Miles had to be up early again to get ready for classes. He showered as normal and got dressed, again putting on one of the pairs of panties. He went downstairs to get breakfast and talked a little with the girls, who were of course ready at this time of day. After he had finished eating, he headed off to class.

As he walked to his class, he worried about what people might say about his nails. Since it was college, people probably didn’t care, but Miles was still nervous. He decided to do the same thing that he did in the mall and keep his hands in his pockets as much as possible. But he did have to take notes in his classes, so he couldn’t hide them the entire time. In his classes that day, things went pretty smoothly. Nobody ever made fun of him when he had to have his nails out of his pockets. He actually got a few compliments from some of the girls in his classes, which gave him more of a confidence boost.

Miles was nearing the house when he saw a random car in the driveway. Thinking nothing of it, he walked through the door and into the living room. Before he was able to walk up the stairs, he ran into Felicia. She was standing there with a grown man that he did not know.

“Hey, Miles,” she said, “I’d like to introduce you to Brian Walters, Liz’s father.”

Miles looked at the tall, bearded man, who was holding out his hand. They shook hands, and Brian said, “It’s nice to meet you, Miles.”

Curious as to why he’s here, Miles asked, “So, are you visiting Liz or something?”

Felicia chimed in and said, “Actually, I called him here. After our chat the other day, I realized that I was tired of Liz winning all the time. So, I decided to bring in the expert who taught her, and have him teach us!”

Noticing Miles’s nails, Brian said, “I can already see my little girl has done a number on you. She definitely can get a little competitive, and she brags a lot about winning these games. I’m happy to help the both of you out.”

“That’s great!” Miles exclaimed. “Won’t Liz be mad about this?”

“She still has class for a few hours, so we’ll be able practice the next couple of days without her knowing,” Felicia said.

“I guess we can get started, then!”

With that, they got out the poker set and began training.

Throughout the week, Miles continued going to classes with his nails painted. After his experience on Monday, he began to feel less self-concious about them, so by the end of the week, his hands never went into his pockets. He got more compliments from his classmates, and he even became more talkative in class. He actually made a few friends, something that has been hard for him before. Miles suspects that his new friends think he’s gay for very obvious reasons, but he can correct them if it ever comes up in conversation. If they ever catch a glimpse of his panties, that might be hard to explain away.

Every day that week after classes, Brian went through the entire crash course of poker with Miles and Felicia. Although Trish and Maddy couldn’t be there for the lessons, the information was passed along to them as best as possible. They learned about poker faces, betting wisely, and even getting into analyzing which cards might be left in the deck. It was all very educational, and everyone was excited that they might get a handle on Liz for once. Miles and Felicia bonded during these sessions, whether it was the shared passion to win, or just spending a lot of time together.

On Friday afternoon, before the next Dare Poker game, Brian had just finished that day’s lesson. Although they weren’t experts at the game, this was the best they could do for now. If this didn’t help them get the upper hand, they didn’t know what would. As Brian was leaving, he bid good luck to everyone and started to walk out the door. However, to the surprise of everybody there, Liz was standing the doorway. She had come back early from class, which they later learned was because her professor had a family emergency.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” Liz asked.

“Oh, um… I was just coming by to drop off some stuff from your mom. I didn’t want to disturb you, so I tried to be in and out quickly.” Brian had made a good excuse.

“You could have said something, it wouldn’t have bothered me!” she said, seeming to buy into the lie. “We can go out to dinner or something… wait, are those your poker supplies?” Brian said nothing and stared at her. “You were teaching them, weren’t you? Dad, I told you not to get involved! It’s our game and you’ve intruded like you always do!” She stormed upstairs and slammed her bedroom door closed.

Everyone stood there awkwardly before Brian broke the silence. “Well, I better go. She’ll get over it, she always does.” He jumped into his car quickly, seemingly afraid of Liz, and drove off. Miles and Felicia closed the front door behind him, and they both had a worried look.

“It looks like we’ve been found out,” Miles said. “What do you think’s going to happen?”

Felicia sighed, then said, “We broke no rules of the game, so what we did was just a little unethical. Brian’s right about her anger being temporary, but she’ll still be mad during our game. Who knows what she’s capable of.”

They went upstairs to see if they could apologize to Liz. But as they approached her room, the door was closed and locked. They could hear muffled yelling through the cracks, Liz was obviously pissed. It sounded like she was talking to her mom, something about her childhood and her life being in ruins. Felicia decided it was best not to get involved, and she decided for them to go into her room for the time being. They laid on the floor of Felicia’s room, and they just talked to pass the time. At first, it was about Liz and what might happen at Dare Poker that night. Then, when childhood was mentioned, the conversation spun out of control. They chatted about what their lives were like before college.

Miles’s family was definitely lower class. His parents worked two jobs each to help put him through college, and even before he started school, they still scraped by. He usually had a job in the summer to contribute, and sometimes took on a part-time gig during the school year if he felt that classes were easy. He was grateful for what his parents were doing, as they were getting him towards a better life.

Felicia had a vastly different childhood. Her parents were very wealthy, so it was no wonder that they could afford this house, plus many others. She didn’t really see her parents often, though. They often went on business trips and exotic vacations, while Felicia was watched by one of the many nannies she’s had over the years. Her parents were emotionally distant, and although she is glad that they provided her with luxury, she wanted to actually have a mom and dad active in her life.

All caught up in their chats, time had flown by; it was time for Dare Poker to start. They walked downstairs and went towards the table, where Trish and Maddy were already seated. They sat there for a little bit, wondering if Liz was going to come down. Before Felicia got the chance to go up and check on her, she appeared from the stairway. She seemed to be okay, other than the fact that there was a glint of anger in her eyes. She sat down, and they began to play.

In the beginning, everyone seemed to be close in skill level. Although Liz had a lifetime of poker training under her belt, the recent crash course gave the others a boost this time around. They now had the skills for the competition to at least be somewhat fair. For a while, very few chips were lost from any single player, and nobody was close to losing yet. Everyone saw the frustration that Liz showed, but they tried not to falter in their playing.

After about an hour into the game, everything began to change. With some bad luck, Miles was getting the worst hands. It felt like he was only getting pairs left and right, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. Any time he got a good hand, one of the girls would have a better hand. His chips began to die away, and there was nothing he could about it. He was able to last a lot longer than he normally did. But, unfortunately for him, he couldn’t hold on, and once again, he was the loser of the night.

There was still some hope left. Miles learned from Brian’s training sessions that Felicia was actually really good at poker. She caught onto things easier than he could, which could also be seen when comparing their class grades. She was the one who won most of the time in their practice games, and Brian had a lot of confidence in her. Since Miles had failed, Felicia was their best hope at ending Liz’s reign of power.

After another hour from Miles losing, nobody else had dropped out of the game. However, after one wrong move, Maddy lost all of her chips and was down for the count. After a few more minutes, Trish was also out. It came down to Felicia and Liz battling one-on-one. The competitors had an even number of chips between them, so it was anyone’s game at this point. For the first couple of hands, Felicia beat Liz’s cards by a landslide. After a few smaller defeats, a fire came into Liz’s eyes, and she stepped her game up. They went back and forth between winning and losing each hand, but Liz was starting to get ahead. Felicia started to look a little bummed, but Miles cheered her on to get her confidence back up. Liz glared at him every time he cheered.

For well into the evening, the match continued on and on. They were still about even in chips at this point, with little change happening. Felicia, along with those who were out, were clearly very tired; however, Liz was still very fired up. In her tired state, Felicia was starting to lose more and more of her chips. However, before all hope was lost, Felicia got a straight flush. Whether this was just because she was tired, or a purposefully risky move on her part, she went all in on this hand. Liz called this bet.

Everyone was practically biting their polished nails as the cards were revealed to each other. Liz, in a stroke of luck, had a royal flush, beating out Felicia’s straight flush. Liz was the victor again. A wave of disappointment flooded the room. The losers looked at each other with sad looks, questioning what was going to happen now. Liz took a deep breath, and began to speak.

“I cannot believe you all, going behind my back like this. My father, the man who taught me all of my poker skills, stepped into this house and secretly taught you, too. We never said this wasn’t allowed, but after all this time together, I figured that we were at a point where we trusted each other. This means not getting our families involved in our lives, especially with this, since Dare Poker is meant to be just for us. However, it is clear we have different boundaries.”

Liz paused for a moment, then continued on. “I have become aware that Felicia was the one who called my dad. I’ll admit, she’s learned well from him, based on this past game. But it is obvious that she is the main conspirator in this ‘protest’ against me, which gives me great disappointment. Since Felicia and Miles have not been very subtle in their feelings for each other, I believe that the best way to punish her is to punish him. So, Miles, as the loser of this game, you will be getting a full treatment at the local beauty salon. This means that you will get a more feminine mani-pedi, your makeup will be done, and worst of all… your whole body will be waxed, top to bottom. And Felicia gets to watch it all happen to you, at each painful second.”

With that, Liz stood up and walked away. Everyone just looked at each other in awe. Miles was so screwed.