Lie to Me Again | ONC 2024

10 - Cast Not Pearls

"If you don't want me invading Mexico, then you'd be smart to make a counteroffer," Yuki said in a low voice as the USA leader, a sophomore named Cyprus, shut his locker and secured the lock on it.

"You're going to have to speak up," he said, turning. The silver dog at his side stared at her with chilling white-blue eyes, looking more like a wolf than a husky. Cyprus held the leash connected to Achilles' green service dog vest, but Yuki wouldn't have dared try to pet the dog even off-duty.

"I'd like incentive to not invade Mexico," Yuki stated. "I've got a big enough military to be a thorn in your side."

Cyprus hummed in thought, his gaze leaving her lips to stare down the hallway. "Rhett warned me that might happen. I give you an inch and you'll take all of Central and South America—is that how it works?"

Rule three: be the picture of calm.

Yuki smiled, hoping it dazzled like Era's, the perfect combination of mystery and intimidation.  "That's how the game's played. Mexico isn't worth the resources to defend it but you don't want to show you're weak by failing to come to an ally's defense. So I'll cut you a deal." Most of the students had cleared out to watch the football game outside, leaving the building empty without anyone to witness their exchange.

Cyprus fidgeted with the leash in his hand. His attention seemed to be drawn to something behind her, but Yuki refused to let that distract her. "What's your price to back off?"

"One nuke," Yuki said.

"I already told you I wouldn't trade you one at the beginning of the game." Cyprus' jaw set in a hard line, brown eyes glittering with danger. Stubborn. Even more stubborn than Sila had been.

"Yeah, but" —Yuki took a step closer, teeth still bared— "I'm not asking nicely this time."

Cyprus stepped back while Achilles whined beside him. He wrapped the leash around his hand, then unwrapped it a couple times before answering. "Fine. You can't use it against me though." She almost laughed at the ill-concealed venom in her classmate's eyes. It was just a game, yet some people took it as a personal attack when she cornered them.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Yuki set her weight back on her heels and shook Cyprus' hand. While he and Achilles left, the latter's nails clicking against the linoleum floor, she unwrapped a blue raspberry lollipop and stuck it in her mouth.

Footsteps approached from behind her. "You're a real b, you know. It's a shame since I heard you used to be on the side against bullies."

There was only one person he could've heard that from, unless some of those bullies attended Zenith and she just hadn't recognized them. Chuckling, Yuki leaned against the lockers, letting the sweet flavor of sugar coat her tongue. "So, Ethan. You've got a backbone after all."

He hung back in the shadows where the light from the front windows didn't reach. Based on Cyprus' behavior, he'd been there the whole time.

"I've always been a bully, you know," Yuki continued. "When I was younger I preferred to bully the bullies." Her mother had despaired of making her a "proper young lady" when she'd come back from school with bruised knuckles and split lips. She'd always thought herself to be indestructible—that nothing could keep her down if she fought hard enough to stay standing.

"What changed then?"

The lollipop cracked beneath her teeth, shards of sugary dust settling in her mouth. "When you're younger, everything seems so cut and dry," Yuki finally said. "The world's black and white, right and wrong. Everything seems so simple, so easy."

Ethan edged out of the shadows, the sunlight splitting him in half, equal parts light and dark. "So what you're saying is you've lost touch with what's good and bad? Who's the bully and who's the victim?"