Page 63 of Fake It Till You Break It
My jaw tightened at the casual way he said “Mom.” “No, I meant why are youhere?”
“Oh, I came home to visit. Didn’t Mia tell you?”
Uh, wait, what? I turned to stare at her, and she shook herhead frantically. “I don’t know what he’s talking about. I swear, I didn’t know that he was coming at all.”
Finn took a couple of steps toward us, slowly like we were a pair of baby deer. “I emailed you about it yesterday. You didn’t get it?”
I expected her to deny it again, but instead, her eyes just widened. “I didn’t check my email yet. A lot has been going on since… yesterday.”
I dropped her hand like it was a bomb. My chest churned uncomfortably as I turned to face her. “Wait, email? What—are you guys friends or something? Have you been in contact this whole time? And you didn’t tell me?”
“No, it’s only been a few emails the last two weeks. I swear, I—” She reached out to touch my arm, but I jerked away. Her hand grasped the air between us for another second or two before it fell to her side. “Jake, I’m sorry. I just wanted to help.”
“Did I ever ask you for help?” My voice shook a bit as I raked my hands through my hair, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. And I couldn’t stop staring at Mia for an explanation. “How did you even get each other’s emails?”
With a quick glance in Mia’s direction, Finn raised a hand. “It was—”
“It was me,” she admitted in a small voice. Her head dropped even lower. “I saw his emails on your laptop and copied down his email address.”
“But I was the one who continued it. I kept pestering herto tell me how you and Mom were doing,” Finn explained. “How your lives have been.”
My jaw was rigid and tight as I looked back and forth at the two of them. I almost wished that Mia had lied and said it was Finn who emailed her first. Then I wouldn’t have felt so betrayed by her. I would have less of a reason to be pissed at her. I could have tried to let it go. I could have…
“You knew how I felt about Finn,” I said in a low voice. “You knew what it was like when he left. You. Knew.”
Finally, she looked up at me. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “I know, and I’m sorry. I just thought it was the right thing to do. I thought that if Finn knew how you were doing, that he would come back. And then you two could make up and—”
“Stop. Just stop.” Every word she said just made me shake with frustration. In fact, just looking at them standing there together like a team made my jaw clench together until my teeth started to ache. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and had to turn away. “I don’t want to hear anything from either of you anymore.”
I tried to storm into the house, but Mom and Mrs. Le blocked my way. “Come on, Jake, just give him a chance.”
“Give him a chance?” I laughed in disbelief and shook my head. They must be crazy. “Seriously? Did it ever occur to anyone that there was areasonI never emailed Finn back? Because I didn’t want to give any ofthisa chance. In fact, thisis the last thing I want. Hell, I went through this whole fake dating thing just so I wouldn’t have to see his stupid face anymore.”
Mom looked both sad and confused. “What are you—”
“Jake.” Mia froze on the steps behind me and shook her head. “Don’t do this.”
“What? You mean tell the truth? Why not? We’re all here. Might as well tell everyone. It’s the right thing to do.” I repeated her earlier words. Her face dropped, and I felt an ounce of satisfaction in my gut. “So guess what, Mom and Mrs. Le? This whole dating thing was just one huge lie that Mia and I thought up. We figured that if we pretended to date and then had a huge breakup, you two would finally get off our backs about being together. Because just telling you that we didn’t want to be together for years wasn’t a big enough hint to you.”
Mom opened her mouth to say something, but I held up a hand to stop her. “And you know what the crazy thing is? Mia did it so she could date other guys, and I only went along with the crazy idea because I didn’t want to go on the stupid cruise this summer. Because I didn’t want to see him.” My finger jabbed in Finn’s direction. “Ironic, isn’t it? So now that you know, it’s all over. We’re done pretending.”
I looked from one shocked face to the next, and my satisfaction just grew. At least until I looked at Mia. She stared straight at me with a disappointed look as she hugged her arms to her chest. My mind immediately flashed back to justten minutes ago when we were happy and kissing. When everything felt like it was perfect.
It felt like ages had passed since then.
Still, I shook my head and turned away from her, from everyone, to open the door. I paused for a moment without turning around. “So maybe you guys will finally believe me this time when I say that I don’t want to ‘give this a chance.’ That I don’t want to be part of this family. And I want you all to leave. Me. Alone.”
I went up to my room and flopped down onto the bed without turning on the lights. Just laid there in the dark quiet room as I stared at the shadows on the ceiling. My head hurt like it was being crushed.
The front door opened and closed. A couple of minutes later, I heard them come up the stairs. There was low whispering outside my door for a few minutes, but the footsteps finally moved away from my room. First Mom’s door creaked open and then Finn’s down the hall. Until finally it was quiet. And I was alone. Just like I wanted to be.
It didn’t make me any happier, though.
MIA
IT’D BEEN THREE DAYS,and I still hadn’t had a chance to talk to Jake. I woke up early to catch him before school. Practically staked out in front of his locker in between classes. Even kept the shades of my window open so I could spot him. Nothing.
Gosh, if he was this good at avoiding me before, then our moms would have given up on us ages ago.
