Page 49 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
I shook my head. Clearly, I was just in a weird mood today. Seeing Joseph on my doorstep like that had just messed me up, and that was why I was so upset. It was also the reason Alexander was upset with me, though, so I needed to go find him.
Alexander came to the Holiday Assembly every year, but I didn’t see him anywhere when I got to school. After checking his locker, I stopped by his homeroom, but it wasn’t in either spot. I couldn’t shake the feeling in my heart that he was avoiding me. I couldn’t blame them at all — I could only imagine how embarrassing it would be to confess my feelings to someone, only for her ex-boyfriend to show up and do the same. And he left too soon to hear me tell Joseph to screw off.
When I got to the assembly, I tried looking for him, just in case I’d somehow missed him earlier. I spotted Kyle in the fourth row, so I walked over to join him. He was a few seats down the row, like he was waiting for multiple people to come to sit with him.
“Hey,” I said. “Is this seat taken?”
“Go ahead,” he said. I sat down, then looked around again, just in case. “He’s not here.”
“What?”
“Alexander’s not coming today,” Kyle said. “He told me he was sick.”
“Sick?” I repeated. What were the chances of that being true?
Kyle shrugged. “Pretty sure he was lying, but maybe he was just trying to convince his mom to let him stay home.”
I shook my head. “No, she wouldn’t care if he didn’t come for this.”
I’d skipped it last year and ended up going over to Alexander’s house with my mom instead. I was surprised when I didn’t find Alexander there, but his mom told me that he always went to the Holiday Assembly. He even used to skip school when he was younger and sneak in here with his older brother, Rhys. It was one of his favourite traditions. It felt awful to think that I made him miss it this year.
Liv came running down the aisle and sat down next to me.
“Hey, guys!” She said. She held a pack of Twizzlers out to me. “I brought snacks.”
“Thanks, Liv,” I said hollowly. I took one from the pack but didn’t take a bite as I stared straight ahead. Alexander shouldn’t have had to skip this. If I’d known he wanted to avoid me so badly, I would have skipped so he could come instead.
“Penny?” Liv asked. She waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you okay?”
I snapped out of my thoughts. “Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Liv asked in concern.
“Does this have something to do with Alexander?” Kyle asked.
“A little,” I admitted. “Something, uh... happened between us last night.”
Liv frowned. “Like a fight?”
I wasn't sure if what happened could be constituted as a fight, but I didn’t know how else to explain it to them.
“Yes,” I said. I stared at my hands. “And I’m not sure if we’re going to be able to work things out.”
“What happened?” Liv asked.
I took a deep breath. “He… might be under the impression that I want to get back together with Joseph.”
Liv's jaw dropped, and Kyle looked at me in horror.
“Oh,” Kyle said.
“How...” Liv trailed off and shook her head.
“Uh, well…” I cleared my throat and thought about the best way to tell this story. I didn’t want to admit to her that the whole relationship had been fake. I didn't want to betray Alexander's trust by telling them that we were pretending to be in a relationship. “Alexander was over here after the formal yesterday when Joseph showed up. And when Joseph confessed his love for me, Alexander asked me if I still had feelings for himand I just froze.” I shook my head. “He thought that meant that I did, and he left.”
“Oh, gosh,” Liv whispered. “I know this is probably a stupid question, but I have to ask: do you still love him?”
“Of course not!” I said immediately. It was the first time I’d said that and genuinely meant it. “But it doesn’t matter if I do or not, because he won’t talk to me.”
