Page 2 of The Wrong Bachelor

“It was fine,” I muttered. “He said he forgot about picking me up and that his phone broke so he didn’t get my calls.”

Hayley’s expression darkened. “And you’re okay with that?”

I shook my head. “Of course not. I just know how he is, and I hate being mad at him. It’s not that big a deal.”

“You called me crying when you finally got home on Saturday night. I almost took the two-hour drive back from our beach house to come check on you. How is that not a big deal?” Hayley could be a bit of a pit bull when it came to me. Sometimes it felt like she was more protective of me than my own mother was.

I shrugged. I didn’t have an answer for her. In truth, I was still upset, but I’d forgiven Jake, and I needed to move past it.

“He’s always letting you down. You’re far too good for him,” Hayley continued.

I couldn’t argue with her because after the weekend I was beginning to feel like maybe she was right. It hurt to think of ending things with Jake though. We’d been together for almost two years and friends since we were kids. I couldn’t seem to process the idea of us no longer being together. I knew what a great person he was; I just felt like recently, I was seeing less and less of that great person around me.

I let out a sigh, pushing thoughts of Jake from my mind. I’d already dealt with him today, and I didn’t want to dwell on it any longer.

“Ladies,” a voice called from behind us. Hayley and I both turned to find Angus striding toward us. In his chinos and button-up shirt, he looked every bit the student body president he was so proud to be. As soon as he reached us, he shoved flyers into both our hands.

“Don’t forget that today’s the last day to vote,” he said.

I frowned and glanced down at the paper. It was a voting form for the stupid charity dating competition the school was hosting. “True Love,” they were calling the contest. It made me want to gag.

I immediately passed the flyer back to him. “Thanks, I don’t need one,” I said.

Angus grinned. “Oh, you’ve already voted? No problem, Madi.”

“No, she hasn’t,” Hayley chimed in, grabbing the flyer back from Angus and shooting me a knowing look.

“Madison Matthews, I thought you were better than that,” Angus gasped, raising his hand to his forehead in fake shock. “We need everyone to get involved. It’s for charity after all. Every penny goes to help victims of the terrible wildfires last summer.”

I tilted my head at Angus. I knew all about the wildfires. Everyone did. I hadn’t been directly affected, but the flames had come dangerously close to the school, and plenty of houses on the south side of town were damaged. I wasn’t convinced that Angus was genuinely concerned though. He looked far too excited about the whole event.

“I just think there could be better ways to raise money,” I said, glancing between both Hayley and Angus, hopeful of finding some support.

“What better way than while helping two people find ‘True Love,’” Angus replied before he thrust another voting form into my hand. Before I could protest again, he turned on his heel and left, no doubt off to harass his next unsuspecting victim.

As I watched Angus bounce from student to student, I realized his flyers weren’t the only thing promoting the contest. As I looked around the corridor, I began to notice there were posters everywhere. There was even a massive banner strung from the ceiling. Whole reams of paper had been wasted covering every locker in the school to remind people that today was the last day to vote for contestants.

The fact I was only noticing them now just showed how distracted I’d been when I’d arrived at school.

“You think they’re actually going to go through with it?” I asked Hayley, nodding my head at the voting slip Angus had handed her.

“It looks like it. There’s an assembly announcing the contestants at the end of the day tomorrow,” she replied. “Plus, Angus has Mrs. Green wrapped around his little finger. He could lock us all in a room for a month and call it Big Brother and our principal would probably go for the idea.”

I sighed and tried not to look so miserable about it all. I don’t know why I was so against the contest. I guess it was because I didn’t want to see a bunch of girls getting hurt.

“I still think they could have come up with another way to raise money. Why couldn’t they have just held a bake sale?” I wondered. A cupcake never hurt anyone.

Hayley grinned. “Probably because not everyone in our school feels the same way as you do about baked goods. I still have no idea where you put it all. I’d be the size of a house if I ate half the stuff you devour.”

“Nah, you’d be alright,” I replied. Being on the cheer squad, Hayley did way more exercise than me. I liked to go on the occasional run, but working out wasn’t really my thing. “And even if you weren’t, you’d still be the hottest house around.”

Hayley laughed brightly at my comment. “This coming from the girl who the boys voted ‘sexiest in school’ last year.”

I frowned at the memory, wishing she hadn’t brought it up. All the guys had made a list last year ranking the girls at school. There’d been a massive blow up over it after some of the girls found out and shared it around.

Hayley was right; I had been at the top of the list of girls. I didn’t find it complimentary though. The hot list had upset so many girls, but what Hayley didn’t seem to understand was how much it had also hurt me. I’d received so much unwanted attention from it all, and none of it had been good.

The girls were the worst. Some told me that I was voted for as a joke, and others went in the opposite direction and said it was because I was a slut.

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