Wanna Bet? (7 page)

“
We need you
to fill in for our dancer, she’s ill” Jeff smiles at me.

“
Come on
Brooke, what better way to say ‘fuck you’ to everyone than this?”
she asks, my attention is drawn to the door when I hear a familiar
voice, Jason strolls in with his arm over Cassie from my English
class.

“
OK, I’ll do
it” I nod at Jeff

“
Great because
your up what songs do you want?” he points to a curtained off area
behind us.

“
Umm Shakin
hands by Nickleback first of all and then Pour some sugar on me by
Def Leopard as the second one, I’
m only doing two and I need Sophie for the second
one.”

Jeff seems
pleased with my answer and heads off to the DJ while I make my way
behind the curtain, I’m stood on a small stage with a pole in the
middle of it, I’m just thinking that I might just kill Sophie when
she pops her head in the curtain.

“
Why didn’t
you tell me I had to dance around a pole?” I demand with my hands
on my hips

“
Don’t worry,
you’ll be fine, remember the last time, just do that again” she
insists with a small smile that makes me think she’s up to
something.

“
Fine but I
need you for the second one, just like last time”

“
No problem,
Matt will love it” she smirks at me and then disappears
again.

I take my
position as sitting in front of the pole with my legs straight out
in front of me and slightly thank the lord that I put a pair of
shorts on under my skirt before I left the dorm earlier. I keep my
head down as the first few notes of the song drift through me and
the curtain opens, keeping my head down I bring my feet up so my
knees are bend in front of my and lift my legs up in the air
hooking my feet around the pole, using my hands I spin myself
around, bring my legs down one at a time slowly and then standing
wrap my leg around the pole and then alternate between doing spins,
holding myself up and dancing around the pole, I keep my head down
the whole time and can only barely hear the music over the cheers
in the bar, soon enough the songs fades out and Sophie makes her
way on to the stage. Taking her position on the lower part of the
pole we both alternate between dancing around each other and the
pole during the second song, the cheers get louder every time me
and Sophie come into contact with each other, so far I have kept my
face hidden from the crowd and only through Sophie’s occasional
giggles can I assume that they are enjoying the entertainment we
are providing. “Jason’s watching, I don’t think he’s figured it out
yet” she says loud enough for only me to hear I shrug and do one
final twist down the pole as the song comes to an end.

Grabbing my
hand Sophie and I stand at the front of the stage, when I lift my
head to look at the crowd I am rewarded by a few dropped jaw
expressions from people who know me and can’t quite believe what
they are seeing. Looking down, Luke is stood with his arms wrapped
around Kate, they are both laughing at Adam stood next to them who
just keeps blinking at me.

Matt and Jeff
take a few steps forward both sporting shocked and impressed
expressions as they help us down from the stage.

“
Sophie, I
can’t believe you have kept this from me, why have you kept her
hidden?” Jeff demands looking at me as if I might disappear any
minute. Sophie just laughs at him and pats his chest.

“
She’s better
than our actual dancer” he says to her disbelievingly, he turns to
me looking suddenly serious “The job is yours” he states and start
taking some money out of his pocket.

“
Whoa” I hold
my hands up in front of myself to stop him “I don’t want a job, and
I definitely don’t want any money for what I just did”

“
Why the hell
not? You do realise that every guy in this bar is going to want to
buy you a drink, do you know how much you have just increased my
sales by?” he asks looking as though he can’t believe what he’s
saying.

I shrug at
him helplessly “I don’t want to get paid for it, I only did it for
fun, and I won’t be accepting drinks off anyone so if someone does
buy me a drink, just pour me water”

“
Hmmm smart
too huh” he appraises me.

“
I can’t
believe this is the same girl who has kept her head down for two
whole years, hardly spoken a word to anyone, is only ever seen
wearing clothes ten sizes too big for her and never goes out, and
you knew this whole time and no one ever suspected a thing” Matt
laughs through his words to Sophie.

“
This is the
real Brooke” Sophie says simply as Adam approaches up and wraps an
arm around me, I smile up at him.

“
You look a
little tense, I can help out with that” he says seductively to
me

“
How do you
plan on doing that?” I ask shyly

“
Sex”

“
Hmm would it
be good?” I ask biting my lip

“
It would be
amazing, I could make you forget everything, even your own name” he
assures me watching my lip.

I let out a
little moan “Could you make me scream?”

“
I can
guarantee to make you scream and worship gods you didn’t even know
you knew” he says quietly running his hand through my
hair

“
Would I be
satisfied after it?” I ask looking up at him through my
lashes

“
Baby I can
make sure you only have enough energy to sleep after it”

“
Would it last
long enough for you to take your time?”

“
I will go all
night”

I let out
another small moan and slowly drag my teeth along my bottom
lip
but then I shrug “You
know actually I think I just need a drink” I smile sweetly at
him.

His mouth
opens and closes a few time, letting me know he is a loss for words
and I can hear Luke, Kate, Jeff, Matt and Sophie laughing as he
walks away. I wink at them and let out a small laugh.

“
Told you that
the real Brooke is more entertaining” Sophie boasts to Matt who is
looking at me as if I have grown two heads.

“
I knew it
would be fun to wind him up” sigh happily.

“
We are going
to have the best year ever!” Sophie exclaims.

“
You’ve been
holding out on me
!” Tucker
complains, joining us, handing me a drink and closely followed by a
few of his friends. I look at the glass in my hand and back up at
him. “I bought it” he assures me; I look over to Matt who nods his
head at me and start drinking it. “So what was with the disguise?”
he asks keeping eye contact I notice.

“
Seriously? A
twenty
year old
v-“

“
Shy girl”
Luke cuts me off sending me a glare

“
Right ... a
twenty year old shy girl who happens to have extra curves in all
the right places surrounded by a hell of a lot of horny
guys”

“
You mean
you’re ....” Matt asks looking surprised enough for me to be
offended.

“
Uhh …. Yeah,
and no plans to change that in the immediate future”

“
I guess I can
see what you mean” Tucker agrees, I’m not sure if he caught my slip
up or not but before I have time to dwell on it one of his friends
steps forward and pulls me into a hug.

“
I’m Brad” he
says as if wrapping his arms around someone before he tells them
his name is normal.

“
Brooke” I
reply when he lets me go and takes a step back.

“
Hmmm … can I
have your number?” he asks me seriously.

“
It’s really
nothing personal it’s just that your ... you know, male” I sigh as
I watch him consider my words.

“
Oh, you mean
you …”

“
I like girls”
I confirm.

He watches me
suspiciously, and shakes his head to let me know he doesn’t believe
me. I turn to Sophie and raise an eyebrow at her.

“
You know you
probably don’t want to stay in the dorm tonight after all this,
don’t you” she mutters to me gesturing to Matt with her head I
smile sweetly at her as if I have no idea what she’s talking about
and pull her head towards mine and lean in for the
kiss
, before I have time to
pull away her tongue is sliding against mine, she lets out a little
moan and then I hear Matt groan behind me and catch on straight
away and play it up a bit, when we break apart after another minute
I notice all the guys are visibly swallowing and clearing their
throats.

“
Guess I need
to find a room to spend the night in” defeated I quickly run
through my options in my head.

“
You can stay
in my room tonight, my roommates gone home for a few days” Brad
offers.

“
That won’t be
necessary, Brookes coming home for the night”

If Sophie
wasn’t sending him open glares that promise death I never would
have believed that my step dad had just approached us.

“
What are you
doing here?” trying to keep my voice strong as I smile up at
him.

“
Your mom got
worried when you didn’t visit last weekend, asked me to come and
see you were ok
ay”

“
Oh” is all I
can reply not sure what he expects me to say really.

“
I’ll just go
get us a drink”

“
Umm …
actually I have one”

“
I insist” he
says tightly, his gaze clearly daring me to challenge
him.

“
You’re not
actually going to drink anything he gives you, right?” Sophie
whispers in my ear as we watch him make his way through the crowds
to the bar.

“
What do you
suppose I do? You know he’s going to be watching me like a hawk to
make sure I drink it”

“
He creeps me
out”

“
How am I
going to get out of this?” I
ask, keeping an eye on the bar and downing the drink Tucker
bought me.

“
Matt, is your
room empty tonight?” Sophie calls to him.

“
Uhh ... yeah”
he calls back turning from his conversation from Luke.

“
All we have
to do is figure out how to get you out of here now”

“
Give me an
hour so he doesn’t suspect anything and then distract him so I can
leave without him following me”

“
If you’re
sure” she asks dubiously.

I only nod to
her as my step dad returns to us handing me a drink.

“
Thanks”

“
I believe you
owe me a dance” Tucker interrupts us.

“
We’re having
a drink” Sam informs him not bothering to hide his
irritation.

“
You never
mention a boyfriend” he accuses me.

“
We’re just
friends” I smile up at him to distract him from glaring at
Tucker.

“
Well?” Tucker
asks watching us

“
Sure” I reply
then down my drink in three swallows trying not to think about
whatever he put in it, then putting the glass down I take his hand
and we head into the crowd of already dancing people.

“
Who’s the
guy?” Tucker asks as he puts my hands behind his neck and his own
rest on my hips.

“
That’s
Sam
, my step dad”

“
Seems like a
happy bloke” he notes

“
Yeah, he’s
just a big barrel of laughs”

“
So it took
you longer than I thought it would to stop hiding behind those
awful clothes” he smirks down at me taking me surprise I must
admit.

“
You knew?” I
ask trying and failing to keep the surprise from my
voice.

“
Please, give
me some credit”
he rolls his
eyes at me.

“
What gave me
away?”

“
Well for
starters, your neck is small, your wrists are tiny, and not
forgetting that first time I sat next to you in English and poked
you in the side, imagine my surprise when my finger went about
three inches into your top before I actually came into contact with
your side. Add that to the fact that I’ve seen you wear a seatbelt.
Oh and I saw you in your bikini on the beach last weekend while you
were running around chasing after a little boy.”

“
Guess I
didn’t realise that you would catch on” I mutter as I remember all
the times that I have given myself away, as we have become friends,
I seem to be doing the unconscious things that I do around
Sophie.

“
So what
happened?”

“
I broke up
with Jason when he told me fat girls are amazing in bed, I kind of
lost it and stripped in front of him”

“
Bet he loved
that” he nods at me as if the situation was completely normal, for
him it probably is.

“
Well yeah
until I walk
ed out on
him”

“
So no more
Jason?” he asks

“
Nope” I shake
my head to confirm it

“
Wrong here he
comes” I look to where he is gesturing with his head and sure
enough a drunk Jason is stumbling towards us.