The Dating Game: Bet On It!

Walking through the school corridor on Monday mornings is like trying to survive a rainy storm.

Squeezing past the pool of people is torture enough. Gripping tightly on Fliss' bag strap, we plunge ourselves through the buzz of loud conversation - trying to get to the other side. Every person I see has zombified faces worn with tiredness.

Fliss had shoved on ahead making me let go of her bag, but I found a gap amongst the many people and forced myself towards the empty corridor. When I felt like I was free from the crowd, I saw Fliss was waiting for me, so I jumped to give myself a boost.

Unfortunetly I lost my balance and found myself saying hello to the floor!

"Blimey! Cammie are you OK?" Fliss cried bending down and reaching for my arm.

She tried to pull me up but she failed. I remained on the floor and a dark shadow started to approach me.

"Have a nice trip, Sparkie?" I heard Anton say. I could tell he found this amusing.

"F-off!" I retorted.

Feeling like I could loose myself in thought whilst lying on the cold laminate floor, a generous hand came from nowhere and offered to help me up. The hand was strong and gentle, carefully peeling me off from the ground.

"Thank-you." I sighed. I looked to see who had lifted me up, it was clear it wasn't Fliss or Anton. I stared at the guy who was stood beside Anton.

"Kai?" I was bewildered with shock.

"You're welcome." he said showing that charming smile of his, (which made me fill my stomach with so many butterflies that I would have been sick!)

"Cam, we'd better get to class." Fliss advised grabbing my arm and steering me towards the stairway.

I must have felt a bit dizzy when I said, "Yeah, OK." cos I wasn't making eye-contact.

"See ya, Sparkie!" called Anton. He probably thinks I'm drunk...

Whilst we were sitting in class, I got so bored to the extend that I couldn't be bothered to take notes, so I started playing with my hair and gazing out the window glancing at the eye-straining green field. The Year 7's had P.E first - too bad for them!

Everything which our teacher was saying felt like someone had pressed the slow button on a TV remote - he, himself looked so bored that he could have falled asleep standing up. It's no wonder that I'm doing badly in this subject. It doesn't help that he puts me off by his attire; he's near-elderly age in his brown trousers, white shirt and brown sleeveless cardigan. He had so many lines above his slightly sweaty forehead that I was bored enough to count them! One, two, three, four, five, six lines. His horn-rimmed glass looked like they were about to fall off his nose. I hope they did, that way he could bend down to pick them up and not see me chuck a note to Fliss!

The relief I felt when the bell rang for next lesson made me feel so happy for having Catering next.

I got my ingredience out of my locker on the way.

"Alright guys, today we are making beef casserole. The method is on the table and I'll be around if anyone needs me, OK?" our teacher, Miss Bird instructed.

I don't really know why I dislike Catering. Maybe it's because I'm in a hot room for an hour and there's no getting out until the hour is up. I don't blame the teacher at all - Miss Bird is awesome! She's Australian with wavy brown hair and peachy skin and she's super nice.

On my table there was me, Anton, (who didn't want to do Catering anyway, but he got stuck with it because they stopped running a subject which he wanted to do) two girls who I know but I'm not sure if I'm their friend called Annabeth and Remy and to my surprise - Kai as well!

In Catering there's always a competition to see which table produces the best dish. We're joint second at the moment with thanks to Annabeth.

"So you're the new guy, huh?" I asked Kai as I got the chopping board out for the carrots. Annabeth was hurrying around the station cautiously trying to get everything done, with Anton close to her so she could tell him what to do. Remy was admiring her purple nails in the corner doing nothing.

"Yeah I am." Kai replied.

He and I started cutting the carrots. I was getting frustrated because the knife wasn't working. I think Kai could tell I was getting mad.

"Here," Kai stopped cutting his pile of carrots and stood behind me. He put his hands on top of where mine were, (which sent a sensational shiver down my spine) got in control and started cutting the carrots carefully and slowly.

"Like that - OK?" he said coolly. I nodded. His hands were warm and I felt his breath on my hair.

"Hey, pretty boy - get over here and help us with the steamer, would you?" Anton commanded.

At break time whilst I was hanging out with Fliss as per usual, Kai decided to join us and I found out some interesting things about him: he got transfered to our school after being a bad boy because he got himself thrown out of a pretty good boarding school. His favourite colour is green, his dad is American and his mum is Irish, he's an only child but wishes to have a baby sister called Maisie. How precise is this guy?

* * *

Whilst pacing around my room that night, worrying myself about the bet; day one has gone and I've got six days left - I need to get a move on! I wonder how Ash is doing?

With that in mind, I stopped pacing and took my mobile out of my pocket. I had to hunt in my bag to find the piece of paper which had Kai's number on it. I had to tip it upside down and empty the contents onto my bed in order to find it.

When I found it, I dialled the numbers into my phone and held it to my ear.

One ring, two rings - what shall I say?

Three rings - quick, think!

"Hello?"

I blanked and hung up.

I took a deep breath after nearly screaming and rung again. He didn't pick up until the fourth ring.

"Hello?" he said again.

"Hi, Kai, it's me - Camilla." I said sounding like I had burst after holding my breath.

"Hey, Camilla. How did you get my number?"

I knew he'd ask that! "Fliss gave it to me." I replied.

He chuckled. "Ah! Not to be rude, but why have you rung me?" His voice was really crackly from the signal.

"I just wanted to say hi and thank-you for letting me hang out with you and your friends - I had a good time on Saturday." This is good - I feel relaxed, I can do this! Girl Power!

"I'm glad to hear it. Listen I'm a little busy right now but I'll--"

I interupted him. "Do you wanna go out for pizza or something tomorrow?"

"With you?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Sounds great."

"Really? Cool, so I'll meet you at that restaurant in the town centre, you know? At seven?"

Kai chuckled again. I could sense him smiling. "It's a date." he said.

Fireworks were going off in the back of my mind and the butterflies in my stomach were filling up by the dozen.

"OK, see you, bye!" I slid the phone slide down and collapsed on my bed with a sigh.

I have a date with Kai!

I kept repeting that sentence over and over in my head until I believed it.