Black Secrets & White Lies [On Hold]

Chapter 6 - Bets

I woke up screaming, as always, but thankfully it was light outside. My nightmares ended with the daylight...at least, the one's I dreamt about did. Sighing, I clambered out of bed, trying to still my shaking hands. It wasn't real. It didn't happen.

But it did happen.

I would have always happened.

But would it happen again? I shuddered and pulled on my uniform, grabbed my bag and sighed at the thought of the classes I was failing at. That I'd always fail at. It would be nice to get something right for once but...

I don't suppose it really mattered, not with my life.

*****

"Kristy," I smiled and waved.

"Hey," she said, coming over to me "have a nice time last night?"

I blinked for a moment, wondering what she meant, when it clicked into place. "Oh, at Liam's? We worked on the project, I still don't really know how we're going to do this thing." I rubbed my eyes, lack of sleep taking its toll on me once again.

"And...?" Said Kristy, grinning.

"What?"

"Is that all you did?"

"Yes," I said, then her tone of voice registered and I replied indignantly "what sort of person do you think I am?"

She shrugged "just checking, I wanted to be sure I'm not hanging around with the wrong type of girl and besides," she pulled out a packet of sweets from her pocket "Liam's not that type of guy anyway. Want one?"

Later that day in class, I sat next to a girl I hadn't spoken to before, she had medium length brown hair and hazel eyes, a charm bracelet on her wrist. "Hi, do you mind if I sit here?"

"No, not at all." Said the girl "I'm Lila, by the way."

"Rose," I said "I'm new, but you probably already knew that."

Lila nodded "I've heard talk about you, some of it you probably don't really want to know..."

"Go on, tell me," I said "I'd like to know what people think about me," I chuckled "I wonder if the rumours are more creative than in the last place I was."

"I haven't heard much, but some people think you're a good girl, all proper and stuff, then you have the other people who like to think you've been done for some crime or something." I laughed at that, typical reactions "some of the girls don't really like you, you know, the orange ones with black eyes." I laughed harder at that.

"I'm loving your descriptions, please, continue."

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you, you don't really want to get on their bad sides." Lila shook her head "and then, the guys...actually, you really don't want to know what they've been saying."

"No, go for it."

"Well, they've been making bets...and if not bets, they've been joking about it enough."

"Oh, you mean..." I trailed off.

"Yeah," said Lila "that kind of stuff."

"Looks like life here is going to be pretty interesting," I said, smiling grimly. So much for keeping a low profile, eh? "How do you know all this?" I said, intrigued.

"Well...I know people. I have contacts." She grinned.

"Oh?" I said, "this is getting interesting, do tell."

"I'm a bookie, I take bets on...well, whatever people want to bet on. I have friends, I have enemies but at the end of the day, I don't lie. People know that so they trust me. But that doesn't mean I'm cool or popular, it just means those people come to me and bet and I work out the odds. In fact, if I'm honest, I'm a nerd. Maths, one of my best subjects."