Betting on You

45

f o r t y f i v e

By Friday morning, the last day before winter break -- the third day after the awkward dinner at the Hemmings' house -- five boys had asked me out.

When the first boy had approached me at my locker the following day of the dinner, I had been speechless. Not because he was cute, or nice, or that I knew him at all. It was because I hadn't been asked out since I dated Stanely, and even then, it had been a long time. This boy had just completely come out of nowhere.

Later that same day, the second boy had approached me in the library to ask me out. I was just as shocked, even more, because this was a guy Steph had fooled around with once or twice when she wasn't taking turns with Luke or Jared. Jaime had been with me, and while she was excited about the prospect of me moving on, she too agreed with me that this was... bizarre.

Then on Thursday, a third boy had asked for my number right before school started, and the fourth guy did that same thing right after I had lunch. Both were members of the soccer team this time, which suddenly made me all the more skeptical. What was going on? Why had I suddenly garnered all of this male attention?

My only justification was Luke. He had said the night of the dinner that he was letting me go, and while I had no clue what that was supposed to entail, I could assume that he had lifted his "hands-off" law that he had threatened all the guys in our year with.

How did he do it? Did he host some sort of meeting? Text it to everyone? Tell a few people and just have them spread it around, like when he first made that stupid 'rule'?

Whatever he did, it was the least he could do for me anyway. At least now I knew that it wasn't me that had been undesirable this entire time. At least there was that, right?

So today, when the fifth guy had come around, of whom I didn't know nor had I ever seen before, I figured that this had to be some sort of trick. Did these guys all plan this? Did they all know they were asking me for my number? Did Luke tell them all to hit on me to make me think that he had changed his ways?

The bell to signal the end of fourth period rang just as I opened my locker, guy number five stalking off after I had just politely turned him down. In a couple of seconds, Jaime was next to me on my left, her fifth class being just down the hall. "Was that Sam? Did he just ask you out?" She looked over her shoulder at his fleeting figure before turning back to me. "That's like five guys now, right?"

"He said something," I nodded my head, agreeing with her. "I mean, he must've. Is this what he thinks I wanted? Male attention? Does he think this will fix everything?"

"At least the guys are cute," Jai shrugged, neither here nor there. "And hey, maybe one of them would be a great rebound if you're into that sort of thing."

I narrowed my eyes. "Jaime," I whined. "Not helping."

"Sorry," she laughed, shrugging her shoulders again. "I'm just trying to keep the mood light. I feel like this entire school has been in a perpetual state of sadness and since it's the final day before holidays, people have finally started lightening up."

"I guess you're right," I sighed, turning towards my locker and shrugging off my bag to switch out my books and grab my final paper. "Speaking of lighter news, is your family still planning to vacation for this next week?"

Jaime smiled at the thought of a tropical getaway. She and her parents always traveled when they could during the colder months to some island or resort, as her parents weren't keen on cold weather. "Yeah, I think we're going to visit some family in Florida this time around instead of more of a vacation-type of destination. My grandma had surgery recently and it'll be great to see her again."