Ryan nodded and said, "No. All he knows is that I slept with Mandy. Maybe I should at least try and maybe he'll give me another chance to be his friend. Maybe he won't but I'll never know unless I try."

Jolie nodded.

"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about," he said seriously.

"Okay," she said, curious what it could be.

"Well the 'Chasing the New Girl' website was taking bets on who would sleep with you first before graduation. Well, today is graduation so the bet is over and everyone lost because you never slept with anyone."

Jolie laughed. "I remember telling Austin when I first saw the website that it was weird that there wasn't an option to bet that I wouldn't sleep with any of them. So I guess nobody wins."

"No," Ryan shook his head. "Somebody definitely won."

"What do you mean? I didn't sleep with anyone."

"Exactly. That means you won," Ryan said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out an envelope.

He handed it to her and said, "Here you go. It's all yours. Maybe you could use it to buy yourself a car or an apartment in Boston," he smiled.

Jolie unfolded the envelope and pulled out the check and almost had a heart attack.

"Ryan! This is a check for $65,000 dollars!" she said in shock.

"Yes it is," he nodded. "That's the total of all the bets made and I matched it dollar for dollar just like I promised."

"I can't let you do that. It's too much," she said, looking at the check in awe.

"No it's not Jolie. I don't feel right keeping this money after everything I did and giving it back to you makes me feel like I've somehow made up for all the wrong I did. Doing this is like therapy for me so please don't take that away from me."

She looked at the check and thought about it.

"So you put in $32,500 of your own money?"

"Not really. I invested all the bet money into cyptocurrency and made a killing plus I made revenue from all the advertisers on the site. I didn't have to put any of my own money in so you can take it without any guilt. It's yours Jolie. Do with it what you will. You deserve it."

"Thank you Ryan," Jolie said, stepping forward and giving him a hug with her eyes tearing up.

Ryan stepped back and said, "Confessing and giving you that check seriously feels like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Just promise me you'll use the money for yourself and not give it away to anyone else. I want you to have it to make up for the year of torture I put you through. You promise?"

"Yeah I promise," she said with a smile and then Ryan turned around and started walking towards the door.

"Hey Ryan. Good luck on your conversation with Austin. I hope it goes well."

"Thanks Jolie. I don't think I'm the only one that needs to have a conversation with him. It's not a coincidence that he hasn't dated anyone all year since you guys broke up. If you ask me I think he still loves you," he said with a pained smile before slipping out the door.

Jolie was walking up the stairs when she saw her Mom in the bathroom wearing a tight little black dress and she had her makeup and hair fixed to perfection. She was leaning forward over the sink putting on some lip gloss and swiping on some extra deodorant and perfume.

"Mom what are you all dressed up for?"

"I just so happen to have a date," she smiled.

"You do? With who?" she asked.

"This guy I met today at the graduation. He's really nice and we started talking and figured out we have a lot in common. His wife had been cheating on him with some tennis pro so they recently divorced and I told him my story about your Dad. He's a really nice man and he's good looking and easy to talk to."

"Wait a second. His wife cheated on him with a tennis pro?" she asked thinking. "Are you talking about Mason Gentry? Ryan's Dad?"

"Yes! Do you know him?" she asked.

"A little. That's just so weird to think about you dating Ryan's Dad."

"Well, what do you think of him? Do you think he's a good guy?"

Jolie thought about it for a minute and said, "Yeah Mom. From what I've known of him he's a good guy. When Austin's Dad died when he was little, Mason took him in as a father figure. He forgave Austin for fighting Ryan when he found out the reason why and even wrote a letter to the Harvard Admissions board explaining the situation so they'd still admit him. I know he's made some mistakes as a Dad by working too much and spoiling Ryan way too much but he seems to be trying to make up for it."

"Good. I'm glad you like him. We'll just see how it goes."

Jolie went in her room and collapsed on her bed and looked over at Austin's window out of habit. His blinds were still drawn. The blinds hadn't been open ever since they broke up. She grabbed the remote and turned on Netflix and started watching a movie and snuggled with her pillow.

She heard a door knock downstairs and her Mom appeared in her doorway.

"How do I look?" she asked excitedly.

"You look beautiful Mom. I hope you have a nice date," Jolie said and she really meant it. She was ready to see her Mom happy again and Mason Gentry seemed like a good guy.

Her Mom turned around and rushed down the stairs and she heard the door open.

"Jolie!" she yelled. "Mason's here so I'm heading out! You have a visitor here too!"

She figured it must be Bailey.

"Ok. Send them up!" she shouted and she heard some footsteps on the stairs and a minute later she saw a person in her doorway from her peripheral vision.

"Hey Bailey. Did you want to watch a movie?" she asked.

"No I'd rather have a talk," a deep voice said and she turned her head and saw Austin standing in her doorway. She was stunned and just sat there looking at him for a minute as if he wasn't real. She hadn't talked to him in months and now all of a sudden here he was in her bedroom.

She sat up in bed and said, "Austin? What are you doing here?"

"I thought maybe we could have a talk. If that's okay with you. If you want me to leave I'll go."

"No. Please don't go. A talk sounds nice," she said, scooting over and patting the bed next to her

He sat down and looked at the floor and they both sat there in awkward silence for a couple seconds.

She couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked, his sandy brown hair sweeping across his forehead and his sharp jawline. She could smell that familiar smell of his cologne and mint gum and it brought back so many memories from when they were together. It felt so strange to be this close to him again after all this time.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.

"That was a really great speech you gave today. What you said about me," he said, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. "I wanted to tell you it was really sweet and you even made my eyes water."

She smiled and said, "Yeah I was crying like a baby. I was hoping to get through my speech without crying but then I saw you sitting there and I lost it.

Austin hesitated before saying, "Ryan came over and visited me earlier. He told me the full story of what happened that night at the party with Mandy. I guess she's even more manipulative and devious than I realized," he said quietly.

"Yeah. In the bathroom at the dance she told me that everyone at school knew that you were only with me so you could win the cash and that you were going to leave me as soon as we slept together and go back to her. She said Chaz told her that you were running a scam on me and that I was falling right into your trap."

"What I don't understand is why you believed her? You know she's obsessed with me and that she had sent those texts saying I was behind the website to break us up. So why did you believe her this time?" he asked with a confused expression.

Jolie looked down at her hands and said, "I've been asking myself that same question. She's a good actress and she was really convincing. I don't even understand why I fell for it though because my common sense was telling me not to listen to her but I couldn't shut off this nagging voice in the back of my head telling me it was true. That I wasn't good enough for you. That there was no way you could really love me. That I needed to protect myself from getting my heart broken. That you were more attracted to Mandy than me. That you only wanted to have sex with me to win the money and everyone was in on it and secretly laughing at me behind my back for thinking you really loved me."

He shook his head in frustration. "Why though Jolie? I don't get it. You're the most beautiful girl in Riverview and the smartest. Why was that voice in your head telling you all that?"

"I don't know why," she said, hanging her head as her eyes started to water. "My brain is messed up Austin. I've got a lot of insecurities."

"Why? What in the world do have to be insecure about? It makes no sense?" he asked in confusion.