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

"Haley, it's Clarice."

"You're going to have to talk to him." Clarice sniffs and nods, steeling herself. But when she hears Matt's deep, "Hey, babe, what's up?" she freezes.

"Clarice? Hey, are you okay, babe?" I prod her, but she still can't speak. "Should I come over?" Finally, I speak.

"Is that you, Matt?"

"Hey, Haley. Is Clarice okay?" I look at her, but she shakes her head vigorously at me. She doesn't want him to know.

"Uh, yeah. She just went to bathroom and I realized I've been sitting on her phone. I must've called you on accident." I can tell by Matt's voice that he knows something's up, but he drops it. We say our goodbyes and hang up. I turn to Clarice. It's unfortunately adorable that Matt knows something's wrong without even talking to her.

"What's wrong?" She buries her head in her hands.

"I want to hear him say it's a mistake. But what if it isn't?" I pull her into a hug again. We spend the next hour prank calling people we know. Like Janice. And Trevor. And Corey. No one picks up, but it definitely gets Clarice's mind off Matt.

"So how's the love triangle?" I look at her like she's insane.

"The what?" She carves a triangle into the carpet with her finger.

"You, Trevor, and Corey. Those guys are pretty obviously fighting for you." I sigh.

"I know. But I don't think I like either of them." Clarice looks at me like I'm insane. "I find them attractive," I say quickly, knowing that's her argument. "But..." I trail off.

"You can't really like someone, can you?" I look at her in surprise, unable to speak.

“You know?” How would she be able to tell?

She shrugs. “I can kind of…tell. It sounds creepy, but I’ve been worried about you for a long time. Especially after,” she trails off uncertainly, not wanting to mention it, “you know, the funeral. So I’ve just been…keeping an eye on you, kind of?”

I just stare at her. It’s more flattering than disturbing that she’s been keeping an eye on me all these years. Flattering and a little…comforting? In an odd way. And the tiniest bit scary. As the silence grows, Clarice looks at the floor, obviously afraid that I’ll take her concern the wrong way. I want to explain that it’s not a bad thing and that it doesn’t bother me, but when I open my mouth, something else comes out.

"I think I might start liking Trevor." Her face splits into an enormous smile.

"It's about time! He's been crushing on you forever!" I want to laugh at her, but I'm not stupid. I know she's at least partially correct. But when did this become about me instead of about her? She looks so excited that I don't dare ask.

Then we start playing ghetto phone darts. We sit on the floor, a picture of Janice propped up on the sofa. We start throwing our ridiculously ghetto phones at it. You know the kind: the ones that are hip enough to be functional but cheap enough that they never break. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they bounce off and hit the floor. As mine rebounds off Janice's now-punctured nose, it starts buzzing. I don't feel like talking to anyone, so I wave at Clarice to pick it up. It's next to her foot anyway.

"Hello?" The other thing about ghetto phones? You can hear both sides of the friggen conversation from a mile away. A deep, sleepy voice rumbles through my ears.

"I got your sticky note. When are you coming home? Is Clarice okay?" I snag the phone as Clarice's mouth forms an O.

"That's Trevor!" she mouths. I nod my head. I know who the hell it is. I use my thumb to press the volume down button on the side of the phone. No need for Clarice to hear more than necessary.

"I was thinking of either spending the night or bringing Clarice over to my house for the night. She's fine, it's just girl stuff." As expected, he doesn't press further.

"Okay. If you want to bring her home that's fine too." I like how he refers to his house as our home. He's kind of right, though.

"Sounds good. I'll see what she wants to do. If I don't come home tonight, I'll swing by tomorrow and pick you up for school. I'll be by early though, I need to get changed." When I hang up, Clarice is sitting in front of me, hands on her hips.

"Why does Trevor Choi want you to 'come home'?"

_________________________________________________________________________________

Oh, snap! The drama is slowly building up! lol. Maybe not. Anyway, so Clarice seems to a be a kindred spirit of sorts? Yes or no? And Haley thinks she might start liking Trevor. Does this come as a suprise to anyone? We got quite a few votes for Trevor over the past few days, one note about Corey being a little creepy, and someone afraid that Corey was simply playing around to annoy Trevor. But there was one person who thought that Trevor and Haley should just be besties. We'll seeeeee! haha.

Awkward Teacher Quote #20
"If I were a farmer, all the food I produced, I would pee on it. That's how I'd water my crops."

(I understand that my numbering is off, lol. I just like going with each chapter)

Remeber to answer some of the questions in the first paragraph in your comments! Oh, and vote, please! I'd love for us to move back up with super speed :)