♜

MAX STOOD IN THE middle of the rooftop, his white PE uniform covered in dirt, almost as if he fought with someone in the mud. He takes a deep breath as the wind blows on his face. Without saying anything, Leo - a member of BND - stands in front of Max and says, "Are you ready?"

     Max takes another deep breath and grips on the paint gun that he's holding.

     "Are we seriously going to stand here all day? Or are we going to do this?" Max answers instead as he looks at the two groups of men waiting in front of him.

     BND and Jokers look at each other before standing in a circle around Max, putting Max in the middle. They were at least a couple of meters away from where Max is.

     Krist, who's also covered in sweat, glances at the man beside him. To be more specific, he glances at BND's leader, Hans. 

     Hans takes a deep breath and suddenly removes his coat and undoes a couple of buttons on his polo before wiping the sweat on his forehead. Krist gets annoyed by this, so for some unknown reason, he takes his coat off as well and undoes a couple of buttons on his polo, instantly making the member of Jokers howl at him.

     "Was that really necessary?" Marcus asks the jester.

     Master Joker, who's busy folding his sleeves up, smirks and answers him, "Definitely."

     Max has been training for the past weeks, at least eight hours a day. He's trained with BND on most days, but sometimes he'd go face to face with the Roses, and even the members of Jokers.

     Today is Max's last day of evaluation. When Mr. Brains and Brawn revealed the contestants, it instantly became the talk of the town, especially when J.S High announced that this year's representative was Max. Of course, the media blew up, and that instantly added pressure on BND. But Max made sure to work even harder so he wouldn't have to embarrass them.

     "Alright Max, let's begin," Ari, who was also at the rooftop to watch Max's final evaluation, says as he approaches him with a cloth. He then stands beside Max and covers his eyes with the said cloth.

     The members of Jokers and BND places their target on their chest while Ari moves away so he can stand beside Ervin and Felix, who were also there to show their support to their dear friend.

     For Max's final evaluation, he'll be playing a game of tag with the two brotherhoods. Of course, as a handicap, the members are asked to go a little easy on Max since the physical level and strength of a brotherhood member is still too high for someone like Max, who barely exercised when he was sixteen.

     "Alright...we'll begin in five, four, three, two—" Arjun - who's holding a stopwatch - blows on his whistle, automatically making all twelve members run towards Max.

     Max takes a deep breath and maximizes his concentration. Without any hesitation, he starts shooting towards the sounds coming from their boots, and even from their heavy breathing.

     Ari, Ervin, and Felix look at their friend in amazement.

     Hans and Krist, who were only a few inches away from Max, got ready to touch his back because if they successfully touch him, Max will lose.

     Thankfully, Max heard the golden chain from Hans's collar when he got too close. So Max immediately goes down and swings his leg, instantly making Hans fall. Max then shoots him with the paint gun, and just when Krist was about to tackle him from behind, Max turns around, throws a punch, and immediately shoots him too.

     Arjun blows his whistle just in time, and Max immediately removes his blindfold. While he adjusts to the sudden light and rubs his eyes, Arjun goes around to check the targets one by one while writing the results down in his notebook.

     Ari and the rest of Max's friends run towards Max in excitement. Felix couldn't even contain himself as he hugs Max as tightly as he could. "You were super cool Max! You actually did it!" He tells him.

     Max takes a deep breath and looks around. Some were covered in red paint, while others were lying on the floor. But before he could even assess the situation, Arjun approaches him and announces his score. "You accurately targeted six. You shot four others but not on the right target."

     "You almost hit my eye, Max! It hurt like crazy!" Brave suddenly complains.

     Max glances at Brave and sees a paint mark on his chin, awkwardly making Max scratch the back of his head while he mouthed the word "sorry."

     "And you completely missed two," Arjun finishes.

     "Let me guess, it's Krist and Hans again," Max assumes, but to his surprise, Arjun shakes his head and points at the two leaders who were groaning in pain on the ground.

     "Nope, this time you actually got them," Arjun explains, immediately making Max's eyes widen from shock.

    Arjun puts his notebook down and finally smiles at Max. "You just set a new record. We have never trained anyone who has improved as much as you did, so congratulations."

     Jokers heard the news and started cheering. Even Marcus, who Max successfully targeted, looks at his brother with a proud smile.

     Max didn't know what to say, but he starts laughing to himself. It wasn't a laugh that meant he lost his mind. Actually, he was laughing because he was genuinely happy. All those training paid off after all. All the beatings and survival training; everything was worth it.

     "Well, that was unexpected," Hans says as he slowly stands from the floor. He then looks to his right and sees Krist who was holding his stomach since Max punched him in that area.

     "You alright, master joker?" Hans asks with a teasing smile. Krist glares at him, but Hans then shows Krist his hand so he can help him up. Krist hesitates, but he reaches out for it anyway as Hans pulls him up. The two looks at each other, but then the serious expression on Krist's face turns into a small smile as he says, "Looks like you transformed my little toy into a monster."

     "Oh please, we were going easy on him. He wouldn't even be given a gun permit with how lousy he aims," Hans answers, making Krist laugh.

     Afterward, the two leaders look at Max with complete admiration. Krist takes a deep breath and reaches out to the Jokers' brooch on his collar before saying, "That boy will really become a force to be reckoned with. If Viktor doesn't keep his goals straight, he'll be making a terrible enemy."

     "Viktor's not stupid enough to make Max his enemy. He knows that."

     "But Max doesn't. If Viktor doesn't make his intentions clear, Max won't go easy on him as soon as he reaches Viktor's throne. Remember what our president warned us before. Those two aren't supposed to meet," Krist explains, making Hans massage his temple in frustration.

     "We had no choice. The only person who's capable of stopping Viktor from breaking the system is Max. Our old president already tried it before...and you know damn well what happened after that."

... 

"I heard that secretary Richard Young only scored five on his final evaluation last year with BND. See, even a white uniform can beat an Elite," Ari says with a proud smile like Max's achievement is his achievement too.

     Right after the evaluation, the four peculiar friends went to the locker room so Max could change his clothes. Thankfully this time, a jack-in-the-box wasn't hidden inside his locker like last time.

     "Why do you always pick on your fellow underlings? Shouldn't you at least respect the fact that you are under one brotherhood?" Ervin then asks since he doesn't degrade his fellow Jacks as much as Ari does to his fellow Roses.

     "Don't be fooled Ervin, Ari doesn't hate the Roses; it's the Elites that he hate. Haven't you noticed how many times he and the vice president has clashed before?" Max explains while he was fixing his uniform.

     Felix, who's peacefully sitting on the benches, looks at his friends and bluntly says, "He's just jealous that he can't reach the same amount of points that those pretty boys have."

     "What? Me? Jealous?!" Ari angrily asks. He was about to approach Felix, but Max wears his peak cap and immediately says, "There's actually something that I want to discuss with you regarding the Elites."

     Ari stops, and the three friends look at Max with confused expressions.

     "Is it about you wanting to be the Elite's president? I'm pretty sure the entire student body already knows that." Ervin assumes, but Max shakes his head and looks back at Ari instead.

     "While I was contemplating with myself, I realized that if I ever get to join the student council, I need someone I'm close to who can join me. I need someone who I can trust, and at the same time is feared by the white uniforms, so I thought...if you hate vice president Gavriil so much, why not replace him?" Max suddenly suggests while directly looking at Ari.

     Ari was stunned by the sudden offer, especially Felix and Ervin. But before Ari could even voice out his opinion, someone suddenly knocks on one of the lockers, surprising everyone.

     Red, a member of BND that helped Max during the greenhouse explosion, walks towards Ari and the others and says, "Can I talk to Max for a bit?"

     Ari, Ervin, and Felix look at each other before looking back at Max. Max simply nods his head, and the three immediately head out without further questions. When the two were alone, Max takes a deep breath and takes a seat on the bleachers, "How may I help you, duke?"

     "You're calling your savior duke now?" Red asks with his right eyebrow raised.

     Max chuckles. "What should I call you then?"

     Red smiles and leans on a locker before crossing his arms. "I told you, Red is fine. You didn't have any trouble calling me that during the greenhouse explosion."

     The two look at each other but remained silent. But before things could even get awkward, Max opens his mouth and says, "You only got back two weeks ago. I apologize if I wasn't able to visit you in the hospital, or even personally thank you for what you did for me."

     "Didn't know I'd be staying in the hospital longer. Apparently, I broke my ankle so I had to wear crutches for days. It apparently got fractured when I tackled you to the ground," Red explains.

     "Sorry," Max continues to say with a soft voice, making Red sigh.

     "Never thought you'd actually apologize for such a stupid reason. The truth is, I purposely didn't want to talk about it with you. You were training, and I didn't want you getting distracted," Red reveals.

    Max doesn't say anything, but then he lifts himself from the bench and stands in front of Red. "For you, my apology might be stupid, but let me at least thank you properly," Max says before finally bowing in front of Red.

    Red was surprised because Max has never bowed like that to anyone, other than the members of Jokers. Seeing Max bow to him almost felt like an honor to him. "Why are you—"

     "I do not know how to repay you after protecting me from the explosion. I was afraid; I'll admit to that, but you made sure I was safe even though you were badly injured yourself. So inside and outside of J.S High, ask me anything and I will give it to you with no hesitation," Max says with complete sincerity.

     Red couldn't really say anything because he wasn't expecting Max to promise him something like that. Actually, if someone else said this same line Red would easily brush it off, but the person who's offering his assistance was Maximilian Leigh Sinclaire, and not just anyone.

     "What if I asked for a building?" Red jokingly asks since the atmosphere was starting to get serious, and he was afraid that Max would actually force him to ask something from him.

     "Where do you want it then?" Max seriously answers back, surprising Red even more.

     "A-Are you serious?"

     "The building, where do you want it?" Max asks again, and Red finally loses it. He starts laughing like he heard the best joke that he's ever heard of in his life. How could he forget that this is the same boy who gave away a hundred thousand dollars to bet on Jokers on their first day of school?

     "You're really something Max, but don't worry, I don't need a building. I already have one at Mason Way. My mother gave it to me on my 18th birthday," Red says with a smug face. After all, Redford Monsour is still an heir to Palm Hills Development.

     "What do you want then?" Max persistently asks.

     Red scratches his chin and thinks about it for a while. He knows that Max wouldn't let this go, so he had to say something now. While thinking of a request that wouldn't be too much of a burden for him, Red suddenly remembers something. "Blue Daisies," he says, surprising Max.

     Red smiles when he remembers the blue daisies that he found beside his hospital bed when he was confined there. "I'd love to receive some blue daisies, like what you sent me before."

     "How'd you know I sent them? I didn't even leave a note," Max wonders. He sent flowers to him when he was still at the hospital because Max thought that he could at least do something like that, but he didn't add a note on it because he didn't want Red to worry about him. If he knew Max sent those flowers, he might start asking about what happened to him, and that's the last thing that Max wants from a man who's still recovering.

     "I remember someone mentioning it. He said you liked those flowers because it's almost the same color as your eyes," Red reveals, surprising Max.

     Max was about to ask him who said such a thing to him, but Red realizes what he just said and immediately adds, "Marcus told me about it once. He really likes talking about you, you know?"

    The explanation was doubtful, but Max didn't ask further. If Red didn't want to say it, then there's no reason for him to interrogate him about it. "Alright, I'll arrange for one immediately," he says instead.

     "Thank you."

     "Now that that's settled, what did you originally want to talk about?" Max finally asks, and Red approaches him and slightly adjusts Max's cap for him before answering, "BND wants to talk to you. They're all waiting at the garden."

     "Don't tell me you're going to give me the crown brooch," Max jokes, making Red laugh and drape his arms around the heir.

     "Don't push your luck," he answers back, and the two walk out of the locker room where Felix and the other were waiting.

     Max instructs his friends to head to the Great Hall and wait for him there since he still has to go to the garden with Red. The three agreed and headed there first while Max and Red went straight to where BND is.

     Like what Red said, the brotherhood was there, standing in a line like they're the contestants of an actual pageant. Max thought that it was over the top, but he didn't dare comment about it.

     "Is this the part where we hold candles and sacrifice someone?" Max jokingly asks as Red joins his other brothers.

     Hans chuckles at the little joke and takes a step forward. "Maximilian Leigh Sinclaire, you have finally completed your training with us. We had high expectations of you, and it seems that you were able to exceed them."

     "Max, we'd be lying if we said that we trusted your skills. But as we continued to train you, we saw your dedication and growth. You excelled more compared to those before you, and you became an epitome of someone who has both the brains and the brawn" Arjun explains next.

     Marcus - Max's brother - then walks towards him with a small red velvet case. Max was confused for a second, but when Marcus opened the case, his expression instantly turns into shock because the item inside the box was a brooch. Though it wasn't the crown brooch that Max expected, it was BND's brotherhood brooch instead.

     "This is just temporary," Marcus says as he gives the case to Max. He then takes the brooch and pins it on Max's collar, surprising Max even more. "You will receive the crown, only when you return as a winner."

     Max couldn't even believe it as he continues to stare at the brooch that's beside Jokers' crown brooch. Even though it wasn't BND's crown, receiving their brotherhood brooch meant more to him than anything. For a second he thought he'd shed a tear.

     "This brooch represents honor, passion, and grace. Those are the traits that we want you to carry during the competition," Marcus explains further before taking the case from Max's hand and returning to his position. Hans then walks even closer to Max and pats his shoulder.

     "Bring glory to J.S High's name," Hans tells him, and Max nods his head in determination.

     Hans goes back to his position as well. Max thought that this sudden meeting is over, but then the leader says, "Those who cannot stand the thorns..."

     Max waits for the rest of the members of BND to answer. He knew that this was their brotherhood motto, so he was expecting them to continue. But when they didn't say anything, Max realizes what he's supposed to do.

     So with a smile on his face, Max touches his chest and finishes with pride, "Do not deserve to pick the roses."

     BND smiles at him. They knew that whatever the odds may be, Max will no doubt return to their house with a great victory. After all, he wouldn't be dubbed as the most powerful heir if he didn't.

- END -