Chapter 1 ~ The Bet

“Chris, we all know that you can’t get a date. Face it. You blew it back there with the cashier.” Greg said as they left the restaurant. “Oh, and you’re Mr. Smooth?” Chris asked. “Yep. Damn straight I am. I can get anyone to fall ‘in love’ with me.” Greg said proudly, using little quotation marks. “Okay then, let’s make a bet. You have to get a girlfriend and stay together for a year.” Chris said slowly as he thought it out. “Fine, not too hard.” Greg said as he started to search for a girl. “Wait! I get to pick her. Plus, you not only have to stay together for a year, but you also have together to tell you that she loves you.” Greg thought about it. “Deal.” He said as he stuck his hand out to do a handshake.

I just sold my soul to the devil; I can’t ever keep a girl for more than 3 months…

“Aunt Cindy, I need a job.” Rae said as she sat down to talk to her guardian. “I know sweetie. Hey! The place I work for just fired their employee for the front desk. Why don’t you see if you can do it? All you have to do is take calls and direct them, have people sign in and out of the building, and make sure that no fans get inside.” Rae thought about it. It didn’t seem too hard. “Okay. It sounds like a good summer job. Let’s see if they’ll take me.”

~~~~~ The next day ~~~~~

“Rae, let’s go!” Cindy called up the stairs. “Coming Aunt Cindy!” Rae called as she ran down the stairs. “Are we going to get lunch in the city?” she asked as she reached the bottom. “Yeah. We’re going to be in the city the whole day.” Cindy replied. “Alright, let me go get my pills then.” Rae said as she ran into the kitchen to grab her daily pills and put them in her pill bottle in her bag.

Cindy didn’t understand Rae sometimes. She never had any friends over, never went out with a group of friends or had a boyfriend. She did get out of the house often though. She normally was at the pool building her endurance or at the library getting books. If she wasn’t there, she was either at the gym, track, or at the beach. As a young girl, she had thick blonde hair. Now, her hair was stringy. Cindy suspected that that was because of her meal style. When she was 7, she had asked where meat came from and her mother told her that it came from animals. Since Rae was always outside doing something, or playing with an animal, she started to cry and refused to eat meat, fish, and poultry. She never wore leather or even fake fur. Rae was one of the skinniest girls that Cindy had seen. She knew that Rae had a hard time getting along with most girls because they thought that she was anorexic. Rae had only moved in a month ago after her parent’s death. Cindy’s thoughts were stopped when Rae walked in and tugged her sleeve. “C’mon Aunt Cindy. I don’t want to be late for my interview.”

~~~~~ In the car ~~~~~

“So, school’s starting soon. Do you want to go shopping for some new clothes?” Cindy asked.

“Sure, that sounds great.” Rae lied. It didn’t sound great. She wanted her mom to be there with her while she shopped.

Cindy knew that Rae was lying, but she did need some new clothes and she needed a new ‘look’. Cindy glanced over at her niece and saw the plain white T-shirt and the faded cut off shorts that Rae had made but cutting the legs off of some old jeans. She saw her long, stringy hair pulled up in a loose pony tail and thin baby blue flip flops on her feet. She noticed the blue and white shoulder bag filled with books on the ocean, but most of all; she noticed how thin Rae was. It couldn’t be healthy to be that skinny she thought. The move for Rae had been hard. Before she moved to Long Island, she had lived on a small farm in Iowa. “Well, we’re almost there. You ready?”

“Yeah, I just hope that I get it.” Rae said in a daydream. The summer was almost over and all she wanted was to be back on her farm, riding her horse, Shadow.

A few minutes later, Cindy and Rae walked into the Edel studio in NYC. They went up to the office director, Mr. Peterson, office and went right in. “Why hello Cindy.” Mr. Peterson said. Cindy was his secretary and personal assistant. “Hello Mr. Peterson. This is Rae, my niece that I was telling you about last night.” Mr. Peterson stroked his chin as he tried to remember what she had said, but he only remembered parts of it.

17 years old… orphaned… good worker… vegetarian… needed a job

“Ah yes. Well if you’ll excuse us Mrs. Reynolds, I’m going to talk to Rae for a few minutes.” he said politely. “Certainly Mr. Peterson. When you’re done, just come outside. I’ll be at my desk Rae.” Cindy said as she walked out of the room. “Alright Aunt Cindy.”

“Please sit down Rae. I just want to get to know you before I make any decisions. From what I’ve heard about you from your aunt, you seem perfect for the job.”

Chris and Greg walked into the Edel building and went to talk to Mr. Peterson. “Hello boys.” Cindy said when she saw them. “Hi Cindy.” they said in unison. “Wait, Mr. Peterson is a little busy right now, but if you wait a few minutes, he can see you.” she said. “Okay.” Chris said as he took a seat on one of the benches. Five minutes later, a tall, extremely skinny girl. Chris gave her a once over. She seemed okay. She wasn’t the prettiest girl that he had seen, but her eyes were what drew him to her. She had large blue eyes with flecks of green and grey in them. She was dressed in a white T- shirt, blue flip flops, faded cut off shorts, and had a blue and white shoulder bag. He leaned over to Greg and whispered. “That’s her.” Greg looked at Chris like he had grown a second head. “Huh?” he asked confused. “That’s the girl that you have to date.” Chris said with an evil grin.