Playing with balls (Open!)

[Georgina Speer]

"The square root of 4 times 7 cubed all divided by 14, and then all minus 7 equals what?" The teacher had been droning on about pointless equations that wouldn't improve George's life at all for the whole damn lesson; who cares what the square root of 2x squared was, it wasn't gonna get her a bag of nachos! The final bell of the day rang after that hour of hell and she almost yelled out words of victory and happiness, but she didn't want to spend another hour in detention learning how mathematics was going to either make her or break her in life! She knew of something that she wanted to break and that had nothing to do with Maths, unless you wanted to count how many splinters her math teacher's leg would break into when she threw him off of the top of the building!

She let her internal rage of everything calm down before darting off in the direction of the Student Lounge. She felt the need to let out the boredom that had festered like cobwebs on her brain with a little recreational activity, and not one that turned her into a zombie, like gaming did. She wanted to play some pool. A darn good, old fashioned game of pool that you start off playing with an absolute stranger who ends up being your best friend afterwards. Those were good times, times she wanted to have now. She wanted to play with some stranger's balls on a table, and, gosh darn it, she was gonna do it!

She slammed open those double doors, or aragorned them, as she liked to call it, and went up to one of the pool tables. She put the balls in place, lifted the triangle and prepared to take the first shot, hoping that someone in that room would take the hint and join her.

[Jack McCarthy]

Bored , bored bored…..Urg he thought it was physical impossible for a school full to the brink of students and teachers with god damn super powers. Be so freaking dull! He had no clue how, but some how, the Hammel Institute the shittest place on God’s green earth somehow managed to do it.

On the day in question, due to a lucky (Of course…) break he had a three hour break between classes, now at first Jack thought this would mean nothing but good things, but really it turned out to be a curse in disguise. He usually spent his time, bored out his tree just waiting for time to slowly tick by, by any means necessary.

Which is why Jack found himself lounging ever so carelessly on the sofa, when a tiny girl with short hair (That seemed oddly familiar, he thought he recognised her face from somewhere but couldn’t exactly place it) walked with a purpose to the pool table and began to rack up the balls, clearly intending to play.

Ahhh….pool, Jack had never played the game himself, but he spent many a night, back in Ireland sitting on a bar stool eating peanuts watching his dad in awe as he earned the reputation as a pool shark.

That’s how he spent his 8th birthday….

Seeing a chance to end his boredom, he airily strolled over to the girl, his signature golden celtic cross dangling as he approached the table “I want you to know. I could make a joke about balls….but I won’t. Because I’m better then that. That’s the cheap joke. The moment I thing of something more creative I’ll let you know.”

[Georgina Speer]

George looked up at the source of the voice just as her cue hit the white ball, make the shot go slightly astray. She sighed a little and smirked at the guy as he mentioned ball jokes, no doubt he had been thinking of ones similar to the ones that had come into her head as she had set up the game. "Nice to know." She studied his face a little. She did have some recollection of his face, but she shrugged it off; probably just saw him around school or something. She turned and looked at the table before her. A lot of the balls were still in their triangle formation and the few that had been hit with her ball had moved away a little, but not enough to pocket any.

She looked at the second cue resting against the table. She picked it up and held it out to him, "I know you want to play with my balls. I can see the look in your eye that says you want to." She raised and eyebrow at him and gave him a little cheeky smirk, tilting her head slightly. Yea, yea, he said he wouldn't make a cheap ball joke, but the opportunity was staring her right in the face; she honestly couldn't help it.

But, before he could grab the cue, even if he wanted to or not, she pulled it away from him, "But I don't want some random stranger to be playing with them. The fee for the cue is your name." She knew that he could easily enough go to another table and get a cue, or walk away, but that didn't really matter, she was just playing around.

(Outfit)

[Jack McCarthy]

Jack held his hands up in mock defense as if George has caught him out in a lie “What can I say? You got me. I could never resist playing with a good strong pair of balls…or more then a pair. After a moment Jack shrugged his shoulders ruefully “Ok, I lied. My standards are seriously low and I couldn’t resist, it was low hanging fruit, much like balls” Jack punched the air in victory “Oh! I can do this all day!”

Jack wandered around to the pool table and grabbed a pool cue and swung it around like he was a ninja with a mystical and deadly katana making lightsaber noises as he did “Wommpp…wommp…Luke I am your father…Woompp” but before he had a chance to really unleash his jedi skills, he got his deadly weapon taken off him, instead of being irritated, he was distracted by the girl’s beautiful hat. True, it wasn’t a top hat but it was still pretty damn cool. Whenever he was in the presence of someone with a cool hat, he had to resist the urge to smack it off, but he was somehow resisting the temptation.

“Well, if you insist…I’m Jack McCarthy but people call me Jack Mcawesome…ok, no one calls me that…but they might start if I keep calling myself that” With that Jack leant down and tapped his hands on the table. “Anywho, I’m all for a fun innocent game of pool and all that shit, but how about we make this a little more interesting. What do you say we play for stakes…and just because I’m such a nice guy, I’ll you pick them”

[Georgina Speer]

George smiled and rolled her eyes as the guy blabbed on about her beautiful ball obsession, and she let out a small chuckle when he punched the air. It was funny seeing someone act that way, even if his jokes were kinda terrible.

She noticed him eyeing up her hat and took a small step back. She listened to Jack's stumbled introduction of himself and his idea for having stakes. She raised an eyebrow, but played along. "Alright, Jack..." she held the cue out for him to take again after his wonderful performance from before, "McSkywalker, how's this; if I win, you buy me a cool new hat, seeing as you've been looking at the one that I have on right now so much, and if you win..." she pondered on the thought. What could she choose? She didn't know what things he liked or anything, but after wracking her brain for about 30 seconds, she thought of an idea. "If you win, I'll do three things for you. Like a Genie from a lamp." She wasn't sure if she would regret saying that or not, but she didn't care too to think about it for long.

She smirked and raised an eyebrow, "That sound like a fair deal?"

[Jack McCarthy]

It was probably a good thing that George moved back when she did. He honestly didn’t know if he could resist the temptation to knock that hat off her head much longer….

When George announced the bet and much more interesting, the forfeits, It was all Jack could do to suppress an evil super villain laugh “Now you’re talking!” Jack didn’t really care about HIS forfeit, after all he had an awesome sense of fashion and style and would no doubt pick an awesome hat. Most likely a top hat, But George’s forfeit…. Now that had the potential to be a lot of fun. He didn’t exactly know what he would do with three wishes, but Jack was confident that his evil and devious mind could think of something suitable. “So…let me get this straight…Three wishes….completely free, and it can be anything?”

Of course what George didn’t know was that even though he had never played a game of pool in his natural born life. He had one hell of a unfair advantage thanks to his probability manipulation, he was confident that there was no possible way he could lose….poor George…He almost felt sorry for her….almost. With a Chester cat grin on his face which seemed to send George the message “I know something you don’t know” He suddenly held out his free hand, spit into the palm of his hand and held it out for George to shake “Deal! Do you want to start or will I?

[Georgina Speer]

"Yes, three... wishes, I guess. Almost completely free; I won't do anything that threatens my life, but other than that," She took a deep breath and smirked, "...anything." She spit into her hand, mimicking his movements and shook hands with him, whilst eyeing up the suspiciously large grin that stretched across his face. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea... well, it was too late now by any means. And besides, it would be fun, right? She shook her head ever so slightly; she was trusting an absolute stranger with three wishes where they could make her do practically anything they wanted. She really hoped that she would win.

She turned back to the pool table and began to collect the balls together into the triangle again, "I don't mind... oh wait!" She stopped organizing the balls, meaning some of them rolled away a bit. She took off her hat and felt around the ribbon until she felt a bump. She pushed it up and out came a quarter. She picked up the coin from where it had landed on the hat's rim and put the hat back on her head. She put the coin on her thumb, ready to flip it, "Heads or tails?"

George had played pool in the past a little, but only when she occasionally went to the arcade with someone and there weren't any machines available, so she was fairly decent, and her gaming had helped her hand-eye coordination to improve, but she wasn't exactly a pro. Either way, this was going to be fun.

[Jack McCarthy]

Internally Jack was dancing a jig of joy as George confirmed the fact that Jack could ask of her anything, and it she’ll have to do it. Oh George, you poor naïve girl. Don’t you know that when you bets like that you need to close any and all loopholes possible, to avoid having people like Jack taking advantage of?

Jack raised an amused eyebrow as George took off her hat and retrieved a coin “Holy shit, you’re just full of surprises, is that like your freaky power shit? Unlimited hat space? What else do you have in there? A mallet? Ten other hats?”

Ahh…his old friend the coin toss, what a faithful friend you’ve been to Mr, McCarthy over the years, thanks to his good luck, Jack is currently 178-0 in coin tosses, Really this was going to be too easy, Jack pretended to deliberate her question as he got one of the balls and tossed it lightly from side to side. “Let’s see….Hmmmm….How about we go for heads”

[Georgina Speer]

She snorted when he talked about her hat, "I wish, I'd love to be able to carry all my hats around with me!" She smirked, "Or a mallet, that could be really useful in some situations." She remember back in England when she saw one of her close friends, Janice, being bullied, and she tried to stop the idiots, but they wouldn't listen to her and she could only watch as they beat up her friend. If she'd had a mallet in that situation, that story would've gone down a different route which lead to a hospital.

She nodded at his choice, "So I'm tails, as always," she flipped the coin and it landed on the floor. She picked it up and it was... heads. She looked at Jack and smirked, "I guess you're taking the break shot then." She collected up all of the balls and took the one off of him which he had been throwing around, put them in the triangle, set it in place and lifted it. She placed the white ball at the other end of the table and stepped back, leaning on her cue slightly, "I'm Georgina Speer, by the way, but just call me George." she gave him a cheeky wink and waited for him to take the shot.

[Jack McCarthy]

Jack shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t already know what the outcome would have been wayyy in advance, Jack had to agree with George. This WAS going to fun…but Jack, not so much for old Georgie boy….or girl.

“George? Why did your parent’s give you a boy’s name?” Jack said teasingly as he went over to where George stood. “Oh! I get it! You must have been born with both sets of genitals. Like a chick with a dick…do you have a dick, George?”

Jack leant over to the white ball with a straight posture and held the pool clue straight in front of him, about to take his shot….but instead he seemed like he changed his mind and quickly leapt up to step on the lisp of the pool table and positioned the cue behind his sholders in quite a show off manner.

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!” He shouted before he took his shot. The ball sped towards the rack and crashed into sending all manner of balls flying every which way. But he’s the strange part. No matter where they went, more or less all of them ending up in perfect positions for a easy slot. Like it was pulled toward it by some unseen force a green ball instantly flew into the top right pocket.

Pleased with his work, Jack stood back up and mimed blowing steam off his cue.

“Oh, by the way. I should have told you; I’m kinda awesome”

[Georgina Speer]

She laughed a little in reply to Jack's interpretation of her name, "Wouldn't you like to know." she said, with a wink. George watched Jack set up her shot and had to stifle a laugh: he was mucking around like no-one's business. But he took his shot and... it was amazing. She watched all of the balls bounce around until they came to a rest... all lined up practically perfectly, with the green practically potting itself. Her mouth dropped to the floor for a second, but she quickly recovered her cool.

George took off her hat and bowed dramatically, "Your majesty, King McAwesome." She stood up straight and placed her hat back on her head. She pointed casually at the table, "So, are you gonna take your next shot? I'd like to see if you can keep this up!" She smirked a little and leaned against the table. She wanted to see because she was fascinated, but also she wanted to watch his technique. Was it pure skill? Or was he playing a trick on her? Those three wishes were starting to sound more and more daunting by the second.

[Jack McCarthy]

His Majesty, King McAwesome. He couldn’t deny it had quite an impressive ring to it…..Jack smiled back at George, his face a picture of smug satisfaction, as George only fed into his ego and he accepted the praise of other’s, like a junkie feasting into his latest fix. He lived off the praise of others, if he didn’t get his ego stroked once and awhile, he was sure he would curl up and die.

“I always though I had a flair for royalty…and Hey!” Jack said almost scolding George. “Don’t rush a masterpiece. You can’t force an artist…and that’s what I’m doing, I’m not playing; I’m creating art. So…Shhhhhhh.” Jack said putting his finger to his lip before speaking in a mock commentators voice.

“…McCarthy, walked up to the table, like the sexy love child of Brad pitt and Pop-eye. He leans masterfully over the table and picks his target….he SHOOTS!” As he was commentating, he struck the ball and of course it caused his target to balloon perfectly into the pocket “…and the crowd goes wild! WOOOOO YAYYYY! JACK! JACK! JACK!”

He spun the cue in his hands for just a second making sure to show off as every moment before choosing his next ball, he goes to shoot, but here’s the funny thing. He aimed the ball AWAY from any pockets and it hit against the side of the table…and it rebounded off…and…slowly but surely…yes! Amazing it practically traveled the entire length of the table to creep into one of the pockets. Now that’s a track shot.

[Georgina Speer]

She stepped back from the table and raised her arms in defense, "Alright, Van Gogh, paint me a picture." She listened to and laughed at his ridiculous commentating, but he still pulled off a great shot. George leaned against a nearby wall with her arms crossed, quite relaxed, but something he did made her straighten up. He hit his next ball completely off, but it still looped back and, after creeping to the right end of the table, at an imaginably slow rate, potted itself. 'Unbelievable.' she thought, but she still played along.

George gave a wide grin and slow clapped. She curtsied as well, just for good measure, before she spoke, "That was... amazing. Your Highness," She bowed, "Your Excellency," she bowed again, a little deeper. She smirked and look him in the eyes, and with confidence, she said, "You cheater."

"I'm not stupid, honey," Sarcasm thickly dripped from her words, "Physics doesn't work like that. So spit it out. What's going on?" She wasn't normally one to accuse people of this sort of thing, but it was staring her right in the face. She believed in fair play, and that seemed far from it. She didn't mean to be mean in anyway, she was just curious to know how Jack was pulling the wool over her eyes.

She would keep playing, probably, even if he had been cheating, and if you can call watching from the sidelines 'playing'. She crossed her arms and leaned back against the wool, pushing the rim of her hat up slightly so she could still see his fact and his reaction.

[Jack McCarthy]

God it really should be a crime to be this talented, and this pretty….but mostly so very talented. Jack smiled and nodded agreeing with such high prase, clearly thinking being humble was overrated. “I know, aren’t I just?” His smile disappeared slightly as George successfully pinpointed that he wasn’t exactly playing by the rules.

Busted.

He had hopped for a little more awestruck wonder, before George caught on. Curse his naturally showmanship!

Jack point on a over dramatic look of shock as he balanced the cue between his fingers. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, and I don’t care for your accusations.” He points to himself with his pool cue. “Cheat? Me? Jealously is a terrible thing George, just because you’re jealous of my undeniable skill, doesn’t give you licence to try and trash my good name….quite frankly…I’m hurt…I can’t believe you would say something so mean.”

Jack tried to keep the hurt expression on his face before he finally relented unable to keep the smile off his face. “Welll….there is one tinny-tiny little minor detail that I neglected to mention…not that important, really….but I kind of, sort of have super powered luck…..yeahhhh….probably should mentioned that shouldn’t I? My bad.”

Jack’s face was clearly not sorry feeling like the most untouchable man on the planet, Jack leaned in close to George.

“PS…you’re kinda fucked…”

[Georgina Speer]

She raised her eyebrows at him as he spewed out excuses and his own accusations. It was all empty words and she smirked a little at how hard he was trying to cover up for whatever it was he was doing. The way his face pouted in an overly-dramatic look of upset was absolutely priceless. She eyed him up as he began to explain himself with a cheeky grin gracing his face, but her face fell in shock and realization at the reason. On the inside, she was laughing it off and having a good joke about it, but she didn't show that on the outside. They'd shook on their deal, so there was no going back on it, but that meant... fuck.

"PS... you're kinda fucked..."

She recovered her facial expression and gave him a look with raised eyebrows and an open mouth that read as a sarcastic 'Nooo, really?'. She leaned against the wall and sighed, looking at the ground, trying to make fun of her screwed situation. She looked at him with a slight smile, "So, super powered luck, huh? Doesn't sound very professional. Is there a real name for it or do you just go around saying you have super powered luck?"