My name is Jimmy, and this is the story of how my best friend, John, humiliated me in front of my crush. We are all in our junior year of high school. My crush, Chloe, is the most amazing girl I've ever met. I'm completely infatuated with her. She is tiny, about 5'1", 105 pounds, and in great shape. She has dark brown, nearly black hair, light skin, and piercing bright blue eyes.
Chloe had just moved to our school during our freshman year, but in the two years since she's been here, she has become very popular. I mean, of course she is - she's a talented athlete, a great singer, and has an amazing personality. That's not to even mention her looks. She was different from other popular girls though, somehow. Well I guess the difference is that she actually pays attention to me.
See, I never felt like a loser in school or anything, but I also never felt very cool, and I certainly wasn't someone women chased after. I'm in what I call "popularity limbo." I'm in the popular crowd, but not really popular myself. How did I end up here? Well, because I've been best friends with John since kindergarten.
John is definitely the most popular kid in our class. He's got every good quality you could imagine, save for humility. He was a star athlete, winning state in wrestling and the 100m dash. We've been competing with each other since kindergarten, and he practically wins at everything. We used to compete to see who was taller, but he had a huge growth spurt and I never did, so I guess I lose at that too. He's already 6'4", of course the tallest kid in our class.
I stopped growing at 5'6". The only thing I can consistently beat him at nowadays is video games, and I take a lot of pride in that, as he's quite good at games as well.
You may be wondering why I would be friends with someone who makes me look so bad. Well, for one, there are the obvious benefits of having a popular friend. I get to go to the cool parties and all of that. Also, no one messes with me because they all know John has my back. And besides all that, he is honestly a great friend to me and always has been. He may be cocky and talk shit, but he is honest and loyal, and we value each other's friendships.
We've never really had any big fights in our years of friendship, though he has upset me. There have been multiple occasions where he dated or hooked up with a girl that he knew i was interested in. It would make me so upset, because I would fall in love with these girls and he would just have his fun and then dump them like it was no big deal. Last time it happened, he made a crack about how she chose him over me, and I lost it. I threatened to end our friendship. He backed off and apologized, and said he wouldn't talk shit about that again.
Things have been great ever since then. John comes and hangs out at my house practically every single day right after school. Most nights he stays the night at my house, too. It's basically like he lives here. My mom doesn't mind at all though. She enjoys his company, and even asks where he is on the rare day that he doesn't come over.
I've been in love with Chloe since she moved here two years ago. I talked to her every day in class for our whole freshman year. I finally worked up the courage on the last day of school to ask for her number to keep in touch over the summer. We texted all the time like best friends for over a year after that, but I never really had the guts to ask her to hangout outside of school. I was too nervous. I had never even kissed a girl and I was afraid of embarrassing myself.
After pushing me to ask her out all that time, John got fed up with my cowardice and he asked her for me. He walked right up to her at her locker, and leaned against the locker next to hers.
"Hey Chloe, you wanna come hang out after school with us at Jimmy's house?" he asked.
"Sure that sounds fun! I have dance class after school, but I can come by after that?" She replied excitedly. I couldn't believe it. I've been terrified of asking her exactly that for so long and he did it like it was nothing.
"Alright see ya then." He walked off just as cool as he had approached. I walked off with him, still stunned by how easy he made it look.
Later that day, when John and I made it home from school, I was a nervous wreck. What were we going to do? What would she think of my house? How do I entertain a girl? I've barely been around a girl outside of school. I knew we had an hour or so to prepare before she got out of her dance class, and I was worrying the whole time.
"You need to relax," said John, sensing my uneasiness. "Chloe is cool, there's nothing to be nervous about. Hell, if you weren't so in love with her I would be all over her myself." He laughed. "Let's just play some games until she gets here."
I thought that was actually a great idea. Any other activity and John would beat me and make me look like a loser. I couldn't risk that happening when Chloe shows up. But with video games, I almost always win against John. We sat side by side on a loveseat, with recliners for both seats, in front of the living room TV. We started up Mario Kart, kicked our feet up in our recliners, and started racing each other.
I beat him two races in a row, and I was talking trash the entire time. I'm not normally a trash talker, but I guess I was trying to get myself in a confident headspace to prepare for hanging out with Chloe. I made jokes about how bad he is at racing and how I am the king.
"Alright tough guy, let's place a bet on the next race then if you're so confident," he said, sounding a little annoyed. John is really competitive and I was probably making a mistake by getting him riled up, but I was in a competitive mood myself.
"Okay, if I win, you have to be my slave for a week," I said. I had just beat him easily twice in a row, so I figured I might as well make it a good bet.
"You're on." He sounded dead serious and really confident, which made me a little nervous. Why was he willing to make this bet when the odds were against him? Oh well, I thought. He doesn't stand a chance against me.
We started the race, and just as I expected, I got off to a tremendous lead. When I was confident that he would never catch me, I started trash talking him to rub it in.
"I hope you're ready to be my servant for a week John. You're going to do all my homework and carry all my books around for me." I glanced at him for a reaction, but he was extremely focused on the game. When I looked away from the screen, I accidentally fell off the race track and had to respawn. I lost a bit of my lead, but was still comfortably ahead of him.
"Wow I fell off the map and am still ahead of you, how bad are you at this game?" I teased. "I hope you make a better slave than a race car driver."
The race continued with me in the lead, and I continued to taunt him with the details of how I would be treating him once he was my slave.
"I think for your first task as my slave I'll have you get down at the end of my recliner and rub my feet for me." I was cracking up at my own ideas. "Maybe if you kiss my feet and beg for mercy I won't make this week too bad for you."
I made a few mistakes in the race, and John had nearly caught me, but we were on the final lap and I knew he would still never make it. I continued taunting.
"Wow I'm gonna love showing off my little slave bitch to Chloe when she gets here. I hope you're ready to serve us both," I mocked.