Chapter 262 - 262. Betting

Art felt his blood run cold as Asher set the paper filled with math problems in front of him and left to shower. "I should have just stayed in the shaper all night and I would have been safe." Art could only accept his fate at this point. 

"Just do the problems. It's only one page. Are you saying you aren't smart enough?" Cara was teasing Art, but this made him grow a little more intense. 

"Oh yeah? Think I'm not smart enough? Then watch this." Art started to scribble furiously on the paper to come up with the answers. 

"Why can you get him t study sp easily but when Asher and I do it we need to fight with him more? He hates math…" Jane felt that she had just been beaten. Art always gave her and Asher a lot of resistance when it came to studying math and it had always been a chore to get him to do it. However, Cara had teased him once and Art was instantly being studious and trying to show that he wasn't useless. 

"I think it's just because he wants to get better. Just need to push him the right way." Cara leaned back and noticed that Art had glanced at her a few times. She bushed slightly before grabbing her own textbook and covering her face with it while reading. "Jane, you need to learn this paragraph here if you want to stay ahead. We both know that Asher is listening to the study guide videos while he showers. He did it every day this week." 

Cara had noticed that Asher had taken to listing to the lectures the academic app offered for free in all the subjects. This was something that most students who used the app ignored unless their teacher offered extra credit or played it themselves in class. Since Asher had made it a habit they had all noticed his speed in learning academics increased. Not a single moment of his time had been wasted this past week. 

"Asher has been training like a mad man too. He thinks that I don't notice that he stays up an extra hour trying to learn a new move or practice some form of meditation so he can better use his body. I even catch him mumbling about how he wants to rely on himself instead of just his luck." Art jumped in to the conversation while putting the pencil down. "And, I finished the problems." 

Art had known he would be able to finish the math because he too had been staying up an extra hour at night. That is how he knew that Asher was also staying up and training more. The two had been hiding it from each other but completely failing at hiding it at all. Art also didn't have any other time to work on his super power development than when he was alone. His other time was full of academics and group training. 

"How are you done already? You only were at ii for a few minutes." Jane grabbed the paper and was grading it with incredible focus. 

"I know you two have been awake late. It has been pretty annoying since it's the only time I have to myself. Why do you think I have been getting up earlier to run instead of doing it on the treadmill at night?" Cara trend away showing how annoying it was to her that Art and Asher had spent the night awake later, however, it was clear that she wasn't really annoyed since she too was normally awake then. 

"You got them all right...How have you managed to catch up this fast? Have you just been hiding your academic prowess the whole time? I swear if you try and take my ranking in academics." Jane felt that she had been lied to and started to write out problems that were ten times harder for Art to solve. 

AfteAsher showered he came back downstairs to find that Art had fallen in to a state of complete defeat. "Sooo, why does Art look like his brain has already melted out of his ears?" Asher leaned in towards Art as he sat down, "I tried to give you easy problems, maybe you should study more." Art just mumbled even more defeated.

"Cara, are you coming to meet with everyone tomorrow to train together? We booked a space like you said and it should be pretty fin. I was thinking you would be able to coach all of us since you have the most experience next to everyone else." Asher knew that asking Cara to help was going to be a small risk since she might need to work on her own things. They were in different grades afterall and Cara needed to think about university exams. 

Cara sat up in her seat and gave Asher a hard look. She hadn't expected Asgher to ask directly for her to join them in the training. She had thought that she had been added to the group as another member that could help them out and not directly because she could help them train and genuinely catch up. 

"I could come. But things will be much harder if you put me in charge." Cara had many training plans in mind, some that she had recently learned and wanted to test out because of the elite home gym app. 

"Then tomorrow will be a day we use the vitamin packs to help us heal up over night. Sound good everyone?' Asher looked at Art and Jane who were still stuck in their own battle of mathematics. 

"Bro, I thought we were going to be doing that every weekend anyway? We need to get stronger to beat everyone in the tournaments." Art popped back up like he had energy for days. 

"I agree, we should be using the things we have more and more to push us ahead. I don't want to go at this half way. If we are going to become a top hero group then we should act like it now." Jane closed her text book looking at the three. She was ready to make the leap now and not look back for a second. 

"Then we will be up early to run to the school as warm up. Jane, you can sleep in my room. Your parents are out of town to visit family right? You can stay here." Cara had spoken with Jane and was told that she was going to be home alone making for a pretty lonely weekend. It was one reason Jane had so readily joined Cara for training today. 

"Yes! I really don't like walking home in the dark anyways. The rain stopped but it is still dreary and dark. I can't believe we are going to have the whole gym for ourselves tomorrow." Jane and Cara left Art and Asher in a daze as they started to fawn over having the gym booked for the next day. 

"I didn't realize Jane was home alone all weekend. She didn't even tell us...well, we didn't ask did we?" Asher felt that they Had not been as open to Jane as they should be. Instead, he and Art had been focusing on each other and working on their strengths without looking at the others. 

"I think she doesn't mind it. She seems to be having a good time bonding with Cara. The two look like they are getting pretty close. It kinda makes sense though. The whole you and Jane thing." Art just shrugged while saying this making Asher start to turn red faced. 

"What do you mean the whole jane and I thing?" Asher didn't want to admit that he had feelings for Jane but t was just too plain to see. 

"Yeah, let's not lie top each other here bro. You like Jane and she likes you. But you need to make a real move and just say it. I won't make any moves on anyone that I like until I have dealt with my family problems. But once I have rested my heart from that, I will go after what I feel." Art was surprisingly passionate about all this. 

"Then I will hurry up and get you to the place you need to be to have your family matters sorted out. Don't expect me to back down." Asher sidestepped the conversation about him confessing to Jane and opted to support Art more. 

"I didn't hear you say that you were going to say something to Jane." Art glared at Asher wanting to push his friend over the edge. It was because it was so painfully obvious that the two liked each other n his eyes. 

"Fine, you know what? If you can beat me in a sparring match tomorrow then I will tell Jane how I feel. I will yell it to the sky." Asher knew he could beat Art and chose this as the way to get Art off his back. 

"Good, I will beat you and you will go and confess what is in your heart." Art smiled knowing that he would be able to at least put up a decent fight. He thought there weren't any guarantees that he would win, but he knew there was a possibility. 

" But if you lose then you need to do the same. Confess to the girl that has your heart on her hand." Asher wasn't going to let Art escape with no penalty.