HAVANA FAMILY BANQUET (8): STEPHEN'S INSULT AND THE GAME.

' Another friend! Do you think that our Havana house is a hotel where you can bring all your friends to stay?' Stephen says.

' Calm down Stephen. Mother already consented.' Oliver replies trying to end the matter before his daughters lost their temper.

' Keep quiet Oliver. This is all your fault! you spoilt your girls to much. You were an incapable father.' Stephen says harshfully to Oliver.

' Uncle!!' Riona, Ashley and Arianna call out at the same time.

' You should mind your tongue.' Ashley says.

' Don't speak to godfather that way.' Riona says.

' Shut up. You are an incompetent sibling and you Riona are a bad influence. You let your sister bring this street urchin to our home. Olivia is just a spoilt rotten child.' Stephen says.

' Incapable father, Incompetent sibling, bad influence, street urchin, spoilt rotten child. That's fine. But you will apologize on your knees and NOBODY will save you this time.' Arianna says with a calm smile. Nobody noticed Mira slipping away.

' What can you do? You had better be quiet.' Stephen says.

' I'm sorry Uncle. What just happened now, will never happen again. And I will make sure of that.' Arianna replies meekly.

' Better.' Stephen says arrogantly.

Riona and Ashley drag Arianna to her room.

' Arianna Olivia Havana! How dare you succumb to the demands of that loose-tongued man?' Riona exclaimed.

' Calm down Riona. My name is Arianna Olivia Havana. Since when did I become forgiving. He insulted my dad, my big sister, my best friend and my little sister. Of course I won't let him go without appropriate punishment. You guys should leave it to me. I kept quiet because mom will only let me keep Mira if I win the game. If I do anything before then, I will get disqualified. But he will definitely not get away, How dare he? Mira must be so sad, I need to go find her.' Arianna says as she stands up. She turns round and is stunned.

Mira is standing quietly at the door.

' Some master planners you guys are, you didn't close the door.' Arianna says.

' Don't.. fight... because..me.' Mira says.

' Who says it is because of you? Come sit Mira.' Arianna says as she sits Mira down.

' Mira, in this life people are always ready to attack you. You may choose to ignore them but that only fuels their desire to trouble you. You may decide to argue it out with them but you are only demeaning your standard. The best way to deal with such people is to teach them a lesson such that when they remember the incident, they will refrain from committing the same mistake. And Uncle Stephen committed 4 mistakes. One against my dad, the other against my big sister, the next against my best friend and against my little sister. This is my fight not yours.' Arianna explains.

' I.. really.. don't want...you to.. fight. because..of me.' Mira replies.

' My dear Mira, I have been someone's little sister for 18 years. And noone got to me without going through my big sister. Now I am someone's big sister, I won't let anyone get away with a single word against you. You just relax and have fun.' Arianna says as she strokes Mira's hair.

Mira felt something moving in her chest.

Was this what it felt like to have someone care for you?

' Common, let's go to the hall, these dresses were made to be shown off.' Arianna says with a smile.

They all go to the Main Hall.

A few moments later,

Rosalind enters and it was time to pick an activity.

She pressed the button and the slip of paper comes out. She glances at the paper and says,

' For today's game, we have Team game. Butler Phillip, slates.'

Butler Qinn brings four slates on a tray.

' In each of the slates are a different shade of green; evergreen, Apple green, Forest green and emerald green. I will pick two slates from these and the two slates in my hand will represent one group and the remaining two slates will represent the second group. I believe you all know your shade of green.' Rosalind says. She picks up two slates, looks at them and says, ' Forest green and evergreen are in team one and the remaining two shades and in team two.'

In other words, Ava and Bella are in team one while Arianna and Arthur are in team two.

' In the first phase, you will have to escape unhurt from an enclosed space with enemies. If your partner gets hurt, your team is eliminated, each team have three strikes. Your score will be given based on individual performance.' Rosalind says.

Ava, Arthur and Bella knew in their minds that Arianna held the biggest chance of winning because she was the most skilled fighter during their training when they were younger.

' Try not to draw me back, Bella.' Ava says arrogantly.

Bella ignores her.

' Are you ready?' Arthur asks.

' I was born ready.' Arianna replies.

' This should be like the video games I play, right?' Arthur asks.

' Then it should be like the dreams I have.' Arianna replies.

Butler Phillip leads the two teams to two different rooms.

Arianna spots a glass of milk and two cookies on a stool and she hurriedly gobles it up.

' Aren't you meant to like try to be as d*mn fit as possible?' Arthur asks.

' Try telling that to my belly, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, except for for that hot chocolate. Is this how I am going to die?' Arianna complains melodramatically.

' You are such a f*cking drama queen.' Arthur says.

' How I envy you?' Arianna replies.

' Why would you envy me?' Arthur ask.

' Well when I was younger, I wanted to be those badass kind of girl. I would roll my eyes at every single sentence, say " whatever" and use a curse word in every sentence.' Arianna replies.

' Then why the f*ck did you not do that.' Arthur asks.

' Cuz when I used a cursed word for the first time, Ashley spanked me with a stick for like an hour and then she starved me. I kept waiting to turn 18 to rebel, but as fate would have it I became a mom and now I have to be good for my child. As a person with more life experience than you, I will tell you to enjoy your youth lad. A time will come in your life, when you will be forced to grow up. I remember my days of carefree living. Good times.' Arianna says sounding elderly and mature.

' Olivia you are f*cking crazy. First of all, you aren't rebel material. Secondly, I'm older than you with f*cking 8 months.' Arthur says.

' Whatever. Where are the enemies? All I see are some dudes coming in from the window.' Arianna says. She takes a few seconds to register what she just said.

' SOME DUDES COMING IN FROM THE WINDOW!!' She exclaims.

The both of them stands up and position themselves.

*************

Unlike Arthur and Arianna, The atmosphere between Ava and Bella was stiff. Each of them waiting for the supposed enemies. And of course they spotted them soon and got into action immediately.

***********

' Hey Arthur. How about tornado?' Arianna says.

' Hopefully, you aren't as fat as you look.' Arthur replies.

' Bully! How dare you?' Arianna says as they hold hands.

Arthur spins Arianna round, while she released kicks to the enemies.

' Think you can do a flying kick?' Arthur says challengingly.

' You bet I can.' Arianna says. The both launch flying kicks at their opponents.

**************

' Try not to get hurt. I don't want to lose because of you.' Ava says.

' Shouldn't we work out a strategy first?' Bella asks.

' The strategy is : try not to get hurt. Now don't distract me, I have to win this.' Ava says as she takes of her shoes and starts fighting. Bella does the same.

During the fight, Bella sees that Ava is fighting one person while another is creeping behind her.

' Watch out Ava!' Bella says as she goes over to Ava and gets hit instead, Ava gets distracted and turns around and the person in front of her hits her.

' Double strike for team one. One strike to go.' Rosalind says.

**********

' So Mira came with you?' Arthur asks.

Arthur and Arianna were backing each other and fighting.

' Yeah! Charming, isn't she?' Arianna replies.

' She's a freaking game goddess. She will have to teach me.' Arthur says.

' You should ask her. Make sure you don't use any unruly language when speaking with my Mira or else you will look for your mouth.' Arianna threatens.

' Chill little kitten.' Arthur says playfully.

Arianna's face fell. Ken! Suddenly anger coursed through her and she transferred the aggression to the opponents.

Why was she this way? Why did that jerk still have an effect on her?

************

Bella and Ava were still not cooperating and finally Bella got hit.

' Team one gets a strike. Team one has lost. Team two wins!' Rosalind says.

Arthur and Arianna hug and jubilates. The victory makes Arianna forget about Ken.

The four participants return to the Main Hall where Rosalind says the next activity of the team games.

Some maids roll in two tables each containing a puzzle pack.

' The next task is for the teams to finish the puzzle. The first team to complete the puzzle wins.' Rosalind says.

Arianna looks at Arthur.

' Please tell me you play puzzles in video game.' Arianna says.

' I was gonna ask if you dreamt of playing puzzles as well.: Arthur replies.

' Yep, we are toast.'

The game began and after a while,

Ava and Bella's puzzle was beginning to take form while Arianna and Arthur's puzzle hardly contained ten pieces correctly placed.

As expected, Ava and Bella won the game and it brought an end to the Team Game.

Rosalind opens the next and last ball if the year, she reads it.

' The final game of the year is.... a 400 metre race. It's best to change into something comfortable.'

Ava knew she had a disadvantage as she had always moved with grace and poise and never ran unless it was mandatory.

Bella who hadn't been keen about the whole game issue was glad it was finally over.

Arthur smirked confidently. He was the only guy here, there was no competition.

Arianna tried her best to look worried. It was best to surprise her opponents.

If she could constantly outrun the police, her cousin shouldn't be an issue.

When she was still a student, her classmates would all go to a club when it was strictly 18+

Every night, some elderly person would find out that they were under 18 and then call the cops.

They would run for miles to escape the police and they did it regularly as they enjoyed the thrill of being pursued.

Other times, they would have to out drive the cops when it was discovered that they were driving without license.

Ah! Good times.

Arianna went to her room and changed.

Soon they were out at the courtyard.

' Do no enter another person's lane. Don't leave the track. Get the flag and you win. On your mark, get set, Go!' Rosalind says.

The four start running with Arthur in the lead, Arianna quite far from him, then Bella and Ava.

Arthur chuckled at how easy this was.

Once Arianna ran 200 metres, she picked up speed surprising Everyone who was watching the race.

All Arthur could see was a shadow run past him, he picked up speed as well but it was too late.

Arianna had already grabbed the flag.

She had won the game.