It’s my first real hour alone on campus since the party, the hospital, the white-out edges of my vision. The weekend after shrank to my dorm room—Aubrey’s documentaries, Theo’s notes, Kieran’s hoodie and his too-big body folded into my tiny desk chair like he could physically anchor the room.
He left only for hockey. The game after was a one-goal loss. I didn’t care about the score.
My phone is warm in my pocket—three texts from him this morning, each one stretching my mouth a little wider. The last is just:
KIERAN
Missing you already
I’m about to text back when the notifications start.
One. Two. Five. A dozen.
My phone doesn’t buzz. It convulses.
The first post loads in a slow, cruel fade:
THE PUCKING BET — FINAL SCORE
Remember when Isabelle Merteuil dared O’Connor to make the nerdy girl fall for him? Mission accomplished.
The Setup (Week 1): Engineering 204. He sits next to her. “Coincidence.”
The Hook (Week 2): Tutoring begins. He “needs help.” She says no five times. He doesn’t quit.
The Strategy (Week 3): “I’ll help you get the guy you want. Just fake date me.” She thinks it’s HER getting the advantage.
The Execution (Week 4): Jersey. Game night. He dedicates the goal. She’s falling.
The Close (Week 5): Cabin weekend. First kiss. First time.
The Prize: One night with Isabelle Merteuil. Any way he wants.
Status: BET WON
Photos cascade below: Kieran and Isabelle at a party I’ve never seen: her hand on his chest, his eyes on her mouth. Him sitting beside me in class, that first day. Us walking across the quad, hands linked. Me in his jersey, hands over my mouth as he scores. One more, grainy, dawn-lit: two figures leaving his house. My walk of shame, immortalized.
The guitar across the quad flips from warm gold to acid yellow. Metallic. Wrong.
Comments pour in faster than I can process.
She really didn’t know?
He made HER think fake dating was HER idea
Damn he really collected the whole set
She actually thought he was into her
Bro that’s cold even for O’Connor
I stare at the screen, trying to make the words reorganize into something that makes sense.
A bet.
Week one.
Before the tutoring. Before he offered to “help me get Theo.”
