Page 16 of The Boyfriend Swap

Alone again, I glanced at my barren walls, contemplating whether to put the January decorations up now or leave them for after the break. I was also tempted to see if Principal Hogan was still around and corner him about those so-called rumors. But what if I didn’t like what he told me? It might put a dark cloud on my entire vacation, and I’d have no one to blame but myself. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling as it dawned on me there was no way Principal Hogan was still in the building. With no students of their own, members of the administration were usually the first to pack up before a holiday. It was probably better that way. Still, not knowing was killing me.

The sound of my phone pinging the delivery of a text message startled me out of my internal debate and I rushed back to my desk anxious for a distraction. It was from Sidney. “Will changed his mind. The boyfriend swap is on. I would have told you yesterday, but Will had to confirm a few things first.”

My heart pounded furiously as I read the rest of the message, which included a phone number for me to contact Will and set up a plan for departure. Sidney said he was expecting my call and I shouldn’t wait too long since we were only two days away from show time. Then she asked me to forward along Perry’s number.

She concluded the text with, “Good luck, Robyn. And one last thing: no funny business. JK.”

Suddenly lightheaded, I threw myself in my chair as the room spun around me. I closed my eyes, wondering how Sidney had hoodwinked me into this plan, but I quickly accepted my own role in letting it get this far. I should have shot down the idea before it become fully formed, and certainly once I found out it would require me to pretend Will Brady was my boyfriend. But I didn’t. With everyone else on board, it was too late to back down now. The curtain was about to go up on the biggest performance of my life.

With my eyes still shut, I reached around the desk for my phone and gripped it firmly in my hands. Finally opening my eyes, I called Perry first. When voicemail picked up, I said there’d been a change of plans and he would be going to Sidney’s party after all. I told him I didn’t know the details and he should phone her directly. I left Sidney’s number, said we’d talk at the cast party that night, and hung up.

Calling Perry was the easy part. I figured he’d be thrilled at the opportunity to be discovered as the next big thing. But what was I going to say to Will? I wondered what made him change his mind to be “comfortable” with the swap. Did Sidney succeed in persuading him with her sexual prowess? I swallowed down the queasy knot in my belly. I still couldn’t believe Sidney’s boyfriend and my ex-dreamboy were one and the same, but it wouldn’t be so bad. All we had to do was pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend for three days while we lived in the same house, ate at the same table, showered in the same bathroom, and slept under the same roof—correction, sameroom, since my folks were liberal enough to let me sleep in the same bed as my boyfriends. Easy like Sunday morning. I fell back against my chair. Compared to what was in store for me in the coming week, talking to Will on the phone was a stroll through a garden. Before I could chicken out, I keyed in his number and paced the room while waiting for him to answer.

“Hello?”

I gulped at the sound of his raspy voice. “Will? Hi, it’s Robyn.” I giggled nervously. “Your girlfriend.”

Chapter 5

Robyn

After meeting at the car rental place and driving through the Lincoln Tunnel, Will and I put aside small talk in favor of a more pertinent topic of conversation—how we were going to convince my family we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Will broached the subject first, asking about ground rules.

“Holding hands, some touching, and little pecks are fine. As long as we show some affection, my parents won’t question the lack of making out,” I said, almost choking on my words. I was having trouble focusing on the road with Will Brady as my passenger, and the current topic of conversation wasn’t helping. I flashed back to the last time we’d ridden in a car together. School had closed early due to an ice storm. I was terrified to drive home and the buses had already left. Before I could protest, Jordy, who was a freshman, asked Will to give us a ride and, of course, he said yes. I remembered sitting in the backseat and trying not to get caught looking at Will’s reflection in the rearview mirror.

“Do you and Perry full-on make out in front of your folks regularly?”

Even though I was looking at the road, I could still see Will’s amused grin through my side vision. To talk myself out of blushing, I focused on the vanity plate of the car in front of me—GRNSON1. “Not at all. I meant if we make small shows of affection, no one will be skeptical.”

Will tapped my thigh. “I’m teasing you. I don’t think it will be too difficult. Unless your parents are suspicious by nature.”

My leg tingled in the spot where Will’s fingers had been. “They’re not. But they’ll be surprised.” To my knowledge, Will had no idea of the extent of my crush back then. He probably assumed my parents would consider it a humorous coincidence that their daughter was dating an old neighbor—nothing more, nothing less. I should have warned them, but I was too afraid they’d see right through my lies.

“You haven’t told them yet? Are they expecting Perry?”

I could see my knuckles turn white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. I had managed to avoid extended conversation with my mother over the past couple of weeks. When the subject of Christmas came up, I fibbed some excuse to end the call before I could confirm or deny whether Perry would be joining me. This resulted in major half-Catholic/half-Jewish guilt, along with seriously unhealthy nail beds. As the traffic came to a halt, I mumbled, “Shit.” Traffic so early in the drive was not a good sign.

“Snow White curses.” Will laughed.

I turned my head toward him with a smile. “You better call the Brothers Grimm to confiscate my princess crown.”

Will furrowed his brow. “I don’t think Snow White wore a crown.”

“Well-versed in fairytales, are you?” I teased.

“Just Snow White,” he said with a wink, taking me back almost a decade to when we were in high school and a wink from Will Brady was better than an extended solo in the spring concert. My favorite one took place my junior year. I was in the hallway between classes telling my friend James about my new favorite movie,Little Miss Sunshine. I’d seen it with my familythe previous weekend. To better express my enthusiasm, I acted out a portion of the scene where Abigail Breslin danced to “Superfreak” and was completely oblivious to the other kids who had halted their conversations to observe me, including Will. James’s trembling lips finally clued me into the public display I was making, and I stopped mid-song and hid my face in my locker. I felt a tap on my back, and when I turned around, I came face to face with Will. He said, “Nice moves, Snow White,” and winked at me before continuing down the hallway. Even though he was teasing me, I floated through the rest of the day.

I came out of my time warp and jutted my head toward the bumper-to-bumper traffic before us. “This might take a while.” With no traffic, the drive from New York City to Philadelphia could take less than two hours, but so close to Christmas, I estimated closer to three.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Dressed casually in blue jeans and a gingham button-down shirt, Will stretched out his long legs as far as the small space in the passenger seat of the economy car I’d rented allowed.

I snuck a quick peek at him again before turning back to the road. For someone previously uncomfortable with the plan, he was being a good sport. I yearned for an ounce of his coolheadedness.

“Your parents don’t like Perry, huh? Why do you think that is?”

“They have nothing against Perry personally, just his career.” In all honesty, I wasn’t confident either of them would approve of Perry even if he were an advertising executive, but I didn’t like the hint of sarcasm I noted in the way Will directed the question.

“You guys serious?”

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