Fat Girls Are Not A Bet Chapter 09
The third task ended. Adrian bent down and lowered me gently.
When my feet touched the floor, my hand was still on his shoulder.
He didn’t let go right away. His hand rested at my waist.
“Steady?”
I nodded.
“Mm-hm.”
Only then did he pull his hand back.
But his face was redder than it had been at the cake feeding.
Someone in the room started up again.
“Adrian, why are you blushing?”
“You picked up one pretty girl, that’s enough to wear you out?”
“You don’t get it. That’s not exhaustion, that’s a racing pulse.”
Adrian picked up his ice water and took a sip. He didn’t bother answering them.
I was the only one who noticed the slight tightening of his fingers around the glass.
For someone who looked so unshakable on the surface, he did get nervous.
All three tasks completed. Nico announced immediately,
“Alright, tonight’s betting pool is closed!”
“Olivia arrived on time. Everyone who bet she’d come to the freshman party wins!”
I pulled up my phone.
The betting page showed *settling*.
The chat filled with wails.
**[I put down a thousand that she wouldn’t come!]**
**[Who could’ve guessed she was secretly losing weight?]**
**[Ethan alone lost ten grand—biggest loser of the night.]**
Reading that last one, I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my mouth.
Not long after, my three-thousand-dollar bet came back with the winnings.
I did the math.
Net profit: fifty thousand dollars.
Nico leaned over, and when he saw the number, he sucked in a breath.
“Olivia, day one of college and you’ve already made back your tuition?”
“Mostly because someone’s generous.”
I looked up. My eyes landed on Ethan.
“Someone insisted on giving me money. I couldn’t very well refuse.”
The room broke into stifled laughter.
Ethan’s face went stony.
He’d probably never imagined he’d not only lose his girlfriend, but hand over a huge chunk of cash on top of it.
Serena couldn’t help chiming in.
“It’s only ten grand or so. Ethan doesn’t lack for money.”
“Serena’s right.”
Ethan seemed to seize the lifeline. He looked at me.
“Olivia, if you needed money, you could’ve just told me. You didn’t have to earn it like this.”
I nearly thought I’d misheard.
The guy who’d used my photo to publicly humiliate me, who’d bet ten thousand dollars that I wouldn’t dare show up, was now posing as some kind of benefactor.
“Ethan.”
“Let’s break up.”
The room went silent all at once.
Ethan froze.
But something like joy flickered through Serena’s eyes.
“What did you say?”
“You didn’t understand?”
I pulled out my phone and, right in front of him, ended the in-game couple’s status, then left our shared couple’s page.
“From now on, we’re nothing to each other.”
Ethan stared at the screen. He finally looked panicked.
“You’re breaking up with me over one joke? Is that really necessary?”
I didn’t bother explaining.
Some people will never think they were the ones in the wrong.
He’d only ever blame others for not being able to take a joke.
I turned to leave.
Ethan grabbed my wrist.
“Olivia, you don’t get to say something like that and just walk out!”
His grip was tight enough that my wrist ached.
Before I could pull away, Adrian’s hand was locked around his.
“Let go.”
The two men held each other’s eyes. The air went taut.
Ethan clenched his teeth.
“This is between me and her.”
Adrian pried Ethan’s fingers off, one by one, and moved me behind him.
“She’s already said it.”
“She’s breaking up with you.”
The moment those words landed, Ethan’s face went black.
“Adrian, are you seriously taking a game this seriously?”
“Olivia and I dated online for eleven months. This isn’t for you to interfere with.”
“Eleven months?”
Adrian looked at him, tone glacial.
“Eleven months, and you could still treat her like a chip on a table?”
Ethan choked on it.
Nobody dared jump in.
Ethan gritted his teeth and turned back to me.
“Olivia, I admit I went too far tonight.”
“But I wasn’t actually going to break up with you.”
I rubbed at my reddened wrist and felt suddenly bored by all of it.
Even now, he still didn’t think he was wrong.
He just thought I was being unreasonable.
If I were still the girl in that photo, at three hundred thirty pounds, he’d probably be even more disgusted.
“Weren’t you the one who bet me away to Adrian?”
I reminded him quietly.
“Now I’m honoring the bet. What are you so worked up about?”
A few unrepressed laughs rippled through the room.
Ethan couldn’t hold his face. His voice jumped.
“It was a *joke*!”
“But I took it seriously.”
I looked at him, spacing out every word.
“Ethan, we’re done.”
Then I turned and walked out.
Adrian followed.
Ethan tried to go after me. Serena grabbed him.
“Ethan, don’t.”
Her eyes were rimmed with red.
“Everyone’s watching. Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough tonight?”
Ethan yanked his arm free.
“What business is it of yours?”
Serena stumbled a step. Her face went white.
The room fell silent all over again.
Just moments ago, everyone had assumed there was something between them.
Serena had been sitting next to Ethan the whole night like she was his girlfriend.
But that one sentence from Ethan was a slap across her face for everyone to see.
I didn’t stop walking.
Once I was outside the room, the noise picked up again behind me.
“You don’t think Ethan’s actually regretting it, do you?”
“Please. Wouldn’t you?”
“Then what about Serena? She was all over him earlier.”
The door closed slowly behind me, muting the voices inside.