The Beauty And The Bet

Chapter 3.

Rose's POV

"Good morning Rose!" Megan waved from a distance as I faked a smile acting oblivious to last night - it was always the same when my mum brought a new man home.

He would only be interested for a month, then leave and I'll have to fix the heartbroken state she would be in.

"Morning!" I smiled before opening the latch to my locker, preparing the books I needed for the day ahead .

"How are you today?" She questioned politely as the phone in her hand bleeped, from the screen it seemed like a text.

"The usual, tired and totally not prepare for the second day of school." I giggled lightly before I was interrupted by another bleep. "Are you going to see who that's from?"

"Probably James." She shrugged off, throwing the device into her bag. "He can be clingy, I like to let him wait for a while."

"Did you talk to him yesterday?" I asked nervously, clueless if she wanted to share the information about her relationship with a girl she only met twenty four hours ago.

"We did, he did the usual plead and beg for my forgiveness and I stupidly fell for him again, like every single time." She sighed, flattering her eye lashes. "I guess that's the game of love."

"Maybe, I'm not really an expert." I hummed as we strolled down the hustle and bustle corridors arriving at our classroom door; English.

The whole journey, Megan had been rambling on about how much she loved James but he always seemed to hurt her because him and his friends were that 'type'.

"Who are his friends?" My ears perked up suddenly as she relaxed against the wall.

"The three boys he was sat with yesterday; Connor Ball, Tristan Evans and Bradley Will Simpson." I nodded my head taking in all the names before biting down on my lip shyly.

"Who was the one with the brown curly hair?" I almost said in a whisper.

"That's Bradley." She said taking a exaggerated sigh. "Trust me, you might want to stay away from him."

"Why?"

"He's slept with majority of the girls at this school." She announced broadly. "You're probably his next victim." She laughed however it seemed to make me feel tense. "I'm joking, he wouldn't because you're my friend-"

"Good." I commented quietly as the bell signalled lessons to begin. As we entered the small enclosed room, Megan smiled brightly at the sight of her boyfriend, minutes after insulting him and saying she was going to let him wait for her attention.

"Yesterday I didn't get to introduce you properly, so James this is Rose and Rose this is obviously my boyfriend James." She grinned brim to brim as she settled down in the seat beside him, leaving me to sit in front of them.

"Lovely to meet you." He smiled warmly.

"Rose is new so I'm taking her around, teaching her the ways of the school and who she should avoid." Megan announced wiggling her eyebrows. "In particular, your group." She commented which caused James to cough.

"There is nothing wrong with me." He defended himself.

"And what about your friend?" She sighed.

"You did make a good impression on the boys yesterday. Certainly one in particular!"

"Let me guess, curly brown hair answers to the name of Bradley." She sighed. "Nothing you say can about him will change her mind on him, I've warned her already to stay far away from him." Megan snapped, speaking as if i wasn't in the room.

"They all seemed like lovely boys." I interrupted with a small smile.

"Likewise." James added with a small nod. "Brad was a representation of a puppy after you left, overwhelmed and excited." My hand came up to shield my face, almost as if it was an instinct action. I felt a hand resting on my shoulder, it belonged to James. "It's alright though, he's harmless."

"If you stay away and not get your heartbroken." Megan commented.

**********

Brad's POV

"Shit." I muttered underneath my breath realising I was twenty minutes late for my English class again - the teacher, Mrs Graham, was constantly on my case.

"Nice for you to finally join my lesson Mr Simpson." Her voice announced sarcastically as I gently pushed my hand against the wooden door that hid the rather quiet classroom from the corridors.

"Aren't you lucky?" I muttered rolling my eyes as I processed to move towards the back of the classroom, noticing my usual seat was occupied by Megan beside James.

"Maybe you should sit yourself closer to the front as you've missed almost half of what I've been teaching?" She asked rhetorically.

"I'm fine at the back, it will let me have an overview of the class."

"It wasn't a decision for you to make, you'd be better suited here." She pointed to an empty desk in the corner of the room.

"Only because you want to be close to me." I said with an over exaggerated sigh causing the whole class to laugh.

"Quite the joker." She commented, watching me heave my bag and take the seat that stood near her desk. She continued to scribble notes on the board as I pulled out my book, however I didn't seem to have a pen.

My eyes diverted around the classroom to capture James's attention, but he was too distracted by Megan to even answer my pleads. I craned my neck and saw right behind me was sat the familiar face that I recognised from yesterday - Rose.

"Excuse me?" I said in an almost silent whisper and reaching out my hand to nudge her slightly which caused her to tense as her eyes fluttered up to mine.

"Yes?" She mouthed quietly as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"You wouldn't happen to have a spare pen?" I questioned politely. She bit her rouge lip as her hands reach into her backpack which laid next to her, finally retrieving a black pen.

"You can keep it all day, I expect you probably need it for every lesson." She chuckled quietly handing me the pen before looking back down at her page.She didn't seem to be reading her notes but just playing with the flimsily piece of paper.

"Thanks." I nodded still staring at her face. "Thanks Rose." I repeated once again, this time had more of a reaction from her as her emerald eyes glanced back up.

"If you wouldn't mind me asking, what is your name?" She asked.

"Bradley Will Simpson."