The Boyfriend Bet

  The Boyfriend Bet

  By

  Josie Eccles

  Text copyright © 2014 Josie Eccles

  All Rights Reserved

  Table of Contents

  Why?

  A miracle?

  You can’t have it all!

  Another rainy day

  Boy watching!

  The bet

  Makeover magic (or not)!

  Keeping a low profile

  Electric!

  Asking for trouble...

  Out of my league?

  School really does make me sick!

  Killer heels...

  A new threat

  Friends, who needs ‘em?

  Best day ever!

  Plotting and planning!

  Underestimating the enemy!

  Time to get real...

  The new me!

  Wanting to win?

  Chemistry

  I am ME!

  Saying it like it is!

  The perfect alibi

  As the world should be...

  Why?

  Have you ever felt like your whole world had just stopped spinning and every single part of your happiness had been prised away from you in one moment? Humiliation, sadness and of course anger all came with it, but as we all know that never ever changed a thing.

  That’s exactly how I felt when I was totally humiliated in front of the entire Year Eleven pupils. The funny thing is, I was so happy at the start of that day - I had the best boyfriend ever and my friends were insanely jealous. I had been this ecstatically happy since the day that Sam Smith had asked me out. I couldn’t figure out just why he would want to go out with me but I didn’t say no, far from it, I practically shrieked ‘yes!’ at him when he asked me to go out with him nearly four months ago.

  And Sam Smith, what can I say? He is absolutely gorgeous - blonde hair, blue eyes and he oozes confidence. And I know it sounds shallow but I enjoyed the envious looks from the other girls at school. I know they used to say things like ‘Why the hell is he with her?’ and ‘How did she get with him?’ but I didn’t care, it was like sticking two fingers up to all the bitchy girls I’d endured through my previous, miserable years at school.

  It was funny in a way, how seeing Sam had automatically boosted my popularity and social status at school, not that this was something I had particularly aimed for but I wasn’t going to shun it and I certainly didn’t drop my friends. I had previously never been in the popular gang so to say, but I didn’t belong in the geeky group either if that makes sense. I guess I am just in the middle - boring, average me.

  I remember that early October day as clearly as anything. We had all filed into assembly as normal and I sat next to my two best mates Sarah and Bex. Ok, I admit I was actually really excited about assembly for once as the drama club were doing a scene from the ‘big’ performance the school was soon to be putting on, a modern day twist of Romeo and Juliet – so we were told! And Sam was in it and apparently he was very good (at drama). Come to think of it now, he was the one who had actually said he was any good.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t joined the drama club, you could spend even more time with Sammy boy.” Sarah teased me as she was smoothing down her long brunette ponytail over her shoulder.

  “Hmmmm... no way, they always practise in front of the school, embarrassing!” I nudged Sarah in the ribs with my elbow gently. I’m always embarrassing myself at the best of times, so there was no way on this earth I was going to attempt drama club. I can dance but I definitely cannot act!

  “Doesn’t stop you snogging the face off Sam outside school, in front of everyone!” Bex added from the other side of me. I looked at Bex with her super-styled, cropped, bleached blonde hair that suited not only her tiny face and frame but also her so-sure attitude and personality, but at least you could always rely on her to tell it as it is - a quality I admire. I could hear Sarah sniggering in agreement and I had nothing to do but shrug and admit defeat.

  “Well who can blame me?” I shrugged my shoulders again and had a huge cocky grin plastered across my face. And then we all got shushed to be quiet as my gorgeous Sam was about to come on to the stage. Ok, not just Sam but the whole of the drama club but I certainly would only have eyes for Sam.

  Mr Harrison (our very stupid and idiotic Head of Year) was first on the stage, saying the usual crap. I vaguely remember him going on about how our school life was like a race and we were now on the last leg and nobody wanted to fall and give up on the final furlong. If anyone was going to fall, I wished it would be him and off of the stage, ha!

  “In about five minutes we will be lucky enough to see just a snippet of the production Ms Marney and all the drama students have been working on endlessly.” Mr Harrison said with way too much enthusiasm.

  “You can say that again.” I muttered. They really had been working on it endlessly. I had hardly seen Sam since...well since ‘that Saturday’ about three weeks ago. ‘That Saturday’ a lot had happened and when I say a lot I mean MAJOR stuff – like he told me he loved me and...and... Well, we’ll get to that later.

  “Now, I’ve seen some of the rehearsals and let me tell you, they are absolutely amazing and I know the students will make our school proud.” Mr Harrison was still enthusing. He was way too much sometimes. I swear he’s on those happy pills, there’s no other way to explain it. I wished he would just shut up so we could actually see the bloody performance. I appreciate he had to stall for time as the drama students were preparing the set (we could hear them dragging the props around), but it had been silent behind the scenery for about five minutes now, so for goodness sake shut up Harrison!

  Mr Harrison was STILL babbling on when a few giggles murmured around the hall and then I saw why - the scenery behind him (which was supposed to be some sort of posh house) was wobbling and Mr Harrison was totally oblivious.

  Oh my god! The scenery was about to come crashing down onto a very unsuspecting Mr Harrison! There was a massive intake of breath as everyone realised the possible seriousness of the situation when...BANG! The whole side of the fake house crashed to the floor. Luckily for Mr Harrison, he’d just at that exact moment it’d started to fall, taken two steps forward towards the front of the stage, completely unaware and narrowly missing what could have been a major headache.

  The whole hall erupted into a fit of hysterical laughter as I just stared at the horror in front of me. It was now obvious what had pushed the screen over. Sam was sprawled on the floor on top of some girl and he actually had his hand up her top! Talk about being caught in the act! Obviously they had been too busy, pressed up against the back of the scenery in their throes of passion, by the looks of it!

  I could vaguely hear the laughter, cheering and whistling, escalating around me but it was like I wasn’t there, like everything was in slow motion for me as I watched, never taking my eyes from Sam, he quickly got to his feet and let out a sheepish grin. He briefly met my eye but didn’t linger. And then I looked at the blonde bint that was now pulling herself to her feet. I sucked in my breath as I recognised her immediately. I felt sick, completely and utterly sick. There were no tears, no anger (yet), just this awful feeling in the bottom of my stomach.

  Even Mr Harrison was speechless as he watched the pair sort of straighten themselves out. Then she looked at me, right in the eye. You’d think there would be a hint of remorse, a slight twinge of guilt as she had just been practically making out with the love of my life. But no, she stared at me, never breaking eye contact and then to stick the knife in, she smiled. A tear finally pricked my eye as she remained smirking at me, her hair all dishevelled, standing next to Sam. My Sam! Only he isn’t mine anymore is he?

  And how could I compete with her – Ella Wa
llis? She was always one of the most popular girls at school and now in Year Twelve she was still the object of many of the boys’ fantasies. She is taller than me, with longer and blonder hair and bigger boobs. Never mind that she is a complete and utter bitch, it doesn’t matter, obviously. The worst part was that I couldn’t run and I couldn’t hide. I couldn’t promise myself I would never see those two again (the two people who had successfully ruined my life) because Ella Wallis just happened to be my sister...

  A miracle?

  I’d had three weeks of complete misery and by no means is that an exaggeration. I did not even get the tiniest apology from my sister, far from it. I swear she just rubbed my nose in it. We had a blazing row, obviously. She just sort of shrugged off my relationship with Sam as a mere insignificance and said “It’s not as if you two were serious, was it?” I hadn’t wasted the energy in informing her that I did in fact think it was, because obviously Sam did not.

  It’s bad enough when you hate someone with everything you have that you uncharacteristically dream up awful scenarios and evil situations that (hopefully) they might be exposed to, but when that person is your sister and you have to not only live under the same roof as her but also share a room, let me tell you it’s absolutely horrific.

  People were very forthcoming at school as well. “You didn’t expect someone like Sam to hang around with the likes of Charley Wallis forever did you?” was what I overheard Zoe Ryan (debatably the most popular girl in Year Eleven) purposely telling her ‘mates’ as I’d walked past. The words ‘hung around with’ lingered in my mind all week as I wondered if I could ever get over Sam Smith and this is why I had been amazingly grateful when the first break off school finally arrived.

  It was half term and the school holidays were nearly over. It had poured with rain all week (as usual), and I was thoroughly bored and had no desire what-so-ever to set foot in that bloody awful school again. I was a complete laughing stock at school and I was even beginning to wonder what the purpose of my miserable existence could be.

  But then a miracle happened. I’d been lying on my bed listening to the constant rain drumming on the window, Ella was out (with Sam probably), Mum had taken Peter (our seven year old brother) to the cinema, and I obviously had nothing to do. I was definitely depressed. I was just wondering what the hell was good in my life and what exactly was the point of it all anyway, when I heard a lot of commotion outside, so obviously curiosity got the better of me and I got up to look.

  The fittest boy I had ever seen was hanging around near the very large moving van outside. He must have been about seventeen or maybe eighteen, I couldn’t tell, but he was hot! He was tall with purposely messy, dark hair. It was skimming his eyes at the front and he kept pushing it to the side. He was looking around, probably wondering why he was moving to Astley Street. We’ve lived here for as long as I can remember and it looked like it was potentially going to get even more exciting!

  It all happens on Astley Street, seriously. The stuff we see/hear you wouldn’t believe. Nearly everyone down here is a prime candidate for the Jeremy Kyle show, ha! I chuckled to myself until I realised that ‘My sister stole my man’ could also feature very nicely on the show. I sighed as I was reminded of my misery again, as I constantly was every single day.

  I really must try and forget about Sam I reminded myself and luckily for me I had a very welcome distraction. I watched some more as he was entering the house next door armed with a large cardboard box - must have been his dad following behind but who cares. Who was looking at him anyway? A couple of minutes later he had returned to fetch more boxes, and then he only went and looked up at my window, right at me...and then he smiled...at me! My god, he was gorgeous and he smiled at me, that’s right ...ME! Shit, I can’t remember if I smiled back or if I just stared at him like a crazed loon.

  I watched his every move with a deliriously insane grin plastered across my face. My eyes followed him walking up the garden path and then he stopped just out of my view. I stood up and leant over the windowsill to get a better look and then thud, I’d only gone and banged my head on the bloody window. Ouch, It hurt like hell, I rubbed it furiously and then I saw another boy also making his way up the garden path, he was laughing so much he could hardly keep hold of his cardboard box and he was staring at me, oh no... he was laughing at me. It must be the annoying brother, I decided, who else could it be?

  “Piss off,” I muttered under my breath. Great, I can’t believe someone just witnessed that. So I had been getting carried away, dreaming up incidents of how I could ‘accidently’ bump into the boy next door when the other boy next door had practically witnessed me drooling over his brother so intently that I’d forgotten there was a window right in front of my face. Bloody great.

  “What are you looking at?” Ella’s sharp voice made me jump. I thought she’d gone out.

  “Nothing,” I snapped back, without even looking at her. The last thing I wanted was for her to see I had an interest in the new neighbour.

  “Freak!” Ella muttered as she rummaged around in her wardrobe and then flounced off.

  “Bitch.” I muttered under my breath, but I soon forgot about her, as the hottie next door was back outside.

  It must be a sign I told myself, because just at the lowest point of my depression I’d witnessed the most gorgeous human-being I had ever laid eyes on, enter the house next door. Yes, we were finally getting new neighbours and one of them was extremely fit! I now realise my life has a purpose! And the best part of it was that I wouldn’t even need to go out of my way to stalk him - he was going to be living next door, thank you God!

  You can’t have it all!

  “What are you all tarted up for?” Mum asked, as I trudged down the stairs before school. It was Monday and not only the first day back after a week off but I’d heard something absolutely massive: the boy next door was going to our school, and his name was Riley Jackson, how cute is that?

  “Um, I’m not and anyway look at that!” I sneered in the direction of Ella who was leaning on the breakfast bar and staring intently into a mirror and putting on even more make-up than she was already wearing. “I think she’s forgot to put her skirt on.” I muttered sarcastically.

  “Oh for goodness sake, how long is this going to continue?” Mum snapped as she twisted her wavy, brown, shoulder length hair up onto her head and clipped it up out of the way so she could concentrate on sewing Peter’s school trousers up. “But you have a point. Ella, go and put a longer skirt on.”

  I smiled triumphantly as Ella eyed me with distain. “I don’t know what you’re grinning at? You’re not wearing those jeans for school either.” Mum looked up at me.

  “Why?” I protested, “She goes to school looking like a slapper and I’m not allowed to bend the rules a teeny bit by wearing black jeans.”

  “I do not look like a slapper!” Ella shrieked as she stood up. I stared at her, with her skirt that could quite easily be mistaken for a belt, her top was so fitted and tight with only half the buttons done up and you could quite clearly see her black lacy bra through the thin white material of the supposed school shirt, and her hair and make-up wouldn’t look out of place in a club (a strip club, ha ha).

  “Charley!” Mum snapped, interrupting our staring match. “Say sorry to your sister, and Ella do some of your shirt buttons up please!”

  “I’m not saying sorry to her, did she say sorry to me when she stole my boyfriend?”

  “Are we still going on about that?” Mum sighed as though sisters stealing boyfriends was perfectly normal and I should forgive and forget. As if.

  “Maybe you should look at yourself and wonder why Sam wanted out?” Ella sneered at me.

  “Ella, don’t you start.” Mum warned, “And Charley, are you allowed to wear Converse for school?” Mum was now staring at my feet.

  “Yep.” I lied.

  “No you’re not.” Ella butted in.

  “Take them off,” Mum continued. “And Ella take those sho
es off, six inch heels aren’t suitable for school.”

  “They’re more suitable for dancing around a pole.” I smirked.

  “Charley!” Mum shouted quite loudly this time. I could tell I was just about to get a bollocking when Peter, who had been silently watching the spat, knocked his entire bowl of Coco Pops onto the floor. “Peter!” Mum now bellowed in her frustration.

  Peter whimpered and then ran off, locking himself in the downstairs loo. “You two go and get changed,” Mum glared at us both and then went to try and sweet talk Peter out of the loo.

  We both knew this was the opportunity to leave the house straight away, before Mum managed to force us to actually get changed. I grabbed my favourite black leather jacket and bundled out of the door just as Ella was also trying to totter out of the house in her heels. “Get out of the way!” Ella sort of shoved me out of the door.

  “Cow,” I muttered as I steadied myself.

  “Weirdo!” Ella retorted.

  “I might be weird but you’re just a backstabbing bitch!” I yelled so very loudly.

  “Hi!” A voice from the other side of the wall interrupted us. It was probably just as well as I think a full blown bitch fight might have broken out. Ella looked as mad as I felt but then I realised the voice belonged to none other than Riley Jackson, cringe!

  Ella immediately went into ‘innocent girly’ mode and started to twist her long bleached blonde hair around her fingers and started giggling. I actually wanted to vomit. Riley was so gorgeous, and I had already spoken to him yesterday, get me! He’d sort of popped his head over the wall as I was coming home, and he told me his name and asked about school and stuff and I actually spoke to him without doing anything silly!

  “Hi Charley,” Riley put his hand up at me and I felt my face go bright red as I realised he must have witnessed my bitchiness just a moment ago.

  “Hi...” I stuttered like a complete idiot who couldn’t remember how to string a few basic words together. Ella stared at me in shock.