So there I was with a real challenge on my hands. I had to make Jax to fall in love with me. He had to tell me he loved me during the next sixty days, or I’d lose a hell of a lot of money. I had to make another guy fall in love with me, and not just any guy. I had to make Jax fall for me. I wasn’t even sure if the guy could love anyone!

I let out a long sigh, still lying on my bed, waiting for my alarm clock to go off. I had been sleeping restlessly through the night, and I felt tired. I still didn’t know if it had been a good idea or not to accept the challenge, but when I thought about the evil grins of Caleb and Jacob, I knew I couldn’t just give up right away. They’d make fun of me for the rest of my life if I’d just give up before trying.

By the time my alarm clock started beeping, I’d been awake for an hour already. I got up from my luxurious bed in my even more luxurious room and walked to my bathroom. I stepped under the hot shower and closed the glass door behind me. I let the warm water wash away the tension I felt, and for a moment, I felt relaxed.

Right until I remembered the damned challenge again. Why had I accepted that stupid bet? I had to make another guy fall in love with me! What the hell was I thinking? Clearly I wasn’t thinking at all.

I can do this, I thought, taking a deep breath, trying to push the bet away from my head.

I just had to do what I always did when flirting. I didn’t have to kiss him or sleep with him to make him fall in love with me. I just had to use my charm. I had done that countless of times before. I just had to pretend that I liked the guy and give him some of my attention.

I hope he’s not too sure about his sexuality or this will not work…

If Jax had even a small amount of gay in him, winning the challenge should be just a walk in the park. The guy had always so much makeup on that he had to be at least a little bit gay.
I started to feel more confident. I didn’t have to like the guy - I just needed to act like I did.

An hour later, I stopped my car in front of Jessica’s home, and a few minutes later, she stepped out of their front door. I saw how she squinted her eyes when she saw me, and when she sat down in my car next to me, she didn’t say anything to me.

“Are you still mad at me?” I asked carefully, even though it was obvious she was.

She hadn’t really spoken to me after I had accepted the challenge. It had been awkward to study with her – we were partners in pretty much every subject at school.

“Are you still planning on trying to make Jax fall in love with you?” she asked without answering my question.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said while starting to drive toward the gates that surrounded our secluded neighborhood. “I don’t understand why you’re so mad about it.”

“Of course you don’t! God, Nic! You are so self-centered sometimes! You are going to play with someone’s feelings over some stupid bet!” Jessica almost yelled at me.

“It’s Jax we’re talking about!” I snapped back at her. “I’m pretty sure he has no feelings! Besides, he has done a lot worse to others. I don’t think there is anyone he hasn’t pissed off in this city.”

Jessica glared at me, but eventually she sighed, shaking her head. I knew she knew I was right. If there was someone who deserved to be played around, it was Jax.

“You know you’ll lose, right?” she said after a short while.

“I can make him fall in love with me as long as he’s not homophobic,” I said confidently. “No one can resist me – you know that.”

Jessica glanced at me, looking like she was trying to hide her amusement behind her stern gaze, but she failed miserably and laughed lightly before turning to look out of the window.

“Jax will eat you for breakfast. You know that, right?” she said.

I sighed, and my confidence vanished. She was most likely right. When I said that Jax hated people, I really meant it.

“You are in my fucking seat.” Jax glared down at me.

I’d found out I shared only a few classes with Jax. The first two periods had flown by fast while I had waited for the English class to start. It was the first time Jax and I had the same class together, and I wasn’t going to waste any time. With any other person, I would’ve needed only six days to make them fall in love with me, but Jax wasn’t like the rest of them, so I had to use any opportunity I got.

Therefore, I had deliberately sat down in his usual seat at the back of the room in our English class. Jax was not happy about it. Not at all.

“I don’t see your name on it,” I said as calmly as I could, staring at him right in his gray eyes.

He gave me the deadliest glare and crossed his arms over his slim chest, clearly waiting for me to give him his seat. I don’t think anyone had ever had the courage to piss him off before. I was sure it hadn’t ever even crossed his mind that someone could be so suicidal to do something as stupid.

But there I was, messing around with the one guy no one should be messing around with. I didn’t move an inch. I didn’t even blink as I kept staring at him. He didn’t move either, and he was getting annoyed with me.

“Mr. Jackson. If you would kindly take your seat, please,” I heard our teacher, Mr. Jenkins, tell him in front of the class.

Jax didn’t seem to hear him. He was still glaring at me with a poisonous gleam in his cold eyes. Mr. Jenkins got annoyed with him.

“Jax. Sit down,” he repeated.

Jax still didn’t move. He was still confident that I would give up first.

Well, we only live once, I thought and grabbed his arm, pulling him down on the seat next to mine. The whole classroom had been watching us, and I saw some pretty shocked expressions all around me. I turned to look at Jax.

He was furious.

“Thank you, Mr. Gabriel,” Mr. Jenkins said and turned his attention to his papers, finally starting the class.

I wasn’t paying any attention to it. I had to admit that I was starting to regret this stupid bet. Jax stared at me with wide eyes, looking like he wanted to rip my head off. I guess he did want to, since next thing I knew, he grabbed me by my hair and banged my head loudly against my desk.

“What was that?” Mr. Jenkins asked and looked in our direction with a frown.

I didn’t say a word when I looked up again. My head was throbbing in pain and my sight turned blurry for a brief moment. Jax was surprisingly strong… He had a lean figure and his arms and legs looked thin, but that hit was really hard.

Mr. Jenkins glared at Jax for a moment before he continued with his lesson. I looked at Jax, who was completely ignoring me.

Why the fuck I accepted that challenge?!

I suffocated a groan and grabbed my schoolbook.

Why the hell does he keep staring at me?

Nicholas fucking Gabriel. What did he want from me? Why the hell was he sitting in my seat? Wasn’t he supposed to be sitting in the middle of the class like the rest of the popular kids? I saw the other students peering at us with curiosity. Even they were clearly wondering why the fucking Gabriel was sitting next to me.

So what the fuck was his problem?

I turned to glare at Nic again. He was sitting there like I hadn’t just tried to break his desk with his massive forehead. That pissed me off even more. How thick was his head, anyway? He didn’t even care I was glaring at him, like I was some sorry-ass bitch he was too good to pay attention to.

This guy’s fucking with my head.

“What the hell do you want?” I asked, trying to sound threatening while whispering.

“I want us to be friends,” he answered with a calm voice, turning to look at me.

He had a smug expression on his face. He knew I couldn’t do anything to him while Mr. Jenkins kept his eyes on me.

What the fucking hell is wrong with this dude?!

“Did you fucking hit your head or something?” I hissed at him.

“Not before you did,” he answered, and I already knew he enjoyed messing with me.

“Are you fucking joking with me? If you are, I swear–”

“I’m serious,” he spoke quietly, and turned to look at his notebook.

I stared at him for a moment. He was obviously lying to me. There was no way in hell that anyone wanted to be friends with me. He had something on his mind. It was clear to everyone in our freaking classroom! Everyone kept peeking at us, and no one seemed to understand why Nic had turned completely mental.

There was no other explanation. Nicholas the-fucking-perfect-boy Gabriel never got himself in any kind of trouble. I had never seen him skipping classes or getting detention. He was a straight-A student and all that shit, and still he was trying to pick a fight with me. There had to be something wrong with his head.

I turned my attention to Mr. Jenkins, who was writing something on the board. I had no idea what he was on about. I was barely aware it was an English class. I didn’t give a damn; I didn’t give a crap about the whole school.

Oh my fucking God, he’s staring at me again!

“What?” I growled and turned to look at Nicholas.

He was just staring at me for a moment before turning to write notes in his book. I was getting really fed up with him.

“I will fucking beat your ass if you don’t stop fucking pissing me off,” I muttered angrily while Mr. Jenkins was looking away.

“You swear a lot,” Nic replied without looking at me.

I swear I had never been so fucking angry in my whole life. He didn’t say a word to me after that. He sat in his seat, taking his notes, pretending that I wasn’t there. By the end of the class I was so fucking mad it scared the shit out of even myself, but the fucking Gabriel didn’t seem to even noticed.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Gabriel?” I snapped at him as soon as the bell rang.

“You can call me Nicholas or Nic,” he said, and offered his hand like he wanted to shake mine.

I guess I kind of lost it. I had never been messed around with, and I wanted to make sure that Nic understood that. I grabbed his hand, but instead of shaking it, I bent it behind his back, and smashed his head against the desk again.

“Listen carefully now, fucker. I don’t know what kind of prank you’re trying to pull, but I swear I’ll fucking break your neck if you try anything stupid!” I growled at him, pressing his head against the desk.

“I’m… I’m not trying…” he gasped underneath me.

I loosened my grip on him to let him breathe. I hadn’t noticed I’d been strangling him in my fury.

“I’m not pulling a prank,” he said finally, gasping for air. “I just wanted to be friendly,” he continued.

“You better go be friendly somewhere else! I’m not interested!” I hissed and let him go when our teacher noticed us.

Nic got up on his feet, and I felt satisfaction when he rubbed his head with a disoriented look in his eyes. I didn’t bother to stay longer at the scene. I dashed out of the classroom, knowing so fucking well that everyone was staring after me.

A few moments later, I stormed the stairs up to the roof and searched for a pack of smokes from my bag. I ignored the no trespassing sign and pushed the old, rusty door open at the top of the staircase. The roof was my usual hiding place since no one else dared to be up there.

I found the small pack of cigarettes and took one from it while searching for my lighter. I lit it up, taking a deep inhale as I tried to calm myself down. A few moments later, I started feeling more relaxed.

“What the fucking hell was that?” I muttered, thinking about Nicholas’ weird stunt.

He was planning something. I was sure about that.

I didn’t see Jax again that day. After he had smashed my head two times against my desk, I had a bad headache and a sore neck, so I was pretty glad I didn’t have to see him.

Well, at least he had noticed me, even though our first meeting hadn’t been that pleasant for me. I would’ve lied if I said I didn’t regret the challenge at all, but I’d lose too much money if I backed down already. I still had fifty-nine days left, so it would be stupid for me to give up already. I only needed to approach Jax with a different strategy.

If only I had any other strategies. My only strategy was to go sit next to them and start a conversation. That’s pretty much how I usually approached girls. After that they fell for me quite easily. But that clearly wasn’t working with Jax.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Jessica asked during our lunch break.

“I’m fine,” I said with a sigh, trying to massage my aching neck.

“Are you sure you want to continue? It’s just money. It’s not worth you getting hurt,” she spoke.

“I’m not giving up this easily,” I told her, feeling determined.

I was angry at Jax. I was angry at him for humiliating me like that in front of all my friends. What the hell was his problem, anyway? I just wanted to be friendly. I had been friendly to him. He had no friends at school, and I wasn’t sure if he had any friends at all. He should have accepted my friendship with gratitude! I mean, I usually wasn’t a self-centered asshole, but at that moment I couldn’t understand why the hell some loner like Jax didn’t accept my friendship! I was the most popular person in the whole freaking school!

“He’s just an arrogant, self-centered asshole,” I muttered angrily. “I will make him fall for me, and then I’ll dump his sorry ass and be one hundred grand richer.”

I was truly looking forward to humiliating him like he had humiliated me.