Foolish Games Read online

  "I’m sorry Nick." Jessie said covering his hand with hers. She really was genuinely sorry but couldn’t help but think ‘Darn!’. Now how the hell am I going to get that ring if he never takes the damn think off!

  She shook her head trying to erase the thought and suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of guilt of what she was doing to him, which was deceiving him. And sooner or later, the truth was going to come out whether she liked it or not!

  CHAPTER 11

  "Thank you all for coming today." Britney shouted to the room of pledges. "I know this meeting is kind of sudden and you all have things to do, but I needed to get an update on how things are going with that." She proceeded on going to each pledge

  What the hell am I going to do now? Jessie thought, there was no way she could get that ring away from Nick.

  Britney was finally talking to Erica.

  “Here ya go!" Erica said a huge smile on her face, "Mission completed!" she handed the package over to Britney.

  Britney took out the pictures and looked them over. A slow smile spreading across her over made up face.

  "Well,well,well..." she said, "These are very.. interesting!"

  "You can say that again!" Erica stated.

  "How’d you do it?" Britney asked putting the pictures away. These could be used for some serious blackmail! She thought with a mischievous glint in her blue eyes. And Erica wasn’t stupid. She kept the negatives and made a copy of the pictures for her own keeping.

  "Let’s just say I have my ways." Erica said slyly.

  "So what’s going on between you and lover boy?" Britney asked turning to Jessie.

  "Umm... not much. You see, it’s like this." Jessie began and then filled them in on why she couldn’t get Nick’s ring.

  "Oh. That’s just too bad." Britney said, not looking the least bit sympathetic. "I guess that means you won’t be able to get in them."

  "What?!" it was Erica who cried out, "Hey! That’s not really fair! I mean, can’t you find something else for her to do?"

  Britney touched her chin lightly with her index finger as if in thought.

  "I don’t know..."

  "It’s okay. I don’t really have to-" Jessie began but was immediately cut off by Erica.

  "Yes you have to get in! I want you with me! Besides, you promised!" Erica said looking pointedly at her so-called best friend.

  "Okay fine. Well?" Jessie asked turning to look at Britney.

  "Hold on a sec. I’ll be right back." Britney said leaving them to speak to a group of three girls who were assumed to be members of the sorority already. As Britney spoke, Jessie saw the girls turn to look in their direction.

  "I don’t like the way those girls are looking at me." Jessie told Erica.

  "Would you relax. They’re girls for Heaven’s sake!" Erica returned.

  "That’s what I’m worried about!" Jessie said but quickly shut up as she saw Britney returning. Erica chuckled at her friend’s comment.

  "Okay, I’ve been conversing with my friends over there and we came up with an alternative." Britney said.

  "Well?"

  "Well since you didn’t finish your original ‘Mission’, the stakes are a little bit higher in this one." Britney said.

  "Okay, okay, get to the point already!" Erica said impatiently, "Just tell her what she has to do and she’ll do it!"

  "Okay, to get in, you have to get Nick Thorne to sleep with you." Britney said as if it were as easy as drinking a glass of water.

  Erica covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from laughing out loud while Jessie was too shocked to speak.

  "You’re kidding right?" Jessie said after a few moments when words were finally able to leave her mouth.

  "Actually, we’re very serious." Britney said trying to keep a straight face and failing. She knew Jessie would think that they meant sex when she just meant "sleep’ literally. I mean it wasn’t her fault if she misunderstood.

  "But you said I wouldn’t have to do anything like that!" Jessie said recalling the first time she met Britney.

  "Okay so I lied. When it comes to getting into the most popular sorority on campus, anything goes!" Britney said.

  "I don’t know if I can do this." Jessie said shaking her head at them.

  "Of course you can!" Britney said.

  "But why?" Jessie asked, "Of all the million and one things to do in this world, did you have to choose this?"

  "It’s pretty simple. We find the stuff that bothers you the most, and push you in that direction. In your case it’s Nick. It’s hard for you because you’re afraid to get close to him." Britney explained.

  "Who told you that and what makes you think i’m afraid of him?" Jessie asked defensively.

  "As I said before, I have my sources."

  "I’m beginning to hate that." Jessie muttered under her breath.

  "What was that?" Britney asked.

  "Oh nothing!" Jessie said quickly.

  "Jessie, Nick’s one of the hardest guys to get and he’s showing an interest in you so that should make things easy." Britney said then added, "You have until the end of the month."

  That gave Jessie a little over two weeks. Britney started to leave but then stopped again, "Oh and Jessie we’ll know if you’re lying so try not to okay?"

  Jessie gave her a hard look and Erica swore if looks could kill, Britney would have been dead the moment Jessie set eyes on her. Jessie’s gaze shifted then since now she had much bigger things to worry about.

  CHAPTER 12

  "An F!" Jessie cried looking at her report.

  The bell rang then. The teacher finished handing out the reports and the class was dismissed. As the students filed out, Jessie went up the teacher hoping to get an explanation on her grade.

  "Mrs. Wilson?"

  The teacher looked up at the sound of Jessie’s voice.

  "Can I help you Ms. Andrews?"

  "Yes, i’d like to inquire about my grade on my report." Jessie said as politely as she could, when inside she was fuming.

  "Yes, what about it?" Mrs. Wilson asked taking off her thick glasses and looking at Jessie.

  "Don’t you think I deserve more than an F? I mean I worked really hard on this report and-"

  "Ms. Andrews, that report of yours showed lack of work and thought. To be honest, I found it boring and poorly written."

  Jessie could only stand there and gape at her. Was this woman serious? She really worked hard on this report and Mrs. Wilson thought that it lacked thought and was poorly written?!

  Jessie turned on her heel and stalked out of the classroom.

  Teenagers today! Mrs. Wilson thought resuming her work.

  "....and to make things worse, I got an F in my English report!" Jessie finished.

  She was telling Erica about her day as they walked through the campus to go to the library.

  "That’s not very surprising." Erica said with a shrug of her shoulders.

  "What do you mean? I’m usually a straight ‘A’ student, but ever since I came here my grades seem to be falling somehow." Jessie stated.

  "Look, it’s not you okay?" Erica told her friend reassuringly, "Mrs. Wilson is one of those teachers who just has a miserable life and makes all her students’ lives miserable by giving them bad grades."

  "But that’s not fair!" Jessie exclaimed. She couldn’t believe she was going to fail English just because her teacher had a miserable life!"

  "Life ain’t fair sweetie!" Erica said.

  "Okay fine. Now explain my other grades." Jessie said.

  "Now that, I don’t know." Erica replied.

  "My father is going to kill me if my grades don’t improve by the end of the month at least!" Jessie said rubbing her forehead.

  ‘That’s why you should be thankful that i’m getting you into Phi Alpha Beta!" Erica pointed out, "Sororities look really good on your record you know."

  "Oh yeah. Phi Alpha Beta." Jessie repeated. She had been thinking about giving up on Phi Alpha Beta since t
here was no way on this earth she was going to sleep with Nick just to get into some sorority, no matter how popular. But now.. she was thinking twice.

  "You weren’t thinking about quitting were you?" Erica asked when she noticed the uncertain look on Jessie’s face.

  "Ummm..no..I-"

  "Jessie, I admit that them asking you to get Nick to sleep with you is a bit extreme but-"

  "A bit? Excuse me? I’m not one to involve myself in casual sex anywhere I go!" Jessie stated.

  "Okay, Okay!" Erica said putting up her hands defensively, "Boy, this really has you upset doesn’t it? Why? Are you a virgin or something?"

  Erica had just wanted to tease her, but the look on Jessie’s face made her raise her eyebrows in disbelief.

  "Wait, you are?"

  "Look it doesn’t matter okay. If this is what I have to do to get in then I’ll do it!" Jessie said ignoring the question.

  "Even if it means losing your virginity against your will?" Erica asked her.

  "Well, what am I supposed to do?!" Jessie asked her, "I need this and it’s the only way in!"

  Erica sighed. She felt sorry for Jessie. But she knew for Jessie to do this, she had to be really desperate.

  CHAPTER 13

  Jessie had been pacing her room for the past half hour thinking about what her next move was. She finally decided that the next best thing to do would be to ask Nick out herself since she hadn’t heard from him and she knew she couldn’t waste any time. She only had a few weeks again. She picked up her cordless phone and sat on her bed cross-legged.

  "Hello?

  "Nick?" She asked cautiously.

  "Yeah." He replied.

  "Hi it’s Jessie."

  "I was just thinking about calling you!" Nick said. She could hear the smile in his voice. Yeah well you should have stopped thinking and actually done it! She thought, but didn’t feel like voicing her thoughts.

  "I wanted to know if you wanted to go out again? Maybe to a movie or something?" she asked.

  "Or something?" Nick replied.

  "Huh?"

  "How about I pick you up at seven tonight and we can go out to dinner?" Nick suggested.

  "Great. I’ll see you tonight." Jessie returned.

  "Bye."

  She hung up the phone with a satisfied smile.

  Jessie was just slipping on her shoes when the doorbell rang. Her father was actually home so she figured he would answer it. Jessie brushed out her hair, took a final look at herself in the full-length mirror before descending the stairs.

  She met Nick in the living room talking to her father. Oh no! Jessie thought hoping her father was trying to scare him off. They were both smiling so she took that as a good sign.

  Nick heard Jessie some into the room and looked in her direction. His eyebrows raised and his jaw dropped.

  Jessie was dressed in a dark green halter top which showed off her flat stomach perfectly and a long, matching green skirt , which had a slit up her right leg to the thigh. She was oblivious to the fact that green was Nick’s favourite colour, but the look on Nick’s face told her that her efforts were not in vain.

  "You..you look.." Nick stuttered kissing her cheek.

  "Beautiful." Her father finished with a smile. "You know, being a father, I shouldn’t let you leave the house dressed like that."

  "But dad, there’s nothing wrong with what i’m wearing." Jessie protested.

  "I know. I just never get to say that and you’re my only daughter so I thought I’d seize the moment." Her father responded, "Besides, I trust Nick."

  "You do?" she asked looking quizzically at Nick then back at her father.

  "Yeah I do. We had a nice chat while you were upstairs."

  Nick tried to stifle a laugh at the words ‘Nice chat’.

  "You two should be going. I don’t want to keep you back." Her father said.

  Jessie took Nick’s arm and they walked out.

  "Have fun kids!" she heard her father call after them.

  "Your father is not so bad." Nick told her when they were in the car.

  "I never said her was." Jessie replied.

  "Anyway, what’s the deal between you two?"

  "What do you mean?" Nick asked innocently.

  "Oh please! You’re the first guy my father has ever said he trusted me with!"

  "Oh that, well..um.. that ‘nice chat’ he was talking about was actually about what he would do to me if anything happened to you." Nick said.

  "What did he tell you?"

  "Let’s just say lawyers have a lot of power and leave it at that."

  "Okay fine. Don’t tell me." Jessie said shrugging her shoulders and folding her arms. "So where are we going tonight?"

  "It’s a surprise." Nick said trying to focus on the road but kept being distracted by the beautiful vision seated next to him. He kept sneaking glances at her and Jessie noticed.

  "Another one? Aren’t you tired of surprises?" she asked him.

  He shook his head. "Not when they involve you." he turned to smile at her.

  Jessie felt herself blush. She had a feeling that after tonight, her feelings towards Nick were going to change.

  CHAPTER 14

  It was about half past eight that night and rain was pouring. Erica had just exited the library and had no way of getting home since she’d gotten a lift from one of her friends. She was supposed to meet that same friend at the Phi Alpha Beta house so she could get a ride back home since they lived practically next door to each other. The rain was making it impossible for her to do so however. She was tired of the library so she had no urge to go back in there. She waited for a while but the rain didn’t look like it was stopping anytime soon. She decided to make a run for it. She wrapped her coat around her tighter. The sorority house wasn’t too far away so she should be able to make it. Lucky thing she brought an umbrella with her. She pulled it out of her bag and opened it and started walking.

  She was about halfway there when she saw a familiar car pull up at the side of her.

  "What the hell do you think you’re doing?" a voice asked her harshly.

  The car door flung open and she saw Brian inside looking at her.

  "Get in the car Erica!"

  Erica was surprised to see him. Okay more like shocked. She couldn’t understand why he was doing this. He made it clear that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her and now he wanted to help her?

  She continued walking, shaking her head at him.

  Brian cursed under his breath and got out the car and went after her. By this time, it was hard to see and thunder and lightning could be seen and heard in the distance. Brian might have acted horribly to her because he was still bitter about their break-up but that didn’t mean that he didn’t care about her anymore because he did. More than she knew.

  He grabbed her arm and stopped her.

  "What?!" Erica cried turning around to glare at him.

  "We need to talk! Get in the damn car!"

  Before she could answer, he dragged her towards the car and put her in it and shut the door before getting in himself.

  Nick and Jessie were at a beautiful restaurant which, to Jessie, looked like something out of a fairy tale, only it wasn’t. It was real. And so was the person seated opposite her.

  They had just finished dinner and were now having dessert when Savage Garden’s ‘I knew I loved you’ song came on.

  "I love this song." Jessie said softly.

  "What a coincidence. So do I." Nick said, then extended his hand to her, "You wanna dance?"

  Jessie smiled her answer and placed her hand in his as he guided her to the dance floor and into his arms. Her hands wound around his neck, while his encircled her waist. Their bodies moved in time with the music. Jessie felt Nick’s breath, warm against her ear as he quietly sung along.

  <<"I know that it might sound more than a little crazy but I believe..