Chapter 1

I stared at the group chat announcement for a solid ten seconds.

In the meantime, with over a hundred people in the group chat, the messages were coming in too fast to keep up with.

"You rolled a six—a clean sweep! You're making a bank off this one, Gianna!"

"I know, right? Gianna managed to ditch that fat one and score major brownie points with Cameron!"

"You should step right up and give us your acceptance speech, Natalia!"

In the very next moment, someone posted a photo of me from my high school sports day in the group chat.

I was around 265 pounds back then, so my uniform was stretched tight around me. I was sitting in the very back row of the classroom, my head down as I ate a piece of bread, my stomach almost pushing against the desk in front of me.

Even though whoever took the photo was standing pretty far away, the blur couldn't hide my huge build back then.

Gianna Sutton, my online girlfriend, was the one who posted the photo in the group chat.

She was still reassuring me in our private chat just a minute earlier, saying, "I just lost a game with some of the women earlier, Zachy. I temporarily lost you to Natalia. It'll all be over once you complete the three couple tasks with Natalia tomorrow, so don't worry about it!"

I didn't bother replying to her message.

In the meantime, everyone in the group chat was dying of laughter.

"Damn! That kind of build would require the restaurant to set out two chairs—side by side—just for him!"

"Isn't there a bridal carry in one of the couple tasks? How is he going to bend at the waist with that kind of belly?"

"I suggest changing the task directly to 'feeding the pig'. It'd be more appropriate!"

Gianna sent a facepalm emoji before adding, "That's enough, guys. Don't make Zachary shut down completely."

She made it look like she was helping me, but in reality, she had just kicked me while I was down.

Gianna and I had been in an online relationship for 11 months. She had trouble sleeping, so I stayed awake all night to keep her company. She bombed an exam, so I stayed up coaxing her until sunrise. She got anxious before the SAT, so I put together study guides every single day and sent her encouraging voice messages.

I even applied to attend Halport University because of what she said to me. "We should go to the same university! I'll definitely be the very first one to hug you once the semester starts, Zachary!"

Yet, the day before the semester started, Gianna put me up as a wager and lost me to Natalia Dafforn, the campus belle.

It wasn't long before someone in the group chat started a betting pool. "Come place your bets on whether Zachary will show up at the freshman gathering tomorrow night!"

In that instant, the pool kept growing as more people bet that I wouldn't show up.

Gianna dropped 4,500 dollars on the bet. "He's definitely not coming. He's a coward, so as soon as people say anything, he shuts down."

I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Gianna knew that I'd be upset over this, yet she still gathered a group of over a hundred people to watch me get humiliated.

Just then, Cameron Gunter sent a message in the group chat. "You guys should really cut it out. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being a little overweight, as long as Zachary is an honest and decent guy."

Cameron was known as the loaded trust-fund scion in the Halport University freshman group chat. His profile picture featured a supercar, and his social media feed was full of yachts and luxury watches.

There were quite a few people in the group chat who were constantly kissing up to him.

Cameron had apparently been trying to win Natalia over, but for the past couple of days, he had been spending a lot of time with Gianna too. They were always joking with each other in the group chat, even changing their profile pictures to matching ones.

He made a point of tagging me in the group chat, asking, "You're going to show up tomorrow, right, Zachary?"

He seemed to be coming to my defense, but he suddenly added, "I'm sure everyone means well, so don't feel insecure just because of your appearance, Zachary."

Those in the group chat instantly praised Cameron for being such a class act. Gianna even responded with a heart emoji.

I was in no rush to reply. I just opened the betting link and put down 450 dollars, betting on myself to show up on time tomorrow.

Those in the group chat fell silent for a moment before a flood of question marks appeared.

Gianna instantly sent me a private message. "Have you lost your mind? Cameron and Natalia are going to be there? What are you trying to do by showing up, Zachary?"

I checked myself out in the mirror. I was six feet and two inches tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. I had sharp facial features after losing the baby fat I had during high school.

In the last two months alone, people had asked for my contact info—more than 30 times—at malls, on the subway, and at the gym. I even got approached by an agent from a modeling agency who contacted me repeatedly to ask if I had any interest in doing commercial shoots.

Gianna had no idea about any of this.

I had saved the absolute best version of myself for the day we would meet up in person, but as it turned out, she wasn't worthy of that surprise at all.

I closed our private chat and replied in the group chat, "A bet is a bet."