Computers, Basketball and Love

Chapter 17

The next day everyone met for breakfast like they always did. Before the guys left the dorms for the cafeteria Nik had told them that he would try to get Cora to leave first so that the rest of them could talk about the beauty contest without her being there.

The guys and Cory got lucky, Cora's roommates sat down a bit before Cora did so Cory told them, "There is something we want to talk to you guys about. But it has to be after Cora leaves." The girls agreed without hesitating.

Once Cora was done eating Nik did what he said and they left first. Once they were gone Cory told the girls, "Us guys have a plan but Cora can't find out. Nicole, you entered Cora last year in the beauty contest. This time I am doing it. Zack took a picture of her that will be perfect."

Nicole asked them, "What picture is it? I want to see it."

Zack pulled out his phone and pulled up the picture they were talking about. It was her standing on the stage at the banquet. It was taken after they had called her onstage for winning the 1v1 tournament.

When the girls saw it they couldn't believe what they were seeing. In the picture she was absolutely stunning. None of them had expected to ever get the chance to see her dressed to the nines like this.

"Oh my goodness..." Hannah said in awe.

"Is this really her? I can't believe it," Sarah said.

"Heck, I have been her friend since the beginning of high school and I can't believe it. I am so jealous. You three got the chance to see her like this in person," Nicole told them.

"When they start letting people enter the beauty contest I will enter her. Zack said that if I needed help with anything he would help me."

Hannah told him, "If there is anything we can help with just let us know."

"There shouldn't be anything. We just have to make sure she doesn't find out...At least until it's too late for her to do anything about it."

Once they all agreed to the plan they all went about their days. They all had classes to go to, it was the first day of classes. The rest of their day was just like any other day they were at college.

The guys didn't make it to the cafeteria for lunch since they were busy with other things. And the girls hadn't really talked much since they got back to college. They had been too busy so far to see how each other's summers had been.

It was Sarah who said to Cora, "I get the feeling that your summer was probably the most interesting so why don't you tell us about it?"

Cora knew that they were going to ask about her summer. "Well you would be right. My summer was definitely interesting. In some ways it was too interesting. So in the game I won the singles tournament and Nik and I won the couples one. That weekend after we finished the tournaments Nik came and spent the day with me. He met my mom before he left that day. That didn't go well."

"What? Your mom didn't like him? He is such a gentleman. How could she not like him?" It was Hannah who asked.

"You misunderstand. It wasn't bad because she didn't like him. It was bad because she told him that I am not good enough for him. She told him that he would be better off if he found someone better than me."

Sarah and Hannah were completely stunned. They had never met her mom so they didn't know what she was like. "Please tell me your kidding. Your mom is really like that? How can she feel that way about her own daughter?"

"She has always been that way toward Cora. She would much rather not have had Cora," Nicole explained.

"Anyway after Nik left she said somethings that were even worse than what she said while he was there, so I stayed the night at Cory's house. Then the next day all of the guys and Nicole helped me pack all of my things. Then I went to stay with Josh, Zack and Fred. They rent a house here with Nik. Nik spent the summer with his parents in Denver so I stayed in his room with the guys."