The Enemy Hypothesis: A Brazos High Novella

you the opportunity to do with this with me and share the glory, but if you don’t believe it, then I’ll tell. And I’ll get tons of kudos when everyone finds out that I outed a cheater.”
“You can’t tell anyone!” I say, glaring at him. “Janelle knows she told both of us. If it’s a trick then we’re both going down.”
Mark rolls his eyes. “You are—” he starts, but then he lets out an annoyed sigh and shakes his head. “Whatever.”
“I’m what?” I say, folding my arms across my chest. “What am I, Mark Caputo? Please tell me.”
“It’s nothing,” he says, walking toward the door. I hate it because this conversation is not going anywhere, but I still don’t want him to leave.
“Tell me,” I demand.
He opens the door and then turns back to me. “I was just thinking it’s too bad you’re my competition because in any other circumstance, I would have totally asked you out.”
And then he leaves.
Just like that, he walks out and closes the door behind him.
I stare at the door for a long time. I can’t believe what I just heard. What he said. It’s really messing with me. I almost call Jules a dozen times and tell her what Mark said, hoping she can help me translate it because maybe I interpreted it wrong.
But… he said he wanted to ask me out! Holy crap. Why, oh why is that stuck in my head now?
And then it hits me. He’s lying.
This app has transformed the entire student body at Brazos High School. We’re all playing this phycological game and pretending to be nice to each other. Mark Caputo is playing the game as well. He’s saying whatever it takes to get into my head and trip me up so he can prevail and win that car.
This is war, and he is my number one enemy who just tried to trick me.
I can’t believe I almost fell for it.

Ten
MARK
Abby and I don’t speak for the next two weeks. I think I catch her looking at me during accounting class a few times, but every time I try to smile or get her attention, she looks away. Every morning I wake up and check the app. Both Abby and I have slipped down and risen up in the scoreboard multiple times over the last two weeks. Everyone in school has changed their position on the board. Everyone except Annabel. She’s still in first place and hasn’t left that spot since the first day the app opened. And no matter how many good things I do, or how many free makeovers Abby gives in her cosmetology class, Annabel remains about five thousand points in the lead.
I can’t stand knowing that a cheater will win this contest. I also don’t want to make Abby hate me forever by going behind her back and telling the principal about the cheating freshman. But time is running out, and we need to do something. I keep hoping for a way to find Abby alone and talk to her again, but she avoids me at every turn.
This weekend marks exactly one week left to win the competition. On Friday, I get called into the office with nine other people, including Abby and Annabel. At a quick glance I can tell we’re the top ten people on the current scoreboard. The principal introduces us to some dude wearing the same polo shirt the guy from the Un-bully video had worn. Luckily, it’s a different guy and this one isn’t as cheesy when he talks to us. He gives us all permission slips and tells us that the top ten students on the scoreboard are invited to visit the car dealership that’s giving us a car tomorrow. The permission slips are for the cameras. Apparently they want content of us picking out which car we’d get if we won so they can use it for future promotional videos and put it on their social media.
I really want to go, if only to spend time with Abby at a dealership, but that means I have to tell my parents what’s going on. I head to the restaurant just before the dinner rush to tell them about the contest, the app, and the prize.
Mom’s curiosity is piqued when I mention the car. “Can you sell it for cash? Or just take the cash instead of the car?” she asks.
“The rules say we can’t get cash instead, but I guess once it’s ours we can sell it.”
“That’s good,” Mom says. “But what makes you think you’ll win?”
I think of Annabel and her five thousand point lead. I’m currently around twenty-five thousand points and Abby is not too far ahead of me. But Annabel is at thirty thousand. Everything Janelle said has been true—never once has Annabel slipped in the ranks, but everyone else has.
I shrug. “I might not win. But I’m in third place right now.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my parents as excited as they are when I tell them the news. Luckily Julian is busy waiting tables so he doesn’t hear this conversation. He’d no doubt find some way to insult me about the achievement.
“So can I go to the dealership tomorrow?” I ask, handing over the permission slip. “It’ll mean I have to miss the lunch rush at work, but—”
“Of course you’re going,” Mom says. She swipes the paper from my hand, signs it quickly, and then shoves it back at me. “You have one week to win this car so we can sell it. The money will help us tremendously.”
“Or I could just keep the car?” I suggest.
My parents both roll their eyes. Dad gets pulled away by his assistant manager, leaving my mom to answer. “Your car is better than some cheap free car,” Mom says. “You’ll win the free car and we’ll sell it for cash.”
* * *
When I arrive at the dealership, I see Abby getting off at the