It Started with a Bet...

"Haley?! Really now, Trevor?" Spike's eyes widen in surprise. He's giving me a ride home from school on his motorcycle. He suddenly pulls over to the side of the road.

"Yeah. I think I can win the bet in a week or so. She's been really friendly and if I phrase it the right way, I may not hurt her that much." I know its a lie. Spike shakes his head.

"That's why you've been inviting her to eat with us. Do you know anything about her?" I've heard things: whispered in the girls' gossip at lunch, mumbled between bites in the teacher's lounge. Haley, the mysterious girl who's best friend died three or four years ago. For the longest time she disappeared off the social radar. Thanks to me, she's slowly coming back.

I'd feel bad, playing her like this, if it wasn't so obvious that she's over all of it now. She smiles and flirts like other girls. Except better. She's pretty, too: knows how to dress herself for minimal sluttiness and maximum attractiveness. Honestly, I find myself rather attracted to her.

"I know her best friend died," I say. Spike nods.

"And she tried to kill herself a year later."

"She seems nice now, though."

Spike shrugs and kicks the motorcycle back to life. "I guess," he says. This gets me thinking. About last night when she was "tired." I wonder what made her that way. She usually seems so happy at school.

She cleaned the guest bedroom for me, but we ended up sharing a beanbag together, my arm around her shoulders as she leaned slightly into my chest. When I woke up, I wanted to skip school and just lie there forever. It's not a feeling I've ever experienced before. I've never had a girlfriend and the brief flings I find myself in from time to time always lack emotion. It almost saddens me to think that once the bet is over, she'll want nothing to do with me.

Today my parents have the day off. So when I get home, everything seems a lot brighter.

"I'm home!" I yell as I take my shoes off at the door.

"How was your day?" My mom asks, smothering me in a hug. "I haven't seen you properly for two days! Come, sit down, I felt like baking cookies." She leads me to kitchen, all brightly lit and warm now that she's here. I remember Haley's kitchen. The dimly lit white tile floors and counters a stark contrast to the warm mahogany wood that spans our kitchen floor and the black and brown granite counters above. "What have you been doing these past few days?"

"I met the neighbor." She looks at me in surprise.

"Haven't I been telling you and telling you to go over and say hello?" I shrug.

"It turns out I know her from school, so I thought I'd say hello." Now my mom's interested. It's like mom instincts+nurse instincts=nothing gets past at all.

"What's she like?"

"She's like any other girl," I said, taking a large bite of cookie. Ah, I love chewy cookies. My mom looks surprised.

"She is?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Why shouldn't she?"

"Don't you know why she moved here?" See? I told you. Mom+nurse=absolute knowledge.

"Her best friend died." My mom shakes her head and sits down next to me. She's going into gossip mode.

"I heard she tried to kill herself so they moved." I nod and tell her I've heard the story. "The poor kid," she continues.

"She seems fine, Mom." She shakes her head.

"I heard they got all new furniture when they came," Her eyes widen at the idea of wasting so much stuff. "They picked a house with a completely different layout and even got the girl a completely different wardrobe. They didn't let her keep anything. I heard they don't even have pictures of the friend in their house." I just laugh. It sounds ridiculous.

"Mom, I'm sure that's all just hearsay. Haley probably has a photo in her room. Besides, who'd waste so much stuff? It's not economical at all! But if that's really true and Haley is the way she is now, then maybe it was for the best." Mom shakes her head, her eyes serious.

"Trying to cover up the past is the worst way to deal with something like this. Do you know what I'd do if you died and people tried to pretend you never existed?" My breath catches in my throat. My mom puts her arms around me. "I'd go crazy,babe. Because I love you." I'm a wimp, I know, but tears spring to my eyes.

"Thanks, Mom." I wipe the tears of the back of my sleeve and change the subject. "Where's dad?"

"You know him. There's always something else to be done at the ER." I laugh as we repeat the line together.

"Because no one can do it as well as he can." My mom ruffles my hair.

"I feel like Japanese food tonight. Do you mind if we eat out?" I shake my head and go upstairs to do my homework. A couple hours later I hear the garage door open.

In comes my dad, his hair black and straight, his Korean features oddly offset by his perfect English. English, he tells me, that took years to perfect.

"We're eating out tonight, dear," my mom says, giving him a hug. He nods and hugs her back.

"I'll just get changed and we can go. Where to?"

"Our favorite Japanese restaurant," Mom says. My dad cracks a smile and goes upstairs to get changed. We're good friends with the owners of the place. The guy used to go to college with my dad. So going there's like eating at a friend's house.

As we get out of the car, I open the door to the restaurant and step in. I see a huddled figures rushing towards me. She bumps into me.

"Oh, sorry!" I say. She just nods and continues. I can't place her, but I feel like I know her from somewhere. She looks down as she walks and doesn't make eye contact with anyone, so I don't get a good view of her face. Ugh. I know it's going to bother me. I look at the girl at the cash register, the forgotten receipt in her hand.

"Who was that?" I ask her. She shakes her head thoughtfully.

"A regular. She's been coming here forever but I never learned her name. She's changed a lot though." She looks down at the handwritten receipt in her hand. "Trina," she says. "Her name is Trina. I'll have to remember that."

That's when I decide that this is the restaurant I'm bringing Haley to. It seems fitting in a way, to bring her to place where a girl named Trina is a regular customer. I don't know why, but I'm actually looking forward to the date. Despite the fact that Haley will probably hate me afterwards, I have a feeling that it'll be one of the best dates of my life.