The Challenge

"You just got told."

Love. That word alone can make me gag. The whole idea of it is just ridiculous. There are seven billion people on the planet, what makes you think that you would be so lucky to find the one person that you'll be with forever? I find it pathetic when people tell me they're waiting for the one. News flash: "the one" is not coming. Which is why, me being the kind-hearted person I am, teach all those poor naive losers, who are waiting for the one, a lesson. It's my job to give them a wake up call, and I get to make twenty bucks off of it.

I basically get some girl chosen by my best friends and make her fall madly in love with me in seven days or less. If you've seen me you'd know that it wasn't hard. After she falls for me I give her a dose of reality and dump her. Sometimes I take pity on the girl and dump her in private, but most of the time it's done in public infront of the entire student body. It was fun watching them get humiliated infront of everyone. That was the game and I was the king. There has not been one girl that I couldn't break down.

I tap the edges of my coffee mug imaptiently as I wait for the naive loser infront of me to stop crying. I clear my throat as a final attempt to get her attention. She looks up at me with her puffy eyes. "So are we done here...cause I have some friends I need to meet up with?" I ask as I roll my eyes.

"Y-You broke up with me?" she stuttered out in between tears. "B-But I-I just told you I loved you!" she cried while wiping the snot off her nose. I watched as it fell into her long forgotten coffee cup.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust, suddenly not feeling so thirsty, I pushed my mug away from me. "We've only been dating for four days Brenda-"

"M-My name is B-Brooke!" she exclaimed before bursting out into a new batch of tears.

I sighed in defeat, there was no way I was going to get a word in with this bawling baby infront of me. I placed a twenty dollar bill on the table and walked out of the coffee shop, leaving her at the booth because I, Dustin Cooper, do not do crying chicks.

I pushed my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket as I stepped out into the crisp Miami air. The hot wind blew the few strands of hair that fell infront of my face, I flipped my hair to the side which caused a couple girls passing by to giggle and swoon over me. I sent them a wink and watched as they melted from the gesture.

"Hey Dustin!'" a voice shouted from behind me. I turned around to be greeted by Mike and Brad, my best friends. I smiled and collided my hands with theirs as I high-fived each of them. "Did you do it?" Brad asked.

I smirked and motioned to the crying girl sitting alone in a booth. "Hand over the money," I said putting my hand towards his.

He groaned as he reached into his pocket to pull out the twenty dollar bill. "Man, you're the reason I'm going to be broke someday," he sighed as he placed the bill reluctantly in my hand. "How did you do it? This one took you like four days!" Brad complained.

I shrugged and popped my collar. "It's a gift. Besides your targets keep getting easier, try giving me a challenge sometime," I said with my signature smirk.

"Don't worry I will."

"I'm tired of this stupid game. Can we please just go get some food, my pet turtle is waiting for me at home," Mike groaned.

I chuckled at how clueless and inoccent Mike always was. "Yeah, I'm in the mood for some burgers!" I exclaimed already knowing the perfect place to go. I turned around and abrubtly came to a halt when a girl came flying into my chest. Her books that were previously in her hands fell to the ground in all directions. She squeaked and flew to the pavement, desperately trying to gather her stuff before they got carried away by the heavy winds.

"Watch where you're going!" I barked down to her. Her flailing hands came to an immediate stop as she slowly turned her head to look up at me. A scowl was plastered on her face and the bags under her eyes made her face seem even more dark and angry. But she still looked more beautiful than many of the girls I've been with. Did I just say beautiful? I meant hot! Yeah, girls aren't beautiful, they are only hot and sexy. If I wasn't so peeved off I would have hit on her already.

"Maybe if you weren't standing in the middle of the sidewalk I wouldn't have ran into you," she snapped back at me.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little taken aback. No one had even yelled at me before, let alone a girl. I glanced down at her textbook which had the words Collins High School printed on the cover. How is it possible that this girl goes to my school and she's yelling at me? Everyone in the school loves me, even the teachers! "Do you know who you're talking to?" I grunted.

"No," she stated plainly. She was now fully on her feet and all her books were tucked safely in her hands.

"Really?" I asked not believing what she was saying. "You go to my school and you've never heard of me?"

She scoffed, "First, it's not your school. Second, I have definitely heard of you, but I don't know you."

I rolled my eyes, "What's the difference?"

"If I have to tell you that, than you're exactly like your reputation," she said before pushing past me and walking away.

"And what's my reputation?" I called after her, although the answer was pretty clear.

She turned around with a smirk on her face. "Most people say that you are a charming, popular, badboy who is dangerously confident and super hot," she said sarcastically. A sly smiled graced my face as I got the answer I intended. "But," she continued speaking. "I think you're a grotesque, fake, ego maniac who needs to check himself before he realizes that looks won't get you anywhere in life," she finished before turning on her heel and strutting away from me.

The smirk that was on my face was wiped clean off as I tried to understand what just happened. My mouth opened and closed like a fish as I recklessly gathered my words. I turned to Mike and Brad who stood by the side watching the whole scene unravel. Brad was failing at holding back his snickers and Mike hid his smile behind his hand. "What just happened?" I shouted.

"You just got told," Mike grinned as he patted me on the back. Brad was doubled over in laughter after Mike's statement.

"Who is she? And why does she think it's okay to talk to me like that?" I scowled at the spot where she previously stood.

"I think her name is Lillyan Dawson. Wasn't she the girl that disappeared for a year because she got knocked up and she didn't want to walk around school with a bun in the oven?" Mike asked Brad who had turned his laughter to minor giggles.

"I thought she went away for a year because she was in rehab," Brad replied.

"How come I've never heard of her?" I asked looking back and forth between them.

"You did. She was the girl that always had the brown, dirty book with her. You probably don't recognize her cause she dropped off the face of the earth for sophmore year," Brad joked.

"Where did she go anyway?" I questioned.

Mike shrugged, "No one really knows. Everone has their own idea of what happened but there is way too many to know what the truth is." I frowned and turned my head to see if I could catch a glimpse of her retreating figure somewhere down the street. Something about her seemed intresting and almost welcoming. She was like an annoying, mysterious, jigsaw puzzle, you really don't want to go through the trouble of putting it together, but at the same time you can't stand the thought of never knowing the whole picture.

"But it looks like you met the only girl who is immune to your charisma," Mike teased.

Brad straightened up and his eyes widened in joy. It was like a light went off in his head. He looked and me with a devious smile on his face. I frowned because nothing good ever happens when Brad gets an idea. The last time he had that look on his face, all three of us ended up in Texas with no memory of the night before. It's safe to say that I don't trust Brad when his brain sparks an idea. "Dustin, do you still want to be challenged?" he smirked at me.

I slowly and reluctantly nodded my head, slightly afraid of where this conversation was headed. Brad placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sinister look.

"Well it looks like you just met your challenge."