Betting on You

21

t w e n t y o n e

"Hey, Mads."

I looked up from my notebook just as the bell to the beginning of class begun, giving a tentative smile to Jared as he took his seat next to me.

To my relief, Ms Marie entered shortly after and there was no time for Jared to try and strike up a conversation with me. And I didn't want him to either, seeing as I hadn't heard from him since seeing him lock lips with Harmony.

Throughout the lesson I made sure to keep my focus on Ms Marie, careful not to let my eyes stray and find Jared's. I could see him in my peripheral glance at me every so often, wanting to make eye contact and communicate something but I wanted to avoid it. So what if he kissed Harmony? All he was to me was a cute soccer player that I had a silly crush on. Just because we talked and flirted here and there didn't mean I had dibs on him. According to Steph, Jared was her's, and my cousin having her hands all over him didn't help.

The only thing that kept my mood in ideal spirits was thinking back to the past weekend and my time spent with a certain blonde neighbour of mine. We spent Saturday watching movies in my room a couple hours after we had parted ways. And then we had done the same thing in his room on Sunday, ordering in while his parents went out for a while. It was fun, and most of all made me forget about Jared, Harmony and Steph.

But now it was Monday and I was hit with a splash of reality during my first period history class. Which was?

Jared and Harmony had done alot more than make out at the party and I was somehow feeling conflicted. I was mad at Harmony because she knew I had crush on him, and there was a small part of me that didn't think she would stoop so low to hurt me. Clearly I was wrong.

Whatever. The item at the top of my agenda clearly wasn't going to be talking to Harmony about her destructive personality. The first item on my list was going to be figuring out why the f*ck she was such a b*tch to me. It was time to sort out my history.

But I didn't exactly have a clue how to do that.

Luke would never tell me anything so I would just have to try prying it out of Harmony myself, as well as try my best to dissect where exactly it went so wrong between the three of us. In the meantime, I would have to avoid talking to Jared.

When the bell rung and class was over, I packed my things quickly and shoved them in my bag as I stood from my seat. I was attempting to flee the classroom as fast as I possibly could but when I felt a hand wrap around my wrist just as I entered the hallway, I refrained from outwardly cringing.

"Mads, hey."

I turned at the owner of the voice and hand, plastering a tight-lipped smile on my face, "Hey, Jared."

"Hey," he repeated, a breath leaving his lips as he returned his smile, "Hey."

This was beyond awkward.

I glanced around the hall at the students rushing to get to their next classes or heading to the cafeteria because they instead had spares or lunches. I longed to have slipped in with the rest of them but when Jared cleared his throat, my eyes met his again.

"I was just wondering if we're still on for fourth block?"

Right. Tutoring.