W for Winning

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"Davis is and will be the best gambler."

"They say that he didn't lose a single card game yesterday – again! It's unbelievable!"

"Too bad that he isn't interested in a relationship…"

Myra quietly listened to all the conversations around her while she was walking back to her classroom. The topics "Davis" and "games" had been the hottest subjects for more than a week, and though she found it interesting that that mysterious boy was able to win every game so far, these subjects were slowly, but surely getting on her nerves. She was glad that at least her classmates – except for Keira and Deliah – didn't have any interest in the gambler.

"Davis is so good-looking!"

Myra groaned inwardly. It was lunch-time, and she had hoped that exactly Keira and Deliah weren't there in the classroom – but no, luck wasn't on her side. With a heavy sigh she walked to her place at the window, wishing that she didn't have to listen to their conversation.

"Is everything alright?" she heard a male voice next to her asking.

She looked to her right. "Oh, hi Joey," she greeted her classmate politely. Then she saw the amusement written over his face. "What is so funny?" she asked confused.

The blonde-haired boy chuckled. "You look as if someone is getting on your nerves," he said and grinned.

"Well, you're right," she replied and sighed again.

"Let me guess… is it because of the oh so famous gambler Davis and his record of never-losing in any card game?" Joey asked her.

The orange-brown-haired girl nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you have to imagine you're walking from the cafeteria to your classroom and on your way nearly everyone is talking about nothing else than that! If it's only for a few days – okay. But this has been for over a week now. I really can't even hear the words 'gambler', 'Davis' or 'games' anymore – and I have to admit that I love card games," she explained.

Since the event in the cafeteria they both had become good friends and Myra even had enough courage to tell him her feelings and thoughts. It wasn't much of a change, but for the shy girl it had been a big step to make – and she succeeded.

"Did I hear correct? Myra Kershaw loves card games? Don't make me laugh!" Keira's comment interrupted their conversation.

"What is so funny? Just because everyone knows that Davis can play card games doesn't mean at once that he is the only one who plays. In opposition to him not everyone wants to demonstrate his or her skills. And who knows if his games are fair or not," Joey remarked.

"So are you trying to tell me that I'm just a show-off who can't do anything fair?" a new voice sounded.

Everyone turned their attention towards the door. There he stood. Davis Taylor, the one nearly everyone at Middleton High is talking about. His long, raven hair was bounded to a plait, and his dark brown eyes examined Joey in interest.

"That's Davis!!" Both Keira and Deliah squealed at the same time, causing Myra to roll her eyes inwardly. Yes, they both are definitely getting on her nerves.

"So, how about a little card game?" the gambler asked Joey, catching Joey's attention and Myra's interest at once.

"Uhm, okay," the blonde-haired boy agreed.

They both took place at Joey's table. Keira and Deliah stood next to the raven-haired boy, while Myra took a seat next to her friend.

"I'll explain the rules," Davis said. He took out a pack of cards out of his pocket. "We'll use four aces. I'll mix these four cards and put them one next to another face-down on the table. There are four different symbols for each ace, and two of them have red and two have black symbols. All what you have to do is to pick up two of these four cards and turn them around. You'll win if you have either two red symbols or two black symbols."

Joey went through the rules again in his mind. "If I choose two cards out of four, then there will be four possible results: red and red, red and black, black and red, and black and black. If I have two of the four results, I'll win, so that means that the chance to win is 50%... seems to be a fair game," he thought.

"Any questions?" Davis asked him.

"No, let's begin," the blonde-haired boy said.

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After a while Joey gave up. He lost most rounds – and that even in a fair game – which means that he lost in the end. He finally began to understand why nearly everyone was talking about this gambler. He sure has good skills.

"So, you see? I didn't cheat or anything else. I'm good because of my skills. And because of that fact I'm winning every game," Davis said with a triumph smile.

"Oh, really?"

Davis's smile disappeared after hearing this. He looked at the orange-haired girl who hadn't said a word yet carefully. Her blue eyes were watching him intensely, as if she was looking right into his soul. He shuddered inwardly.

"Pardon?" he asked.

Myra's lips curved into a smile. "Will you accept my challenge?" she asked him. The others stared at her in surprise. Was she crazy? She just saw how Joey had lost against him and she dare to challenge him after that though?

"Myra! What do you think you are doing?" Joey hissed to his friend.

"Proving that he won't win against me," she said simply.

Silence.

Davis smirked. "Fine, I'll accept your challenge."

Myra's smile grew wider. "Good. Which card game?" she asked.

"How about the same game your friend played just minutes ago?" he suggested.

The orange-haired girl looked thoughtfully at the four aces on the table for a moment. "I would like to change some rules – if you agree. We'll add a joker to theses four cards," she said.

"A Joker?" the gambler asked, visibly confused.

"I'll explain the rules," the female student decided. "There are five cards: Four aces and a joker. We'll mix them and put them one next to another face-down on the table. Every player will pick a card changeable, so that in the end one card is left face-down on the table and every player has picked up two. The player who picked up two same-coloured cards will win. The player who picked the joker will automatically lose. If both players picked up two same-coloured cards, the game will end in a draw," she explained.

"Good. Sounds fine to me," Davis agreed.

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After five rounds Davis threw his cards angrily onto the ground. "Are you kidding me? This isn't a fair game anymore! It can't be that I didn't win any game against you!" he screamed angrily.

Myra just sat there, watching him calmly. "If you had thought over the rules carefully, you would have noticed that the game I suggested is definitely a fair game," she said, "If the card that had been left face-down is the joker, the game will end in a draw, no matter if you have two same-coloured card in your hand or not. With other words, the one who pick up the joker first looses. But the probability of picking up the joker is 20%."

Davis only stared at the young girl, realizing that she was right.

"Do you know why you couldn't win? Because every game you played against the others weren't fair games – like the one you played against Joey," she continued.

"What? It wasn't a fair game? But the probability of winning was 50%, wasn't it?" Joey interrupted.

Myra shook her head. "No. Imagine that you'll pick one card after another. So, after you pick up your first card, there are three left. And only one of them has the colour you need. That means that after you pick up your first card, there is only a probability of 3:1 to win," she explained, her gaze never leaving the gambler sitting opposite from her.

Davis paled after recognizing that Myra had looked through him. Without saying another word, he left them, not even bothering to pick his cards up. Keira and Deliah took one last look at the orange-haired girl before following the beaten gambler.

Joey just stand next to his friend, staring at her in admire and regard. "You were amazing! How did you do that?" he asked her.

"What?" she asked back, a bit puzzled.

"Winning."

Myra smiled lightly. "A good question. I think an important fact was that it was never important to me to win," she said, "but when you lost against Davis in that unfair game, I couldn't bear the fact that you was about to admit that he is a good gambler. I mean, nobody looked through him and the fact that his games were unfair, and on top of that they even admire him for his non-exist skills! I admit that I admired him a bit because of the rumours, too, but after the game between you both I realized the truth, and all I wanted to do was to prove him that he can only win in his own unfair games, but when it comes to a fair game, he don't even have a chance of winning."

"But wasn't it risky? I mean, there was also the possibility that you would lose," Joey said thoughtfully.

"It was risky. But as I told you before: It wasn't important to me to win or lose. If I had lost, I still would have uncovered his lies. But it seems that luck was on my side, because so it was more impressive," she stated and looked at the scattered game cards on the ground.

"Davis played the games only to show off. His opinion was that the importance of every game was winning. He is wrong. It isn't important whether you win or lose in a game. The decisive fact is to enjoy the game and having fun."

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Huh, the end was kinda poetic...

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