Hope

2

Brooke's POV

"Cough it up love." Effy came over to me in the school hallway, her hand stretched out towards me.

"Huh?" I looked at her confused. "Cough what up?"

"£20."

I was still confused. It had been a couple weeks since we'd made the bet and I hadn't really thought much about it.

"Oh shit!" I suddenly clicked. "He actually said yes?!" I couldn't believe it.

Liam had said yes to Prom. With me. He'd said yes to going to Prom. With me. Was he ok? I knew he'd only agreed so that he could be there with Effy but still, he knew he was technically going to have to go with me and he agreed to it.

"I don't believe you." I narrowed my eyes at her.

Effy, having known me for a very long time, knew I wouldn't have believed her so had already gotten proof via a Facebook message off him that he had said yes. Ok so I guess I had to believe her.

"Frankie guess what! Liam said yes to Brooke. They're going to Prom. I met up with him this weekend, you know to talk about us and stuff and that's when I asked him and he said yes." Effy explained as Frankie made her way over.

"Yay! This is so exciting!" Frankie practically squealed. "This is gonna be so fun, all of us going to Prom together."

The two girls seemed more excited than me. In fact they were definitely more excited. I, on the other hand, was dreading it. This meant I actually had to go to Prom now. I had to find a dress and buy tickets and you know, actually leave my house and the comfort of my bed. This was not appealing to me at all.

"Tell us what you and him spoke about, you know, regarding you two." I said to Effy, evidently changing the subject.

"Oh, we just said that we both still liked each other and we're considering giving it another go, but didn't want to rush into anything this time." She shrugged. "So I don't know, I guess I'll see where it goes from here."

"I mean, fair play Eff, for pulling him. He's fucking beautiful I won't deny that. But do you know how awkward it's gonna be if I'm going to Prom with the person that could be your boyfriend by then?" I questioned, the thought of it making me feel more and more uncomfortable.

"Brooke, chill. I'm more than ok with it. It's gonna be great. Now, tonight we're all going Prom dress searching." Effy announced.

Frankie's eyes lighting up as mine simultaneously rolled into the back of my head. Kill me. Kill me now.

Weeks went by. Prom and exams approaching quicker than I'd have liked. We'd all found dresses for it and to me, that was the deciding the factor. I had the dress so now I definitely couldn't back out.

Things seemed to be going well with Effy and Liam and Frankie was getting closer to her prom date. A guy we'd all known from primary school who now had an obvious crush on Frankie and after encouragement from Effy and I had eventually asked her to be his date.

I, of course, was talking to no one. My feelings for Liam still growing in the darkness and as far as I was aware that's exactly where they were staying.

We were sat in Frankie's room revising when we heard a quiet sniffle come from the corner Effy was sat in.

"What's wrong Eff?" I asked.

She looked away from her phone, wiping a small tear that had fell.

"Err, Liam and I aren't getting back together." She smiled softly, obviously trying to hide the fact she was hurt. "He said he thinks we're better off as friends since we've split up so many times before and I don't know, I agree I guess, just hurts you know."

We pushed our revision to the side and went to comfort Effy.

"Are you gonna stay friends with him?" Frankie asked.

Effy nodded, "yeah, we've always been good friends regardless, that won't change. And it's not changing Prom either." She smiled at me, although that wasn't really on my mind at that moment.

A couple weeks later and I'm sitting in my room revising once again when my phone alerts me that I have a text. It read:

Code red!

From Effy

Code red meant I had to ring her immediately because whatever she had to say was beyond important, so I did.

She answered the phone without even saying 'hello' instead jumping straight to it.

"Liam and Milly are together! As in Facebook official." She informed me although she didn't sound mad. Just shocked I guess.

I instantly went onto his account and there it was. Milly was part of our 'squad', someone I'd seen and spoke to a few times. A nice girl.

"You ok?" I asked Effy.

"Yeah I mean, I'm kinda over him to be honest. We are better off as friends. I'm happy for him." She sounded genuine, which was good. I don't think I'd have coped with her going ape shit.

I, on the other hand, was gutted. Although I've said I'd never have a chance with him, knowing he was now off the market made my heart drop slightly. Milly was lucky, very lucky. She was getting to call him hers. I was jealous. And I hate being jealous.