How Green Becomes Wood

Sloan quickly agreed a air hockey tournament would be fun, although she pointed out they didn't get any tickets from it. Milo shuffled after the group, at first just looking the games over before initiating anything.

Meanwhile, Dark helped Daizi and Ivy over to skeeball so he could rack up a massive number of tickets to pass out amongst the group of them.
 
After some discussion, Becky and Tom agreed that it would be fun to do a bit of air hockey even if they didn't get tickets. The twins declined to play, preferring their own game for now. Peter came over to join them to give them even numbers with Sloan, and Peter challenged Becky first. Tom stood with Sloan watching them.

After a bit, Tom cleared his throat. "So, um, Sloan, I was wondering, uh... I don't know how to ask this, so I guess I'll just jump in." He waved his hand awkwardly as he spoke. "Are you, uh, like, strictly gay, or is there like some wiggle room?" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his cheeks pink.
 
Sloan froze at the question, and didn't even turn to look at Tom, feeling her heart rate spike. She was pretty sure she hadn't told him about her, so Emily must have. And that's okay, she knew it was okay, they were also friends. But she didn't expect to hear it so plainly stated. And she wished she was dressed differently. She pulled down on the hem on the skirt again. "Um..." She mumbled, "I--"
 
"I mean," Tom stammered, forcing his hand into his pocket, "it's cool and all, I was just wondering if maybe you might... want to maybe... go out with me? Not asking for, you know, a commitment or anything, just... you seem pretty cool... and... I thought maybe... we could get to know each other better. When we're not dressed up like a Haloween party." He gave a nervous laugh and scuffed his boot.
 
"Yeah, no, it's cool," Tom assured her in a rush, his cheeks reddening even more. "I didn't mean to, you know, make you uncomfortable, but... I'm just going to stop talking and..." He looked around briefly. "Find a nice rock to make my home... Yep." He started to move away but paused when Becky cheered over a point. "Oh. I've got to play you in air hockey. Right." He looked down, scuffing his boot again. "Sorry. Didn't mean to spoil things. Just seemed like a better moment than trying to hunt you down at school, you know? Just..." He waved his hand. "Pretend this never happened."
 
"Okay I will," Sloan said quickly, tugging on the hem of her skirt again. Then she finally looked at him, "I don't mean it like that, I'm sorry. I just, it's not really something that I..." She fell silent again, not really knowing what else to say. Swallowing hard she said, "You didn't spoil it. I just... I don't like people... knowing."
 
Tom gave her a look of complete confusion. "Knowing what? That you're gay?" He shrugged and looked away. "Not like it's any of my business, I guess, but at least a quarter of the school knows or at least strongly suspects. You're kind of one of the most popular girls in school, so people notice. Most of them don't care."
 
Tom's eyes went wide. "Oooohhhh. Awkward." After a pause, he said, "Well, she won't hear it from me. Promise you that." He glanced at her sideways again. "Sorry about that. It's just..." He clicked his tongue and shook his head before offering her a fist bump. "Cool to be friends at least for today?"
 
She smiled weakly at him and returned the fist bump, "Friends." She looked at the air hockey table, "At least until I kick your ass in air hockey."

Milo was watching the twins and Peter play their game, but the game which was, essentially, gambling and the objective was to hit the button at a certain moment to win the most tickets. "I bet I can win that," he said.
 
"Fair," Tom chuckled. Becky lost her round, but only by a couple of points. She stepped away with a grown but grinned and shook Peter's hand. "Looks like it's time for you to follow through with that threat!" He stepped forward and picked a side, grinning at Sloan.

"I guess you'd have practice pushing camera buttons," Xander smirked. He stepped away and gestured for Milo to try. "Let's see how you do."

"Do you have a secret skill?" Alec asked, holding his decent bunch of tickets. He was slightly better than Xander at the game, but not by much. He attributed it to his musical proclivities.
 
"I've got really quick reflexes," Sloan said, rolling her shoulders back and swiping her card to set up the game, "Let's go."

Milo looked at Alec, "Not really, no. I don't think I've ever done it before. But it's worth a shot, right?" He swiped his card, watched the lights go up and down for a few times, and when he judged it right, hit the button, and missed the jackpot by only a little bit. He took the pitiful amount of tickets, shoved them in his pocket, and said, "Nobody wins on their first try," before swiping his card again.
 
Tom grinned and set up the puck. "So do I. Ready.... Go!"

Xander crossed his arms and leaned back on one leg as he watched. "Not bad. But I've seen better. Come on, man, win yourself some top-tier tickets!"

"Don't distract him!" Alec scolded, watching Milo.
 
"I'm trying," Milo murmured, watching it more closely. Again he hit the button, again he missed it but a little. Immediately he swiped the card again, murmuring something derisively under his breath about a skinner box, hit the button, and failed. "It is amazing they let kids play this when it is literally a slot machine."

As soon as Sloan was competing, she looked exactly as focused as she did on the mat, and with full intention to win, hit the puck as best as she could, while still keeping her paddle immediately in front of her goal.
 
"Come on, let's try something else," Xander said, giving Milo the slightest of nudges. "There's other, better games."

"Yeah," Alec agreed. "How about tha- Oh! Sloan is playing Air hockey! I wanna see how she's doing." He hurried off to watch the match between Sloan and Tom.

Tom didn't guard his goal as closely as Sloan, but he was incredibly fast and took a few daring moves.
 
"But I know I can do it," Milo said, but still tucked his card away and followed after the twins.

Sloan remained perfectly focused on the game, not even noticing the twins had come up to watch them: She could not lose. Especially not after the conversation that just happened. Tom was fast, but his willingness to leave his goal opened allowed her to score a few good points on him.
 
"Maybe you can try again later," Alec suggested, paying more attention to the game than to the conversation.

"Or you can spend your whole wad on a gamble and leave with nothing at best," Xander pointed out. "I bet you can bet a hundred other games before you win at that one."

Sloan's guarding technique did make it difficult, but Tom did manage to sneak in a couple of points, himself, using some risky techniques. Sloan was ahead, but only just as the puck clicked back and forth at blurring speeds.
 
The first point Tom scored was a mistake on her part, and she grit her teeth and buckled down to make sure it wouldn't happen again. The next few points only confirmed what she had guessed--Tom took chances, and knowing this, she was able to lure him into taking big enough ones to leave openings for her to score until, finally, she won! 7-4, and when she scored that final point she laughed, then held out her hand to Tom, "Good game, dude."
 
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