The Bet

Chapter 1 - What Just Happened?

                They took a table close to the cash register as a loud roar of laughter sounded from their herd. Amy couldn’t help but notice that they all seemed to be dating someone within that group except for two of the guys who she knew wanted to “play the field”, so to speak. Popular people date other popular people.

As the thought popped into her mind, Chris, the quarterback of the football team, stood up and walked over to the cash register smugly.

                Amy turned and blinked, biting her lip. So maybe she was a bit nervous to talk to him. He was one of the hottest guys in school and an athlete too. Almost every girl at her school – and she knew this for a fact – had, at one point, fallen for those smouldering brown eyes and unbelievable tan. Not that he would ever notice her, but it did seem fair to dream about it.

                “Hello,” she started softly, the breath leaking from her lungs quicker than normal. She sighed with agitation as she tried to refill on air, “What can I get for you?”

                Chris leaned forward, across the counter and looked into her eyes. Amy couldn’t help but back up a little. It wasn’t that he’d completely blown her away and now she needed to catch her balance like he’d probably thought though. It was just that being this close to him at all didn’t seem normal.

                “Kiss me?” he asked, pressing his lips together in anticipation.

                There was a low giggle from his group as they stared at Amy and Chris. Julie, one of the cheerleaders, slapped her boyfriend on the arm and let her scorning gaze circle the table as she turned her attention back to her food. For some reason, Amy had always found her the nicest in that clique. Even in math, the only class that they both shared, Julie would be happy to talk to her and ask her for help when quadratics became complicated.

                Amy shook her head and cleared her thoughts. “Excuse me?” she retorted, crossing her arms pathetically and taking another step backwards. Amy couldn’t believe her ears. He hadn’t just asked to kiss her; had he?

                “Would you please kiss me?” he asked again, opening his eyes, obviously irritated. Amy looked at him for a moment and then shook her head.

                Sure, he was good looking but why should she kiss him for no reason? She thought as she gave him an incredulous smile that she would not have given to any of her other customers. Amy felt her heart beating loudly. It just didn’t seem real and that made her nervous. She couldn’t figure this out and she absolutely hated that. She hated not being able to understand a situation.

“Look, I made a bet with James that I could get every single girl in our grade to kiss me and you are the last one left,” he whined, furrowing his brows as his messy brown hair shook smoothly.

                “I’m still not going to kiss you,” Amy said again, looking to the side as she tried to distract herself. She dimly wondered if Liv had kissed him, although she was sure she had. Even with her new boyfriend, she’d always had a secret crush on Chris which wasn’t truly surprising.

His soft lips frowned back at her and the emotion seemed to echo through his eyes as he curled into a puppy-dog face. It wasn’t a fair advantage considering Amy almost always gave into it.

                As soon as it had come, it was gone again though and Amy was strangely reassured. She wasn’t entirely sure that she wouldn’t have given in eventually if he’d kept that up. Chris leaned back from the counter and smiled coolly at her, his audience long forgotten, “I bet you that by the end of the year, you will kiss me,” he challenged. The corners of Amy’s mouth immediately curved up. She wasn’t one to gamble... unless she was sure that she would win.

                “And what if I don’t?” she asked in return, letting the idea that a line was forming behind Chris ooze from her mind like water from a faucet.

                “Then I will leave you alone,” he said, his hands raised in the air in front of him – a sign of honestly - as he started again, “But if you do,” he added, his pose parroting Amy’s confident stance, “You have to tell the whole school that you have the biggest crush on me.” Chris laughed, the chuckles bellowing in his chest, and took out his hand to shake.

                “Deal. But I have to kiss you though, not the other way around,” she said, taking his hand and dropping it so that he could go back to his seat.

                Chris disappeared back to his friends again, only looking at her once as the next customer shuffled up to the front. Amy sighed in amazement and started anew, hoping for God’s Sake that the person in line wouldn’t ask for the same thing as the last. She didn’t think that she’d be able to handle another serving of drama for the day –or for the week.

                “Hi,” she said, “What can I get for you today?”