Page 29 of It Was Always You

Harrison dropped his books into his backpack. "No, I'm not saying that about Noah. I'm just saying you better watch out for that Raven girl. She doesn't seem to be the kind to care if her target is already spoken for."

My shoulders slumped as I watched them interact. He didn't seem to dislike the way she was coming onto him at all. Could he actually have been trying to use this fake relationship in a different way than he'd told me? Was he the one who was really playing hard to get so he could make Raven want him even more? Was that his real agenda?

I really hope not.

Not that I should care. We had our arrangement after all.

But I kind of cared anyway. Which was really,reallystupid.

I clenched my hands into fists at my sides and was considering telling Noah to take Raven home instead of me, when he finally finished his conversation and joined my side again. The rest of the band kids had already cleared out, so we were the only ones left on the bleachers. Everybody else was talking on the floor below.

"What did Raven want?" I asked, hating how jealous-sounding my question came out.

Noah grabbed his letterman jacket from behind his seat. "She invited me to grab hot chocolate with some of our friends."

"So are you going with her?"

He frowned his bottom lip as he pushed his arms into his jacket. "No. I told her you and I already have plans."

He did?

Why did he? Was that to play hard to get a little more, or did he really not want to hang out with her?

Ugh, I hated that I was doubting his real intentions in this fake relationship of ours. I wasn't supposed to care about his intentions.

I pulled my coat on. "You don't have to take me home if you'd rather hang out with them. I'll just catch a ride with Easton."

"I think Easton and Mercedes were going with them."

I bit my lip, trying to figure something else out. "I guess I can walk home."

"Don't be crazy, Lexi. I'm going to take you home, just like we planned."

"But if you wanted to hang out with Raven, I totally get it. I know you're still friends even if you say you don't want to date her."

That made me sound like a totally non-jealous fake girlfriend, right?

"Did you want to get hot chocolate with them?"

"What? No." I shook my head. "I have tons of homework tonight."

"Okay, then let me take you home." He lifted my trumpet cased, like he was going to carry it out for me.

How was it possible that he didn't want to hang out with the gorgeous Raven Rodgers tonight? Every other guy I knew would jump at the chance. Did they have some sort of history I didn't know about?

When I didn't follow him, he put his hand behind my back and led me down the stairs with him. "I'm not interested in Raven. You already know that." He spoke in a lowered voice so the people below us wouldn't hear.

I lowered my voice, too. "It just doesn't make sense. Most guys at our school would drop everything if they had Raven looking and talking to them like that."

"Well, that's good for them."

My eyebrows squished together. "So why don't you want a real relationship? Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that you're helping me save face and all, but most guys would call you crazy for doing it when you could date someone like Raven."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you really think I'm the kind of guy to just drop mygirlfriendbecause a cheerleader is after me?"

"Kind of." Why would I have a reason to think otherwise? He had a reputation for being a player. Why would that suddenly change now?

He laughed. "Well, I'm trying not to be that guy anymore."

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