Twice The Trouble

Chapter 77: Tarnished

Stacy

Murmurs. Whispers. They were all invading my ears as I entered my first classroom on that gloomy Thursday morning in early December.

Normally I was immune to people gawping and gawking in my direction. After all, I was the cover girl of Glam Magazine and Ortiz catalogues, two of the most popular fashion publications in both the Philippines and America.

But today felt different. The girls in my class kept shooting me acidic and venomous glares while the guys had the audacity to rake their eyes over my body, their lips curled into predatory grins.

A few rows back I could hear Alison,Barbie,and Heather barely containing their scathing voices.

I strained to eavesdrop while fixing my gaze on the lecture our professor was discussing.

"Girls, did you hear about Bryce and Scarlet breaking up?" asked Barbie.

Alison scoffed. "Of course I did. Question is, who dumped whom?"

"I heard through the grapevine that Bryce was the one who ended ties with her," piped Heather.

"Why am I not surprised?" Alison's voice was mocking. "Bryce always leaves his exes in tears."

Barbie hummed in agreement. "Some of the art majors have been digging up his old breakups. Did you hear about the 'Alpha-Bet'?" Her voice lowered, became quieter, but I could still listen in.

"Alpha-Bet?" echoed Heather. "How do you mean by that?"

"It's a bet he made with a friend in high school a few years ago--When Bryce was a freshman, one of his former classmates was jealous because Bryce was every girl's crush. So he issued a challenge: He dared.. no," Barbie mended herself. "He bet that Bryce couldn't date 26 girls before he became a college student. The bet was called 'Alpha-Bet' because each girl's name had to start with each letter of the alphabet. A, B, C, D, E up to Z. And to nobody's shock, Bryce won."

"Wow," Alison breathed. She actually sounded impressed. "What did he win from the bet?"

"I can't be sure. I think it was ten thousand dollars? You know Bryce is mega rich, so that kind of prize wasn't much to him. But his friend was also loaded, and he gave him the money, of course."

"It's unbelievable, isn't it?" Heather butted in. "Twenty-six girls."

Alison gave a cold laugh. "I believe it, with Bryce's looks and charms? Not much of a dare, really."

I didn't notice I had snapped my pencil in half even before the conversation ended.

Lunch time.

I was still smarting from the new piece of information I've garnered when suddenly..

"ACE!" Alexis Tan, a broadcast major and one of my exes came barreling down the hallway.

My sky blue eyes locked onto his dark brown ones. The tall, tan-skinned male stood before me.

And he was panting heavily, one hand clutching his broad chest. "Ace."

"There's something you have to see," said Alex,wheezing and breathless from the run.

My friends, Miles, Dylan, and Selena popped up around me after exiting our classroom.

"What's up, Alex?" Miles greeted him, but she was playing on her cellphone.

"Is he sweating? Uh, gross," said Selena as she took a step back from the good-looking teen.

Dylan covered a hand on his face,smiling in bemusement.