Nate's POV
" Yo man! Are you seeing this?!" Zach said excitedly as he walked to me holding can drinks.
" The crowd is wild. Tory's a fucking genius" Jake said from behind Zach and then stood in front of me, Victor did the same. I had apologized to them - in my own way and invited them to my stepdad's funeral but they didn't show up. Since then they've been avoiding me.
" So you're talking to me now?"
" Nate, look, we're sorry. Rex somehow convinced us not to go but recently, we've been thinking about it and it was wrong of us. You've changed - we can see that" Jake said.
" Don't tempt me, I'm still a jerk." I said drinking the soda.
" Sure, but you're better than before and we can work with that," Victor said.
" What we can't work with is Rex's sudden mean behavior. He's agitated half the time and we think he's into some shady deal"
My brows lifted in surprise before I laughed out loud.
" Oh, Rex is in some shady deal? Tell me something that can actually be true" I said sarcastically. The last thing I wanted them to be involved in was anything that had to do with Rex or big D.
" Whatever man. You ready to see who your girlfriend for today is?"
" Jake, should your name even be on the wheel when you have a girlfriend?" Zach asked and Jake laughed.
" It is if she's gonna be spinning the wheel"
" Well it's a crazy crowd, I can't even make out who some of these people are," Victor said as he passed his hands through his afro.
" There's a separate wheel for them, they're using numbers," Zach said with a smirk.
" Smartass girl, so the guys who aren't from our school get numbers - good one," Victor said as he watched Tory, dressed in a very sexy red off-shoulder gown that stops just above her knee, revealing her long sexy legs. Her hair was perfectly wavy and sleek and her skin glowed in the sun as she answered the reporter currently questioning her.
Mr. Jenkins decided to have the whole thing broadcasted live - show off. I looked away and my eyes immediately fell on Rex as he motioned to me to come over.
" See you guys later, gotta talk to that asshole," I said and they just nodded as they headed for where most of the crowd was standing across the platform with the word Date-A-Thon boldly designed on a banner above the platform.
" Sup McClain!" He said casually and I glared at him.
" What? At least I didn't call you bro"
" What do you want?"
" Dad's gotten impatient. He wants your answer now"
" Excuse me?"
" Yeah, it's been two weeks, he's starting to think you're cooking up something." He said cringing a little before he walked over to buy a cotton candy from the cotton candy section of the event center and came back to meet me, eating it with Glee.
" He gave me a month!"
" Yeah, now it's two weeks and he's bored"
" Remember, either you join or he kills Tory. I don't even see what's so hard here, you don't want Tory to die do you? So just come with us."
His phone rang as I racked my brain thinking about what to do.
" Look, if you agree to come with us, I could convince dad to let you have two weeks to be with Tory, I know you'd love that. I'll break up with her and you can have her" he said with a smirk when he saw that his offer had piqued my interest.
His phone rang again and he picked it up after groaning for a very long time.
" Dad, what's up? Right, he wants to talk to you" he said handing me the phone.
" Hello," I said with a sigh.
" What's your answer?" He asked simply.
" Look, I can't come with you. I can't throw my life away just because you think you own me!"
" Then I'll give the order to Rex to kill Tory."
" I already told the police about your plan so forget it. They're all over the place, you can't touch her." I lied and Rex rolled his eyes.
" Rex doesn't have to touch her, he just has to shoot her, and if somehow he's apprehended my other guys over there will shoot her and the whole party crashes as well as the happy ever after you're trying to have with that girl because Rex doesn't miss, neither do the men I have there right now."
I scratched thinking about what I would do. If I say yes, they'll spare Tory's life and I'll never see her again but if I say no, she'll be dead.
" I can talk to Dad for you, say yes and I'll break up with Tory and she'll be yours for two weeks before you go" Rex whispered to me.
I knew the answer I had to give and I knew I had no choice.
**********
Tory's POV
" Oakwood high are you ready?" The MC yelled and the crowd yelled " yeah!"
" This is the maiden edition of the Date-A-Thon organized by the staff and management of Oakwood high school as well as the student's committee and this was all the idea of a wonderful young lady - give it up for Victorya Williams!"
Everyone clapped and cheered, I could see Joanne and Janelle as well as my sisters clapping as I and the rest of the members of the committee stood on the platform beside Mr. Jenkins.
" So let's go guys form a line. Girls from Oakwood go this way, visiting girls - our guests go the other way. Wow, that's a long line, I don't think the guys are gonna go round" the young man said as he pointed at the line for the visiting girls and we laughed.
" What are you gonna do about that? " He said looking at Mr. Jenkins who just smoothly removed the white cloth covering the wheel for those with numbers and the people clapped.
" I think we've got from number one to seventy-six covered on the wheel." He said causing more cheer.
" Alright, we're gonna let them go so that we can start." He said and I got down from the platform and spotted Rex. He looked handsome in white sleeves and jeans.
" Hey Tory"
" Hey, I see you're ready to talk to me now but the fundraiser is about to start now."
" What I have to say won't take a minute." He said as he stopped me from getting in line.
" What is it?"
He licked his lips and then a frown formed on his face as he said " I'm breaking up with you"
" What??"
" Look, I'm not feeling this anymore. Plus I've been cheating on you with Isabella"
He said it so easy as though he was talking about the weather, there was no sign of remorse in him. How could he say that to me? Even if he wanted a break up he didn't need to tell lies about it!
" You can't be serious Rex, you can't"
" I'm sorry Tory but, I've got what I want now and I have you to thank for that."
I looked at him in confusion and he rolled his eyes. He rolled his eyes!!
" I used you to get Isabella back. Sorry." He said before he walked away.
" Tory! Aren't you coming?" Rachel asked enthusiastically and I ran off to the ladies room to cry my eyes out.
" Tory, where are you-" I heard Janelle ask before I ran off into the ladies' room and shut the door, crying bitterly like a child.
" Tory!" Rachel yelled as she banged on my stall but I ignored her, I ignored them for a very long time as I cried my eyes out.
Rex just broke up with me and it hurt so bad because I never expected this. I don't even deserve what he did to me! I thought he was my true love, where did I get it wrong with him?
" What are you doing here?" I heard Joanne's defensive voice say.
" I need to talk to her" I heard Nate's deep voice say, that just made me sob a whole lot more.
" She doesn't need your type!"
" Joanne, let's go. We've been here for a while, maybe she'll listen to him" Rachel said and I heard them leave.