His Redemption

006 A new bet

Michael POV

I was sitting on the sofa with the guys Jay, Scott, Dave, and Joseph in the dimly lit room. The smell of cigarette smoke hung in the air. The other guys burst out laughing, and I gave them my best irritated glare.

"Bro, you seriously need to set Vanessa straight. She is not your actual girlfriend," Dave said, a mix of teasing and seriousness in his voice.

"Yeah, she's just a quick fling you messed around with," Scott added, looking amused.

I took a long drag from my cigarette. "If I had known this would blow up in my face like this, I never would have gotten involved with her. She's been a nightmare for three months," I confessed, breathing the smoke out slowly.

Jason chuckled. "You think Vanessa's going to leave you alone after seeing how great you are? She's completely obsessed, bro." Dave grinned. "Who wouldn't want to be with the hottest guy in school, the heir to the empire?" The others all nodded in agreement. I couldn't help but feel a rush of pride, despite how annoying Vanessa was.

Vanessa had being nothing but a bug we bet on months ago. It’s was our routine each semesters in the camps, when school becomes boring we bet on a female to keep it fun, and she was one of them. We dumped them, get the money and send the video to the group. Nothing attached.

Unfortunately, she became tangled and the reason I let her, because she’s good in bed. At this point, I don’t feel that excitement in having her again.

"Let's have some fun with one of the new girls," I suggested, trying to sound cool and casual.

Joseph grin already excepting those words.

"I already have a girl in mind. We should bet on her.". I frowned.

The others leaned in, intrigued.

"Our last bet on Vanessa was two million. This new girl is special, a fragile little princess," Joseph said with a sneaky grin.

Scott snapped his fingers. "The girl we met yesterday? Diana, right? She's definitely cute."

Hearing Diana's name caught me off guard. I felt this weird sensational pang of... something I couldn't name. I quickly pushed the feeling aside. It was probably just curiosity.

"So, what's the bet?" I asked, making sure my voice sounded bored, like I didn't care at all.

Joseph finished explaining the rules of the bet five million dollars. Two million would go to the person who could make Diana fall in love or become their girlfriend.

The full five million would go to the person who could sleep with her and record it.

Simple enough. Right?.

I watched her from across the classroom as she quietly scribbled notes on her pad, she was struggling to focus on her pad, however she couldn’t put away the uneasy feeling of being watched.

The professor's loud voice lectured about the complicated parts of the alimentary canal. When the professor turned to me with a question, I met his gaze easily.

"The small intestine is responsible for most of our nutrient absorption, with specialized enzymes and structures that increase the surface area for absorption," I answered immediately.

The professor looked genuinely surprised. My first impression should be impressing her in any way.

"That's surprising, Michael. You never showed interest in my class before," he said. I scoffed and rolled my eyes, but my attention immediately returned to Her again, am getting used to the eye contact we keep doing.

I held her gaze, keeping my expression neutral. I couldn't explain why, but I felt strongly drawn to her, intrigued by the quiet confidence she had.

The rest of the class period passed in a blur because my eyes kept returning to her, it felt impossible staring off. I graze her face, taking in the light messy makeup she keeps putting on. Hasn’t Sia told her how bad-cute she looks with it on.

I felt another anonymous glance her way and trade it to a guy behind her back. He was all smiling and idiotic with that stupid ugly face he has. When he shifted his gaze to the side, our eyes met, i glared hard enough to tell him she’s already picked. He understood and fearfully lowered his glance to his pad.

When the bell rang, I stood up, watching her gather her things. I felt a sudden urge to approach her, just to see how she would react to me again. But before I could even react, Jayden signify my attention.

The cafeteria was loud and busy with everyone chatting, laughing and so on. I was sitting with the guys who continues yapping about some few girls they’ll pick up on weekends. Although this game is for each one of us, the only people interested here was Me and Dave. Scott counted himself out for some unknown reasons, Jonson always secretive, Jayden.. gay.

“Guess it’s time to take a step”. Dave said his eyes glued on them. I traced his gaze to Diana's table across the room. She was talking to Sia who laughed hard to her stomach.

Dave suddenly decided to get up and walk over there, The other cheered him up softly, while I forced a smile.

I watched as he flashed his charming smile and sat down with them. He had asked about her day and she replied with the same calmness in her voice.

It didn’t even take a second, before a massive blush claims her face, I could hardly make up anything they’re saying, and I felt the urge to go there.

“Dave is really pulling it off easily”. Scott said.

“She seem like an easy approach. Guess she’s no different from the rest”. Joseph muttered, gulping his last lunch bites.

For some reason, something of digging hole in my chest, she had laughed so freely, so calmly but when in front of me, she lowered her head like am the monster in her dreams.

I saw her look away from Dave, right at me, and then quickly look back down.

"Diana, if I may ask, do you have a boyfriend?". Smooth, Dave. Real smooth.

Diana shook her head, and Dave’s grin got bigger. Then he pushed it. "Do you wish to have one, then?"

Diana looked up again, She's thinking about it. Sia face was as hard as steel, she knew what was going on. Another bet?. Yeah. She glared at me across the room, I returned the look with a smile.

"Bro, let her eat and go back to your friends. What are you doing here?" She growled furiously.

I watched Dave's face darken. His voice was low and dangerous as he shot back.

“f**k up Sia .”

“You should f**k up. Go back to your gangs and leave us alone”. She sounded more furious now. Diana stared between the two teenagers blankly.

It was hard to figure out what happened next when Diana stood up. Her voice was surprisingly loud, cutting through the noise.

"Don't talk to my friend like that. You may be a popular guy in this school, but you're just a normal guy to me and my friend."

The entire cafeteria went silent. Dave's eyes narrowed.

"Did you just yell at me?" he asked, his voice low and menacing.

Diana stood her ground, defending Sia.

"I didn't do anything wrong, except stand up for my friend... Why are you angry? Just because I yelled at you?" She's not backing down. “You can’t just go around shaming others just because of your popularity”.

Dave dark chuckle sending a shiver down my spine. Things isn’t gonna be good.

Dave facial expression change dramatically to a scowl.

"Protecting your friend, how sweet of you," he sneered. Then he leaned in closer uttering bitterly. "But I don't expect anything more from a w***e's child," he added.