Chasing the New Girl - (Complete)

Chapter 12 - Blaze Disappears

***** The Next Day *****

Austin picked Jolie up the next morning for school and there was an awkward tension between them as they drove down the road in silence.

"So is this how it's gonna be between us now? You giving me the silent treatment?" she asked.

He gripped the top of the steering wheel with one hand, looking forward.

"I'm not giving you the silent treatment," he said with an exhale. "I just don't know what to say."

"How about, Hey Jolie! How are you today? The weather's nice isn't it? Are you excited about school today? That's how conversations work," she said sarcastically with a laugh.

That made a smile slowly form on his face. "You're such a dumbass, you know that?" he asked, looking over at her out of the corner of his eye.

"A dumbass?" she laughed. "I bet I'm smarter than you," she said, punching his shoulder.

"Bet?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know how competitive I am. I can't pass up the chance to beat somebody at something. So you want to make a bet on it?"

"Sure," she nodded with a smile. "I say, whoever finishes the year as the valedictorian of the senior class wins and the loser has to make a social media post admitting to everyone that the winner is smarter. Deal?"

"Deal," he said with a confident smirk, putting out his hand and she shook it. She couldn't wait to beat him and wipe that smug smirk off his face.

***** A couple hours later *****

Jolie was walking down the hallway on her way to class when Bailey rushed up to her.

"Have you heard?" she asked breathlessly.

"Heard what?"

"Whoever's running the Chasing the New Girl website just made an announcement. They're going to match dollar for dollar every bet they get on the site and make a special pool of money to give to the guy that wins. So if the site took in twenty thousand in bets, the winner would get forty grand!"

Jolie was stunned. "Are you serious?" She suddenly felt like she was going to be sick.

Bailey nodded and said, "Dead serious. The pool of money is already over three thousand dollars. A lot of new bids came in yesterday after people saw you talking to Blaze on the bleachers and then sitting with him at the diner. But then you sat with Austin and left with him so people started betting on him instead. Chaz's bets pretty much stopped completely after people saw you slap him across the face after the game," she laughed.

"How do you know all this?" Jolie asked with scrunched eyebrows.

"It's all on the website's chat page. People are pretty much keeping a running tally on there of everything you do. It's crazy. You want to see?" she asked, holding out her phone.

Jolie shook her head. "No, I'm not even gonna look at that disgusting website. It was already bad enough the way it was, but now every guy in school will be trying to get with me just because they want to win the pool of money. This is insane."

"Really insane," Bailey said shaking her head.

***** One Hour Later *****

Jolie was sitting next to Austin at lunch like she always did when Blaze walked up and leaned onto the edge of their table on his elbows, crouching down.

"How's the happy couple?" he asked sarcastically, getting a glare from Austin as he grabbed one of the fries off of his tray and ate it with a smile.

"We were better before you showed up. What do you want Blaze?" Austin growled.