Place Your Bets

Chapter Three

last night, Colton's house 

The game had been going on for hours, Colton's fingers were starting to tense up, leaving him venerable for each and every attack his sister planted against him. The score had gone from being in Colton's favour to be greatly against the young man. Sighing and grabbing the scorecard, he gave his sister a knowing look and threw up his hands, "Okay! You win. You are officially this week's tic tac toe champion. Do you feel better about yourself?" 

The sinister smile coming from his little sister was a little unnerving, "I'm always the tic tac toe queen, you haven't beat me in several months. Something else on your mind, brother? Or maybe it's a someone else?" 

He hitched his breathe and stared at her, the words backing down his throat. She couldn't know about his crush, she went to the same school as him. This would end absolutely terribly, especially because he didn't need his sister getting in the way of his love life and screw it up like she normally did.. "It's really nothing, Scarlett. I've got this stupid project in computer class and I'm trying to find out how to get it up and running. We can win a year of tuition, which I think would make mom and dad super excited, seeing as they have two of us to pay for." 

Sighing, Scarlett grabbed the paper they had used and tossed it in the recycling bin, "Don't you have a partner for that assignment? Could it be because you're partnered up with someone and we both know you have this silly little rule about being friends with normal people?" 

That last comment hurt, especially because she knew the circumstances of his anti-social nature, it wasn't that he didn't want friends, he just hated the judgment that radiated off everyone, even if they weren't as blunt as to say something straight to his face. 

Getting up and walking to the kitchen, throwing the plastic cup he had been using for water in the sink, he decided he would go call David, see what was up and if he wanted to go out. He couldn't really handle his sister's judgmental attitude right now. 

"Colton, I'm sorry." He heard her voice drift over as he descended down the basement stairs, but he was not in the mood to listen to her. She knew he hated when she used that god damn word around him, it was almost as bad as when she got super mad and called him a fag. He was a normal human being who just happened to have some sort of deficiency. He didn't plan it this way and he was positive either did his parents, she out of all people should know this. 

Heading into his room, he slammed the door; just for an effect on her, he wanted her to think he was super pissed so she would let him cool off and leave him alone for a few hours. Walking into the room adjacent to his bedroom, he quickly opened a few windows and lit up cigarette. His parents had said they didn't want him smoking, but he really could have cared less, he was going to do whatever the hell he wanted to do. 

His phone started vibrating, indicating a call was coming in. The sound of a duck filled the room and he immediately knew it would be David, his best and probably only friend. They had met in the hospital when Colton had one of his tantrums and soon enough became friends. He was one of the only normal people that didn't judge him with the harshness of society, he looked at him like he was normal. 

Pressing the bright green answer button, he put the phone to his ear, "David! How have you been doing? How's college treating you?" David was two years older than Colton and as such, he left high school last year to go to college, which put a slight damper on their plans most nights. 

"Hey Colty, it's actually going really swell. Have some really good classes with some really good teachers. How is your school doing? Have you talked to this Taylor kid yet?" He couldn't even have a conversation before asking about the bet, it was like it was his life or something. 

Dramatically sighing, Colton gave an annoyed response, "Really? That's all I get after a week of talking? You ask me about this stupid bet we have going on?" 

"Dude, calm down. I just wanted to see your process. We both know he's had a thing for you since you started school together, you just need to do something simple. It won't even take much time out of your day." 

"I personally think it's super mean, David. How could we even go through with this? This was a stupid bet and I feel like I should just quit while I'm ahead. I don't even think I could hurt someone like that." Taking a deep drag of the cigarette, Colton found himself standing up and pacing the cold floor, trying to find out what he heart wanted him to do, or at the very least he wished his brain would jump into the crossfire and tell him he was doing something wrong. But it was silent in his head, his brain did not want to speak out of turn. 

"Colton... Colton, put the phone back up to your god damn ear. You agreed to this, remember? You can't back down now, there's several hundred dollars on the line. Plus, you're his partner for this project, so you'll have lots of time to finish him off." 

Colton held his stomach, the insides turning, he didn't think he could really do this to this Taylor boy, he did think he was super cute. 

"Your job is simple, all you have to do is make him think you love him, date him and then break his heart. It is that simple."