Dont bet on love, p.1
Don't Bet on Love, page 1
Don’t Bet on Love
Victorine E. Lieske
Victorine E. Lieske
Scottsbluff, NE
Copyright © 2019 by Victorine E. Lieske
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
Victorine E. Lieske
P.O.Box 493
Scottsbluff, NE 69363-0493
www.victorinelieske.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Trudy stared at her phone, a lump the size of a grapefruit growing in her throat. The words blurred and she blinked back her tears. Not now. She couldn’t lose it now, not while she was standing at her locker in the school hallway. She didn’t want anyone to think she was more of a freak than they already did.
She stuffed her microbiology book inside her locker and slammed the door, determined to keep her cool. The words from her mother’s text swirled around in her mind. The tests came back. It’s not looking good.
Trudy knew what her mother wasn’t saying. The word everyone danced around when they talked about her sister’s cancer. The word that hung in the air like stale cigarette smoke, choking her and making her eyes sting.
Terminal.
She tugged down her long sleeves, gathering the fabric in her palms. A bad habit that had formed after her own hospital stay. She hugged her notebook to her chest and stalked down the hallway toward the cafeteria. She couldn’t think about her sister’s illness. Had to push it out of her head until she could deal with it on her own. At home. Only when she was alone in her bedroom could she let herself deal with the pain. Right now she had to hold it together.
Her sister was ten years younger than she, a “pleasant surprise” as her parents always said. Allison was the complete opposite of Trudy. Blonde hair, spontaneous personality, the one who laughed at everything. Trudy took life too seriously when compared to Allison.
Only now, the light in Allison was fading. It was painful to watch her energy being drained. Her exuberance slowly snuffed out by the cancer.
Trudy pushed all thoughts of her sister out of her head. She had to focus on school. She couldn’t afford to get sidetracked. Her mouth watered at the smells coming from the cafeteria as she neared. She stepped aside to let what looked like the whole football team through as they walked against the grain of the crowd. One of them knocked into her shoulder as he passed. She winced at the pain.
He turned around and glared at her. “Hey, watch where you’re going, Prudy.”
Yeah. Prudy. That was the childish nickname the jocks at school had decided to bestow upon her at the end of last year when she moved there. She was so lucky. She tossed a glare right back at him. Gabe. The school superstar. He was a jerk. “I could say the same thing,” she muttered under her breath.
Gabe stopped, and his buddies all turned around. “What did you say to me?”
Lane, another one of the members of the team, slapped Gabe on his shoulder. “Leave her alone, man.” Out of all the jocks, Lane was at least halfway decent.
Gabe ignored Lane, holding his books like they were a football under his arm. “I asked you what you said to me.”
Trudy knew better than to take that bait. “Nothing.” She turned back around and ducked her head.
“That’s what I thought. You just keep on walking, Prudy.” He yelled the last part, and everyone in the hallway snickered at the stupid nickname. Heat flushed through her body.
Trudy pushed through the throng of students into the cafeteria, her anxiety level rising. She needed to calm down right now before she did anything stupid, like start bawling. She slid into a chair at an empty table and pulled out her pen, opening her notebook. She numbered one through five on the blank sheet of paper. Just five good things. That’s all she needed to list. She wracked her brain for number one.
No homework in microbiology. That was good. She wrote that next to the number one. Two. Her gaze landed on the windows. It was sunny outside. She could eat out in the courtyard where it was less noisy. She wrote that down. Three. She hadn’t cried in the hallway after she got her mother’s text. Four. The pizza didn’t smell burned today. Five. She paused, unable to think of anything. What else could she write? Nothing came to mind. Finally, she wrote, “It’s Wednesday.” Lame one. Wednesdays weren’t much better than any other day, but at least the week was halfway over.
She closed her notebook and stood. If she was going to get anything to eat, she’d better get in line. She couldn’t afford to get any tardy slips. This was her senior year and she was determined to keep up her 4.0 average. She’d be applying to Harvard soon, and needed her application to be perfect.
People lined up behind her, crowding around her. At her last school they had open-campus. She and Izzy would walk down to Zippy Burger and eat there. It was much better than being forced to eat at school. Trudy frowned. Why was she stuck on negative thoughts today? She tried to think of five good things about her new school.
As she made her list, waiting for the line to move, she heard Gabe talking loudly behind her.
“Come on, you can’t be serious. You’re not asking Alisha to the Homecoming dance?”
It was well known that Alisha was Lane’s girlfriend. Despite the warnings going off in her head, Trudy peeked through the crowd behind her.
Lane shook his head. “We broke up.”
“You what? Are you crazy? She’s like...” He motioned with his hands a girl’s figure. “Hot.” Trudy tried not to throw up in her mouth.
Lane shifted uncomfortably. “Then you take her to the dance. We’re through.”
“Maybe I will.”
“You go ahead.”
Gabe was silent for a moment before nudging Lane. “So, who you gonna ask to the dance?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find someone.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
Lane smiled, smugness rolling off him. “Of course. Women fall at my feet.”
Trudy turned back around and rolled her eyes. Is this what guys talked about? How girls all bow down to worship them? What idiots.
Gabe’s laugh carried over the chatter. “You wish.”
“You don’t think I can get a date?”
“Oh, I know you can. But there are some girls even you couldn’t get.”
“Name one.”
Trudy couldn’t help it. She glanced back at Gabe when she didn’t hear him answer. He was rubbing his chin, seeming to take the challenge seriously. Finally, he smiled and crossed his arms. “Prudy.”
Trudy’s face burned and she ducked into the crowd.
“What?”
“You heard me. There’s no way you could get Prudy to go out with you. She’s such a snob.”
Snob? Her? Trudy was stunned. Why would Gabe think she was a snob? She was actually nice to people...unlike him. But she didn’t have time to contemplate it because Lane was speaking again.
“You’re crazy.”
“Wanna make a bet?” Gabe’s chuckle carried. “We could make this interesting.”
Oh, no. This didn’t sound good. Trudy ducked down even lower, her face flaming.
“What do you have in mind?”
“If you can get Prudy to go to Homecoming with you, I’ll streak across the football field.”
Lane laughed. “You’d do that anyway. That’s not a fair bet.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll shave my head.”
Trudy almost laughed out loud. Gabe? Shave his head? His perfect golden locks? No way. She’d almost go out with Lane just to see that one.
Lane must have felt the same way because she could hear him gasp. “You’re on.”
“But, it can’t be just any date. You gotta make her pay for what she did to me.”
Trudy’s mouth went dry. What she did to Gabe? What was he talking about? She barely even knew him.
Gabe continued. “You gotta humiliate her in front of the whole school.”
Visions of dog food being poured on her during the dance like in Never Been Kissed flashed through her mind. Heat rose to Trudy’s face, and she couldn’t stand to listen to any more. She ducked out of the line and wound her way through the crowd of students until she was out in the hallway. Her body burned with embarrassment. There was no way she was going to be the brunt of some stupid practical joke. What jerks.
She rushed through the hallway and out the front doors to the parking lot. The sun warmed her skin as she walked. There was nowhere to go, and she knew it. Her calculus class started in twenty minutes, and she’d never skipped a class in her life. But she couldn’t go back to the cafeteria, and the only food she had was a half-eaten granola bar in the glovebox of her Toyota.
As she walked toward her car, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Izzy. Are you there?
As the seconds turned into minutes, she knew Izzy wasn’t going to answer. She was probably in class. And what was her best friend going to do about it anyway? She was back in New Haven, three hours away. Might as well be an eternity away with how often Trudy got to see her.
She slipped behind the wheel, slamming the door a little harder than she’d meant to. Before she knew what she was doing, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Tears of frustration and embarrassment. Tears of heartache for her sister. And finally, tears of loss from being separated from her best friend.
This new school was horrible. Her sister was dying. Her mother spent most of her time at the hospital, and her father was always at work. She was alone, in every possible way.
Her life sucked.
Chapter 2
Lane shoved Gabe’s shoulder. Humiliate the girl? What did he think this was, some dumb high school movie? “No way. I’m not doing that.”
Gabe held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, fine. Just get her to the dance. With you. As in a date. If you can do that, I’ll shave my head.”
“Deal.” Lane extended his hand. He wanted to see Gabe bald so badly, he’d go out with a monkey.
Gabe shook his head. “Not so fast. What if you fail? You need some skin in the game.”
The line moved forward and Lane grabbed a tray. “Then I’ll shave my head.”
Gabe made a face. “No. You shaved your head last year to paint the Packers logo on it. That’s not a big deal for you.”
Lane put a carton of milk on his tray. Gabe was right. He wouldn’t have any problem shaving his head. He tried to think of something else.
“I got it.” Gabe shoved Lane. “This is perfect. If she won’t go to the dance with you, you have to wear a cheerleading outfit to school.”
Lane scoffed. “Where am I going to find one that fits me?”
“I don’t want it to fit. I want you to be stuffed into the thing.” Gabe guffawed. “Can you imagine? You, in a cheerleading outfit? I can’t wait. Do we have a bet?” Gabe stuck out his hand.
“Yeah, because I can’t lose this one.” Lane shook on it. “Be prepared to get out your razor.”
Gabe chuckled. “Right. I’ll believe it when I see it, buddy. You’ve got two weeks to turn the Ice Queen into a lovesick girl.”
Lane grabbed two slices of pizza and shot Gabe a glare. “Who said anything about lovesick?”
“You can’t tell her about the bet. You’ve got to make her think you really like her.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “And you’ve got to make her like you.”
Lane shrugged. No big deal. How hard would that be? “Everyone likes me.” He gave Gabe a cheesy grin. “It will be a piece of cake.”
“Yeah. We’ll see about that.”
Lane walked to their table and slid a chair out. This was going to be the easiest bet he’d ever won. Girls usually flocked around him. He’d never had a problem getting a date. And Trudy was cute, too. Yeah, Gabe hated her, but that was only because he hit on her and she brushed him off in front of his friends. You don’t do that to Gabe or you regret it for the rest of eternity. Gabe wasn’t a bad guy, but he was a notorious grudge holder.
Becky set her tray down beside his. Her red cheerleader outfit hugged her figure. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen her not wearing her cheerleader outfit. Would he even recognize her? She pointed. “Is this seat taken?”
He wanted to say yes because Becky tended to annoy him, but he shook his head because he didn’t want to be mean. Becky sat down and leaned over his arm, her blonde hair brushing his skin. “I heard you broke it off with Alisha.”
How did she find out? Didn’t she have anything better to do than sit around and gossip? “Yeah.” He stuffed a slice of pizza in his mouth.
“So, you’re technically free then, right?”
Lane held in a groan. Becky used the word ‘technically’ in every other sentence, even if it didn’t make sense. Too bad that wasn’t the only thing that was annoying about Becky. He wanted to move to another table, but he just forced a smile after he swallowed.
Gabe plopped down in the chair on the other side of Lane. “He’s not free. He’s got his sights on someone else already.” He jabbed his elbow into Lane’s side. “He’s got a hankering for some ice. Right? Ice? Get it?” His laughter filled the room.
Lane ignored Gabe’s taunting. He would get his revenge when Trudy showed up at the dance with him. Gabe was going to have to eat his words and lose his prized golden hair. The thought was enough to make him smile, which Gabe took as a reaction to his words and laughed again.
“You’re already technically dating someone else? Who?” Becky asked, looking around the cafeteria, as if this mystery girl would materialize.
“Ignore him. He’s just flapping his jaw.” Lane took another bite of his pizza.
Becky looked confused, but she plastered on a smile anyway and opened her milk carton. “I can’t wait for the game on Friday night.” She squeezed his arm. “You’re going to be amazing.”
His stomach tightened as he stared at his pizza. He didn’t want to think about the game Friday. It might be the last time he played. It was the beginning of the school year, and already Coach was on his case about his grades, threatening him to pull them up or he’d be benched. And there was a test in calculus class in two days he knew he was going to flunk. Nothing made sense in that class. Not that he was a stellar student in his other classes either, but calculus was particularly hard. He’d be off the team in no time.
Their table filled up with other cheerleaders and football players, and Lane focused on finishing his lunch and trying not to send any encouraging smiles to Becky, which didn’t work because she kept touching him and making him want to move to a different seat. When the bell rang, he quickly gathered up his trash and fled.
As he grabbed his calculus book from his locker, he noticed Trudy passing by. Her black hair was pulled up into a ponytail and it swayed as she walked. On impulse, Lane shut his locker and fell into step beside her. When she didn’t acknowledge him, he said, “Hey.”
She didn’t look at him. Didn’t respond. She just kept walking, which was weird. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything, but she never acted like she was mad at him. He tried again. “What class are you headed to?”
She turned to him, a funny look on her face. “What?”
He gave her one of his sexy smiles that always got a good response from the girls. “Just wondering what class you have next.”
She looked at him like he had green hair. Then she walked into his calculus class and Lane felt like slapping his forehead. Duh. How could he have not known she was in his class? How dumb did he look now? He wanted to forget talking to her today, but he only had two weeks until Homecoming, and he wanted to win this bet. He had to suck it up. He slid into the seat beside her. “Sorry. I guess I didn’t realize we had the same class.”
She gave him a forced smile then pulled out her book and opened it. Nice. She thought he was an idiot. Embarrassment heated his neck, but he couldn’t let his blunder get to him. Besides, it was the beginning of the school year. How was he supposed to know everyone in all his classes? He opened his book as well, then leaned over to her. “What page are we on?”
“Twenty-seven,” she whispered, not even looking at him.
Lane flipped the page. He waited for her to smile or warm up to him somehow, but she just sat there, her back straight, her eyes glued to the front of the classroom. He subtly checked his pits to make sure he didn’t smell bad. Nope. Smelled like deodorant. He tapped his pencil eraser on the page while the teacher started talking.
He looked at Trudy, and when she finally returned his gaze, he shot her another smile. “Want to go to the Homecoming dance with me?”
“No.” She returned her attention to the teacher, Mrs. Foster.
