A Safe Bet

John slammed the paper down in front of her and grinned, triumphantly.

Harlow looked down, setting her chemistry homework aside. She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows.

"Look, Harlow." John pointed. "I got an A on the quiz."

He was right. Harlow glanced at the giant red 'A' written on the front of his quiz and back to him, as he grinned bigger.

She smiled. "Good job, John."

"Looks like I'm taking you out for some ice cream." He said, grabbing his quiz and shoving it into his sorry excuse for a backpack and turning on his heel to leave.

"I'll pick you up at seven on Friday!" He exclaimed, walking away so that she would be given no option but yes.

Harlow sighed, even though deep down inside, she was kind of excited for it.

~

Friday came way too slow in Harlow's mind, even though she tried her hardest to forget about it. Only to be surprised on Friday and tell John that she had forgotten and they couldn't do it anymore because she would have plans...

But she would feel too bad, so she was kind of glad she didn't.

"Hey," Aimee said, walking next to her as they both walked towards the parking lot, after school on Friday. "Wanna hang out tonight? I'm thinking we have that Gossip Girl marathon we've been dying to do for so long? How 'bout it? We can closely analyze Dair this time!" She exclaimed.

Harlow smiled at her best friend and shook her head. "As much as I would love to just stare at Penn Badgely all day, I kind of have plans..."

"Oh?" Aimee raised her eyebrows. "Is this a plan with family...or a boy?"

"The latter." They reached Harlow's run down Toyota Camry, and she was about to open her door when Aimee suddenly slammed it shut and gasped.

"Oh my God, who is it?!" She exclaimed. "Oh, its Cameron Birkoff, isn't it?"

"Since when do I have any connections to Cameron Birkoff?" Harlow asked, incredulously. "No, it's with John, the only boy that I actually maintain conversations with..." She trailed off when she glanced at Aimee, who had a suggestive look on her face.

"What is that look for?" Harlow opened the door and threw her stuff into the passenger seat.

"My prophecy is coming true." She grinned, slyly.

"Oh, my God." Harlow rolled her eyes and climbed into the car. "Shut up, Aims, okay?"

Aimee laughed and waved goodbye before yelling, "IT'S GONNA HAPPEN, HAR!"

"I highly doubt that." Harlow said, under her breath as she started his car. "What could he see in me?"

~

The doorbell rang at exactly 7:02pm as Harlow rushed down the stairs, adjusting her summer dress, but Elena dashed through and stopped in front of her.

"It's probably for me!" She exclaimed, before adjusting her hair, and opened the door.

Harlow bit her lip to hide her triumphant smile when John stood before both of them. He furrowed his eyebrows at Elena, but looked past her shoulder and saw Harlow.

"Uh, hi." He said, offering a little wave.

"O'Callaghan?" Elena said, definitely not expecting him. "What are you doing here?"

Harlow pushed past her sister, having enough of her thinking so highly of herself and said to her, "He's here for me."

She closed the door in front of Elena's shocked face and looked up at John, who wore plaid. He looked good in plaid.

"Ready?" He grinned. She nodded her head and followed him to his car.

John, being the gentleman, opened the passenger door for her and she climbed into his car. They drove away from Harlow's house and John, like last time, turned the radio on.

"You love music, don't you?" She asked, feeling more comfortable with him than last time.

John grinned and nodded his head. "Mind if I tell you something?"

"What?"

"I want to start a band." He said, shrugging. "I mean, it's not a huge dream of mine. I mean, I want to go to college and stuff and go into business like I had planned, but I kind of want a band on the side, you know?"

"That's a nice dream." Harlow commented, brushing her hair back from her eyes.

"What about you?" John asked. "Any dreams?"

Harlow was silent for a second before she shrugged her shoulders. "I want to be a lawyer. I've always wanted to be a lawyer."

"No on-the-side dreams, like me?" He pulled up at a really nice looking ice cream shop that Harlow had never been to before.

When they climbed out, Harlow shrugged her shoulders. "If I would drop everything, and that means never, then I would like to move somewhere other than Arizona and start a bakery."

"You bake?" John opened the door for her, and when Harlow walked in, she resisted the urge to let her jaw drop. She never would have thought Arizona could produce such a nice looking ice cream shop like that one.

She nodded her head. "But not that much anymore. I mean, I haven't made anything in years."

John nodded his head and looked around at the variety of ice creams that they have. There were probably seventy different types.

"Hmm," John said to the guy behind the counter. "I'll have chocolate with gummy bears, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and cookie dough."

"It's good!" He exclaimed to Harlow's grimace. To her, it was just a little too sweet. She liked her ice cream fruity.

"I'll have passion fruit with strawberries, two cherries and some of those jelly balls." Harlow smiled at the guy. He smiled at her back and piled the toppings on her ice cream and handed it to her.

John paid, pushing Harlow's hand away with her crumpled up ten dollar bill in it and rolled his eyes. "I'm the guy, therefore I pay."

Harlow tried to hide her smile, but she followed him outside to nice breeze and sat at one of the tables.

"So tell me, Har," He said, taking a bite from his ice cream. "Why do you hate Arizona?"

Harlow shook her head. "I don't hate it, I just think that there is more to life than just Arizona."

"Oh." He said. "Okay."

"I mean, okay, if you find it fun and lively then awesome, good for you." She exclaimed, defending herself. "But I don't. I honestly don't see whats in store for me here."

"Okay, okay." John raised his hands up. "You love opportunities...that's great." He added. Harlow noted that he sounded a little disappointed.

"Arizona isn't very fond of me." She shrugged. "And I'm not fond of it either."

"Well, I'm fond of you." John sat up and shot her a dazzling smile.

"Yeah well, I'm helping you higher your grades." She rolled her eyes. "If I never did this for you, you probably never would have known who I was."

Oh, if only you knew," John thought to himself.

"Untrue!" John exclaimed. "I think at some point I would know you. How come you know me, eh?" He raised his eyebrows up and down.

"You forget my sister is Elena." Harlow took a bite from her melting ice cream and rolled her eyes at him.

"Eh, Elena and I don't talk anymore." John leaned back against the plastic chair. "Ever since fall break, Elena changed and kind of pulled herself away from some people. Myself included."

John looked up to see Harlow's reaction and saw her face was stone. Her expression was unreadable and she stared at him with cold eyes.

"Whoa, did I say something?" He asked, suddenly afraid.

Harlow shook her head. "Nothing."

"Uh." John didn't know what to do. "Harlow?"

You know whats really ridiculous?" Her voice went up an octave and she kept looking down at her ice cream.

"Wha--" John started but she cut him off. "When someone in your family is so perfect and then something happens, and all of a sudden, she becomes even more perfect, and you are left alone being the stupid sister you will always be." Her voice became harder. "I wish my parents were like you. Elena pulled away from everyone...I tried helping her, but no, she pushes me away farther than anyone else. My parents don't care for me. If I were to get hit by a bus or something, I don't think anyone would car--"

"Harlow!" John exclaimed. "What the fuck?"

Harlow seemed to have realized what she said, even though it all came out in a huge jumble. She didn't even know why it came out, right in front of John O'Callaghan, it just did.

"Oh, my God." She said. "I'm--I have no idea why I just said that."

"Harlow?" John leaned closer, worry etched all over his face. "Are you okay?"

Harlow stared at him. "I'm fine."

"Number one lie told by humans." John said. "Harlow...I'm kind of worried right now."

"Why?" She asked. "What do you care about me?"

"I've grown to like you, Har." John threw his hands up. "Fuck, you are the one who drove me to get an A on the psych quiz! Why wouldn't I like you?"

"I'm not Elena?" She suggested. "I'm not like every single girl you date. I'm a nobody..."

"You are not a nobody." John said, sternly. He stood up and walked over to the ledge beside Harlow and sat down on it. "And you will never be Elena because you are Harlow. And to be honest, I like you a lot better than Elena."

She looked up at him. "I wish I could believe people when they say that, but sometimes I think they just look at me and think I'm my sister. I'm not society's idea of perfect."

"Nobody is perfect, Har." John shook his head. "Elena chose to flaunt her body around to ever guy, while you chose another way. You'll be the one to go somewhere. Hell, Elena wouldn't be able to get into Harvard to save her life."

Harlow couldn't help but chuckle. John smiled too and said, "If you don't believe me when I say that I like you better than Elena, then I'm gonna have to prove it you."

She smiled and said, "And what are you gonna do?"

John shrugged. "I don't know yet, but you'll find out." He hopped off the ledge and gave her his hand. "Come on, I'll take you home."

Harlow gladly took his hand. Even though she was still cynical, seeing John's eyes and hearing his words about her made her feel more special than she has in a while.

~

"Miss Peterson." Mrs. Hastings called right as the bell rang. Harlow almost groaned out loud; going from psych to chemistry was a long walk.

"Yes, Mrs. Hastings?" She held her binder and smiled sweetly.

She waited a few seconds and Harlow furrowed her eyebrows. What did she want?

"Hello there, Peterson." She heard John's voice behind her. She turned around and saw him smirk at her.

Mrs. Hastings cleared her throat. "You are his tutor, right, Harlow?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?" Harlow asked. She felt John stiffen next to him as Mrs. Hastings' eyes travel to him and give him a cold look.

"John cheated on his quiz."

Harlow froze. What?

"I'm sorry--what?" She asked, reiterating her thoughts. "How could he cheat?"

Mrs. Hastings held up two quizes, John's and some boy named, Kyle's: they had the same exact answers.

"These two boys sit next to each other in class." Mrs. Hastings said. Harlow spun around and looked at John, with a disbelieving look on her face. He couldn't cheat...after all that he said that Friday?

"Is it true?" She asked.

John looked down, avoiding her eyes.

"John!" She exclaimed. He sighed and looked up, sadness in his eyes. He nodded his head. Harlow sighed and turned to Mrs. Hastings, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Hastings. I--I had no idea..."

She nodded her head and Harlow turned around to leave. John called after her but she ignored him...she had to get to chemistry.

All that he told her was probably lie. Harlow never felt so betrayed and used.