five. you're toast  !
real life...

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A FEW SHORT DAYS HAVE PASSED, and eden was impatiently waiting in her seat for class to start. class starting meant that chris would already be sitting behind her, and they would be receiving their second letter from their pen pal. she especially couldn't wait to see his answers to all the very well thought out questions she made for him. they were mostly directed towards getting to know him, or more like questions that would possibly help her figure out who he was. hoping that by some miracle, she can figure that out before chris figured his out. reminding her that this bet was still highly unfair as chris already knew most of these people. he's lived here his entire life, so why the hell did she even take it in the first place?

"hey," she heard a voice walking past where she sat in her seat, one that has become very familiar to her these past few days. her head popped up with excitement, though she tried to conceal it for the most part, not wanting to accidentally scare him off or anything.

"are you excited for your letter?" she turned in her seat to talk to him face to face.

the question confused him, "what letter?" he had completely forgotten almost everything that happened last class, apart from speaking to eden, of course. it was what he usually did since he was forced into taking this class by his counselor.

"from your pen pal?" her voice had a tone of obviousness to it, she didn't think that he would have forgotten that already. did that mean he forgot about their bet too? part of her hoped that he did, but the other part was just excited to have a reason to talk to him. (like she needed one.)

the next words that came out of his mouth answered the question that was running around her head, "oh that letter... and i'm definitely winning that thing by the way. once i get these answers, you're toast." apparently he just needed something to jog his memory.

"and you're so sure, why?" she added a smirk, knowing that would get him talking.

"because i know every girl in this school, and i actually already have a few leads." his sudden gaze interrupted her thoughts, and she couldn't quite recall what they were talking about for a solid two seconds. it was weird because it was almost like he noticed it too, moving his eyes and looking at anything else other than hers.

eden slowly shook her head, trying to get back on track by saying, "i don't think that sentence came out the way that you planned it." her remark made chris sit back for a second to think about what he said, realizing the first part of his statement could be taken more than one way.

instead of denying what eden was thinking, because they both knew it wasn't true, he said, "no. seriously, i do know like everyone here."

"i don't doubt it. that's why i'm worried about this bet that we have going on." eden didn't mean to admit to that out loud, especially after being so sure of herself yesterday when the whole thing was being made. she didn't want chris to know that she's been questioning why she took the damn bet in the first place.

"aww. you're worried?" he cocked his head in mockery, acting like it was the most entertaining thing she has ever said.

"shut up."

"eden? christopher? do you guys have something to share with the class?" mrs. walker's voice interrupted the two, shutting them both up at this point. apparently she has been trying to get class started and eden didn't even notice.

"no." eden was quick to respond, as chris just slumped deeper into his desk. he hated the part of class where he actually had to learn. before eden, he hated this class as a whole, but now he at least has a reason to show up.

"good, so i presume i can continue with my lesson in my classroom. yes?" she asked, putting emphasis on the fact that she now felt disrespected in her own classroom.

the two of them nodded their heads, waiting for her to go on with introducing the lesson. well, for that part it was mainly just eden.

"so, as you guys know, we started writing letters to my other group of students in first period. aka, your pen pals. and today i got responses to the letters that you wrote right here." she held a stack of papers in her right hand.

there it was, one of the moments eden has been waiting for. finding out what her pen pal has written back to her. she hoped that she wouldn't be disappointed with his answers, as she wants to like him. otherwise this portion of the class would absolutely suck for the rest of the year for her.

mrs. walker began to hand out the letters and eden immediately opened hers the second she got it. and to no ones surprise, she was partially disappointed in it. the answers to her questions were mainly one word, when she purposefully made them very descriptive. though at the bottom of the paper, there was a little note that made the whole letter not a complete flop. it read:

"hey pen pal!

im sorry i didn't have time to answer all ur amazing questions but im js thinkin about how cool it would be if we went to the dance together?
imagine the first time we meet: school dance!

yes? or no?"

at first she knew for a fact that the answer was going to be 'no' until she realized that it would be the perfect opportunity to find out who this guy is. then would give chris a little more than a week to figure out his. it would give her an upperhand, and a better chance at actually being able to win the bet. she had to take it, right?

and that's what she did. she wrote down her confirmation on the piece of paper, her number next to it, with a smile on her face. and it wasn't like she couldn't hang out with chris, nick, and them while she was there. she'd just have an extra guy attached to her.

"what did yours say today?" chris asked randomly, turning his paper against the table so no one could see his conversation with his pen pal.

"he asked me to the dance." chris's eyes immediately locked with eden's, confused with the words that had just come out of her mouth. his head was filled with warning signs, not liking any bit of that sentence. how could he possibly take her to the dance if he didn't even know her name? he knew three things about her, and he literally found those out this morning right before he decided to ask her.

chris was surprisingly quick to respond, "you're not gonna go with him are you?"

eden thought about it for a second, placing her hand on her paper. she was on the verge of flipping it back over to change it, before deciding to remove her hand, sticking with her decision. "i'm gonna win this thing chris. i just have to make sure you don't figure out who yours is before next friday." she was serious about this all, and she probably shouldn't have displayed her entire plan out on a silver platter for him.

instead of commenting on the fact that eden thought she was going to win, like she thought he would, he said, "he's probably a douche, eden." his tone was serious, and it confused eden because she didn't get that feeling from him. when she is the one who's writing to him.

"he actually sounds very sweet." she shrugged, sounding far to genuine. the spoken words made chris's face fill with visible disgust.

"you don't know him... weirdos ask girls out to a dance without knowing their name."

"i think it's cute," eden said, ignoring chris's pessimism. she was fully convinced that he was only acting like this because now she actually had a chance at winning the bet. it was the only reason she could think of that made sense. why else would he be so against it?

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nat's notes !

i'm gonna start asking you guys what you
want me to update more often bc i literally
wrote this chapter in one night bc of the
motivation...

but anywaysssss i love this book and where
im going with it. i think im going to end it after
the dance tho bc i really wanna completed book
i also js have no clue what to do after it lmao.

unless yall have suggestions...
thats how i think im gonna do it :))

<3