Betting on You

10

t e n

"And you said hot guys will be there?"

I surpressed an eyeroll. Harmony had asked me that question eight times now in the past two hours, and I pursed my lips together, watching her curl her hair.

"It's a pep rally. Anyone or everyone is going to be there. Whether they're hot or not is not something I can control."

"Hm," she hummed absentmindedly, grabbing locks of her hair at a leisurly pace. She had been here for almost a week and was starting school this monday. To get her in the mood, and to have her meet a couple people before classes, mum pitched the idea to Aunt Marge to have me bring her to friday's pep rally. It was the first time she was going to be out, and she just seemed too boy crazed to care that we were already running late, "How's Luke?"

I felt my insides tense at the mention of his name, feeling my lips tingle and my body shivering as if he were touching me. On the outside, I shrugged my shoulders and went over to my wardrobe, busying myself, "I don't know."

Harmony was well aware of who Luke was; The three of us had been a trio here and there throughout our childhood. Yet with Harmony moving away and then Luke suddenly hating on me out of nowhere... I never really caught her up on the current status between Hemmings and I.

"Hm," she hummed, still curling her hair, "Does he have a girlfriend?"

My stomach clenched again and I cleared my throat, "Not that I know of."

This time, she paused in her movements, and out of my peripheral I noticed her trying to catch my eye in the reflection of my vanity's mirror, "Are you two...?"

My face grew hot with an undeniable blush, "No! Absolutly not."

She hummed again, resuming to curl her hair, "Is he ugly?"

Anything but, I refrained from saying, because it was hard to deny. Luke, though I hated him, was not unattractive. He was far from it, which made me want to throw up at the self-admittance.

"We don't really get along much anymore." I shrugged again, pretending to rethink the outfit I was wearing. Middleton Oak's school colors consisted of blue, gold and black, our mascot an eagle or something of the sort. At the moment, I had on blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt, but the black and gold mini wrap dress I had randomly pulled out suddenly seemed more appealing.

"Alright then," I looked back over my shoulder at Harm as she unplugged and raveled the curling iron, standing from my vanity. She feathered out her brown hair before adjusting the hem of her tube top, then pulling down her too short high waisted shorts, "Are you ready to go or have you finally re-thought your outfit?"

Re-thought my outfit? No, I hadn't, but by the way she was looking my outfit up and down, sliding her gaze over to the dress in my hands, I could see that she prefered the dress.

"I guess I'll be a minute." I frowned, pausing a moment before walking into my bathroom, shutting the door. This was definetly a different Harmony from when we were kids, and it was getting harder to wrap my head around it. My once sweet and bubbly cousin was now a much older, darker, more judgemental version of her former self. And I didn't like her very much.

I was quick to change into the mini-dress, suddenly uncomfortable with how it fit me. The dress had short sleeves and I was thankful that after the cinch at the waist, it flared. But the length seemed like I was trying to hard to draw attention.