The Bet (Persaud Girl)

by Mott, Teisha

  Andie turned the key in the ignition, and the engine purred to life. She backed out of Samantha’s parking space, slowly and carefully. She was a good driver, she knew. If only Samantha would trust her and let her have the car more often. Andie pulled on her sunglasses as she turned the car towards the University. Wouldn’t Nathan be surprised to see her driving Samantha’s car! She frowned a little, wondering whether she should have called him first and let him know she was on her way. Nah! She didn’t have to do that. She would surprise him.

  Andie braked up at a red light. She turned up the radio, and sang along with Jessica Simpson, who was belting out ‘I wanna love you forever’ as only Jessica Simpson could. It was the most fitting song, Andie thought. It perfectly represented how she felt about Nathan. She was going to love him forever, she knew. She was so lucky to have hit the jackpot where boyfriends were concerned on her first go. Her mother had been lucky like that, as was Bianca. Andie could not think of anyone else as lucky…The honking behind her brought her back to the present, and the fact that the light had changed to green. She was too chipper to even be annoyed at the angry motorist behind her. She simply moved on, heading towards UWI, trying to keep her attention on the road.

  ***

  Andie pulled into the parking lot at Preston Hall, and parked next to Nathan’s silver Honda Civic. That was good. At least he was there. She hopped out of the Rav4 and made her way towards Los Matadores. She waved to a few Prestonites with whom she had become familiar over the past number of weeks. Andie stopped at Fern’s house first and peeped in.

  “Hi Sanaa!” She said, to the buxom third year student who had hugged Nathan the first night she had visited Preston.

  “Fern isn’t here.” Sanaa returned shortly, not even returning the greeting.

  Andie frowned. “Where is she?”

  “I’m not Fern’s keeper!”

  It was evident to Andie that Sanaa did not like her. Fern had told her that Sanaa had liked Nathan, and he was actually thinking about entertaining her advances, but then Andie came on the scene. Andie looked at her annoyed. It was no fault of hers that Nathan preferred thin, fair-skinned, red haired girls, to endomorphic, big boned, afro-centric ones.

  “If Fern comes back, tell her I’m by my boyfriend!” She said snidely. “Later!” She flung her hair over her shoulder, and strode over to Nathan’s house, trying to look confident.

  The door to Nathan’s house was open.

  “Nathan!” Andie called. “Is anybody home?” She peeped into the common area. Micah was there. “Hey Micah. Where’s Nate?”

  Micah turned from the kitchen sink, where he was washing dishes. “Andie! What are you doing here?”

  “I came to see Nathan. Is he here?”

  “Did Samantha come with you?”

  “No,” Andie answered. “Where’s Nathan?”

  “He went to church,” Micah said.

  "Church? But his car is here!"

  "It's Chapel day on campus," Micah explained. "The Adventists are having a big thing up by Assembly Hall. How did you get here if Samantha didn’t bring you?”

  “I drove her car,” Andie wrinkled her brows. Since when did Nathan go to church? And if he was now a church man, why didn't he tell her? Nathan was becoming 'curiouser and curiouser' every day, she thought. “You have any idea what time he will come back…?”

  “Shouldn't be much longer!" Micah glanced at his watch. "He left his room open. You want to wait in there for him?"

  “Okay,” she turned towards Nathan’s room. “Later!”

  Andie took her favourite position on Nathan’s bed and pulled out her Economics books from her backpack. She read over her notes while she waited for him to come back. Thirty minutes later, he had not returned. Andie was beginning to grow impatient. She got out of the bed with the intention of finding Micah and asking him to tell her exactly where Nathan was. Micah was no longer in the common area when Andie peeped out. He must have gone upstairs to his room. Andie was trying to decide whether she was brave enough to go up there, when Jeremy came in.

  “Well, who have we here?” He commented.

  Andie blushed. “Hello, Jeremy.”

  “You’re looking pretty today! Glowing, actually!”

  “Thanks.” Andie wanted more than anything to get away from Jeremy. Even after eight weeks, he still made her uncomfortable.

  He went over to the fridge and pulled out a soda. “You want a drink?”

  “No.”

  Jeremy looked at her. “You don’t like me, do you?”

  “No, actually, I don’t!” Andie replied honestly. “I think you’re rude and conceited and overall, a capital jerk!”

  Jeremy shook his head sadly. “It’s a shame you feel that way. If you got to know me, I’m sure you’d see that I’m a nice guy!”

  “Mm-hmm” Andie said sarcastically. She turned to go back to Nathan’s room.

  “So how about it, Andie?” Jeremy called, stopping her in her tracks.

  “Excuse me?”

  “How about getting to know me better?” Jeremy repeated. “Perhaps tonight, if you’re not busy…”

  “Are you asking me out?” Andie could not believe her ears. “You must be out of your mind!”

  “So are you saying no?” Jeremy asked.

  “Not any ordinary ‘no’,” Andie clarified. “I’m saying hell no!”

  “Why not?” Jeremy persisted. “We’d have a decent time, I think!”

  “Perhaps you haven’t noticed, Jeremy,” Andie said, walking away. “But I’m already spoken for!”

  “Who? You mean Nathan?”

  “No, I mean Prince William!” Andie shook her head. “Of course I mean Nathan. Are you blind?”

  “Probably you are!” Jeremy commented.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Nathan. You think he's into you, but he's not. As a matter of fact, you are on borrowed time where he is concerned. We are in the eighth week!”

  “Why am I even talking to you?”

  “Because I am the only one decent enough to tell you the truth!” Jeremy held on to her arm, preventing her from walking away. “Do you know why Nate started talking to you in the first place? Because he bet all of us in here -- me, Micah and Omar -- that it would not take him more than eight weeks to sleep with you. Count back to the first time he noticed you in the library. The eight weeks ended last Thursday and he lost the bet, so guess what, Cinderella? Don't be surprised if he puts you into your little pumpkin coach and tells you to get to steppin’!”

  Andie felt her heart skip a beat. Her world stop turning for a moment. “What?"

  “We tried to stop him,” Jeremy continued. “We told him it was not cool to make stupid, immature bets like that, but Nathan was adamant.”

  “I am a bet?”

  “Well, not you per se …” Jeremy sighed, and wishing at that moment that he had gone to Edna Manley School for the Performing Arts. His talent was certainly being wasted in academia, he thought! “He could have chosen any girl, but when he saw you…you were quite a challenge, especially being the Dean's daughter... Personally, I would have taken on Samantha. No offence, but she is much prettier and far more pleasant. Well, you could never be as hot as Samantha, but he said you seemed to have warmed up quite nicely…” He eyed her salaciously. “Said you have the potential to make a nice little jam!”

  “You’re a liar!” Andie said. “I don’t believe a word you’re saying!” Her eyes were swimming with tears, but she was not going to cry in front of Jeremy.

  “Well, why don’t you just ask Nathan yourself?” He nodded towards the door. Sure enough, Nathan was coming up the path, laughing and chatting with Omar.

  Andie pushed past Jeremy and went to meet him at the door. Nathan’s face lit up like the plazas at Christmas time when he saw her.

  �
�Hey, pretty girl! What are you…” The lights went out when he saw the expression on her face and the traces of tears in her eyes. He looked over her shoulder and saw Jeremy smirking. “What’s wrong? What did Jeremy say to you?”

  “I told her about our little arrangement!” Jeremy gloated.

  “You did what?” He marched over to Jeremy and shoved him. “What the hell is wrong with you, yout’?”

  “Back up!” Jeremy shoved him back. “What is wrong with you, is the better question - betting on nice little girls, and how to rob them of their virginity! That sucks, man!”

  Micah came down the stairs. “What’s happening down here?”

  “The proverbial shit has hit the proverbial fan!” Omar explained simply.

  Andie stood there, frozen in time. Everything happening around her seemed surreal. It seemed as though it was happening to someone else, and she was a bystander, unable to do anything but watch.

  “You not going to apologise to the girl?” Jeremy snickered. “The poor thing thinks she’s your girlfriend!”

  Nathan turned and looked at Andie. Her eyes were filled with hurt and pain and tears.

  “Andie…” He reached out for her.

  “No!” Her voice broke and her shoulders trembled. She was going to cry. She turned and ran from the house.

  “Andie!” Nathan went after her. “Wait! Just listen to me, please…” He caught up with her at the entrance of the cluster, and held on to her shoulders. “Baby, let me explain…”

  “Did you make that bet, Nathan?” Andie shrugged away from him. She spun sharply to face him.

  Nathan swallowed. He could not look at her. He looked at his feet.

  “Did you bet your friends that you could sleep with me in eight weeks?”

  “Yes,” Nathan admitted.

  Although she already knew he would say yes, Andie could not stop the sob that escaped from her throat.

  “After all this time… I’m a bet? All this time we spent together, all the time we laughed and we chatted, and you came to my house, and you met my grandparents…. After Bella Mia, and last Thursday night… all I was to you is a stupid bet? You told me I was beautiful, and special, and that – that you loved me, but it was all a lie! It was all so you could prove a point to your stupid friends!”

  “Andie, please…”

  “And I was a challenge!” Andie continued to rage. “Because I am not as pretty or pleasant as Samantha, but you thought I would make – how’d you put it—‘a nice little jam’!”

  “What?” Nathan was confused. “I never said anything like that…”

  “But you made the bet!”

  “I made the bet, but that’s not it…”

  “That’s not it?” Andie repeated. “There’s more? What? Sleeping with me was just the beginning? What else did you have in store for me Nathan, getting me pregnant?”

  “No! Of course not!” Nathan shook his head fiercely. “I didn’t care about the bet, Andie. I cared about you!”

  “Right!” Andie did not even bother to struggle against the tears that now washed her face. “And I should believe you because you have been a paragon of truth so far? When you offered to help me with my Politics homework, you said there was nothing in it for you, but there was. That was just the beginning – your way of worming your sleazy, slimy way into my life. How could you do that to me? You said you loved me!”

  “I do love you, Andie!”

  “No you don’t! That was a lie. You only said you loved me so I would sleep with you!”

  Her body was shaking with sobs. Nathan tried to put his arms around her, but she pushed him away.

  “Don’t touch me!” She screamed. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

  “Andie, you have to let me explain!” Nathan blinked back his own tears. “So much has changed since I made that bet. I wanted to tell you about it... I tried to tell you…”

  “I don’t want to hear anymore lies from you!” Andie cried. “You made me fall in love with you as a joke! I gave you my heart, while you yucked it up with your friends every night, counting down the weeks until you boned the virgin…”

  “It wasn’t like that…”

  “Then what was it like, Nathan?” Andie cried.

  “I’m sorry!” Nathan whispered, as a lone tear coursed down his cheek. “I am so sorry!”

  “Yes, you are sorry!” Andie wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. “You are a sorry, pathetic excuse for a human being. You are just like Jeremy. No, you are worse than Jeremy. You are a Jeremy in sheep’s clothing!”

  “Andie…”

  I hate you!” Andie seethed. “I hate you, Nathan Hansen, and I will never forgive you for doing this to me!”

  She turned and fled towards the parking lot. Nathan did not have the strength to go after her. His world was crumbling down around him. He looked around, and for the first time, realised that the entire Los Matadores , along with some other Prestonites and visitors to the Hall had observed the debacle. They were looking at him, not saying anything. They were all eyewitnesses to his deceit and his total disrespect for the girl he loved. Just like Andie, they saw Jeremy’s side...

  Sanaa came over to him, attempting to hug him. “Nathan…”

  He pushed her off. “Leave me alone!” He turned and went back into his house. He did not look at Micah or Omar and he certainly did not look at Jeremy. He went directly to his room and slammed the door. His head was spinning and his hands were shaking. There was a pounding in his head, his chest felt tight, and he could not breathe. He thought he would have a heart attack. The pounding in his head was tied up with the pounding on the door. Micah wanted to come in, but Nathan ignored him. He needed to find his panic pills. He needed to calm down, so he could think. He needed to think of a way to rectify this disaster with Andie. Why couldn’t he find the damned pills? Then he remembered. He had thrown them out the morning after the party at the Ravi P. He didn’t need them anymore. He had Andie now. She would be there for him…But she was not, and it was entirely his own stupid fault. He had ruined everything!

  “Damn! Damn! Damn!” He screamed. In one clean sweep, he shoved everything from his desk. They landed in a pile on the floor. Among the pile on the floor was a brown Louis Vuitton backpack with a green Furby key ring. It was Andie’s backpack. Nathan knelt to pick it up, tears rolling down his face. Her picture ID was clipped to one of the straps. He looked at the picture. It was the sombre face of a beautiful girl he had met two months before. She had blossomed since then, the pink lips turned up in a smile more often than not. He recalled his last image of her, lips trembling, face wet with tears, her heart in pieces, all because of him. He had messed up. He had lost her.

  “Oh God!” He whispered. “What have I done?”

  ***

  Andie stumbled over herself as she rushed to the car park, her tears blurring her vision. She was oblivious to the fact that she was the object of stares and whispers as she made her way to Samantha’s car. She got there before realising that she had left her backpack with the keys in Nathan’s room.

  “Crap!” She groaned. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and tried to think. There was no way she was going back into Nathan’s house for her things. If only Fern was there – she could get them for her. She needed the keys so she could get home.

  “What am I going to do?” She asked herself, looking helplessly at the bright blue RAV4, which was sealed up tighter than a tomb. Not even the trunk door was left open for her to crawl in. Then it dawned on her. Her cell phone was not in her backpack. She had pushed it into one of the leg pockets of her cargo pants. She would have to call someone to come get her. Calling Samantha was out of the question. She was not in the mood for her sister to say ‘I told you so’. Besides, Samantha would have to pack Christopher along, and the only option was to drive her father’s SUV. They both knew that th
e only person who drove Andrew Persaud’s Mercedes was Andrew Persaud, and maybe, in an emergency his wife! Andie closed her eyes. Perhaps she could call one of the twins. Perhaps Darrin would be willing to come and retrieve her backpack, and maybe kick Nathan’s ass in the process. She was going to hear ‘I told you so’ from him, too, but she did not have much of a choice. Darrin had Nathan pegged to the tee. He knew exactly the kind of creep Nathan was. Tears filled her eyes once more. She dialled her grandparents’ number. After two rings, someone picked up.

  “Darrin?” Andie sobbed.

  “It’s Dylan,” came the reply. “Andie? What’s the matter? Are you crying?”

  “Can you come for me, please?” Andie did not respond to the question.

  “Where are you?” Dylan was concerned.

  “Preston Hall’s parking lot,” Andie told him. “At the back gate. Can you come?”

  “I’ll be there in ten,” Dylan promised. “Hold tight.”

  Andie sat on a bench under a huge flowering tree and held her head in her hands while she waited for her cousin to come. She could not stop the tears from flowing down her face. Nathan was locked away in his room in Los Matadores, not even caring that he had made mincemeat of her heart. If he cared at all, he would have come after her.