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Chapter 2 - The Morning After

Macy had never wanted to back out of anything so badly. Never in all her life had she ever regretted anything as much as she did agreeing to the stupid bet, simply because she was too competitive for her own good and had let herself be manipulated.

After a restless night of barely any sleep, she knew what she had to do. She didn't care how it made her look or how much it would hurt her pride, she simply had to call it off.

She took a deep breath when she saw Brooke skipping toward her the next morning. The girl looked too perfect. Of course she was beautiful. Of course she was tall. Of course her skin was flawless. Of course her school uniform hugged her to show off curves Macy couldn't even pretend she had. Of course the sight of her brought out every single insecurity Macy knew lived within her.

"Hey, Macy," Brooke greeted. "Wow, you look terrible. That's really not the way to start this competition at all."

"About that..." Macy started.

"I know you probably want to back out," Brooke said with a smile and a pat to Macy's shoulder, "but I really wouldn't recommend it."

"I really can't do it."

"I suggest you do."

Macy shrugged. "I can't."

"Hmm," Brooke hummed as she leaned against the lockers next to Macy. "Are you sure? I mean, after all, as long as there is a competition, I have no reason to tell the guys how willing you were to bet on them."

"But I wasn't—" Macy protested, trying to quiet the fear of how disappointed the boys would be if they ever did find out about the bet; one of the many fears that had kept her up all night.

"And as long as there is a competition," Brooke continued, "I can concentrate on Kevin, and not Joe or Nick."

Macy froze. "What?"

"Well, I was thinking about what you said yesterday, and while Kevin would be the best candidate for this competition based on what I learned from you, if ever I get bored with him, it would seem that Nick or Joe would be much more fun. After all, if it is a competition, going after Joe would mean I would be competing with Stella; and going after Nick would mean competing with all the other girls he's fallen in love with, just to see if I can get him to like me faster and more than all of them. I don't really see how going after Kevin without someone else doing it at the same time would be any fun."

Macy blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I'm saying, Misa, that I am more than aware that you never wanted anything to do with the little competition you agreed to yesterday, but that if you even think about backing out, it would hurt your friends much more than just being fought over by two girls."

"But, it wouldn't work." Macy shook her head. "I would just tell them. I would just tell them the truth and they would believe me and you wouldn't break anyone's heart."

"Why would they believe you? After all, twisting a story that way would obviously be the tactic of someone who is trying to win Kevin over by getting his trust."

Macy's jaw dropped. "I already have his trust."

"Until he finds out that you bet that you could get him to fall for you instead of some other girl."

Macy somehow stopped herself from stomping her foot like an unhappy child. She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at Brooke.

"Anything else, while you're here?"

"The terms."

"What?"

"We never did determine what the terms of the bet were."

"So what are you proposing?"

"Other than the obvious?"

"What's the obvious?" Macy asked, moving the baseball bat she held from one hand to the other as she became more and more impatient.

"The obvious is Kevin. Winner gets Kevin. But on top of that? The soccer team."

"You want the soccer team?"

"No, I want to be striker."

"But I'm striker," Macy said cautiously.

"That's right. And if I win, you'll tell Coach that I should be striker. You're such a team player, Macy, no one will even think it's out of character for you to be willing to make a sacrifice like that for the team."

"But I worked my butt off to become striker."

"Well," Brooke smiled as she patted Macy's arm, "now you're going to have to work your butt off to keep it. Unless, of course, you don't want to compete, and you don't mind that I set my sights on Joe or Nick."

Macy opened her mouth, but there was really nothing she could say that would make this right. Suddenly, a wide smile came over Brooke's lips as something over Macy's shoulder caught the girl's attention.

"Let the games begin," she said.

Macy turned around in confusion.

"Ow."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Macy cried out at the sight of Kevin clutching his knee. She dropped the baseball bat she held that had caused him the pain, only to have it fall on his foot.

"Ouch."

"Oh, no. Kevin, I'm so—"

"Sorry, I know. Don't worry about it," Kevin said from between gritted teeth.

"Oh, I can—"

"Cause a lot of damage in very little time," Brooke interrupted as she moved between Kevin and Macy. She draped her arm around Kevin's waist and led him away from Macy. "Come on. Let's go see if we can find some ice for that."

Macy scowled as Brooke shot her a victorious smile from over her shoulder. This truly was going to be war. And so far, Macy Misa was losing.

***

Hours later, Macy tried hard not to pout as she sat at a lunch table by herself. She knew she was too old to pout, and she knew that pouting didn't make her any more attractive, but she couldn't help it. She wasn't used to being alone for lunch.

Stella and Joe had rushed off to the library when they had realised that Joe hadn't done the right math assignment the night before, and Nick had somehow found a way to take over an empty classroom for the lunch hour to meet yet another song deadline. Kevin, Macy hadn't seen since injuring him this morning. It was his absence that worried her more than any of the others.

She took her lunch out of her bag all the same and waited. Someone would eventually join her, she told herself. She had lots of friends. They just needed to get there.

"Hey, Macy."

She let out a loud sigh of relief as Kevin approached the table. It quickly turned into a gasp when she noticed the bruise on his forehead.

"Did I do that?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh." Kevin reached up and laughed with a wince when he found what she was talking about. "Surprisingly, no. Brooke somehow knocked me on the head with her elbow while she was getting me ice. It was kind of adorable."

Macy flinched at the word. She had never been adorable when she was hurting them. She also had the sneaking suspicion that Brooke's clumsiness wasn't quite as innocent as her own.

"Oh."

"Actually, let me ask you this before she joins us for lunch."

"She's joining us for lunch?"

"Well, yeah." Kevin shrugged as he took a seat next to Macy. "She doesn't know that many people yet, so I figured she could come eat with us. Besides, you two are on a bunch of sports teams together, you must get along well enough."

"Of course. Um… What was your question?"

"Right, well Brooke asked me if I wanted to show her around town tonight, you know, because—"

"She's new and she doesn't really know anyone," Macy finished for him.

"Exactly. So, where do you think she'd want to go? I mean, a sporty girl like you must know what a sporty girl like Brooke would want to know about this town."

"Yeah," Macy shrugged. "Um, well, there's a baseball game tonight. There's always a few tickets left to those."

"Baseball, brilliant. Plus, I'll actually sound like I know what I'm talking about, unlike if I was bringing her to hockey or something."

Macy smiled, but couldn't find anything else to say.

"Should I take her out to eat fir—"

"Hi, friends," Brooke suddenly called out, pulling a chair between Kevin's and Macy's. Macy took a quick look around the table, counting the three other empty seats Brooke had ignored. "What are we talking about?"

"I was just telling Macy how I was going to bring you to a baseball game tonight while showing you around town."

"Baseball?" Brooke asked, her lower lip pushing out into a pout. "Don't get me wrong, Kevin, I love sports and all, but I thought we could do something else. I mean, I am a girl even if I'm sporty. I don't want to go to the game with you and just be one of the guys. If you really want to go, maybe Macy's free."

Macy took a loud bite of her apple, but said nothing.

"No, no, it was just an idea. If you want to do something else, we can... um, maybe..."

"Take a romantic stroll around town?" Brooke suggested.

"Walk around," Kevin agreed with a nod. "Walk around. That's much better anyway. You can't really get to see the town if you're in a baseball stadium."

"But you don't mind missing the game?" Brooke asked, her lower lip now quivering.

"Of course not. I didn't even know there was a game tonight until Macy mentioned it."

"She really is one of the guys," Brooke said, as she moved her chair to hide more of Macy from Kevin.

Macy sighed and gathered her things.

"Hey," Kevin called after her once she'd taken her first few steps from the table. "Where are you going?"

"I forgot I have basketball practice," Macy said, shooting out the first sport she could think of that didn't count Brooke on the team.

"You have to eat, Macy."

"That's why I'm bringing my lunch with me," she told him, waving her apple in his direction before heading off.

There was no practice, and with the uncomfortable feeling swirling in her stomach, there was no lunch for Macy either.

Round one had apparently gone to Brooke.