The Bet

Justin was smug about his appearance. So smug, in fact, that he was convinced that he could look good in literally anything.

"Oh, please," Noah commented, crossing his arms, "You could not look good in everything."

"I could," Justin responded, unfazed by this cynicism, "In fact, I bet you twenty dollars that I could look good even in your clothes."

"And, what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Noah asked, offended.

Justin smiled and answered, "Oh, nothing, nothing."

Noah rolled his eyes, knowing that nothing could come of such a false alarm.

The next morning, he awoke to see Justin dressed in the same undershirt, polo, and sweater vest that he always wore—several sizes larger, of course—and he said flatly, "You look ridiculous."

"Oh, do I?" Justin asked, as he made himself known to all the other guys around.

Notably, Owen looked him in the eye, and told him that he looked fabulous in the outfit, causing Noah to groan audibly.

Noah was still fairly certain that nothing was to come of it, and that it was merely Owen, who was not merely aware of Justin's handsomeness, but was aroused by it, and that none of the other guys would buy the look.

He was greatly surprised when he saw Trent and Owen both wearing the outfit the next day.

"Trent?" Noah asked, "Why are you dressed like… me?"

"I'm not dressing like you," Trent responded, "This is Justin's new outfit."

"Justin's?" Noah asked, "You misunderstood. That wasn't… serious, or anything; he was wearing my clothes to prove a point… and win a twenty dollar bet against me."

"Oh," Trent said, "Well, he looks good in it."

"Yeah," Owen said, "He looks good in everything…"

Noah glared at him, and said, "You know, you could at least pretend to support my side of the bet, because, we're, you know, friends."

"Well, I'm sorry," Owen said, shrugging, "But when you're wrong, you're wrong."

Noah grumbled, but he was not too annoyed until he saw Cody wearing the clothes. "Not you too, Cody!" Noah whined.

"Uh…" Cody said, sheepishly, "I just wanted to fit in."

"I know, I know," Noah groaned, "Maybe it doesn't extend beyond this team, though."

"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but…" Cody began, pointing to the Killer Bass who had recently arrived. All of them were wearing the clothes, except for Duncan.

"Harold!" Noah shouted accusingly, approaching him.

"What?" he asked.

"You're wearing that outfit!" he said exasperatedly.

"So? So are you," Harold responded.

Noah crossed his arms, and then asked, "Okay then, tell me this. Why are you dressed like that?"

"Because it's awesome," was the reply.

"I don't doubt that," Noah said in deadpan, "What I doubt is that that's actually the reason."

"What?" Harold asked, "You know what? You're being rude."

Noah apologized, although there was a trace of sarcasm. He rubbed his temples as if he had a headache, and he said, "It's just that no one ever noticed my outfit, and now that Justin's wearing it, it's the new thing, and I'm going to lose a twenty dollar bet."

"If it's any consolation to you," Harold said, "I'm wearing this because I thought Cody looked good in it."

"That does make me feel a little better, I guess," Noah responded. "But that doesn't solve the problem about DJ, Geoff, Homeschool, Tyler…"

"Is this clothing ugly?" DJ asked, "Would it be better if I took my shirt off?"

"No," Noah responded, "I think that would just rub it in."

"Oh," DJ answered.

"Forget it," he muttered as he headed back to meet the rest of his team.

He grumbled because he knew that he would have to pay Justin twenty dollars. He did so, to which Justin merely responded, "I told you so."

Izzy noticed that Noah looked sad, and that Justin was gloating. She could not allow this to go on, so she said, loudly, "Noah didn't lose that bet yet!"

Justin rolled his eyes, and then said, "Oh, so do you have an idea?"

Izzy said, "The bet was that you could look good in anything. That includes a skimpy bikini.

Justin looked shocked. "I am not wearing a skimpy bikini."

Noah added, "Yeah, and actually, the bet was that he could look good in my clothes."

Izzy began bouncing and said, "Well, okay, if you don't want to see Justin in a skimpy bikini, you can just concede the bet now."

"Why would I want to see Justin in a skimpy bikini?" he asked.

"Because then we could watch him burn," she said, with a very intimidating look on her face.

"Oh," Noah said, "Well then, okay, double or nothing."

"Okay, fine," Justin said, "If I can look good in a bikini you owe me forty dollars, and if I can't, I'll give you your money back."

"Alright," Noah said, "Great idea, Izzy."

Unfortunately, Izzy had already become distracted and started messing with stuff elsewhere.

Justin was changing into a skimpy bikini, and Noah looked at him and nearly lost his lunch. Unfortunately, Owen reacted differently. "My, my, my!" he said, "What a hottie!"

"Thank you, Owen," Justin said.

"Traitor," Noah muttered.

"Did somebody call me?" Heather asked, appearing from behind.

"Why did that sound suspicious?" Noah asked in such a deadpan manner that it sounded like a statement.

"Oh, my!" she said, surveying Justin. "I guess he's so hot he can even look good while cross-dressing." She brought Lindsay over, and asked her in her best faux-polite way to take a picture. Lindsay complied, pulling a camera out of her purse and snapping a shot of Justin.

Justin was not embarrassed even slightly by this ordeal; in fact, he was showing off.

"Okay fine!" Noah said, "Here's your freaking forty dollars."

"Thank you, Noah," Justin said, with a tone of derision rather than gratitude.

"Now, for my sake, please change back," he said, looking away.

"Alright," he said, smiling.

Noah hoped that his problems were over, but of course they were not, because the very next day, all of the girls were wearing replicas of Justin's bikini except for Izzy and Eva. Granted, LeShawna had an overcoat on, but it was still the same bikini underneath. Noah sighed.

Izzy looked over to him, and said, "Here we go again."

"Forget it," he responded, and then he walked away.

Justin looked at his newly obtained forty dollars, and decided to spend it all on a slack day shirt; one that he would only wear on days he was sick or otherwise certain that he would not have to go out in public or have company. Noah would be glad to point out the hypocrisy of claiming to look good in anything, and then refusing to wear a forty dollar shirt in public, but decided to keep cautious, in case Justin took it as a challenge that would cause him to lose more money.