The Bet (North Woods University 1)

“I can’t watch a movie right now. I’ve got like three assignments due tomorrow,” I huff, trying to forget about Remington, about the party, and the entire events from that night. I’d have saved myself a lot of time had I not tried to make friends and just stayed home and did my homework.

“I thought you had someone coming over?” Bridget, my other roommate, appears in the kitchen. She’s got her long blonde hair in a messy bun, and a pair of glasses sit on the tip of her nose. Like me, Bridget is all about her grades, and less about the drinking and boys. College is nothing more than another step in her life.

“Well, I did…I don’t know if he’s coming now.” She pouts, plopping down onto the sectional before pulling out her phone. That explains why she’s dressed like she’s going to a party down the block.

Bridget grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and smiles at me. “How are classes going?”

“Good, just trying to figure out where everything is located.”

“Yeah, the campus is huge, but you’ll get used to it. Just like anything new. It takes time.”

I smile, feeling thankful to have met Bridget.

She’s kind and soft-hearted and offered to let me stay here rent-free, at least until I can get everything switched around with the colleges. My mom’s trying to help me, but with her working non-stop, it’s hard enough just to get her on the phone, let alone to help with anything.

“For sure, but I’m enjoying it.”

“Yeah, she went to a party with me the other night,” Cally pipes up from the couch, and Bridget smirks.

“She’s already corrupting you, isn’t she?”

I shake my head.

“No. I actually invited her to come with me. I was asked by someone I had just met and didn’t want to go alone. But I won’t be going again. I realized that parties aren’t really my scene.”

Bridget nods as if she agrees with me. “Mine either. I’m a homebody. All I need is a glass of wine and a good book and I’m good for the night.”

“Boring,” Cally snickers from the couch. Just then, the doorbell rings. Cally scurries from the couch like there’s a fire and I start to pick up my books deciding that studying in my bedroom is a much smarter idea right now.

I don’t care to watch Cally have sex with someone on our couch, not that I think she would, but I don’t plan to stick around and find out. Bridget must feel the same way because she turns with her water bottle in hand and starts back down the hallway toward her bedroom. I load up all my stuff in my arms and turn to walk toward my bedroom, but my body freezes up when I see who it is that’s at the door.

Remington.

The blood in my veins turns to ice and I can’t get my stupid feet to move, it’s like they’re cemented into the floor or something. As soon as he spots me, his eyes turn from playful, a look I know all too well, to downright disgust and hate.

Why does he hate me so much?

I don’t understand, and still a part of me wants to. I want to go to him, wrap my arms around him and will him to tell me what happened. But I’m afraid, afraid of what he might do, and even worse how I might react.

We’re no longer best friends, were no longer anything, and that means there isn’t anything stopping him from hurting me. There are no lines, nothing to be crossed because in Remington’s mind everything is fair game.

He doesn’t care for a damn thing, which is so unlike him. It’s dangerous, and a game that I don’t want to play. Cally closes the door, and the tension in the room grows thick. I can taste it on my tongue.

I don’t think she knows what’s going on, and even though I should probably tell her, being she’s my roommate and all I know, it wouldn’t change anything. Remington Miller is a North Woods god, and I’m just some transfer without a name. She would probably kick me out of the house if he asked her to.

“I’m so happy you showed up. I was just going to start a movie, want anything to drink?” Cally asks, oblivious to the daggers he’s throwing at me. Somehow, I know this is bad, him knowing where I live, who my roommates are.

You’ll pay for this.

His words ring in my ears. I can still feel the venom in his voice, clinging to my skin. I’m a nobody in his world, a nobody at this college, and he’s a god with women throwing themselves at him and men wishing they could be him. Making me disappear wouldn’t be too hard. Destroying me even easier.