21 Steps to Get the Wrong Guy

It took a lot of energy this morning to get out of my bed. I felt like curling back up and hiding from the world but that wouldn't make anything better.

Besides, I'm not going to start skipping school and letting my grades drop because some imbecile wanted to win a bet.

I got ready for school as usual and left at my normal time. I got to school about ten minutes before the bell and saw Lilly, Heather and Brett talking.

"Hey guys," I said with a fake smile.

Brett placed a hand on my back. "I don't know who you're fake smiling for. We all know that isn't real," he told me and I laughed. "Now there's a real smile."

"How are you feeling?" Lilly asked.

I shrugged. "Not to kick you while you're down but I realized last night after you dropped me off at home that I was constantly opposed to Christian and warned you about him on more than one occasion," Heather reminded me.

"Thanks. I'm pretty sure everyone told me it was a bad idea," I muttered.

"Then why didn't you listen to us?" Heather asked with irritation clear in her voice.

I shrugged once again. "I thought you guys were wrong. I thought I could make things work. I figured no matter what you guys said I could get what I wanted. I thought that you guys were just annoyed that I was finally getting what I wanted.

"I just wanted my happy ending and when you guys found Gavin and Tony, I felt like if I could like who you guys are dating why can't you like who I'm dating," I told them truthfully.

It honestly sounded better in my head. Hearing it said out loud, they sound like pointless excuses to make my attraction to Christian sound justified.

Truth is I fell for a douche bag... literally and emotionally. I was really close to letting myself fall in love. Good thing my feet hit the ground just in time. Now that my head is out of the clouds I can think clearly and I realized everything that Christian did was overly romantic and cheesy except the party.

And when Cam was around he always had to outdo him. He could never let Cam have the spotlight. He always had to do ten times better.

I managed to steer the subject away from myself long enough to get to hear about Lilly and Gavin. Heather was about to talk about her and Tony but an evil look crossed her face as she looked over my shoulder.

The way she glared, I was afraid to see what was behind me. Heck, I was afraid for whatever she was looking at. That thing could die just by the look she was giving it.

"Hey Emily, can I talk to you for a minute?" I heard Christian ask from behind me.

My body froze up in anger. How dare he even have the guts to try and talk to me again.

"Get lost loser, she doesn't want to talk to you. She doesn't even want to see you," Heather snapped at him with hatred beaming out of her eyes with a look that could kill.

"No offense, but I would like for her to tell me that herself," he told her.

"Fine, I don't want to talk to you ever again or see you ever again. Happy?" I yelled at him without turning to face him.

His hands grabbed my waist and he spun me around to face him. "You don't really mean that. I know Saturday night was a huge mistake and I'm sorry for my behavior. I was drunk and just grabbing for attention," he made up pointless excuses.

I scoffed and pushed his arms off of me. "I know about the bet and you should know if you weren't such an idiot, I might have actually slept with you," I told him.

His eyes went wide and I knew everyone else's probably did too. I'm tired of living in fear though. The truth has been weighing on my shoulders since freshman year. I think it's about time I just came out and tell all.

"I've had this major crush on you for years but now that I get the chance to see your true colors, I realized I should have talked to you years ago. Then I could have seen the real you, put two and two together and realize you weren't worth the time.

"Instead, I cowardly stayed in the shadows and crushed on you from afar, only to get my chance by a stupid bet. I have a lot of regrets but I think the biggest one is ever talking to you," I shared, finally letting the truth be known.

Christian stayed quiet and the bell rang before he could even try to redeem himself. I grabbed my bag and looked at Lilly, Heather, and Brett. "I'll see you guys later for lunch," I said before heading to my class.

When I got in there, Cam was sitting in his usual seat next to mine. I knew I couldn't face him. I couldn't deal with him helping that pig waste my time. I found a different seat to sit in that was far away from him and anyone else for that matter.

About half way through class, my anger for him started to become anger for myself. Why didn't I take his warning seriously? I should have known something was wrong.

I mean who trips a girl, doesn't help her with her stuff, and then tries to act all nice the next time he sees her? Now that I think about it, that sounds like a pissed off teenager.

I think I might have done the same thing if I was PMSing or something. No, not even then. Tripping someone is such a low move. I got to admit though, that was an easy twenty bucks for him.

I mean all he had to do was stick his foot out. I bet his friend didn't think he was going to lose a bet that easily. I laughed lightly to myself at the thought of the look on his friend's face.

My head immediately snapped up to make sure Mrs. Sasaki didn't notice but of course nothing escapes her. She's so ninja it's ridiculous. Sometimes I wish for one of those old teachers that are practically deaf and never pay attention to the class.

That will be the day.

"Emily, are you volunteering to show how to arouse a partner? I won't mind partnering you off today," she put me on blast.

I shook my head with a confused and disgusted look. Was she even allowed to do half the things we've done in this class?

My eyes quickly glanced to the board where I saw a poster of sex positions. Was she even allowed to bring something like that on campus? If a guy wore that on a shirt he would be dress coded immediately.

Once Mrs. Sasaki went back to what she was saying, my mind slipped back to Christian.

You know, I kind of miss the days when my thoughts of Christian didn't include a chainsaw, a bull dozer, a torture chamber, or all of the above.

I just don't understand what would make him even think that bet was okay to take. Like what would honestly make it okay to screw with other people's feelings?

Why do guys have to make such dumb bets? Girls usually bet on who'll win a board game or who can do a better cartwheel. Why do guys have to make bets that mess with others? Why do they feel the need to bring in innocent girls to their dirty schemes?

The bell rang, excusing us from class and I tried to pick up my stuff as quickly as possible and get out of there but it obviously wasn't quick enough.

"There's the peanut butter and jelly," Cam claimed as he looked at me with a shy smile.

"Cam, if that's a pickup line you're supposed to say I'm the peanut butter to your jelly," I told him and moved to pass him.

He caught my arm and I turned to look at him. "No, I mean what I said, you hold my sandwich together," he added.

I shifted out of his grasp and left the room, not truly understanding what he meant by that. I spent practically all of my classes, trying to understand the meaning of his words.

Yea, I learned from my mistakes. Sure, Cam is cryptic but he does give good advice. So I'm going to try and figure this out.

I mean I could have avoided this whole Christian thing if I decoded his last message. Maybe this one is trying to warn me of something else.