It Started with a Bet...

"You know, I don't have your number." Trevor puts his arm around my shoulders on the way to English. It's been two weeks since the bet started. Why he keeps prolonging asking me out I don't know.

"You pretty much know my schedule, you see me every day and you know where I live. Now you want my number?" I give him a look of joking alarm. "Stalker much?" He just laughs, oblivious to the girls glaring at us.

Why shouldn't they glare? Trevor is smart, sensitive and reasonably conservative: a guy you'd totally be okay taking home. And he's a work of art. That's what makes him so popular, I think. The fact that you know he'd never hurt you if you were to go out, but also the fact that he'd never go out with you. For whatever reason, he plays hard to get.

"There are girls glaring at us," I say with a smile, trying to move his arm. He laughs and puts his arm back around my shoulders.

"So? You're not afraid of them, are you?" I think about this for a second.

"No."

The eyes follow us into English, the curses cutting into my back as Trevor sits down next to me. I want to laugh. It's a game, I tell myself, a game. All the kindness, the smiles and the joy. All a game to him. Why I have to remind myself, I don't know. But as he passes me a note when the teacher turns to face the board, I remind myself again. A game.

What are you having for dinner?

And odd question. Is he inviting himself over?

I don't really know yet.
Mind if I come over?

What's today, Thursday?

Parents gone?
Yeah.
Poor baby ;) Sure, come on over.
I have something to tell you then. Don't let me back out.

He turns back to the teacher, his face flushed. He scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment as if he knows I'm staring at him. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. I've been enduring this junk for far too long for him to back out on me. It's only been two weeks. Can he really feel guilty already? It seems unlikely. Is this another part of the game? A hint that he'll ask me out? That seems...very devious for Trevor. When the bell rings he gets up and leaves without even looking at me, his face flushing as he passes. I don't understand.

Christa corners me on my way to my next class.

"Well?" She seems kind of upset.

"Well what?" Ashley pops up next to me, her eyes wide.

"We've heard the rumors. Has he asked you out yet?" Oh, it's about that. But what have people been saying?

"What rumors?" Christa comes closer to me. Her anger and sadness wafts off her like a light perfume.

"You guys hang out together all the time, he sits next to you in all your classes, people say he doesn't hang out with Janice anymore at all." It's about time, really. He doesn't care much for Janice anyway. That is obvious. Christa's eyes plead with me. "Teach me."

"Teach you what?"

"How you got him to get that close to you. It's only been two weeks too! What did you do?" I understand now. Christa has an enormous crush on Trevor. Typical.

"I did nothing. He came up and talked to me and I talked back and now he just hangs out with me all the time." Christa isn't satisfied.

"Come on! You wouldn't have made the bet if you didn't have anything up your sleeve! Unless you aren't planning on letting him go after the date..." I look her in the face.

"You are invited to the date. When he asks me out I'll tell you the place and time. You can show up in front of us and pay me. He probably won't speak to me again." Christa nods and turns to Ashley.

"If he gets upset and leaves, I call going after him," Ashley nods and the two walk away. I stumble into my next class late, my mind in a whirl.

***

"I made dinner." Trevor says as I take his coat. I snort disbelievingly.

"You?! What'd you make, cereal?" He looks sheepish as he hands me the dish. "Pasta. With Prego sauce."

"Well, it's the thought that counts," I say with a smile, leading him to the kitchen. I heat up the pasta and start putting a ridiculous portion into one plate. "This much, right?" Trevor looks at it and smiles.

"You know me so well." I shrug and hand him the plate, a funny feeling in the bottom of my stomach. His smile grows wider at my silence.

"Hey, I bet I know how much you eat," he says suddenly. He takes the serving spoon from me and starts piling the pasta on. Once he's reached what he thinks is the right level, he grabs some parmesian from the fridge and starts sprinkling. He hands me the plate, a satisfied grin on his face. I take a forkful and shove it into my mouth, letting out a deep satisfied sigh.

"Perfect." He laughs and leads me, still chewing, to the beanbag on the floor. A couple servings of pasta later, Trevor clears his throat.

"Haley, you know the note I gave you in class today?" I tense. He better not be ruining everything.

"Yeah. You know, whatever you want to tell me, it's okay if you don't--"

"I like you." I look at him in surprise.

"What?"

"I feel like I can be myself around you." I understand now. He's going to ask me out. I arrange my face into one of bashful surprise. I find it easier than expected. Trevor looks at me.

"No matter what happens, I don't want us to stop being friends." Now I'm confused.

"What are you saying?"

"Haley, would you go out with me this Saturday?" This isn't making sense.

"This isn't making sense."

"I want to go on one date with you, Haley. I've been thinking about it for a while now. The thing is, you may not find the date as pleasant as a date should be. If the date fails, can we still be friends?"

Does this mean that he'll still randomly come over when he's bored? I feel slightly annoyed. This is not what I planned on getting myself into.

"Yeah," I say. "We can still be friends." Trevor gets this enormous grin on his face as he pulls me into a hug.

"Thank God! I was so worried." I don't understand. This is a game, isn't it? Then why is he still wanting to be friends?

***

"What are you wearing? Come on, let me see, let me see, let me see!" Christa is bouncing up and down on my bed while Ashley goes through my closet.

I don't know why they're here, to be honest. I texted Ashley and Christa and the next thing I know, they're ringing the doorbell Saturday afternoon. How they even got my address is a mystery to me.
"We're going to this old Japanese restaurant I love," I tell them, thinking back to my old method of getting ready for dates.
"it's so cute of him to pick the old Japanese place," says Trina happily, digging through my closet.
"He doesn't know I know the place, actually." I say, lying down on the old blue comforters on my bed. "So I don't know why he chose it."
"Because you guys are soul-mates!" I hear a playful slap and sit up suddenly in bed, a fistful of the pink quilt in my hand. Pink?
"Ashley, don't say stuff like that!" Christa's moved to glare at Ashley. "I called him, didn't I? Haley can't go after him. Right, Haley?" What she says barely registers with me. There's a searing anger burning in my chest. They need to leave.
"I'll do what I want." Christa looks at me in shock.

"Haley, how could you be so ungrateful? When you came back to school, all emo and disgusting, who let you sit at the table? Who let you back into the social scene? This is the least you can do for me."

"You know what I admire about you, Christa?" I say calmly. "It's that you don't lie. You don't pretend we were ever friends or that you ever worked hard to get me where I am. You can pay me the money when we meet at the restaurant." She gets up and leaves, but I know she's more upset about my threat to take Trevor than about "losing" me. Ashley looks at me.
"I know we were never close, but I don't hate you. You have every right to chase Trevor but..." she looks out the door.
"Go," I say. "a friend is someone you should never throw away." She nods and leaves. She knows I'm right: good friends are forever.

"I still can't believe he asked you out!" Trina squeals, her head halfway through my closet.
"I know!" I'm sitting on my bed. "It's Nick, the most popular guy at school! I don't even know why he asked!" Trina pokes her head out of the closet and looks at me as though the answer is obvious.
"Because you're cute? And you're really friendly and you flirt without knowing it."
"I flirt without knowing? How's that even a reason?"
"Because when you don't mean it, you come off as adorable rather than a pushy flirt. You don't want the guy, you two just get along. And then him asking you out is just a matter of time." I lie back down on my bed.
"You're an amazing friend, you know that?"

Good friends are forever.