I Bet I Can Make Him Smile

Chapter Two

(Jackson's Pov )

The bell finally rang signaling it was time for lunch. Ms. Hedie yelled out are homework assignment while everyone made their way to the door. I packed up my stuff and waited for most of the class to be out the door before walking out into the hall. I met up with my friends at my locker and saw them talking. "Hey, guys," I said. They turned to me and smiled saying the usual 'hey'. Nathan rolled his eyes at me and slammed his locker shut. All our lockers our close to each others.

"Finally! I'm starving!" he whined. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, who's fault is that?"

"Yours! Since we were waiting for you!" Nathan shot back. I shrugged and leaned on the lockers.

"You didn't have to wait for me," I said and smirked. He glared at me.

"Yes we did bec-" His sentence was cut short by Kyle jumping in.

"Hey, you guys are arguing over why we're still not at lunch, yet because you're arguing it's causing us to wait longer! So just shut up and start walking!" Kyle said to us. Nathan turned away from us mumbling a few curse words about how it's my fault and he'll deal with it later. Kyle and I rolled our eyes at him again. He's used to Nathan and me getting into pointless arguments since we do it a lot. I looked at Nathan again and saw him smirking at someone. I turned around and saw a black and neon blue beanie getting lost in the sea of students. Was that Storm? Why was he smirking at Storm Miles. Storm is like the school's outcast, I'm not trying to be mean or anything its just the truth. Okay, that sounded kind of mean but it's true! I've only ever seen him talk to Tyler Ross. Tyler is a really nice guy who's also really hyper. Nathan looked at me, a devious look in his eyes. He whispered something to Michael and Marcus and they both nodded with smiles on their faces.

"Let's just get to lunch," Nathan said and started his way towards the cafeteria. We all followed, me still wondering what he's thinking. We went into the lunch room and got in line. They were serving meatloaf today, ew.

"No thanks, I rather not die today," I said while grabbing a bottle of Pepsi and paying for it. The others snickered while the lunch lady rolled her eyes and glared. Okay, so she didn't find that funny. Who said I was trying to be funny? I was just stating a simple fact. We all went to our lunch table and sat down and I took a sip of my Pepsi. As Kyle was on his phone I heard Nathan, Marcus, and Michael talking and laughing at something.

"Alright, spill it. What the hell are you guys talking about?" I asked, a little irritated. I knew it had something to do with me. This had Kyle putting his phone away, ready to settle something if needed.

"I was just thinking, this month has been pretty boring," Nathan said innocently. I glared at him.

"So?"

"So, I was wondering if you want to do something like a bet. You know, to make things more interesting," he said and took a drink of his sprite. This time it was Michael's turn to chuckle.

"What's the bet?" I questioned.

"You know that guy Storm?" Michael said. Kyle shot me a warning look and I ignored him. I nodded, telling him to get to the point. "Well, you know how he's like seen as the emo kid of the school? Doesn't like to smile or talk, always looks like he's about to hurt someone," Michael described to me.

"Yeah, get on with it," I said, getting irritated again.

"Well, everyone pretty much knows he's gay. So, would if you went out with him?" Michael said with a smile. I looked at him shocked and I was panicking on the inside. They don't know I'm gay!

"What?! I'm not gay! Why would I date him?!" I said. Michael laughed and put his hands up in defense.

"Relax, man, I know you're not not gay. But hear me out. If you can get Storm to date and hang out with you for at least four months or have him say he loves you then we'll give you four-hundred dollars. If you don't, then you get nothing," Michael said. Kyle shook his head no at me. Once again I ignored him.

"But you just said it before, it's hard enough seeing him smile. How am I supposed to make him date me?"

"I'm sure you can make him smile and once you achieved that just flirt with him," Marcus said. Michael nodded his head agreeing with him and Kyle glared at all of us.

"Are you guys f*****g stupid?" Kyle snapped.

Nathan glared at him and said, "What crawled up your ass? We're just having a little fun."

"You're going to hurt someone that you know nothing about just for your own amusement? Yeah, sounds like tons of fun," Kyle said. Marcus rolled his eyes at him and crossed his arms.

"You make it sound like we're going to lock him up and torture him. We're just messing with him, besides Jackson hasn't even agreed yet," Michael said. Kyle turned to me and gave me stern look.

"I swear to god, Jackson, if you agree to this. . ." Kyle said in a warning tone. I bit my lip nervously and turned to the three guys waiting for an answer. What's the worst that could happen? Besides, I could win four-hundred dollars just to try and date someone.

"I'll do it. What's the worst that could happen?" I said with a shrug. The guys cheered while Kyle glared at me.

"What's the worst that could happen? You could make him miserable with this stupid bet! Just don't do it! I mean you're not even gay!" Kyle said. He sounded a little unsure of himself on that last statement which has me a little nervous.

"He doesn't have to be gay to be doing a bet," Marcus said.

"Fine, how about you don't have time for stupid bets. You are already almost failing one of your classes and you have football to worry about! I mean we have a game tonight!" Kyle said.

"Kyle, lay off will you? You act like that has anything to do with this and it's not a big deal. I'm not going to hurt anybody because it's just a game. So just chill about it and let me do what I want for once," I said. Kyle looked a little taken back by what I said but shook his head and glared at the table.

"Great so it's settled, you have to get Storm to date you for at least four months and if you win you get four-hundred dollars," Nathan said. He put his hand out and I hesitantly took it and shook it. He smiled and just as we let go the bell rang signaling it was time for gym. This is just a stupid bet right? Then why do I feel like I just signed off a deal with the devil?