It Started with a Bet... (Watty Awards 2011)

TREVOR: "What did she say?"

Chapter 23: TREVOR: "What did she say?" She shakes her head. "Christa, what did she say?"

"I'll be there in a minute." Haley glances at Christa and walks off.

"You guys seem pretty close," Christa says with a smile.

"Yeah, kinda. We got along really well during the bet."

"That's really sweet. Haley's such a good person." I'm surprised. Haley seemed to be internally snarling whenever she said Christa's name but Christa's acting like they're pretty good friends. Something’s not right.

"I thought the two of you were fighting," I note. She sighs.

"We were, but seeing as you forgave her, I think I can too. I don't think she's ready to forgive me, though."

"What do you mean? What does it have to do with me?" She shakes her head and beams at me.

"I'll tell you about it later. Are you ready for tryouts?" I nod as she heads towards the stands.

"I'll be cheering for you!" I nod and look around for Haley. She isn't there. I check my phone. No texts.

We start warm-ups and I realize that Corey isn't here either. I look up at the stands. Janice and Christa are sitting together. They wave at me, but I still don't see Haley. Then the coach splits the group into two and a bunch of guys head to the weights room. I'm stuck here, with one eye on the bleachers.

When the water break rolls around, Christa approaches me with a towel. I have my own, but it would be awkward to refuse, so I use it to wipe my face.

"Have you seen Haley?" I ask. She looks thoughtful.

"Janice, have you seen Haley?" Janice is only a few steps behind.

"I think I saw her in Corey's car." I feel sick. I look around. Corey isn't here either.

"Thanks."

I can't concentrate. The whole practice I feel sick. Sick and angry. I kick the ball with more energy than before, drive through opposition faster and more roughly. And every time I look up, I can't see Haley. I want to text her, but if she really is on a date with Corey, it would be really awkward. Would she and Corey laugh over my text? I shake my head. I can't let it get to me. She wouldn't do that to me, even if they were together.

As I leave the field Christa pops up.

"Hey, do you need a ride home?" she asks. I look around, but I still don’t see Haley. She looks at me quizzically and I just nod. We get into the car and start driving. Out of the corner of my eye I see a bunch of people hovering over an extremely colorful car. Is it covered with paper? Before I can take a closer look, Christa pulls out of the parking lot and it’s gone.

"So what are you and Haley fighting over?" I ask. She sighs.

"You."

"What?"

"The bet didn't just extend to going out with you. She gets another $90 if you kiss her. But you were so upset after the date that I told her she should call it off. We started yelling at each other and I asked her if she could really hurt you like that again and she said..." she trails off.

"What did she say?" She shakes her head. "Christa, what did she say?" She sighs.

"She said she'd do whatever she wanted and that I should back out." I sit back, confused and partially incredulous. My phone buzzes. It's Haley. I press 'ignore' and look out the window. I’d rather talk to her without Christa grinning like the Cheshire Cat beside me.

Was this all another act? She'd faked her emotions once, was it possible that this Haley was a fake too? No. The night of the knives was not a fake. But if Christa was telling the truth...then Haley had been out to get me to like her? I mean, by sidestepping the question she more or less admitted it. And if she had done that after the bet ended... that meant she wanted me to fall for her. Implying that the night of knives was fake. But it wasn't. It couldn't have been. But where was Haley right now? With Corey. Ugh, this hurts my head.

I exit the car without saying goodbye and head straight to the shower. As the water flows over me, my emotions waver between anger and sadness. Haley...does she care about me at all?

I think back to when she went to the mall with Corey. She would've left without telling me. And now she's with Corey again. As I bound down the stairs, wincing through the weary ache of a good workout, I hear the door open.

"So how was your date?" I ask, my anger spiking as I grow more tired.

"What are you talking about?" she asks. I look at her.

"Like you don't know."

"I don't." I walk into the kitchen and Haley follows. "Did you eat dinner?" she asks.

"I did not freaking eat dinner and it doesn't freaking matter." She turns around to stare at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Wrong with me? Wrong with me? I just look at her incredulously. "Okay, you know what, forget it,” she says. “Today sucked." She flops down on the couch and buries her head in her hands. "Today sucked." So the date with Corey didn't go well...either that or she's creating an excuse as to why she wasn't at tryouts.

"You know, if you don't want to go to tryouts tomorrow, you don't have to." She looks up.

"No! I mean...I'm really sorry I couldn't make it. I pushed Clariceand Matt into a janitors' closet and they ended up getting locked in." She leans back and runs a hand through her dark hair. "And then my car..."

I don’t want to deal with this. I’m tired, I hurt everywhere and her words are just floating in one ear and out the other.

"That's a stupid excuse." She looks up at me, surprised.

“Excuse me?”

“I said that was a stupid excuse. I know where you were.” She raises an eyebrow at me and crosses her arms across her chest.

“Really? And where was I, pray tell?” Her voice is steely. I glare right back at her.

“Janice and Christa said they saw you in Corey’s car. And Corey didn’t show up for tryouts.”

“Oh, so that’s what you meant by a date?” She looks up suddenly. “Wait, who said that?”

“Christa and Janice.” She stands up and steps closer to me.

“So what are you saying?” I step back. What am I saying? “Are you saying that I’m lying?” Her eyes aren’t just angry. There’s hurt there too. No, she wouldn’t lie to me. Why would she?

“and I asked her if she could really hurt you like that again and she said...”

Christa’s words echo in my mind and I feel a headache coming on. I just got out of practice, for goodness’ sake. I’m too tired to deal with all this thinking. And then, all of a sudden, I realize that I’m being stupid. This is Haley, for God’s sake. First of all, I have no right to be angry if she really did go out with Corey. Secondly, she wouldn’t lie to me about it.

“You know what?” I say with a sigh, waving a hand. “Whatever.”

But she doesn’t take that too well.

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Oh, Trevor, Trevor, Trevor. That was just the wrong thing to say, wasn't it? lol. So who do you guys hate more: Janice or Christa? And why?

We reached #68 as far as I saw, but then again, I wasn't checking as religiously as I should have been. Let's try for #50 again, shall we?

EXTRA CREDIT: All right guys, I think you all deserve an extra credit opportunity here. If we can get 50 votes on both this chapter and the last one by June 24th, I'll post two chapters next time. And I think it would be a good idea to try for this, because this is what the last line of the next chapter looks like:

"I really like you. Will you go out with me?"

Yeah. I don't think you guys want that sort of a cliffhanger, lol.