” she continues.

All three girls look at each other, and after a few seconds, they nod in agreement.

I wanted to say no immediately, but I could feel Brandon staring at me from the other side of the desk.

“Khyrum and I would love to go out with you girls during the holiday break,” he said.

And just like that, it was done. I was stuck on a Date!

As the class got back on track, time seemed to move quickly.

I still had to figure out what to do with this power. I needed more info, so I spent almost all my free time in my PLE looking for any scrap of information I could find.

I hid myself well, I thought, to avoid any troublesome distractions.

But guess what, they still found me somehow…..

“Khy, why does it seem like you are hiding from us here in the Library?” said Yara, questioning.

“Yeah, it seems like you are not happy to see or be with us,” says Cora, blushing.

“That’s not it, girls. It's just that I have too much on my mind right now. I’m trying to figure out how to get on the first-year strike team,” I said disinterestedly.

I couldn’t tell them the truth: I wanted to be left alone to concentrate on my skills issue.

Little did I know that the twins knew my issue and only wanted to help me.

“We can help Khy if you let us,” said Cora.

“Yeah, what seems to be the matter,” said Yara.

“Thank you, girls, but it will be hard unless you know about body-enhancing techniques and how they work,” I said as I continued looking at my PLE.

Both girls thought it would be something about the wind technique, so their eyes grew wide in surprise when they heard the body technique.

“Hmm, I think my father might know something of that,” said Cora.

“Yeah, also Nox, who is the leader of the freshmen strike team might also know, as his family is related in part to the Thurmis Consortium,” said Yara.

“Yeah, but would he be willing to help?” I said.

“Why wouldn’t he, all we need to do is have Cora ask him, as he has a crush on her,” said Yara while winking an eye at Cora.