Part 1 -- The bet
It was a Friday night, and a group of friends at college was drinking beer and watching the football game, which was just starting. The group consisted of 3 guys, Steve, Jack and David, and 3 girls, Rachel, Lilly and Sara.
Jack was a huge supporter of one of the teams, the Ravens, and was hyping them up, saying how the other team, the Eagles, doesn't stand a chance. Reality, however, was quite different, as the Eagles were the clear favorite, with the betting markets giving them a 10:1 chance of winning.
Lilly was also a big football fan and knew the actual winning odds. She was a bit annoyed that Jack was being delusional and a big mouth, so she pushed back. Jack, however, ignored her and continued with his speech.
Even more annoyed now, Lilly challenged him, "If you are so confident, Jack, why don't we make a bet?"
"Sure, what should we bet," Jack didn't hesitate.
The rest of the group was finding this entertaining and was hyping them up.
"How about $100?" Lilly proposed.
"No, that's boring," Jack was not satisfied.
"Yeah, you guys should bet something a bit more entertaining," Rachel agreed and was egging them on.
"How about the loser needs to do some kind of a dare?" Steve proposed.
The group was now discussing what kind of a dare would it be fun to make the loser do. The ideas were mild in the beginning, such as making an embarrassing Facebook post or making an embarrassing phone call to your crush. However, soon they started to become more intense due to the combination of alcohol and friends trying to outdo each other in upping up the stakes. Jack and Lilly were now starting to sweat a bit.
David proposed that the loser had to streak on the next college football game. The rest of the group found that hilarious and agreed, but Jack and Lilly pushed back, saying that they would get arrested or kicked out of college. The group reluctantly agreed and backed down, but the idea of seeing one of their friends naked remained.
"I've got it!" Sara proclaimed, "The professor in our art class is absent for the next two weeks. I am leading all of the classes during this time, since I have already been helping him with coordination and other tasks for the last year. Right now we are drawing live models. So the dare would be that the loser has to come and pose for us. Nude of course! No excuse of getting arrested here, guys!" she laughed.
"Oh, that's a great idea! Our model for next Monday cancelled, so this is perfect!" Steve, who was also in Sara's art class, enthusiastically agreed. The rest of the group was finding the idea to be awesome, but Jack and Lilly were getting a bit nervous.
"It's usually a small group - just 6 or 7 people that you don't even know. And they are all art students and are used to seeing nudity just as art, don't worry too much guys," Sara was trying to convince them, but Jack and Lilly were still resistant to the idea.
"Come on Jack! Do you not believe the Ravens can do it, or are you just a pussy," David was now pressuring Jack.
"Fuck, fine! I agree with your stupid dare, I know we are winning this," Jack finally agreed due to a combination of being called out like that and still being delusional about his team's chances. The fact that he was somewhat drunk and wouldn't mind seeing Lilly nude and embarrassed also helped to change his mind.
The group cheered to Jack agreeing and all eyes and all the pressure were now on Lilly.
She really didn't think that this would get this far. She just wanted to make an easy $100, but the stakes were getting way too high for her. She wanted to back out, but the combination of Jack surprisingly agreeing and all the peer pressure being on her, made her reconsider for a few seconds, as the group enthusiastically cheered her on.
She reminded herself that the odds were 10:1 in her favor. She imagined how seeing Jack naked and embarrassed after him running his big mouth would be very satisfying indeed. She was also slightly drunk at this point, so she finally reluctantly agreed.
"Fuck, I agree as well," she resigned herself to the dare.
"Yeaaaaah!" the group cheered.
"Oh, and just so that you two know, there is always a photo of the model taken during the class," Steve informed them.
"No, what the fuck!" Lilly was not happy to hear that.
"Oh, it's just a single photo to help us analyze the drawings later on, Lilly," Sara tried to convince her, "Plus I'll get you a copy of Jack's if he loses. You want something to remember Jack's embarrassing loss, right?" Sara whispered to Lilly.
"So, are you going to chicken out, Lilly," Jack was drunk, still delusional about his chances, and mocking her. Lilly was pissed at him, and wanted to erase that stupid grin from his face.
"Okay, fuck, it's on!" Lilly exclaimed angrily, also a bit drunk, "You know the betting odds are like 10:1, your team is probably losing in a landslide!"
"I believe in the Ravens, Lilly! It's not something a statistics nerd like you could ever understand!" Jack went on another drunk monologue about his team. The other members of the group just laughed and grinned to each other. It was on!
The game started, and the first half of the game went just as expected. The Eagles created a huge lead, and it seemed pretty obvious that there was no way for a comeback from the Ravens.
"Can't wait to see you all embarrassed with your little willy out! This is going to be hilarious!" Lilly was now teasing Jack, certain that she had already won the bet. The group joined in making fun of Jack for being so delusional, but he insisted that they still had a chance and that "he believed in his team".
During the break Sara printed out two standard contract forms for the modeling for the art class. She insisted that both Jack and Lilly sign them now, before the game ends. She told them that they will just throw away the one from the winner. Lilly, thinking she had the game in the bag, happily signed it, but Jack, seeing the contract right in front of him, suddenly seemed not to "believe in his team" as much as he was announcing just a minute ago.
"Who is chickening out now, huh," Lilly put more pressure on him, "I thought you 'believed' in the Ravens," she and the rest of the group laughed.
"Fuck, I do believe in them!" Jack found a new bit of inspiration and quickly signed the contract. He pushed it back to Sara as the slightly drunk group cheered.
"Thank you, guys, this is all we need," Sara smiled and took both contracts.
The game continued, and what happened in the second half can only be described as a miracle. The Ravens started to increase their score, with Eagles not scoring a single point in the next quarter of the game.
The teams were now almost tied, and Lilly suddenly started to sweat again. Why was it getting this close? This should have been a landslide victory for the Eagles according to any facts-based forecast.
Jack was getting excited and cheering as the Eagles' lead narrowed, and he almost exploded when the Ravens took the lead with 5 minutes of the game left.
Lilly was feeling hot. "Oh my god, this is not happening," she couldn't believe it.
And just like that, the last 5 minutes evaporated, with Ravens maintaining their lead and winning the game!
Jack was now cheering louder than he ever had, and the rest of the group joined him. Everyone had expected that Jack was just going to make a fool of himself, but the reversal at the end and the victory of the underdog was somehow inspiring, even for those who didn't have a horse in this race.
Everyone was now singing or cheering or dancing; everyone, but Lilly that is. She was sitting in her chair, unable to move. The realization of what this meant dawned on her, and her face was getting red.
"I guess we know who our next model is," Steve grinned and winked at Lilly. Lilly averted her gaze, and looked at the floor in embarrassment.
"I hope this taught you a lesson, Lilly," Jack now approached her, "You can't just rely on the facts and numbers, you've got to believe with your heart," he thought he was being profound or inspirational and not just lucky.
Lilly couldn't say a thing, she just stared at the floor and nodded.
It was getting late so the friends decided to call it a night, and go to bed.
Part 2 -- The nude art model
The weekend was anxiety inducing for Lilly as she was dreading the upcoming Monday. She called Sara on Sunday evening, and tried to back out of the art modeling. Sara insisted that Lilly had signed the contract, had already been signed into the system as the model, and they couldn't find a replacement on this short of a notice. She had lost the bet fair and square, and would simply have to follow through.
On Monday afternoon Lilly was seriously considering just not going, but she felt guilty going back on her word and betraying her friends like that. She always considered herself to be a woman of her word, and also knew that her friends would not just let her escape her forfeit like that. She reluctantly walked to the Arts Department where they were scheduled to meet.
There, Sara was already waiting for her. She took Lilly to the classroom that they were using, and led her to the dressing room at the side of the classroom.
"You can get undressed in here, and there is a robe on the chair. Be quick, we should be starting soon!" Sara explained.
Lilly went into the dressing room, and started to slowly undress. She couldn't believe she was really doing this. Her whole friend group was about to see her completely naked. And a few random art students as well. She was feeling hot and blushing just thinking about it. She was lost in her thoughts for a while, but then she heard noise from the classroom, and realized that she needs to get on with it. She quickly undressed, put the robe on, took a deep breath, and decided to return to the classroom.
As she opened the door and peeked outside the dressing room, the classroom was already full. Sara and Steve said that there were usually only 6-7 people there, but even putting aside the addition of Jack, Rachel and David, the room still seemed fuller than it should be. As she quickly counted the number of people in the classroom, she realized that there were at least 18 people in there.
"Sara, why are there so many people here? You said only 6 to 7 people!" Lilly whispered to Sara, who was waiting in front of the dressing room.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I guess the word got out that a student from our university was modeling this time, and more people than usual signed up," Sara tried to innocently brush it off.
"Oh my god, I know that guy from my Math class. And those two girls are in my Chemistry lab," Lilly was anxiously scanning the room, still peeking from the dressing room.
