Page 61 of Something Rad
No turning back now.
“You need a way to stand out,” I say. “And I need a way to…blend into the crowd.”
Cooper blinks in a way that tells me this isn’t at all the direction she thought this conversation was going to go in.
Guess that makes two of us, Cooper.
“I need a way to be taken seriously. To come off as somebody ambitious and determined and serious. And you, you need a way to be taken…notso seriously. To come off as somebody chill and easy going and interesting.”
“Oh, so now you’re saying I’m not interesting?” Cooper questions me, a humorless smile on her face.
“Not at all. You might be the most interesting person I’ve ever met.” Cooper stays quiet, the smile fading from her face. “And for that reason,” I say, “I’m willing to make a deal. But, only if you are.”
“What does that mean?” she asks. “What kind of deal?”
I purse my lips, trying to find the best words. “One where we…” I trail off, tilting my head in thought. “Attach. Publicly.”
Cooper’s eyes widen, her mouth falling open. “I’m fairly certain that’s illegal. And you’re disgusting.”
Okay, so I don’t think I found the best words.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, my eyes closing. “Not likethat.”
“Then like how?” Cooper questions. “What are you saying?”
“I’msaying,” I respond, throwing my hands out to the side. “I think we should appear to…you know…” I pause, waving a finger back and forth between the two of us.
“What?”
“We should appear to be a thing.” The words spill out of my mouth so fast that I’m not sure they even sound like English. “At school,” I add, putting my hands on my hips.
Cooper’s brows raise in slow motion. “You think we should appear to be a thing.”
“Well, yeah,” I nod.
“Are you saying that we should…fake date?”
Huh. What a simple way to put it.
“Yeah,” I agree. “Something like that.”
Cooper’s face remains completely straight for so long, I start to think she’s frozen. Just as I open my mouth to question her, she suddenly bursts into laughter.
“Did you run into a stop sign on the way over here? Or a tree, maybe?” she asks, shaking her head.
I roll my eyes at her. “Cooper, I’m being for real. This could work.”
She starts to laugh some more, but then stops when she notices the look on my face. “You’re serious,” she says, steeling her spine.
“Trying to be,” I mutter. She just continues to stare back at me, her eyes swirling with a mixture of confusion, disbelief, and irritation. “This could work,” I say again when she doesn’t speak for several seconds.
“Please explain in what world this could work, Robbie,” Cooper says, shaking her head. “We couldn’t be more different.”
I take a step closer to her. “That’s whatmakesit work.”
“We can barely get along asacquaintances,” she retorts, throwing her hands in the air. “Much less friends. How do you expect to make people believe we’re…intoeach other?”
“I’m sure it can’t be that hard.”
