I did as he said with shaky hands. The first thing I saw when I opened the app was a pinned post outlining a school-wide scheme.
A wave of horror washed over me as I read the details of the scheme. There was an open prize pool that students had been donating to over the last few weeks, currently amounting to $84,575. Whoever tricked me into falling for them first would be awarded every cent once they ‘proved’ my affections by sleeping with me.
I scrolled through the comments below the post, unable to tear my eyes away. Most of them were horrible.
Who the fuck is actually giving money to this? You’re basically paying for the chance to catch herpes and syphilis lol.
It wouldn’t be hard to make her fall in love with me, but there’s no way I’m doing it. Imagine having that trash following you around like a puppy dog all day haha I’d literally rather die
I wouldn’t fuck her for a million bucks. Count me out.
Really?? I’d eat her ass for free
I’m down too. She might be trash but she’s hot. Plus we all know crazy girls are the best in bed.
True. I heard her dad isn’t around, btw. So she probably has major daddy issues, and we all know daddy issues = amazing at fucking and sucking
Isn’t this bitch already getting passed around town? I heard she tag-teams George Kingsley with her mom hahaha
The walls of Nate’s bedroom seemed to be caving in around me. I tried to catch my breath, but it felt like I was choking.
“Why… I don’t…” I couldn’t get any more words out. I stumbled backward and sank down on the bed, mind still whirling with horror.
“You were blocked from seeing the post. That’s why you never got a notification about it,” Jax said. “Erin was blocked too, so she wouldn’t find out and tell you.”
That meant everyone else at school knew. They’d spent the last few weeks laughing at me behind my back and pretending to be friends with me so I wouldn’t catch on to the awful truth. All those guys who flirted with me tonight were part of it, along with the guys who’d asked me out over the last few weeks. None of them really wanted me. They just wanted to claim me along with the prize money.
I looked at Nate. “That’s why you were trying to film us,” I said in a hollow voice. “So you could prove you hooked up with me.”
“Kinsey, IswearI wasn’t doing that,” he said softly, eyes wide and filled with concern. He sat down on the bed, scooted as close as possible and slung an arm around my shoulder. “Seriously, I really like you. Tonight had nothing to do with the Dirt post.”
I shook his arm off. “If you actually liked me, you would’ve told me about the post.”
“No shit,” Jax muttered, eyes still lingering on me.
“Look, I couldn’t tell you about it because I knew it would upset you,” Nate said, tentatively rubbing my leg. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Oh, come on!” I said, jerking away from him again. “I can’t believe you actually think I’d fall for that!”
“It’s understandable,” Jax said. “I mean, you fell for the rest of his lines, didn’t you?”
I glowered at him, hating that he was right. I’d fallen for Nate’s simpering nice-guy bullshit hook, line, and sinker. It made me feel so goddamned naïve. Sostupid. I could practically hear my grandmother’s voice chiding me, saying ‘That’s why you always make men wait at least three months before you even think about jumping into bed with them, sweetheart! You have to weed out all the bad ones who are just pretending to be nice guys!’
The more I considered it, the worse I felt. The thought of how close I came to having sex with Nate made me feel sick and strangely violated. Even though I was undeniably willing to do it earlier, I only chose to do so because I didn’t know the truth about the horrible prize pool. If I did, I would’ve made a very different choice.
Jax looked at Nate and clicked his tongue behind his teeth; a teasing sound when paired with the slight smirk playing on his lips. “Hey, man, at least Kinsey didn’t find out about your little archery scheme,” he said. He cocked his head. “Wait. Shit. Did I just say that out loud?”
I swallowed hard. “What archery scheme?”
“You fucking moron,” Nate said, glaring up at Jax. “Why can’t you just shut your fucking mouth?”
“Whatever, man. She already knows you were faking all of this,” Jax replied, casually waving a hand around the bedroom. “Might as well tell her the whole truth now.”
“What truth?” I asked, springing to my feet again. “Just fuckingtell me!”
“Nate set up that whole thing in your archery class to get close to you. He got Bobbi and Cerina to help him plan it,” Jax said. “Bobbi volunteered to pick up the arrows on the break, and then she hid behind one of the targets so you couldn’t see her. Then Nate told you to start shooting again. That way he could stand up for you and take the blame when you got in trouble. After that, you were bound to see him as your knight in shining armor and fall right into his arms.”
Hot tears stung at my eyes, threatening to spill out at any moment. “Is that true?” I asked, looking at Nate. “You went to that much effort to make me like you just so you could hook up with me for some prize money? Money you don’t evenneed.”