Betting Chances

"Jesse?"

Hm?

"Jesse!"

...

"Jesse, wake the fuck up! Mom is going to kill us!"

I shot up from my comfortable position. Sheets were tangled around my legs, and the hangover that I fully deserved started to flood into my head. I could already sense the clear and present danger that was the tenderness in between my legs and the burning sensation I had in my guilt gland.

My eyes cleared up enough to see my sister Hailey standing next to me with a crazed look on her face. It took me all of three seconds to realize why.

"OH SHIT!" I threw the sheets to the other side of the bed and grabbed my clothes, quickly putting them on one by one.

"NAW!" My sister wailed at such a pitch that could wake the entire house. "We were supposed to be home hours ago!"

"Shut up and go downstairs!" I pointed towards the direction which she came from.

"You dress up, I'll warm up the car!" She bolted outside trailing after her instructions.

I slipped on each piece of material without worrying about how it looked. I didn't even bother to fix my hair. Once fully clothed, I grabbed my purse from the bed post. Only then did I see the second person that was laying next to me.

A boy with disheveled dark brown hair sleep soundly. He grumbled in his slumber. I shook my head of his face, well, I couldn't even see his face. So there really wasn't anything to forget.

I ran downstairs in time to jump in the car with Hailey passed the knocked out and knocked up guests of last night's party. She slammed her foot on the gas without a second thought, and we rushed home.

**

"Maybe she's still asleep.." Hailey whispered as she tried not to make a sound while closing her car door. The tiny sedan went back into its proper place on the front driveway beside our mother's slightly larger vehicle.

"This is what I get for letting you talk me into going to that party.." I groaned into my slightly dirty hand.

My equally rushed sister looked at me with distaste. "You looked like you were having a good time!"

"I was drunk!" I hissed towards her.

"Well, maybe that was why!"

"You know what? Shut up."

Hailey rolled her eyes. "We can't go through the front door. The alarm is probably set."

"We can go through our bedroom window." I ran to the side of the house and dragged her with me, tugging on her hood without even checking if I was strangling her.

I climbed up the tree that was beside the house an made my way inside mine and Hailey's room. Hailey climbed in after me, stumbling to the floor at my feet as she did.

"Spaz." I sighed.

"Jesse! Hailey! Are you awake!" Mom called from downstairs.

"Shit!" Hailey hissed.

"We have to change." I quickly stripped and pulled out my pajamas. "We'll be down in a sec, Mom!"

"What? Why?"

"Because we smell like beer, and she'll know that we never came home and slept."

Hailey opened her mouth.

"In our own beds."

She sighed, "Fine."

The second we finished, we ran downstairs will our hairstyles both in matching messy buns. We rinsed our mouths quickly with mouth wash to get rid of the beer smell before Mom could suspect anything.

"Good morning, girls." Mom smiled with a plate of pancakes in her hands.

"Morning, Mom." We simultaneously answered.

We're twins, if you couldn't tell already. But instead of acting the same, we're sort of a checks and balances for each other. Only she won yesterday with the party regardless of my arguments. I don't even remember how she talked me into going. She's the party girl, I'm the brainiac. Brainiacs don't belong at parties. They belong at libraries.

"How was the library?"

Oh, did I mention that she had no clue at all that we went to that party?

"Oh--" Hailey started to say. She's terrible at lying. You'd think she'd be good at it, but that's me who's good at it.

"It went well, Mom." I stopped her. "Mrs. Lawrence asked us to help clean up and sort some books for a bit of cash, so we came home late."

"Yea, that." Hailey smiled.

"How much did you get?" Mom suddenly asked.

The sweat gathered on my forehead. "We didn't even get paid. We both fell asleep while sorting through the non-fiction, so Mrs. Lawrence ended up going home early."

Mom nodded, "Alright. Well, I'm off to work. Enjoy the pancakes." She smiled, kissed us both on our cheeks then left the house.

"Jesus Christ, that was close." Hailey collapsed on the couch in the living room.

"Naw, ya think? You're so lucky I saved your ass. Just leave all that lying to me."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm bummed we had to leave though."

"The party?"

"Yea, I hit it off with this guy, and I didn't even get his name."

"Hails, we were there for hours, and you didn't get his name?"

"No. We were talking outside the entire time, then we fell asleep, so I had to leave right when I woke up." She frowned.

I sighed and sat down next to her, "Well, at least you can remember all of that. I don't even know what went down last night except for--"

"The fact that you are no longer virginial."

"That's not a word."

"You know what, I don't care. Bottom line is, you aren't a virgin anymore."

I rolled my eyes, "Thank God senior year is almost over. I hate Dulaney High with a passion."

"You only hate it because you can't get a guy."

"Well, the guys here are assholes anyway."

She laughed, "Whatever you say, Jesse."