Hanley felt it was unfair. He and Lucas had made the bet, so why was everyone ganging up on him?
“We all heard you that day. You were the one who went and provoked Lucas and Liana. It didn’t look like you were making a bet; you were so confident, like you were deliberately setting them up.”
“You just wanted your mom to come so you could see Lucas and Liana get punished.”
“Lucas and Liana weren’t as arrogant as you. They weren’t even sure if your mom would come.”
“Yeah, you were so cocky, saying she’d definitely be here. You got all our hopes up. Of course, we’re going to call you out now that she’s a no-show.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep!”
Hanley had always been proud, and being surrounded and mocked by so many children was a huge blow to his ego. He watched them all jeering at him, their taunting eyes fixed on him.
His pride was deeply wounded, and he clenched his fists tightly.
Suddenly, Lucas walked over. “Hanley didn’t break his promise. Natalie was going to come to his parent-teacher conference, but she decided not to after she found out about our bet. If she came, my sister and I would have to be punished. We’re the ones who caused this for Hanley.”
Hanley was stunned. At a moment when everyone was criticizing him, Lucas wasn’t gloating. He was actually defending him.
What was he trying to do?
“It’s just some frog jumps on the field. I’ll just think of it as exercise. I lost,” Lucas said, then turned and headed to the field to begin his frog jumps.
Seeing Lucas already carrying out the punishment, the other children had nothing more to say and began to disperse.
Hanley watched Lucas doing frog jumps on the field, a strange feeling churning inside him.
He had wanted to see Lucas doing frog jumps on the field. He had gotten what he wanted.
So why wasn’t he happy?
Just then, Hanley’s stomach rumbled.

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