Beneath the bet

Chapter 1 - Charlotte

Why do women have periods? I said to myself as I waddled to the girls toilets. I rolled down my trousers and checked my underwear to see if I had leaked through. When I saw that there was no blood I was relieved. As I unlocked the door and stepped towards the sink I froze in my tracks as I saw a boy leaning against the wall taking hits off his vape. He looked quite handsome as he smirked at me and that's when I realised he was a part of Noah's friend group,the new kid from England.As he reached down to grab his blazer I reassured myself at the fact he is new and that he was in the wrong cubicle, not me I stared at him, speechless, trying to process why a guy from Noah's friend group, of all people, was in the girls' bathroom. My stomach churned, not from nerves but from that all-too-familiar wave of discomfort that came with my period. I wanted to just wash my hands, splash some water on my face, and get out of there without making this more awkward than it already was.

He noticed me standing there, clearly unsure of what to do. With a smirk still plastered on his face, he exhaled a cloud of vapour and leaned off the wall, walking toward me. "You lost?" he asked, his English Accent sharp and easygoing, like he didn't have a care in the world.

I tried to keep my composure, not wanting to seem intimidated, even though every inch of me screamed to flee. "No," I managed to say, my voice a little shakier than I would've liked. "You're the one in the wrong place. This is the girls' bathroom."

He looked around dramatically, like he was just noticing where he was. "Huh, so it is." He shrugged. "Guess I'll get out of your way." But instead of leaving, he walked past me and ran his hand under the cold water in the sink, flicking droplets onto the floor as he did. He didn't seem in a hurry to leave, which only made me more uncomfortable.

"You're Charlotte, right?" he asked, looking at me through the mirror with those annoyingly confident eyes. "I've heard about you. You're the brainiac captain of the mathletes."

I wanted to roll my eyes. It wasn't the first time someone had reduced me to just my academic achievements. "And you're...?"

He grinned wider. "Zach. Just transferred here. I guess you could say I'm part of Noah's crew now."

Of course he was. Just my luck. "Well, Zach," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt, "you should probably go before someone else walks in. I doubt they'd be as polite about you being here."

Zach finally stepped away from the sink, his hand still dripping water. "Sure thing, mathlete," he said with a wink. "But hey, don't let Noah get to you. You seem cool."

My brow furrowed as he headed for the door. Was that some kind of twisted compliment? I wasn't sure. But before I could figure out what to say, he was gone, leaving me standing there with my thoughts whirling. What did he mean by that? Was he messing with me? Was this some new tactic from Noah and his friends?

I took a deep breath, trying to shake off the encounter. Zach was just another guy who thought he could push people around like Noah did. And I was tired of people like them. My goal for today, as with every day, was simple: survive high school, avoid drama, and keep my head down.

But as I left the bathroom and made my way to the next class, something about Zach's smirk, and the way he didn't immediately join in on the bullying, lingered in my mind. Maybe he was different, or maybe I was just desperate to believe that someone—anyone—from Noah's world wasn't a complete jerk.

As I slid into my seat in maths class, Daniel gave me a quick glance from across the room. I shot him a reassuring smile, though I wasn't sure I believed it myself. If anyone noticed my mini freakout over a boy in the bathroom, it would be Daniel. He always had this sixth sense about me, especially when things were off. But for now, I didn't want to get into it. We had a mathletes meeting after school, and I needed to focus.

Still, something told me that Zach wasn't just going to fade into the background. He was new, and new kids never stayed under the radar for long in our school. The question was, how much trouble would he cause—especially now that he was linked to Noah and his crew?

Only time would tell. But for now, I had bigger problems: surviving another day of being Charlotte Thompson, the girl Noah Perez pretended not to know, while dealing with mathlete pressures, period cramps, and whatever chaos Zach was about to bring into my life.