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

"The ultimate breakup cure!"

"The ultimate breakup cure!"

I sit on the floor quietly. Again. It's been how many days now since I broke up with Corey? Five? Six?

I feel awful. Corey didn't deserve this, neither did Nick. It was in freshman year, a couple months after Trina died.

We had never been especially close. I mean, come on. What's love at the age of 15? We just kind of drifted apart. Like me and Corey.

I really shouldn't be wallowing in the past, right? I should be beyond all this. But it's vaguely comforting to be acting like my old self. Clarice barges into my room, tears streaming down her face. She grabs me by the hand and drags me out of the room.

"We're going somewhere!" She yells to Trevor as we leave. Trust him not to notice that she's crying. Psh. Men.

"What happened?" I ask as I slip into the driver's seat of her car. She hands me her keys and wipes her eyes. Thank God for waterproof mascara.

"Haley!" She says angrily. "Just because you broke up with someone doesn't mean you can just wallow in misery forever. You need to get out of this rut! Breaking up is not the end of the world!" She sniffs again and hands me a printed out set of directions to somewhere. I glance at them briefly then begin pulling out of the driveway.

"I'm so sorry Clarice. What happened?" She shakes her head, a movement I catch from the corner of my eye as I start driving down the street.

"Nothing." Yeah, right. Knowing Clarice, she wants to talk but won't admit it. I don't say anything, waiting. "Matt and I broke up." I stop the car.

"Oh, Clarice, I'm so sorry." She waves for me to continue driving.

"It sucks, doesn't it? Guys can be such jerks! He didn't even give me a real reason. It just 'wasn't working' Psh. Even the janitor could've seen that!"

We sit in silence for a while, Clarice going through her box of tissues as I drive. Eventually, I pull into the parking garage and we start walking through LA proper.

"So what are we doing?" I ask Clarice. Her eyes are puffy and red, but she looks better.

"The ultimate break-up cure!" She yells, pumping a fist through the air. A couple people turn to look at us sympathetically.

"And that entails...?"

First off, the mall. We hit up all the makeup counters, giving each other make-overs. Clarice has come prepared. She pulls a camera out of her purse and starts snapping photos. Wacky photos.

It's been a long time since I've stuck my tongue out and made faces at a camera. Then we head to the spa, stopping, of course, for a brief swing by the photo booth thing. I fold the strip carefully and put it in my back pocket. I used to have so many of these. Trina and I made a whole scrapbook of them.

A long spa treatment later we head to the old karaoke place, only to be kicked out when all the drinkers come in.

"Movies!" Clarice yells, dragging me to the theater. I kind want to go back home, but I let her take me.

We enter the movie theater, buying one ticket with the intention of watching as many movies as possible.

"We are badass!" Clarice cheers. I don't have the heart to tell her that we're actually pretty pathetic.

A God-awful tragedy later (at Clarice's insistence), we stumble out of the dark theater room, Clarice sniffing into a tissue.

"That was so sad," Clarice sobs. I make a mental note to avoid movies with titles anything close to 'Whispers in the Snow' and posters involving a blind violinist and a lonely couple in a blizzard. Not fun.