I close my eyes as the steaming hot water runs down my body, soothing sore muscles that are no longer used to such a workout. Rubbing the back of my neck with one hand, I brace the other against the tiled shower wall. It's probably not the cleanest surface to touch in the boy's locker room, but it's helping me stay on my feet right now.

I don't know why I picked P.E. for an elective when I already have the credit covered with weight training. It can't be the lack of team sports in my life, Jun and Eric are the only team I ever need. Maybe I just like to torture myself.

Yeah, that must be it.

Though if I had known the varsity basketball team was also taking this class just for the hell of it, I would've picked something else.

While I finish my shower, their voices loudly bounce around the locker room. They make up close to half the guys in this class but the other half practically fanboy over them. They're given compliments and words of envy, and I'm sure my old teammates are just eating it up.

"Your free throw is insane, Marcus!"

"I wish I could play like you guys."

"I wish I could get girls like you guys."

"Bryan, tell us your secret."

"Ask Jackson. He's the one with two chicks fighting over him."

Gritting my teeth at the last name mentioned, I turn the water off and grab the towel hanging on the side of the stall. I was lucky enough to avoid that asshole in the gym but not in here. If the basketball team is royalty then Jackson's their reigning king, and after Saturday night, he's only gotten more famous.

Fucking idiot.

Walking to the opposite side of the locker room, I find Jun and Eric already dressed and sitting on the bench. The two of them whisper back and forth to each other while I get dressed, and once I'm done, I sit down next to them and put on my shoes.

"What are you two whispering about?"

Without a word, Eric gets up and walks to the end of the aisle. He peeks his head around the blue metal lockers for a second before looking back at me and Jun with a nod and a thumbs up.

"What the hell is this, double-o-seven?" I ask as Jun turns to face me.

Instead of answering my question though, he asks one of his own. "Have you talked to Millie today?"

"No. Why would I?"

Eric huffs before looking around the lockers again while Jun stares wide-eyed at me like he's waiting for the punchline to a joke.

"What?" I ask, already feeling defensive.

Snapping out of it, Jun's entire face scrunches up as he throws his hands in the air. "How could you not talk to her yet?"

Eric shushes the loudmouth from his guard post.

Taking a deep breath, Jun calms down. Rubbing his forehead like he's got a headache, he says quieter, "Millie caught us. She not only caught us, but she also got a damn picture of us in the act. For all we know, she could be planning to march her little ass to the police station after school and turn us in."

"She wouldn't do that," I say on instinct.

Truthfully though, the thought has crossed my mind more than once since last night. She has no reason not to do exactly what Jun's saying. Especially after how I acted yesterday morning when she asked for my help.

"No?" Jun asks with raised brows and a tilt of his head. "You know that for a fact? 'Cause last I remember, she's done several things that none of us thought she would."

"Yeah, and it's been like two years since you two were even friends," Eric adds, keeping half his attention on the other side of the room. "Can you really say you still know her that well?"

Gritting my teeth, I glance away at nothing, hating that the two of them make valid points.

"Look, if we wanna keep her quiet and keep our asses out of jail, I have a plan. I just need you to keep an open mind," Jun says.

Despite my irritation and my need to avoid all topics that include Millie-fucking-Price, my eyes flick to my cousin. I won't promise him an open mind but I'll at least hear him out.

Taking my look for what it is, Jun nods, checks that Eric is still keeping watch, and takes a deep breath. "I caught Elsie writing down some list of names during second period, and I got curious."

"As he normally does when it comes to her," Eric adds with a chuckle.

"Whatever." Jun shakes his head. "Anyway, I kinda tricked her into telling me what it was for."

I cock my head to the side. "Tricked her?"

"Don't joke, you know I'm good with women."

"He annoyed the shit out of her until she spilled the beans in a frustrated rage," Eric clarifies.

"Dude!" Jun whips around to find Eric still looking down the rows of lockers, only now with a shit-eating grin on his face. "Can I finish talking? The bell is gonna ring at any second."

Eric rolls his eyes but casually waves for him to keep going.

Jun sighs and turns back to me, scooting closer as he lowers his voice. "Turns out, Millie is looking to get some kind of payback on Jackson for humiliating her. Especially since half the school is talking shit about her online now."

My head jerks back. "Wait, what? Who's talking shit about her?"

And why? It's not like she's the one who cheated. If anyone should be talking shit, it should be about Jackson and Andrea. Hell, maybe even me after that show Andrea put on in front of the party. But not Millie.

Yet even as I think it, it's hard to ignore the angry voice in the back of my head that says I shouldn't give a damn. Not after what she did to me.

"She wants to find someone to pretend to be her boyfriend.," Jun continues, ignoring my questions. "Someone who can help her piss off Jackson and maybe make him look bad. And I think I know the perfect guy for the job."

Eyes just as dark as mine hold my gaze, and just as the words register in my mind, Jun's smile slowly grows wider.

"So what do you think?"

"I think you're fucking nuts," I quietly growl as I push off of the bench and step toward my locker.

Jun's up just as fast and standing at my side. "What did I say about keeping an open mind?"

Anger simmers in my veins just thinking about it, along with a sick sense of temptation that I fight like hell to push down.

"Come on, Sean," Jun pleads with me. "Think about it. What other guy in this school could do the job better than you? You know her better than anyone, outside of Elsie and Tally, of course. But still, this makes sense. You can't deny that."

"Didn't you two just ask me a second ago how I could be so sure she won't turn us in when we haven't been friends in years? That I couldn't possibly still know her that well, right?"

He tips his head back and forth like he's tossing my words around his head. "Okay, true. We did just say that. But even with that, you still know her better than any other guy here."

"Plus," Eric says as quietly as he can from his post. "Everyone is already saying you two hooked up after the party since a few people saw you two catch a ride home together."

"That too," Jun points a finger at me and nods.

I know they aren't lying about that, not that either of my cousins would ever lie to me. But I heard the whispers myself in class and the halls. I noticed the different looks thrown my way. And though I know some of those looks were about Andrea and our dirty laundry, I overheard the rumors about me and Millie too. Like it or not, a good portion of the school is already saying we're a thing. Two people hurt from cheating and finding comfort in each other, or some bullshit like that.

If they only knew just how not hurt I am.

I shove my gym clothes in my locker and slam it shut before whipping around to face Jun. "Why? How the hell would this keep us out of trouble, huh?"

"Because, you'll be able to keep her close, keep an eye on her. You might even be able to find the picture she took of us and take it."

"Why can't we just ask her for the picture?"

Jun's smile drops as he gives me a pointed look. "You really wanna risk her knowing we want it and making copies? Or flat out telling us no?"

"You sound paranoid as hell," I tell him, crossing my arms and leaning against my locker.

He shrugs. "I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"And what if I can't find the picture?"

"Then maybe she'll eventually just agree not to rat us out since you're helping her with this.," he answers without even thinking as if he already has an answer prepared for every question I can throw his way. "And as an added bonus for the trouble, she's willing to pay the lucky bastard who agrees to help her."

A spark of heated rage shoots through every limb in my body, sizzling and charring my insides just as it had when Millie mentioned the same thing to me yesterday. Only that time the feeling was stronger and she was only asking me to help her find someone.

At first, I thought she was going to ask me to be her fake boyfriend. But after she asked me to help her pick someone else instead, my irritation jumped from low to fuming. The final straw was her offering to pay me. It was like a slap in the face considering how I spilled my guts to her about the debt my father left us with years ago.

It was like she was trying to erase all the pain she caused by throwing money at me. Like I'm just this poor boy who needs her parents' cash more than I need my dignity.

Well, fuck her.

"I don't want her money," I manage to tell Jun through gritted teeth.

His eyebrows raise. "But it could come in handy. I mean... it's not like we do what we do for nothing. Sure, it's exciting and fun sometimes, but you do need the money. Eric and I too for that matter."

I stare him in the eyes, hoping he can see just how much I mean it when I say, "I don't need her money... We don't need her money. We can take care of ourselves just like we have for the last two years."

Jun's lips thin and pinch to the side as he holds my gaze. And after a few seconds, he finally nods and steps back.

"Alright. If you say so," he says as the bell rings through the school. "But just... think about it a little more, will ya? She and the girls are on a mission and could find someone else for the job before you finally come to your senses."

I try to ignore the way my stomach drops at that idea.

"Heads up," Eric says, leaving his guard post to join us as the sounds of footsteps and voices travel our way.

"Come on." Jun nods to him. "Let's get to lunch. Sean needs to cool off a minute."

His words snap me back from whatever anger and frustration induce haze I've been in since this conversation started, and I finally realize just how tightly my hands are balled at my sides.

Eric looks at me, his lighter brown eyes filled with questions even as he settles on just one. "You gonna meet us in the cafeteria?"

"Yeah." I nod, slowly attempting to relax each muscle in my body, starting with my hands. "I'll be there in a minute."

The two of them give me one last look filled with concern before ducking out of the locker room door next to our lockers. Behind them, a parade of our classmates soon follows while I turn to my locker, opening it one more time to grab some Aspirin for my growing migraine.

Even though he's the one to start this headache, Jun's right. I can't deny that this plan is a good one and that I am the best man for the job. I'd be able to keep an eye on Millie, make sure she doesn't turn us in, and be the most convincing when it comes to making people believe we're together. I could save our asses if I just swallow my fucking pride, ignore the anger that I keep buried deep, and agree.

What harm could it cause?

But even as I ask myself that question, all my reasons for not doing this bubble to the surface. Getting close to Millie is dangerous for me, personally. I don't wanna be that pathetic mess I was before and I sure as fuck don't want her getting too close. I just barely managed to pick up the pieces the last time she tried to break me, and even though I'm stronger now for it, I'd still rather not give her the chance to try again.

What the fuck am I gonna do?

I place the cap back on the small bottle of pain meds just as another wave of footsteps head toward the door. Only this time, instead of leaving, they stop, and instantly I can feel eyes on me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I'm hardly surprised to see Jackson and two of his buddies hanging by the door with their attention on me.

Great, this is exactly what I need right now.

Just like in the one other class we shared this morning, Jackson's face is pinched and pissy as he glares at me. It's like he's trying to picture how he'd murder me in his head or something. But also just like earlier, his angry stare doesn't do jack shit to me. If anything, he almost makes me wanna laugh. Even more so considering how swollen and bruised his face is after the other night.

Maybe a good laugh is exactly what I need right now.

Fighting back that urge, my lips still tuck to the side with a small grin as I slide the lock onto my locker.

"Something amusing to you, Sun?" Jackson asks from the door.

Shaking my head, I turn around to face him and his friends. "I don't know, St. James. You keep looking at me pretty hard makes me think you're trying to picture me naked. Should've walked over here sooner if you wanted to catch that show."

His head jerks back, lip curled. "I don't swing that way."

"Neither do I but I wouldn't blame anyone for looking."

A scowl pulls at his eyebrows as his eyes narrow, throwing daggers at me through the tiny slits. "You think you're hot shit, huh?"

Deciding to play with the new rumors floating around school, I shrug and cross my arms. "I don't know, why don't you ask your ex what she thought?"

The second the words leave my lips, I know I've slipped up.

Jackson's eyes widen for a split second before shrinking back down to dagger-throwing size. "You son of a bitch!"

He lunges for me only to have his friends hold him back. While I stand still with a smirk on my face, unfazed by his temper tantrum, he struggles against them, eyes flaring with anger. Joke's on him though considering the two guys between us are the team's best power forwards who also play on the football team. He's not getting past them unless they want him to, and they know as well as I do how bad it would be for their team captain to get suspended.

"Dude, calm down," one of them, Zack, tries to tell him.

The other, Marcus, adds, "He's not worth it!"

I roll my eyes at the two lap dogs. Once upon a time, I was the team captain and the one they followed without question. But the second I dropped basketball, they dropped me, showing their true colors and proving that my cousins are the only ones in this school I can trust. Good riddance.

"You know, I didn't wanna believe it. I heard the rumors and Millie even said as much but I honestly didn't think you were that kind of guy!" Jackson growls, making a last-ditch effort to push past Zack and Marcus.

Arching a brow, I lean forward with genuine curiosity. "And what kind of guy is that?"

The two guys shove Jackson, making him stumble back a few steps. With a few deep breaths, he makes the smart decision not to come at me again and nods to them that he's okay. Glaring at me, from a further distance now, he answers, "The kind who would fuck his teammate's girlfriend."

The laugh that escapes me is quick and uncontrollable. I actually have to place a hand on the lockers beside me to keep from falling.

"First off..." I choke back another laugh. "We're not teammates anymore. Barely were, even when we played together." A deep breath helps to get me under control long enough to add, "and what the fuck do you think you were doing Saturday night?"

The idiot actually manages to look confused, and I'm not sure if that makes me wanna laugh more or punch him in the face again.

"Who's girlfriend were you fucking at the party?" I ask him, my amusement quickly fading.

His eyebrows shoot into his hairline as the lightbulb goes off in his thick skull. With a slick grin taking over his face, he crosses his arms and nods. "Okay. You're right. But Andrea came after me, not the other way around."

"I don't really give a shit who came after who. Don't stand here like you're holier-than-thou when you fucked my girlfriend."

I don't bother adding in "ex" considering we were together when the deed went down, just like I don't mention he also cheated on his girlfriend at the time. Millie isn't mine to worry about, no matter how much that fact makes my stomach turn.

Jackson steps forward, waving off his friends as they mirror his steps before giving me a pointed look. "So, is that why you did it? Cause I slept with Andrea, you were gonna sleep with Millie as payback?"

This time it's my turn to be surprised, my eyebrows shooting high to the grimy locker room ceiling. He said he heard the rumors and she confirmed it but what the fuck did Millie tell him exactly?

"Oh come on. Don't give me that look." Jackson scoffs and crosses his arms. "You two left the party together. That's what everyone's been saying and when I asked her about it this morning, she said it was true."

Once again, I bite back a smile.

I have to give her some points for that one. We're barely through the first day of school and she's already gotten under his skin. But I'm still not sure I'm gonna let her use me to do it.

"Look, I don't know what all she said, but it wasn't like that," I say with a shake of my head while a voice in the back of my mind tells me I don't need to correct this asshole's assumptions no matter how much I don't wanna be Millie's pawn. "We got an Uber home together and then we split ways. That's it."

An irritating smile breaks across Jackson's face. "I knew it." He looks at Zack and Marcus, patting them both on the back. "I fucking told you guys she'd never do it."

"Do what? Hookup with someone else?" I ask, already imagining his reaction if she really does find a fake boyfriend.

Dude is gonna flip his shit, and I will kick back with popcorn and enjoy the show!

Jackson scoffs. "No. I knew she'd never hook up with you."

My daydream of popcorn and Jackson losing his mind instantly disintegrates like a cloud of smoke.

"What?" My head jerks back and cocks to the side before I step forward, eyes narrowing on the smiling jackass. "And why the fuck you think she wouldn't?"

The reasonable side of my mind tries getting me under control, reminding me that I don't want her anyway... or that I shouldn't at least. But there's no hiding that a nerve's been struck.

"Don't play," Jackson says, waving off the death look I'm throwing his way. "You two haven't really talked in years. In fact, she's gone out of her way to not talk to you ever since we started dating."

Another heated spark spreads through my body. I might not know why Millie ended our friendship, but I know Jackson had nothing to do with it. She ghosted me months before she and Jackson ever went on a date.

"Hell, I'm surprised she even got in the same car as you. Millie can't stand you, which means you don't have a chance in fucking hell with her." Jackson steps forward once more, smiling like he's holding a trump card in his hand. "Besides, she's still a virgin, and I seriously fucking doubt she's gonna give up her v-card to you instead of me. I'm the one who's been with her for the last two years. Held her and pretended to listen when she cried. Bought her expensive gifts that most girls can only dream of. I put in the time and the money. If anyone's popping that cherry, it's me."

Disgusting pig.

My body reacts without thinking, rushing forward to punch him in the fucking jaw for the second time in three days. But it turns out it's my turn to have Zack and Marcus block me, though they struggle more than they did with Jackson. Their hands lose their grip and when it feels like I might get through, they both shove me back hard enough for me to back up to the lockers.

"Aww," Jackson coos like an idiot. "Don't like hearing the truth?"

I don't give a damn about hooking up with Millie...well, at least not like he does. V-card or no V-card doesn't matter to me when it comes to a girl. Only assholes with a need to boost their ego give a damn about that shit.

It's the fact he seems to have an aim at her's without any true intentions behind it and that he think's I don't have a chance with her—whether I want it or not—when I have something he never will.

"You got no clue what the fuck you're talking about," I say through gritted teeth.

Jackson raises an eyebrow and nods. "Oh, yeah?"

Jun's words from earlier fill my head and spill from my own mouth before I can stop them.

"Yeah." I nod "Cause no matter how much time and money you spent on her, you still don't know her better than me. No guy in this school will ever know Millie the way I do. Money and fake attention can't buy that."

Every word rings true throughout my entire body, bringing a sick sense of comfort I shouldn't feel. But they have the desired effect.

Jackson's confident smile drops from his face in a flash but he still tries to hide it as he inches back toward the door. "Whatever, hold onto that while you can. It won't matter in the long run. Millie still hates you. She'll take me back before she ever gives trash like you a chance."

His words catch me off guard, and not because I don't expect him to say something like that. But because for a second, I believe everything he's saying. The possible truth of it all freezing me in place, chilling my bones with an arctic frost just long enough for Jackson to send a final dirty look my way and walk out the door, his head high like he's won something.

Like fucking hell he did.

It doesn't take long for my body to thaw with that familiar burning anger. And before I know it, I'm storming out of the locker room on a direct path to the cafeteria. Bursting through the double doors, my eyes fall on my cousins sitting at our usual table a few feet away. Their heads turn my way as if sensing me and quickly, the two of them are sitting upright on high alert.

I'm not positive what the look on my face is but I can tell it's got them worried.

Alright, Sean. Calm down. Can't do this looking all pissed off.

I take a deep breath and try my best to at least appear casual instead of angry as hell. My eyes sweep the room next, looking for a familiar face with big blue eyes. Instead, I find Tally and Elsie sitting at a small round table in the center of the cafeteria, just the two of them.

My feet move before I can think of a plan. When I reach my cousins with questions written all over their faces, I quickly duck by and tell them, "I'm in!"

It takes barely a second before both their faces light up with smiles, Eric even reaching out for a fist bump as I pass him. But I don't stop until I reach the table with the two girls talking among themselves. They notice me right away, Tally offering a kind smile and Elsie raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"Sean," Elsie says slowly.

"Hey." I brace my hands on the back of an empty chair and lean forward, an easy smile sliding across my face as if I'm not equal parts ticked and nervous on the inside. "Do you know where Millie's at?"

Hey, loves! Thank you so much for checking out chapter 9 of GGB! I'm really excited because, as far as the storyline goes, we're almost caught up to where the old version was and we're starting to really get into the meat of things. I can't wait to hear what you all think going forward but for now, let's see what you thought of this chapter.

First off, if you read the old version of this chapter, what do you think of the new one compared to that? Are you happy the bet was removed? Do you like this new direction more? 

Secondly, if you have or haven't read the older version, what did you think of Jun's idea? Do you think Millie would be upset if she found out about it? Do you think the boys have anything to worry about, would Millie turn them in? What did you think of Sean's conversation with Jackson? Do you think Jackson has a point or is he completely delusional? Are you happy it pushed Sean to agree to Jun's plan? And finally, what do you think will happen next?

Leave your thoughts in the comments and if you like what you read, please hit that star button!

I normally post teasers for upcoming chapters on my Twitter and Instagram(I didn't this time, sorry, I finished the chapter too quickly to do one), so follow me there or here on Wattpad for any announcements. I'll do my best to have a teaser up before the release of chapter 10.

💜 xoxo