The next day, Troy walked to school alone. He couldn't stop thinking about Paris. She was exactly the type of girl Troy needed to win the bet. But Troy wasn't sure whether he was in this for the girl, or whether he was in this to prove Rachel wrong. And what about Rachel? Troy was worried that if he won the bet, he would lose her forever. And what if his new girlfriend wanted to be more important than Rachel? Nobody was better than Rachel! Nobody understood Troy more than Rachel! So what would he settle for? Losing the bet and cheering? That thought sent shivers up and down Troy's spine. He had to win the bet! But was he willing to maybe lose Rachel, or lose a possible girlfriend? Troy couldn't think anymore. He had arrived at school.
The first girl he saw in the hallway was Paris.
"Hi Troy," said Paris, looking at some papers. "Okay… about our report… the essay is going to be about—"
"Paris," said Troy. Paris looked up. She was wearing reading glasses. Troy thought they were kind of… hot. "Paris, I have to get to class early today. But do you want to go to Umberto's, grab a shake, and maybe… discuss this?"
Paris thought for a moment. Was Troy, the most popular, hottest guy in school, asking her on a date? Or was he ready to ditch her? "Sure."
"Great!" said Troy. "I'll meet you in front of the school at 3:30!"
Paris walked away, and Troy walked to his locker. He looked at his schedule… he had… gym next. Troy went to the locker rooms and changed, thinking about Rachel. He kept envisioning Rachel disappearing from his life. He couldn't have that happen, he just couldn't. Suddenly, the guys from his gym class walked inside the locker room and started changing aside Troy.
"Hey man!" said one of Troy's friends as he sat down next to Troy. "You okay?"
"Yeah man," sighed Troy. "Never been better," and he walked out of the locker room.
Troy went inside the gym. He saw all the cheerleaders, in their gym shorts and shirts, checking their nails and chewing gum. And in the other corner, Troy's teammates on the soccer team, who were checking out the cheerleaders. Troy saw a girl and did a double-take. Wo… who was that? Troy had never seen that girl before, and she looked… gorgeous. She had brown hair up to her shoulders, light brown eyes, and beautiful, tanned skin.
The gym teacher, Mr. Spencer, walked into the gym and blew his whistle. Everybody came and formed a circle around him. Troy made sure he stood next to the girl. He looked at her, and she looked back, and then turned away, smiling and blushing.
"Hi," whispered Troy, smiling.
"Hi," whispered the girl, smiling back.
"TROY!" yelled Mr. Spencer. "Anything you'd like to say?"
"Um… no, no Mr. Spencer, sir," stuttered Troy.
"Well then, since you're talking to the girl next to you, why don't you partner up with her?" asked Mr. Spencer, writing down things in a little notebook.
"Um… sure, sure, no problem."
When Mr. Spencer had finished talking, Troy walked over to the girl. He held out his hand.
"I'm Troy," whispered Troy.
"Why are you whispering?" asked the girl.
"Oh… sorry… what's your name?"
"I'm Carol," said the girl, blushing, and took Troy's hand. Troy let go and cleared his throat.
"Anyway… um, what's the assignment? I kind of wasn't listening…"
"Me neither," giggled Carol. "But what I do know is that I'm new, and I wouldn't mind having a few friends around…"
"Hey," said Troy, pulling away and nodding. "I can be a friend."
"Rachel! Rachel! Omigawd, Rachel!" exclaimed Troy, running to Rachel's locker. "I found her, I found the girl!"
"So, who is she?" asked Rachel, sighing. She didn't seem very excited about the news.
"Her name is Carol. She's new and she's gorgeous. And she's not a cheerleader, and she's nice, and she's no geek, man, Rachel, this is PERFECT!" exclaimed Troy.
"Whatever you say, Troy," mumbled Rachel.
"Okay... what's wrong?" asked Troy.
"Nothing… well actually, Troy, we need to talk."
"I can't though; I need to go meet Paris and—"
Troy looked at Rachel, and Rachel gave Troy that look people give when they're trying to say, "Duh!"
"Oh…" mumbled Troy. "Right."
Troy understood now. He was falling for two girls now.
"All I'm saying Troy, is that you need to watch your back. You can't like all these girls. Just think of each heart you're going to break when they find out about this deal, and when they find out you like more than one girl. Troy, just watch out, please."