Chapter 55 *

Chapter 55 Chapter 55
Silas’s POV
She barely looked up from her nachos. "Not really."
Her friend rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might fall out. "Dude, read the room."
Okay, tough crowd. Time to turn up the charm.
"Come on, it'll be fun," I said, giving them my best smile. The one that usually made girls melt. "One shot, and if I get a strike, you give Kai another chance."
Aria finally looked at me properly. Her eyes were beautiful green, completely unimpressed. "Why would I do that?"
"Because deep down, you know he's a good guy. He just made a mistake."
Her friend snorted. "A mistake? He posted her private letter on Instagram and made her a school-wide joke. That's not a mistake, that's being an asshole."
Okay, when she put it like that...
"Look, he feels bad about it," I lied. Kai didn't feel bad at all, but that was beside the point. "Just give me one shot. If I nail this trick shot, you hear him out. If I miss, we'll leave you alone forever."
Aria tilted her head, studying me like I was some weird science experiment. "You're really confident, aren't you?"
"Always." I spun the ball faster. "So? Deal?"
She shrugged. "Sure. Why not."
Yes! This was gonna be epic.
"Watch THIS!" I announced to the entire bowling alley. People turned to look. Perfect—I loved an audience. "Yo everyone! Watch me nail this behind-the-back throw!"
I strutted back to the lane, feeling like a king. This was my moment. I'd nail the shot, Aria would be impressed, she'd give Kai another chance, and I'd be the hero who fixed everything.
I turned my back to the pins, held the ball behind me, and tried to calculate the angle. I'd seen people do this on YouTube. How hard could it be?
"Here we go!" I shouted, swinging my arm back and releasing the ball.
The ball went flying... straight into the wrong lane.
Not just the wrong lane—it sailed through the air like a missile and crashed into some middle-aged dude's perfect split setup.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" the guy screamed, his face turning purple.
"DUDE! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!" His whole group started yelling at me.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.
"My bad! My bad!" I held up my hands, backing away from the angry bowlers. "Total accident!"
"You ruined my split, you little punk!"
The entire bowling alley was staring at me. Some people were laughing. Others looked pissed. I could feel my face burning hotter than a thousand suns.
"Bro..." Kai had his face in his hands. I couldn't tell if he was embarrassed or trying not to laugh.
Okay, that didn't go as planned. But I can recover from this.
"Okay okay, that was a warm-up," I said, grabbing another ball. My hands were a little shaky, but I couldn't back down now. "THIS time I'll nail it."
"Silas, just stop," Kai called out.
"Nah man, I got this!"
That's when Aria stood up from her booth and walked over, moving with this weird confidence that made everyone stop and stare. She wasn't trying to be sexy or anything—she just moved like she owned the place.
"You want to make a bet?" she asked, her voice calm and almost bored.
"What kind of bet?"
"If I get a strike on my first try, you leave me alone for the rest of high school."
I laughed. This was perfect. "Deal! And when you miss, you hear Kai out."
Her friend gave this mysterious smile, like I was some kind of idiot. But I didn't think much of it. Aria picked up a ball like it weighed nothing.
This is too easy. She's about to embarrass herself, and then—
Aria stepped up to the lane. Her form was... perfect? Like, textbook perfect. The ball glided down the lane like it was on rails.
STRIKE.
Clean. Effortless. Professional.
Then someone screamed, "YOOOOO!"
"Did you SEE that?!"
"That was INSANE!"
My jaw was on the floor. How the fuck did she do that?
"Beginner's luck!" I shouted, my voice cracking a little. "I can do way better!"
I have to. My reputation is on the line.
I grabbed another bowling ball, gripping it so tight my knuckles went white. "Watch THIS!"
I marched toward the lane, determined to show everyone what real skill looked like. I'd do something so amazing, so incredible, that everyone would forget about my first fail.
As I walked past Aria, I heard her say, "Oops."
I glanced down just in time to see a puddle of soda spreading across the floor.
My foot hit the liquid.
Oh no—
Everything happened in slow motion.
My foot slipped. I tried to catch myself, but I was still holding the heavy bowling ball. My arms windmilled wildly.
The ball flew out of my hands, going BACKWARDS over my head. I heard it crash into something behind me—probably the ball return.
But I had bigger problems.
I was falling forward, fast. The slippery floor turned into a slip-and-slide. My body hit the lane and kept going, sliding like I was on ice.
Please stop please stop please stop—
I didn't stop.
I slid all the way down the lane, my momentum carrying me straight into the pins.
CRASH!
My body slammed into the pin deck. Stars exploded in my vision.
But that wasn't even the worst part.
I felt something catch on my jeans. The pin-setting machine. It was moving, resetting for the next throw.
"Wait, no—"
RIIIIIIIP!
The machine grabbed my jeans and started pulling. The denim tore away like paper. My shirt got caught next.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"
The machine kept going, yanking me upward. My clothes were being shredded, pulled into the machinery. Within seconds, I was hanging upside down by my belt loop, dangling like a piñata.
In my Captain America boxer briefs.
And my socks. One with pizza slices. One with unicorns.
This isn't happening. This can't be happening.
"OH MY GOD!"
"BRO!"
"SOMEONE GET A PICTURE!"
The entire bowling alley exploded. Everyone had their phones out. The flash from cameras was blinding.
"IS THAT CAPTAIN AMERICA?!"
"DUDE'S WEARING PIZZA SOCKS!"
"I CAN'T BREATHE!"
I hung there, blood rushing to my head, arms flailing uselessly. The Captain America shield on my underwear seemed to mock me. Why did I wear these today? Why?
"THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!"
"Going straight to TikTok!"
"Yo, hashtag bowling fail!"
Through my upside-down vision, I could see Kai rushing over. He was trying not to laugh, but failing miserably.
"Silas! Hang on, man!" He was practically crying from holding back laughter. "Your... your SOCKS though!"
"SHUT UP AND HELP ME!"
The bowling alley staff came running, shouting instructions at each other. "DON'T MOVE! We'll get you down!"
"Where the fuck am I gonna go?!" I screamed.
"We need to shut down the lane!"
"Someone get the manual override!"
Ten minutes. It took them ten fucking minutes to free me. Ten minutes of hanging upside down in my underwear while the entire bowling alley filmed and laughed.
By the time they got me down, I knew my life was over. I could already see the TikToks, the Instagram posts, the memes.
"Bro tried to impress a girl and got DESTROYED by bowling alley machinery 💀"
"Captain America can't save you now 😂"
"When you shoot your shot but the bowling alley shoots back"
Someone from the staff handed me my destroyed clothes—just shreds of denim and cotton. Another employee tossed me a musty hoodie from lost and found.
"Thanks," I muttered, wrapping it around my waist like a skirt. It barely covered anything.
I had to walk through the entire bowling alley like that. Every step was agony. People were still filming, still laughing, still making comments.
"Nice underwear, bro!"
"Pizza socks are a choice!"
"You good, Captain America?"
Kai walked beside me, trying to be supportive but cracking up every few seconds. "Dude... pizza socks? Really?"
"Shut UP, Kai."
We passed Aria's booth on the way out. I stopped, even though every instinct told me to run.
She was sitting back down, calmly eating a nacho, looking like she hadn't just witnessed the most humiliating moment of my life.
"You... you did that on purpose," I said, my voice hoarse.
She looked up at me with those dark eyes, completely innocent. "Did what? I spilled a drink. You're the one who decided to become a bowling pin."
I stared at her. Then at the "spilled soda" that was already being mopped up. Then back at her.