Popped

by Elizabeth Stevens

  For some reason, that made me both happy and panicked. “There’s something different about you, too.”

  He smiled. “You can trust me,” he encouraged, almost like he knew I was considering rethinking the trust I’d placed in him.

  I nodded. “I trust you.”

  He kissed me hard and before the moment had a chance to somehow become even more serious, I pulled away and laughed.

  “Okay. But now I really need to go!”

  Chapter 19: Bash

  Paige was like no other girl I’d ever met.

  It was no secret I was a bit of a dick. I was known to get all hot and bothered about a girl and then, as soon as I’d fucked her, I was over it.

  Princess Paige was nothing like that.

  I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the weekend and all I wanted was more of her.

  All week, I was finding excuses to touch her, to kiss her, to talk to her. I didn’t give a shit what we looked like to people. The whole school could think we were legit dating and I wouldn’t have cared at that point.

  The weirdest part was that I hadn’t told the boys that I’d won the bet, and I had no plans to tell them either. Not yet. I couldn’t put my finger on why that was and, to be honest, I wasn’t really into working it out. I was just happy in the knowledge Paige had been mine and I wanted to keep it that way.

  As I sat through my first free after Lunch on Wednesday with Rufio, I nodded to Mia across the room. She nodded back with a slight smile on her face.

  “Does it feel like she’s keeping an eye on you?” Rufio asked.

  I grinned, feeling like a million bucks. “Nah. I reckon she’s sweet on you.”

  Rufio looked up. “You think? I thought she was kinda with Eddie Dowell?”

  I laughed as I went back to my work. “Mia’s about as with anyone as I am.”

  “You and Paige have been pretty cosy this week.”

  “Nothing’s changed.” I managed to deliver the line smoothly and I didn’t think he’d noticed my sudden spike in heart rate.

  “I dunno. There’s a lot more giggling going on between you. I’ve noticed more smiles. The two of you got some secret or something?” he asked.

  I looked at him from the corner of my eye. “What secret would we possibly have?”

  He shrugged wildly. “Dunno. Maybe she found out you have teddy bear boxers and you swore her to secrecy?”

  I smiled. “I don’t have teddy bear boxers.”

  “I do,” he said proudly. “I love ‘em.”

  I snorted. “‘Course you do.” I paused for a moment. “Where’d you get ‘em?”

  Rufio looked at me. “Why? You want some?”

  I shrugged completely unbelievably. “No.”

  Now he snorted. “Got ‘em online. I’ll send you the link.” He grabbed up his phone and it wasn’t long before mine buzzed with a new notification from the group chat.

  “Jendo’ll be mighty confused.”

  Both our phones buzzed and we looked at them.

  “Here you go,” Rufio laughed.

  Jendo

  Why the fuck am I getting notifications for teddy bear boxers?

  There was a pause.

  Jendo:

  You know I’m a boxer-brief guy.

  Bash:

  Of course. Our bad. God forbid your balls had some freedom.

  Rufio:

  I got them in boxer-briefs.

  Jendo:

  Speaking of free balls, are yours still blue as fuck, mate?

  Jendo:

  Oh. I’m getting some!

  Rufio:

  Unlike Bash

  I kicked Rufio under the table as I laughed.

  Bash:

  Shut up, fuckers. I’ve still got time.

  Barely. The formal was in three days.

  I wasn’t sure what I needed time for, but I was desperate for more of it.

  We heard no more from Jendo so assumed he must have got in trouble for having his phone out. Which was probably good. I had the sudden urge to ask him about Paige – since they both had English Lit together – but I managed to refrain with the expectation he couldn’t respond anyway.

  “I’m having trouble with this hair,” Rufio grumbled and I swung my chair around to look at his computer.

  “What do you mean?”

  He pointed at the screen and showed me. “See, it’s glitching out there.”

  “Well, does it need to be waving about?”

  “His writer-ship’s directions were ‘flowing in the wind’. And it’s gotta do it regally.”

  I sighed. “Welp, this is why I don’t do the animation shit.”

  “You’re fucking unhelpful.”

  I nodded. “I am. Very unhelpful.”

  He threw a pencil at me and I grinned. “So, have we rethought the formal?” he asked.

  I was very confused about the sudden shift in conversation. “What?”

  He shrugged a little too nonchalantly for my liking. “Well, I know we didn’t plan on going. But I didn’t know if things had changed at all?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Well.” Another shrug. “Whether you win the bet or not, you and Paige seem–”

  “If you say cosy again, I’mma smack you with something.”

  He chuckled. “What’s so wrong with cosy?”

  “Cosy? Cosy is… Cosy’s like… Well, it’s–”

  “Nice,” Rufio said simply and I had the sudden urge for it to all be that simple.

  “Nice?”

  Rufio nodded. “Cosy’s nice. I really can’t see why you wouldn’t like cosy. If I could find a girl I could be cosy with, I’m not sure I’d give a fuck about bets to be honest.”

  His eyes completely, unashamedly roamed over to Mia and I followed them.

  “Well, what’s the fucking use in telling me? Go and tell her you want to be…cosy with her.”

  Rufio sighed and looked at me. For a guy who was always so laid-back and happy, he was channelling serious Jendo vibes. “Trust you to find your cosy and not care. You know, not everyone gets a cosy, Bash.”

  “Not everyone wants a…cosy, Roof.”

  “Don’t try to make me feel bad for wanting more, man.”

  I blinked. “I’m not. You want a…cosy,” Damn the word just felt wrong in my mouth, “then fucking go find it. But I’m not interested.”

  “You’re gonna lose her, man,” Rufio said sagely and I fucking stopped and listened.

  “What did you say?”

  “You’re gonna lose her. You keep up this bulletproof façade bullshit, you’re gonna lose her. You’ve made it what? Two dates further in half the time as any other guy she’s ever dated–”

  “We’re not dating,” I reminded him, but he ignored the interruption.

  “–and you’re totally whatever about it. I wanna believe you’re not a heartless arsehole, but the evidence is stacking against you, man. I mean, I love you but you’re a bit shit.”

  He went on with his work and I had a small – but contained – freak out.

  It took me way longer than it should have to work out what the freak out was about.

  I didn’t want to lose Paige.

  Well, no. Okay. I knew that. But we were apparently putting all the cards on the table now and giving up all pretentions of pretence.

  In an ideal world, I was going to save face by telling the boys I’d won the bet and get to keep the girl. True, that did seem like I was asking a lot. But really, my pride wasn’t leaving me with a lot of other options.

  I had to find a way I could win the bet and keep Paige. But I had no idea how I was going to be able keep it from her forever. The honest thing to do would be to tell her. So, I just had to find a way to tell her where we could laugh about it, rather than having it blow up in my face.

  When she walked in at the change of lesson, I was no closer to figuring it out but I was e
ven more determined.

  “Hey, Roof,” she called with a smile and a wave as she went over to Mia

  As Rufio called back a warm, “Heya,” I felt like my stomach had plummeted out my arsehole and I had trouble getting my breath.

  It wasn’t just because Paige was fucking gorgeous and made me feel dizzy just by existing, but I was now totally freaking out; I knew I’d won the bet, but I’d gone and lost my heart and that was fucking terrifying.

  When Mia headed for class, Paige walked over to me.

  Rufio was collecting his laptop up and gave her another smile. “I’ll see you later, Paige.”

  She looked at him like they were great friends. For a moment, it felt weird, but there was actually a damned good reason why she was so popular; because she was just a really nice person. “See ya, Rufio. Oh,” She stopped him. “Jendo asked if you could grab his book out of his locker.”

  “Which book?” Rufio asked her and I asked, “You were talking to Jendo?”

  Paige threw me a smile that didn’t feel so innocent and I worried what they’d talked about and how embarrassed I should be. “His exercise book? I assume for now?”

  Rufio nodded. “Yep. ‘Course the shithead forgot it.”

  Paige looked at me as Rufio jogged to the lockers. “Jendo doesn’t write on his laptop?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Wanker thinks he’s Hemmingway and prefers handwriting.”

  “Quill and ink, I presume?”

  I snorted. “Not so much.”

  And somehow, just like that, all the tension I was feeling before was gone. As I realised it, I felt a flutter of agitation at the predicament I’d put myself in. But it was nowhere near as bad as it had been.

  I caught the front of her jumper and pulled her towards me. “Tell me more about talking to Jendo.”

  “Jealous?” she laughed as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

  I cocked my head to the side for a moment. “How sexy is jealousy?” I asked.

  “Jealousy is very sexy.”

  “In that case, I’m very jealous.”

  She giggled. “We were actually talking about his underwear.”

  “His…?”

  She nodded. “I hear you boys are all getting matching teddy bear boxers?” She wrinkled her nose and nodded as though she’d thought of something. “Sorry. No. You’re getting boxers and the others like boxer-briefs.”

  “Jesus,” I breathed. “Give me fucking strength,” I huffed with a smile.

  “We had a very detailed discussion about the pros and cons of…freedom.”

  “Jendo has some very… passionate feelings about the amount of freedom owed and required for testicles.”

  “I heard,” she laughed.

  “Any thoughts?”

  “Me?”

  I nodded. “You.”

  “No.” Her smile was everything. “No. You boys can argue the intricacies of testicle freedom all by yourselves.”

  “Oh, I’m so pleased.”

  “Oh, you’re so pleased,” she mocked as she reached up to kiss me with a smile.

  Now was definitely not the time to broach the subject of the bet with her. I couldn’t bring myself to risk wiping that smile off her face. And I knew I wasn’t going to be able to fix the solution to the problem by myself.

  Luckily, I didn’t have to broach it with the boys, because Rufio broached it for me on the way to the car after school.

  “Oi, Jendo?”

  “Rufio?”

  “Casanova over here’s been out with our fair princess how many times now?”

  “Seven times, Roof.”

  “And in how long?”

  “Less than four weeks.”

  “What’s her usual dating time?”

  “Five dates or two months, whatever comes first.”

  “Jesus,” I muttered. “You wankers practise this?”

  “Maybe,” Jendo said, throwing me a humourless smile.

  “And does she look like she’s going to dump him anytime soon?” Rufio continued.

  “No, she does not.”

  “Have we been watching ‘Righteous Gemstones’ again?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” Jendo said again.

  “So, tell, me Jendo…”

  “Tell you what, Roof?”

  “Is he a bit shit?”

  Jendo turned to look at him and said with complete joy, “He is a bit shit.”

  “A bet’s a bet, fellas,” I reminded them.

  “Nothing in the bet says you can’t fall for her,” Jendo said.

  “Nope. Nothing at all. You pop her, that’s it,” Rufio added.

  I nodded. “Uh-huh,” I said sarcastically. “And say I fell for her, what’s she gonna think of me when she finds out she was a bet?”

  “All I know, man, is you’re gonna wanna tell her before you seal the deal.”

  “And if you can’t,” Jendo said as though he could read my mind, “you just better tell her before she finds out some other way.”

  “How is she going to find out another way?” I asked. “We’re the only ones who know.”

  We stopped at the car and I looked at them expectantly. But they both just shrugged.

  “These things just have a way of getting out when you least expect them,” Jendo said.

  “Yeah,” I huffed. “And how exactly am I supposed to tell her before she finds out?”

  “That is not within my purview, buddy,” Jendo said.

  “You’ve just got to be honest with her,” Rufio said.

  “Yeah. Thanks. Because it’s that easy,” I sighed as I saw Leo hurrying over.

  I waved at him, muttered at the boys and got into the car.

  Chapter 20: Paige

  I was going to tank it. I had to. Even if it meant I had to kiss Arthur. I couldn’t do it anymore.

  Nearly a week had gone by and I didn’t think anyone knew Bash had been the one to finally pop my cherry. Nothing had changed between us, even though a part of me had still been convinced he’d only been in this to sleep with me. I was convinced he actually liked me after all. So, I couldn’t go through with it. I’d rather lose the bet than lose Bash.

  “…dunno, man,” I heard Rufio say on the other side of the locker area.

  I paused.

  “He’s won,” Jendo replied, confidently.

  “He popped her cherry?”

  “You know he has. Casanova’s the master cherry popper.”

  “Guess his reputation’s safe then,” Rufio mused.

  “Bet’s a bet, man. Thank fuck, though. I had no idea how he was going to pass the Casanova title on to Mr Trombone.”

  I heard Rufio laugh. “Nah, me either.”

  I heard them close their lockers and pressed against mine quickly. I watched them pass me, but they didn’t see me as they headed back to class.

  Everything I’d thought had been real was a lie.

  Not only had Bash told the boys, I’d been a…

  “A bet?!” I hissed incredulously.

  My cherry had been a bet between him and his friends? He’d bet them he could pop my cherry. What in the actual?

  I was furious. I was furious he’d lied to me and I was furious I’d fallen for it when I should have known better. All guys were the same and Bash ‘Casa-fucking-nova’ Baker was not exceptional.

  I stormed into the main area of the Common Room and the smile Bash had for me fell when he saw my face.

  “A bet?” I snapped.

  He had the audacity to blink. “Excuse me?”

  “I was a bet?”

  “Oh, fuck…” he muttered.

  “So, you won’t even try to deny it?”

  He stammered for a moment, then finally got out, “What do you want me to say?”

  “I don’t know. Tell me it wasn’t all a lie maybe?”

  “Just because I won a bet, doesn’t make any of it a lie.”

  “Yes, because C
asanova could have actually fallen for me,” I said sarcastically.

  “Why not?”

  “Because who the hell am I to make Casanova change his ways, huh?” I asked him. “I suppose I can go and tell the girls I lost a bet of my own.”

  “Excuse me?” he spat. “You what?”

  “You heard me. You weren’t the only one to make a bet. But who the hell do I think I am to even begin to imagine that I – Paige Nicholls – could make Casanova fall in love? A naïve idiot, obviously.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I’m not even going to go into how mental you sound.”

  “Oh, no. Please do. Point out all the ways in which I was wrong.”

  “Hate to burst your bubble of self-righteous pity, princess, but I can’t do that.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” I snapped.

  “Can’t.”

  “Casanova suddenly lost his balls?”

  “My balls are fine. It’s my heart I went and lost.”

  I stammered to a stop, not really able to use what I’d been planning to respond to what I’d expected him to say. “You what?” I asked, feeling like I’d had all the breath kicked right out of me.

  “You’d have liked that, wouldn’t you?” he sneered. “What did you and your little friends do? Princess Paige can get any guy she wants so they singled me out. What was the bet? Get me to fall in love with you and then you dump me in front of everyone to – what? Prove some ridiculous point?”

  “Someone had to pop your stupid male ego–”

  “Oh!” he cried. “It’s stupid male egos you were after. Well in that case, it wasn’t pure vindictive bullshit. Sorry. It was all for the greater good, obviously.”

  “You boys are all the same! You use your nice words and pretty smiles on us while it’s convenient and then, when you’ve got what you wanted, it’s all meaningless.”

  “Says you!” he scoffed.

  “I beg your pardon?” I spat.

  “My pardon is not given,” he replied tersely. “How are you any different?”

  “I’m nothing like that.”

  “Noooo,” he said unbelievingly. “Of course not. You just went out of your way to try to get a guy to fall in love with you because you thought so much of your high and mighty self. Pot, meet the fucking kettle.”

  “At least I didn’t lie!”