Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – Following love is not always easy

Needless to say, reality was not like those movies that Sara loved so much. And it is that in those plots, once the bet had started, the usual thing was that the victim accepted the appointment that was proposed in the most questionable and naive way possible.

Well, either that or reject her at first, insulting the protagonist who even dared to suggest it, for days or even hours later to end up surrendered to her charms for no apparent reason.

With Judith it didn't seem to be that simple, not by a long shot. Even with the truth in front of her and a deal on the table, the aforementioned seemed to be too smart to trust the first person who offered to participate in a scam just like that. Leyre knew it well. If that girl had asked her to put the plan in writing, it was to have an insurance that if things went wrong and the bet fell apart, she could wash her hands and have proof that the idea had not been hers.

Leyre was annoyed as this was also the first time she had been forced to create such a plan and she had not even had the chance to choose her accomplice. But there was nothing that could be done about it.

Refusing would only make her look more suspicious, not to mention that Judith still hadn't given her offer a definitive yes. Going back now could have disastrous consequences. So being between a rock and a hard place, Leyre had no choice but to accept the creation of a document where the plan explained point by point would come.

The idea was that she would write it that week and then, on Friday afternoon, meet Judith again to show it to her.

"Aren't you going to meet her before that?" Noemi inquired as she left school, a little more than twenty-four hours after the bet had been arranged. “You didn't even get close to her today at the break.”

True, Leyre couldn't tell the truth about what her plans were for Friday. So in a vague way she had just commented that she was going to meet Judith in a few days, without specifying place or reason.

“I greeted her when I arrived, just before entering the school. Maybe you haven't seen me because you always show up late for class.”

Actually, she had done little more than greet her. Taking advantage of the prevailing chaos at the entrance to the building, and the fact that no one would pay attention to them if they stopped for two minutes to chat, she told her of her intention to meet alone for the document before the end of the week.

They chose Friday, although they did not specify the time or the place. Afterwards, each one went their own way, without further delay.

Leyre hadn't spoken to Judith again all day and, to be honest, she didn't plan to do so in later days. Except, it was likely, when it was time to specify where and when they´d be seen again for the agreement.

What was clear was that Judith wasn't comfortable with her presence, and she certainly wouldn't be much better off taking her insistence to the point of bullying. Damn, it had been embarrassing enough to approach her the day before, to ask her for a date without further ado, strangers being what they were! But she hadn't had much of a choice either, she needed to create a show for the three people she knew were watching...

“And that´s all?” Sara jumped in; From her tone, it sounded like she was disappointed that her friend hadn't dragged the nerd into an alley, after a first exchange, to do the unspeakable. “So you didn´t move forward.”

"Let her not advance, that benefits us," Noemi pointed out. “I don't want to have to start saving to pay my part of the bet, the wine I drink at parties is bad enough, I don't want it to get even worse due to lack of cash.”

“But you always bring a tetrabrik from the supermarket every time we meet at night! What is going to be cheaper and of worse quality than that?”

“Wine diluted with water, probably. Or a fanta with soda. Although the latter is not because it is cheap or unappetizing, but because it is boring.”

“Come on, we haven't taken from that many times, when we don't have enough pay for something better or, simply, when it's easier to swipe some half-empty bottle from our parents' house...”

"Yes, yes, but all that lacks class! It´s much more elegant to say, I have the money to pay for my own vices! Let's see if one of these days we won't be forced to save either to be able to get hold of some cigarettes.”

Buying a little private label alcohol at the neighborhood supermarket was one thing, but tobacco was a totally different thing in terms of level of difficulty: While the cashiers at the supermarket barely stopped to look at the face of whoever was buying, tobacconist clerks were much more vigilant about who they sold their cigars to.

So when Leyre and the others wanted to buy a couple of packs, the safest thing they could do was order it from an adult friend.

“It would be much cheaper if we always asked Alba, her grandparents have a tobacconist.”

"I hate that woman! Besides, she may not charge her fair price, but then she is always asking us for favors.”

"But it's only fair, if you want a service, you have to offer something in return... And I don't know why we're talking about this." freed from another awkward talk about non-existent love affairs. “You have to go after Joanna right now.”

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"Her name is Judith," Leyre corrected, hardly flinching, "and what do you mean, go after her?"

“Walk her home, obviously.”

“Now?”

“No, tomorrow. Of course I mean now! Look, she's saying goodbye to her weirdo friend, it's time for you guys to be alone!”

Sara was half right, Leyre considered.

In other words, her observation that this would be the right time to approach Judith if she wanted to be alone with her was correct. Well, the aforementioned, upon reaching a crossroads, had said goodbye to Gisela and continued forward, presumably in the direction of her own house.

Leyre and the other two girls were about ten or fifteen meters behind, walking towards their own homes, still not far from the school: If Leyre was going to do something to better secure her share of the prize—or screw it up for all—, she had to act at this time.

"I'm not going to go near her, it's too sudden, she's going to think I want to rob her."

"You will, eventually…" Noemi murmured, though no one seemed to hear her.

“Why not?” Sarah insisted. “Helena is always accompanied by her boyfriend when she leaves the school, you just have to have perspective.”

"Perspective to look like a freak! Helena and Jaime have been dating for three months, they liked each other for years. As far as Judith and I are concerned, I am a random person who asked her out yesterday without any prelude. What do you think her reaction will be if I tell her today that I want to accompany her home?”

"You're right, it would be strange. Too bold even for you.” Before Leyre could literally suggest any other topic of conversation, to get out of this nonsense, Sara added with a mischievous smile. “What if we just follow her to find out where she lives?”

“I want to! Let's see what kind of neighborhood she lives in.”

Leyre was going to protest, but Noemi had beaten her to it. And since Sara should not need the consent of the main person involved in all this to follow such an easy prey through the city streets, both she and Noemi accelerated their march, careful not to lose sight of Judith , without Leyre being able to do anything to prevent it.

At this moment, Leyre mistrusted that Sara was doing all that on purpose, to frighten Judith and that she would not dare to speak to her again.

Fortunately, Judith didn't seem aware that someone had been following her for three blocks. With her backpack on her back and the moderate walk of someone who is not in a hurry to reach her destination, she never turned around, always focused on the road ahead.

The question was, how to stop that?

Maybe there would have been a chance for Helena to be there, instilling some sense in the others. But without her it would be Leyre against two girls too eager not to listen to her and that, to be honest, were almost unstoppable. If Sara would let her, she could normally walk three kilometers in the opposite direction to her apartment in order to get the exclusive she wanted, take photos on the street wherever they stopped and even spend the next few days congratulating herself on her feat.

Of course, she wouldn't have the pettiness to vandalize someone else's property or spread the information about a girl with whom she hadn't had any altercations, but that didn't serve to reassure Leyre either, who, in the end, had to resort to desperate measures:

"I invite you both to lunch," she sentenced suddenly, achieving in a second what she hadn't achieved in the last ten minutes of trying in vain to convince the others to stop, that is, to actually stop in their tracks— . “Is pizza good enough for you?”

They were on the same street as one of the shops they used to go to every once in a while when they felt like eating out, so this was no accident. There couldn't be anything like it. But the fact of being invited, of course, would be more appealing than following a girl for who knows how many more neighborhoods, without any endorsement on the horizon. So even Sara didn't hesitate to accept, desisting in the act of the chase.

With Judith already gone around a corner, Leyre was left with her friends wondering if it was all worth it. Seen what has been seen, and contemplating the joy of Noemi and Sara for having obtained a free lunch, if it continued like this, she would end up spending the money from an unsuccessful bet on paying for whims to her friends just to prevent them from sabotaging her.

Good thing she hadn't accepted the deal solely for the money...

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