It Started with a Bet... (Watty Awards 2011)

"Friends trust each other, right?"

"Friends trust each other, right?"

“Friends trust each other right?” I ask as we get closer to my house.

“Yes,” he says, looking at me curiously. “That’s why I showed you my tattoo. I trust you not to mention it to anyone else.” I let out a deep breath. So can I trust Spike? I can, can’t I? He’s my friend. And friends trust friends. Spike showed me a little bit of himself. Doesn’t he deserve to know a little bit more about me? My knuckles turn white on the steering wheel. Spike leans back and ruffles my hair. “What’s up?”

Instead of pulling into my driveway I pull into Trevor’s. Spike lets out a low whistle. “So you live with him now?”

I nod.

“Since when?”

“I had a bit of a…nervous breakdown a month or two ago,” I say quietly. Spike leans forward and kisses my forehead. It’s brief and light, but somehow comforting.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better. But you know what’s ironic?” I open the door and climb out.

“What?”

“Trevor's the one I think you'd be a much better match with. Not Corey.”

***
“Haley?” Trevor walks into my room and plops down on my bed. I’m sitting on the desk, finishing my math homework.

“Done!” I say, throwing my hands up in the air. I spin around in my desk chair. “What’s up?”

“Well, I just realized that I don’t know anything about Trina.” That reminds me.

“I need to talk to her, by the way. Do you mind giving me directions to that place you took me Saturday night?”

“I can drive you.” I shake my head.

“I’d rather go by myself.” Trevor nods, trying to hide the disappointment on his face. “But I have to thank you. I never would’ve found that place by myself.” He smiles back at me.

“How about I drop you off?” I nod.

“Trina?” I sit in front of the grave and look behind me. Trevor waves from the gate and goes back to sit in the car. He said to take my time. He’s going to listen to some music.

“Trina, I think I made a friend.” I can see her smiling face, but she doesn’t answer. “Is it okay? Is it okay to make a friend?”

“Trina?” She finally picks up the phone on the third ring.

“Hey, Haley! Sorry, Ruby was over so I wasn’t able to pick up earlier.” Ruby. As a third grader I can’t wrap my head around the idea. What’s Ruby doing at Trina’s house? I thought I was her best friend.

“Oh, well, I guess I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up before Trina can say anything and curl up on one of the dining room chairs. I don’t talk to her at all at school the next day. She doesn’t notice because she invites Ruby to play with us. Ruby. The transfer student. The transfer student who lives next door to Trina. Instead of me, who lives down the street. The whole week passes and I don’t see Trina afterschool at all.

“Haley? Trina’s here.” My mom opens the door. I just nod and stare off into space as Trina enters.

“Haley, why are you mad at me?” I shake my head.

“I’m not mad. I just thought you didn’t want to play with me anymore.” She looks at me in shock.

“Why? I never said that.” I shrug.

“You have Ruby now. You don’t need me.” I can’t help the bitterness that comes into my voice, the tears that spring to my eyes. She comes and sits next to me, grabbing my hand.

“What’s this?” She’s pointing to the matching bracelets on our wrists.

“Friendship bracelets.”

“I don’t care if I have Ruby or not. Ruby’s just my friend. You’re my best friend.” I wipe my tears and smile at her.

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s okay for us to have other friends. But we’ll always be best friends.”

I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I have a friend. And that’s okay. I walk over to the car and slip in next to Trevor.

“You look a lot happier,” he says with a smile. I can’t help but smile back.

“I feel happier.”

***

A painful month passes. Honestly, Corey’s a really nice guy. Every day he picks me up and Spike lets me take his car home. And Trevor…Trevor makes it too hard for me to forget him. Every night after dinner he pops into my room “just because” and ask questions about Trina. Where we hung out the most, what kind of music she listened to, what we argued about, her favorite food, her favorite color.

And, as the month progresses, the conversation often goes beyond Trina. What did you do at school today? How was practice? Where did Corey take you for your date last night? Why do you have a bruise on the side of your head?

As the month goes on, Corey and I start drifting apart. It’s really not his fault. He’s just as much a gentleman as always. It’s just that…he doesn’t understand me at all. Every morning I wake up early so Corey can pick me up from my house, every evening after a date I crawl back home. Every day our car ride gets quieter and quieter, our dates get more and more sparse.

I’m getting everything I wanted from dating Corey. The rumors have died down completely, I haven’t seen Dr. Thornton since my first date with Corey, and Trina? I guess Trina’s the only thing that’s bothering me. Trevor helps me remember her, but she’s supposed to exist outside of Trevor. I gave him up for her, but…argh! It’s just too confusing.

“Hey, you didn’t answer my question.” I look down to see Trevor poke my leg with his foot. I’m sitting up on my bed with my legs stretched out in front of me. Trevor’s sitting on my twirly desk chair with his legs propped up perpendicular to mine.

“What question?”

“When’s, uh…Trina’s, you know, anniversary.” Oh, her death day.

“I don’t know.” His head snaps up to look at me.

“Seriously?” I shrug.

“I’ve never been good with dates, and I was a little too preoccupied to check a calendar that day.” He nods.

“Makes sense.” My phone buzzes and I pull it out of my pocket. It’s Clarice.

“Haley, I can’t take this anymore!” I look at Trevor.

“Uh, one sec, Clarice.” I put the phone down and look at him. “I’m headed to Clarice’s apartment. Can I borrow the car?”

I love Trevor’s car. It’s so just so…swoosh. He shrugs and tosses me the keys.

“Take care of it.”

“Aww! He let you take his car!”

I look at Clarice like she’s insane.

“He’s usually okay with me driving his car. He knows I’m more careful about it than he is.” She just shakes her head.

“Someone looooooves you.” I sigh.

“Oh, shut up. What did you call me over here for, anyway?”
“It’s Matt.”

Figures. Lately Matt’s been acting kinda weird. Janice is more and more open about flirting with him and he doesn’t seem to notice. Clarice and Matt have been arguing about it a lot.

“What did he do this time?”

“I just can’t take it anymore! Remember today during lunch?” Yup. We were sitting in the car, and Janice’s arm seems to snake its way through Matt’s. He does nothing about it. Clarice turns to glare at Janice, but Janice just sticks her tongue out. Matt does nothing.

“Matt, honey?” He looks up.

“Hm?” Clarice gestures to Janice’s arm. “Oh.” He shrugs it away. “Don’t worry about it, babe.”

“So I was asking him what’s been going on and he just randomly snaps at me about his needs or something. Why are guys so stupid?” I smile.

“Well, let’s ask a guy.” I dial Spike’s number and put it on speaker.

“Spike, why are guys such idiots?” There’s a sigh on the other line.

“Why are girls so hormonal? Where are you?”

“Clarice’s.”

“Fine, I’ll be over in a minute.”

“Bring junk food!” Clarice adds.

“Always, babe.” He hangs up.

“Spike is too cool,” Clarice leans back with a goofy smile on her face.

“What other guy would be totally chill about hanging with a couple girls?” We turn and look at one another.

“Okay, any guy,” Clarice says with a laugh. “But not when they’re ‘hormonal’.” She puts air-quotes around the word. We both laugh. The doorbell rings and Clarice runs to get it. It’s Spike with a couple grocery bags in his arms.

“Let the party begin!”

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All right, my friends, let's recap shall we? We currently still have to move up 29 spots on the Watty Awards List and we have about...maybe 15-20 chapters to go. So if we really do want to win the Watty Awards (which I think would be awesome, but then again, I'm the author, lol) we'll need to get our voting caps on. Because the higher stories on the Watty Awards list have, well, over 10,000 votes total. We are at...2,000. Haha. So if you haven't voted on all the chapters already, please do so! And if you're morally against voting for stories, please reconsider. :)

Make sure to go back and vote for the last chapter if you didn't while reading it!

And lastly, a super special thank you to everyone who voted so quickly to make the 100 votes possible. It only took about a day! Absolutely amazing, I tell you. Can we please try to keep that streak going?