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

"I'm FREE!"

"I'm FREE!"

"Haley, can I talk to you?" I open Trevor's front door at 12 to find Corey staring at me.

"Wow. Let's begin again," I say. His appearance irritates me slightly. It’s a step up from the guilt that’s plagued me all week, I suppose. I shut the door and open it again.

"I'm home!" I begin, then I use a deep voice to be Corey. "Hi, Haley. How was your sleepover?" "It went quite well, thanks. How was yours?"

"It was pretty fun," Corey answers for himself, a small, beautiful smile on his face. "Why don't you come in? We got bored and made some cookies."

"Now you're talking," I say with a smile. This is how it used to be: normal conversation. Like friends. And I screwed it up.

Corey grabs a plate of cookies and leads me to my own room. Trevor waves at us from his sleeping position on the couch. Everyone else is gone, their sleeping stuff all neatly folded. Who knew guys could be so clean?

"Uh..." Corey begins awkwardly. "Some of the guys were saying you haven't been yourself lately." I shrug and look down.

"I've been feeling really guilty." I say quietly. He nods and puts his hands in his pockets.

"That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about, Haley." He motions for me to sit on the bed next to him. I comply. He looks at me and smiles.

"It was a lot easier to forgive you than I thought." I look at him.

"Really?"

He just smiles at me sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah. I mean, we were never really lovers, right? We were more like friends. And I enjoyed it. I'd like to be like that again."

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I'm forgiven. It feels amazing. It's hard to be happy and carefree when you feel guilty. All you can think of, all you can remember is that person, and what they said and did. And the memories remind you over and over again to fix things. Sometimes they can be fixed. Sometimes they can't.

"Thank you," I say, squeezing him briefly. "I'd really like to be friends again."

Corey leaves and I start dancing around my room.

"He's okay!" I sing over and over again. I twirl around my room and out the door. "He's okay! Were friends! I don't have to date him anymore! I'm FREE!" I spin until I reach the couch and start shaking Trevor. "I'm FREE!" I say loudly. He laughs at the goofy grin on my face.

"Look at you being all cute and emotional," he says, lightly pinching my nose. I turn towards the kitchen to hide my blush. Why does he do this to me? How is he the only one who can do this? And why do I enjoy it?

"You know, the way you acted after Corey was a lot like with the whole Trina thing," he says thoughtfully, pouring two glasses of milk to go with the cookies. He sits next to me and tugs a cookie out of my hand.

"Hey!" I protest as he dunks it in his own milk and chomps on it. I start reaching for the cookie.

"Ge' yur oun!" Trevor protests with his mouth full.

"How do I know you won't steal it again?" I ask. Trevor smiles adorably. I blink in surprise.

"Trus' meh," he says with the same innocent smile. I reach slowly for another cookie. I reach up to chomp on it and-

"You stole it again!" I protest. Trevor swallows the remains of the last cookie and shoves the entire thing in his mouth.

"Sto' wha'?" he asks, throwing his arms out to show his lack of cookie. I'm not thinking, that's why. I completely forget everything and do what I used to do when my older cousins teased me. I attacked.

"You stole it!" I yell, lunging at him. He swallows, shrieks like a girl, and runs towards the sofa. "Feel my wrath, Trevor Choi!" He's trapped against the sofa. I move closer and wiggle my fingers.

"I should warn you that I'm not ticklish," Trevor says. But I can see in his shifty eyes that he's lying.

"Haley! Stop!"

I've barely even touched him.

"Dude, you're a wimp."

He grins up at me.

"Wimps don't steal cookies."

"What is that, a Bailey School Kids' book?" I ask, ignoring the flip-flopping of my stomach. I continue tickling him. He howls in laughter, begging for mercy and promising to leave my cookies alone. I finally let him go and he gasps, looking at me. I grin goofily back.

"You know, I've never heard you laugh before," he says. "You didn't even laugh just now." I shrug. His eyes sparkle as he turns toward me. Oh, crap. Our little show down is interrupted by the sound of the fridge opening. I turn around to see Dad in his bathrobe.

"Uh...good morning," I offer, my face turning red. "Did we wake you up?" Dad pokes his head out at us, a frozen waffle stuck between his teeth.

"It was about time we got up anyway," he says, removing the waffle with his hand. "I heard there was a little sleepover business going on last night. I'm glad to see you guys cleaned up." I look around. Why is it so clean anyway?

"I forced them to clean up," Trevor says when he sees the disbelief in my face. I nod.

"Did you already have breakfast?" Dad asks me.

"Yeah." I try to put Trevor and his ticklishness out of my head and go upstairs to change.

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Argh. Sorry for the delay, guys! I was going to post as soon as the 150 votes came, but then our internet died and I spent a couple days wrestling with the router and modem. Well, are we liking this new development? Did Corey forgive her too soon?