Love at First Bet

"Our story started from a bet. Makes me wonder if we really did deserve this ending since we met each other at the gambling table. And, everyone said that whoever sits before a gambling table will lose at some point." ~o~o~o~ >> Tatie's POV She’s broke. Tatie stares pitifully at her wallet and sighs at its content. A penny stares back at her crestfallen face before she glances back at the vending machine. She is so broke that she can’t even afford a bottle of water in the machine. She had a purpose when she entered the cafeteria and that was to stave off her hunger with a bottle of water. Yet, poor Tatie doesn't have enough money to purchase a bottle. Pathetic, she thought to herself. Tucking back her wallet in her pocket, she decides to sleep away her hunger in the library. She can still endure two hours of lecture without food. Then, she could ask Angela, her best friend, to share with her the last packet of ramen in their dorm that Tatie accidentally found when she was chasing a mouse in their shared apartment. Feeling a little uplifted at the prospect of ramen for dinner, Tatie jogs to the direction of the library. Normally, students walked on the open area of the university to cross from the cafeteria to the library. Yet, the weather is unforgiving with its summer heat and she wanted to avoid the sun for a while so she decided to take the longer route to the library. She was in the middle of psyching her mind that she was not hungry when she heard her name being mentioned. “I say we have a bet how long our Kyler could ask Tatie Reyes for a date?” Tatie frowned. She looks around and finds herself standing at the male volleyball locker. Which brought her to the next question. Just how did the members of the volleyball team learn of her name? She had lived her first college year in peace (and in poverty, she would like to add) and had gone unnoticed by anyone. Her grades were not exemplary for people to remember her name, just above average. Her looks were fine but not enough to stop a person in the streets. She's just an ordinary person. She quickly shrugs off the skepticism and decides to ignore this Mr. Kyler who was tasked to get a date out of her. Dating was never her top priority anyway. Dating someone from the volleyball team will be exhausting enough. Dating a jerk from the volleyball team? Well, how about not. She was to continue her journey back to the library when she heard the magic word. “How about this, Kyler? Two weeks. If you managed to get a date out of this Tatie Reyes, I owe you two-hundred bucks.” Two hundred bucks? Damn, Tatie can fill their cupboard with enough food to last two weeks with that money. “Make it a week and you have the privilege to use my credit card,” someone said. Damn, Tatie thought. With that credit card, he could afford to buy a new pair of clothes. She heard a loud thump before someone said, “Three days and you can write any amount in my check.” Wow. Holy mother of cow! Just how rich does the volleyball team is to stake like that? “O-ho. You have too much trust in our Kyler, Jake,” someone drawled out. “Have you looked at our Kyler, Claude? He’s gorgeous. He can get anyone anytime. Well, that’s if he stopped looking constipated all the time.” Oddly, she hears a sigh over the jeers and laughs of the volleyball team. There was a pause before someone’s voice pierced through the chaos. “If I do this, will you promise me that all of you will be off my back for the whole year?” “Don’t forget the money prize, too!” “And if I successfully ask Tatie Reyes for a date in less than three days, I win?” “Wo-ho. Just look at the confidence!” “Shut up, Claude.” Useless banters erupted from the locker room and Tatie decides to leave the place. A new hunger pooled on her stomach and this is not just any hunger that could be satiated with food. It was greed and his mouth salivates at the prize money. "Money doesn't buy you happiness," her ex-girlfriend once told her during an argument. She snorts at the memory and retorts the memory in her mind with a "well, it can pay for your two-month old debt rent and fill your pantry with lots of food." "Don't you have dignity?" her ex-boyfriend once exclaimed when he found out about her odd job that time. Dignity? Who needs that? When you're cold and starving outside the rain with the warmth from that little fire of hope slowly diminishing, dignity is the last thing you will call for. Although she was walking away from the volleyball team's locker room, the jeers and teasing noises gradually amplifies in her ears, stretching her lips into a smile as she thinks of a plan to snatch this last ember of hope. Plucking her phone from her pocket, she absentmindedly messaged her one-and-only confidant and supporter for her every stupid plan. [to angela my one and only b***h] do we need dignity [from angela my one and only b***h] can we eat it [to angela my one and only b***h] no [from angela my one and only b***h] then its useless [to angela my one and only b***h] this is why i love u :* [from angela my one and only b***h] u r my only dignity angela my one and only b***h] aww *o* is it bcs im ur only frend [from angela my one and only b***h] no bcs u r useless [to angela my one and only b***h] ... bitvh