You can Bet on Me

Part 1 ~ The Bet

Maddison
As the oldest middle child of six, I was always more like a parent than Mum or Papa or even my oldest siblings Addison (yeah, our parents thought making our names rhyme would be cute) and Abagail. I took care of Danielle, Eleanor, and Sammy. I drove both Danielle and Eleanor to school, babysat Sammy while Addison and Abagail did who knows what, prepared lunch and breakfast for the younger siblings, and so much more.
Naturally, having to raise enough money to feed, house, and please five children (minus me because I can take care of myself, only me), Mum and Papa always stayed at work until late at night and left for work early in the morning before I could even wake myself up.
Today, we were running late. And not just late – super late. Of course, no one had bothered to wake me up – out of the five people who had been in the house awake at the time I was supposed to be woken up, not one of them thought to wake me up. Mentally cursing, I dragged my comb through my wavy light brown hair without bothering to tie it up and threw on a baggy shirt with a random pair of jeans before running downstairs, bursting into the kitchen where Abagail was sitting calmly on the couch looking at her phone in no apparent hurry while Danielle and Eleanor were sitting at the kitchen table with their hands coated in Nutella and the now empty Nutella container now lying discarded on the floor by their chairs.
I nearly shrieked in shock and terror, eventually devolving it to a brief squeak of distress.
Turning wildly to Abagail and Addison, I half-yelled, "how could you just be nearby when this happens and do absolutely nothing? This is an absolute mess!"
With her eyes still glued to whatever was on her phone, she replied nonchalantly, "so? I've got a date with this cute boy tonight, and I have more important things to do than that. Anyways, isn't that your job?"
No, it wasn't really. But they always made it seem like it, so it eventually became my job. Abagail said nothing but nodded in agreement with Addison. I glared at them one more time before turning back towards the mess and sighing.
"Hey, Eleanor, Danielle, do you two want a blueberry muffin for breakfast?" I ask, plastering a fake smile on my face that they were too young to understand.
Eleanor's glowing blue eyes instantly snapped up to me, her face eager. "Yes!"
"As long as you didn't use goat milk." Danielle added.
"I didn't," I promised as I opened a container to reveal four fat blueberry muffins with so much blueberry (Eleanor insisted) in it when I baked it that the entire muffin came out blue and purple. Putting them both on plates, Eleanor and Danielle had enough sense to wash their hands before I gave the muffins to them, and they both ate greedily.
"I'll pack the other ones for your lunches," I added. They nodded through a mouthful of crumbs and I laughed, popping a single slice of toast in the toaster. "Anyways, where's Sammy?"
"Mum signed him up for day care, remember?" Addison answered.
"Well, when will he be back?" Addison shrugged and I bit back a frown. Looking back at the mess on the kitchen table, I sighed and grabbed three paper towels, beginning to clean, while trying to one-handedly eat the fresh piece of toast that had decided to pop out from the toaster at that moment. It wasn't long before the blobby poop-coloured disastrous mess was gone and I threw away the paper towels. Danielle had finished her muffin and Eleanor was finishing the last crumbs of hers while I had long since finished my singular piece of toast.
Quickly throwing in a juice box, tub of yoghurt with a spoon, an apple, and a blueberry muffin in a container in each of their unicorn and flower lunchboxes, I zipped them both up and shoved it into their bags before holding it out to each of them.
"Thanks," Danielle flashed me a smile as she took her bag and Eleanor, being the younger, snottier, picker one, said, "did you pack me apple and mango juice instead of apple and black current? The apple and black current juice is so disgusting!"
Rolling my eyes, I replied, "yes, I did. Now get in the car!" I pinched the back of her neck lightly and she yelped as she scurried to put her shoes on.
By the time we got to the car, Danielle had already taken her seat in the back and Eleanor flung herself in after her, dropping her bag at her feet. Grinning victoriously, I got in the drivers' seat and twisted the ignition key forcefully, successfully starting my second-hand white (more like grey since it's so dirty) car as it shuddering to life. Adjusting the rear-view mirror, I pressed down on the acceleration pedal just as Danielle and Eleanor began arguing about if ponies or princesses were better.
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"And why are you late?" I winced at Mrs Harrington's tight, pinched voice and slowly turned around to look at her pinched face, making me imagine a shrivelled old prune that I had to work hard to erase from my mind before I started laughing aloud while I was being lectured.
"Err, family stuff." I replied noncommittally, melting into my seat by the window of the second row. She glared at me for a moment longer before scowling deeply and continuing to teaching her boring lesson. I found myself staring out the window at the unfortunate group who had Gym today outside playing soccer in the freezing cold while Mr Strait, our gym teacher, yelled at them from several thick layers of puffy jackets and sweaters to stop complaining about the cold.
It wasn't long before the bell rang for our second period of the day and everyone got up in a hassle, chatter already beginning to arouse.
Mrs Harrington may have been strict about attendance, but as soon as the bell rang and the class she was teaching was no longer her responsibility, all command and organization in the class would collapse and she would do absolutely nothing about it until her next class poured in. By the time we all spilled out into the corridors, all equally bustling to get to our next classes, the corridors had long-since been flooded and my once-hope of making it to my locker quickly after the period ended was diminished.
At my locker, my three best friends in the whole wide world, Vivienne, Cassie, and Hailey were waiting, chatting like they had all the time in the world.
"Hey," I breathed as soon as I got within hearing distance of them, clenching my books tightly to my chest as I got shouldered by the crowd. "Don't you guys have a class to get to?"
"Perks of having English," smirked Cassie. "Free periods to work on our upcoming essay."
"Lucky," I grumble, gritting my teeth and pushing past two people to get to my locker as I began fiddling around with the lock.
"What do you have?" asked Hailey awkwardly.
"Spanish," I reply, scowling. "And we've got a test. Woo, lucky me." I add sarcastically as I yank my locker open and pile my books in there, not caring to organize it as I took a lucky dip in my mess to find my Spanish textbook.
Vivienne grins and says, "don't feel bad. I've got Spanish as well, but I take it with Ms Bells, so we've also got a free period right now."
"Wow, real helpful, Viv." I reply sarcastically.
"No prob, I'm always here to help," Viv bats her eyelashes and smiles just as sarcastically as I had spoken before.
"Anyways, I got to run," I muttered as I finally drew the right book from my locker and slammed its door closed, latching the lock on in one smooth motion.
"'Kay," Cassie said, turning back around to talk to Hailey as I dashed down the hallway, checking the time on my watch as the sea of people in the corridors began to quickly part like Moses and the Red Sea for... the basketball team.
The basketball and cheerleading team of Liberty Academy are like gods – everyone wants to be them; everyone is in awe of them. Honestly though, they're just a bunch of jerks, flirts, and selfish brats that get handed whatever they want.
Scrunching my face in a scowl, I was forced by the receding crowd against a locker as the entire population of LA in the corridors moved out of the way as the basketball players and cheerleaders walked through. The cheer captain, Lisa, was clinging on tightly to her boyfriend, James, as if he would collapse to the ground if she let go. I rolled my eyes as a basketball captain winked at the girls pushed against the lockers to let their group pass, making the girls smile widely and bat their eyelashes flirtatiously.
Even after that, he had the audacity to grin and brush past them, his shoulder notably touching most of the girls' shoulder, making them sigh dreamily. I let out a loud huff and he turned to me. I quickly covered my mouth, but his eyes found mine and he slowly walked over to me.
"What, you jealous, baby girl?" he smirked.
"In your dreams," I snapped as he moved tactically closer. The basketball and cheerleading team had stopped for the cocky basketball captain now towering over me, some of the basketball players telling him to hurry up.
He ignored them, staring intensely into my eyes.
"Feisty," his lips turned up into a grin as he added, "I like it."
"No, you don't, and go away, creep." I pushed his chest away from me, begrudgingly admitting that he was in pretty good shape. Pretty good shape as in absolutely ripped.
"Playing hard to get?" he wouldn't give up.
"No, I've actually got a life to live unlike some people and I am not going to waste another second talking to a bimbo like you." I snapped back scathingly, brushing past him towards my classroom. To my relief, he didn't follow, and instead joined the rest of the basketball team.
"You've lost your touch, Michael." One boy laughed. I scowled as I pushed open the door.
"Maybe I have. Anyways, got to get to Spanish. Bye," my heart stopped when he mentioned Spanish, the class I was walking into. Damn... is there a possibility I won't get a detention if I skip Spanish now? I knew that I'd never actually do that – I was too good of a student to do that. Even a single detention could ruin my chances at a scholarship, and then, my family needed me to get a scholarship to a good school more than ever.
Grumbling, I sat down in my seat in the front row and took out my Spanish textbook. I tried not to notice as Michael noisily entered the room, many girls immediately sticking up to his side and some guys coming up to talk to him. When he sat down in the corner back seat, everyone else flocked to sit next to and around him, all still talking to him.
No one was in their seats except me and Michael – everyone was flocked around him while I sat quietly in my seat, only thinking one thing: this guy is trouble.
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