Ann stood over me and said "I think we should play one more game." I looked up and was going to decline when I started to shiver. Instead, I said "What would I get out of that? There should be a prize for me if I win again. Or a penalty of you guys lose..." She glared at me and I got a dark pit in my stomach. It made me cough on my own words. "If you win this time, Hiram won't beat you for forgetting your place. You are Matthias's guest, but we don't have to listen to you run your mouth." she said. The pressure left and I could breathe again. I was totally beat. "Fine. I'll play one more game. But, I think that we should all play together then." I said as I walked over to the throwing line. Both Abner and Myles backed me up. Linus was already there. The Nudria pair was also interested in playing. Since there were now 8 players things were going to be tricky. I went first. I got a double 10, a center bullseye and a triple 20. That was a score of 130. Taken from the 501 we all started with; I was left with 371. I then waited for everyone else to go. We were all in it for ourselves. It was pretty intense.
Just a single round could be a game changer. Darts was a serious sport of skill and accuracy. A game of darts is generally contested between two players, who take their own turns. The most common objective is to reduce a fixed score, commonly 301 or 501, to zero ("checking out") with the final dart landing in either the bullseye or a double segment to win. Not all three darts need to be thrown on the final turn; the game can be finished on any of the three darts. A throw that reduces a player's score below zero, to exactly one, or to zero but not ending with a double or bullseye is known as "going bust". The player's score is reset to its value at the start of that turn, and any remaining throws in the turn are forfeited. Although playing straight down from 501 is standard in darts, sometimes a double must be hit to begin scoring, known as "doubling in", with all darts thrown before hitting a double not being counted. That was the house rule for this punishment round. Some of the other opponents were not able to double in. They were frustrated. Ann and Hiram were able to on their first dart.
Keeping a good pace, I got the triple 20 three times in a row for the 180. That was the highest score you could get in a game of Darts. I was on 191. Things were looking up for me. Ann was up next and she also got the 180. All the people who knew about darts were very impressed. The alpha female was not playing around. She was at a respectable 203. I was in trouble. She was on my heels. The next round, I went for the 180 again. The first dart hit the target. The second dipped low for a simple 20. It was so close. "Fuck!" I yelled. Ann smirked and said "You still have your third dart. Play." I then threw the third dart for the triple 20. It went in. That meant that this round got me an overall score of 140. I had only 51 points to go. That was doable. Ann got the 180 again. She was at 23. It was imperative that I win on my next turn. No one was even close to us. When it was my turn, I went for the 1 first to make it an even number. I got it and had 50 left. It was either a bullseye or getting some doubles. The best thing was to go for the bullseye. I aimed and took my shot. I was able to hit it straight on.
Living to see another day was a really great thing. I sank to the floor and cheered. "Hell yeah. Call me the Dartman!" I shouted as I got up and pumped my fists in the air in celebration. My friends all cheered and supported me. I walked out of the room and laughed. There was nothing that the Blaqis could do. Other partygoers looked at me and I just shrugged and said "Lot of funny people in there. You should come play with them." They went back to minding their own business. Linus, Abner and Myles followed me out as well. Unfortunately, so did Hiram. I just grimaced as he approached me. "This is not over. You hear me?" he snarled. We had made an enemy. I just rolled my eyes and said "You're drunk. Please drink some water and calm down." He blinked in confusion and said "I'm not drunk! If you think you can disrespect me, you might be the one with a drinking problem!" The next thing was going to the actual pool that just made more sense to me. No one else had a problem with it. None of us took swimwear, so we were all content to loiter around the pool and talk to those in the water.
