The Bet

His scowl turns into a smile. "It's not that hard," he says and then he explains what he wants me to do.

I'll court someone (of his choosing) for a month and then I'll ask her to be my girlfriend; she should say yes. At that point, I'll tell her it's just a game, that I lost on a bet and that's why I've been acting like I love her.

This time, our bet is a secret. We can't tell anyone about it.

Andre is worse than I thought. I can't believe he wants me to hurt a girl. Even though I'm bad, I never dreamed of hurting a girl.

Well, that's karma, a part of me says.

But I have no choice.

When you lost, you don't have a free will. A deal's a deal.

Andre starts to raise his forefinger. So this is it then, he's just going to pin point someone? I groan.

Andre looks around for a minute, considering whom to choose. "Her," he says after a moment, pointing to a girl walking out of the Math building.

I squint my eyes in the sunlight to see her clearly. All I can make out is that she has honey blonde hair that falls past her mid back. I can't see her face because she's looking at the ground while she's walking. I give Andre a questioning look.

He nods to the direction of the girl. She's walking towards us, and because she's looking down, she bumps into a guy. I laugh at her clumsiness.

The guy steadies her, and then she looks up. "Sorry," she says.

When the guy walks away, the girl turns to us. For a fraction of a second, her pale blue eyes stare to my dark ones. She looks away quickly, but not before I see her face flushes in embarrassment.

Confused, I turn to Andre. "I don't know her," I tell him. I look around again for the girl but she's nowhere to be seen. "Is she even a student here?"

Andre looks at me oddly. "Of course she is!" He shakes his head, muttering unintelligible words at me.

"Is she a new student?" I ask. Maybe she is a transferee. I don't recognize her.

He snorts. "She's in one of your classes, stupid."

"I'm not stupid," I say, scowling at him.

"This is your fourth year in this school, and you don't know her?" He says mockingly.

He playfully punches me on the shoulder. Even though it doesn't hurt, I glare at him. Really, I don't know the girl.

Of course you don't know her, a voice in my head says, You hardly notice anyone not worth your attention.

Awesome, now I'm talking to myself. I think I'm crazy.

"Who is she then?" I snap.

"Her name is Sophia Taylor," he answers. "I think it's a good thing I picked her. You can get to know each other," he says teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows.

I want to punch him, but I control myself. I have to act cool. Besides, it's only a month. I bet it's only going to end up being a week because she'll fall for me that quickly. Courting a girl I didn't even know existing, until now.

I wonder what her reaction will be when I ask her out. Maybe she'll jump for joy. Who wouldn't, with my looks? A grin appears on my face. I 'm too confident. I hope I won't fail.

"You'll start tomorrow," Andre says, bringing me back to reality. "You have a month."

I see Sophia in the corner of my eye, walking towards the Main Building. She catches my eye and her feet trip on a rock.

I choke a laugh, causing Andre to shake his head.

"This is going to be fun," I say smugly.