Page 47 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
Jaxon rolled his neck and swung his arms around like he was getting ready for a race.
“I can do that,” he said. “I’m not the star of the track team for nothing.”
“Okay, hot shot.” I laughed.
“All right, I’m going in,” Sabrina said. “Jaxon, stand by.”
“On it.”
I frowned in confusion as I watched them get into position. Jaxon pressed himself flatly against the wall next to the door while Sabrina put a hand on the door and slowly counted down from three with his fingers. They looked like they were eight-year-olds playing secret agent. When Sabrina got to one, she and Jaxon both nodded. Sabrina creaked the door open and stuck her head out. A second later, she stepped out all the way.
That was where things began to go wrong as she immediately said, “Oh, hello, Mr. Smith.”
Without thinking, I grabbed Jaxon and shoved him backwards into the bathroom. He fell hard onto the tile and groaned loudly. My hand shot to my mouth in surprise.
“Sorry,” I whispered loudly. I shut the bathroom door, guilt clawing at my heart a little.
I could hear the teachers approaching our door, so I tried to casually lean against the bathroom door, hoping that if they could see me, they wouldn’t question what the heck I was doing. To my relief, Sabrina held it pretty well closed as she stood in the doorway. I couldn’t even see the teachers, so I hoped that meant they couldn’t see me or the closed bathroom door either.
“Miss Brooks, curfew was twenty minutes ago,” Ms. Moscowitz said. “What are you doing in the hallway?”
The thing about Sabrina was that, like Jaxon, she was nothing if not good at thinking on her feet, but she also didn’t take anything seriously. As such, it came as no surprise to me when she said, “I’m so sorry, ma’am, I thought I heard a baby crying out here and I just couldn’t leave it to fend for itself.”
“Get back in your room, Brooks,” Mr. Smith said.
“Yes, sir.” She slammed the door shut then turned around and slumped against it in relief. “So, the teachers were in the hall.”
“Yes, I gathered that,” I said.
She looked around. “Where did Jaxon go?”
I blanked for a second and glanced around as well. Then, I suddenly remembered what I’d done to him and threw open the bathroom door. Jaxon stumbled out, looking a little disoriented.
“Are you okay?” I asked, guilty twisting my fingers as I watched him.
“Couldn’t you have pushed me a little lighter?” he asked.
I grimaced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. I just panicked.”
“I understand,” he said. “By the way, though, you left this in the bathroom.”
He pulled his arm from behind his back and dangling from his finger was my bra. Jaxon freaking Andrews was holding my bra. Mortifying. Absolutely mortifying.
“Give me that!” I said, snatching it from his hand. Beside me, Sabrina snickered. “And shut up, Brooks!”
“Sorry,” Sabrina said, though she didn’t sound apologetic whatsoever. I threw my bra on top of my other clothes then shut my suitcase over it.
“You probably can’t get back to your room before the teachers check it,” I said to Jaxon. “So, you better call Eli and ask him to cover for you before it’s too late.”
“I’m not sure there’s anything he can but I guess it doesn’t hurt to try,” Jaxon said. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. I was a little jealous to note that his phone fit in his front pocket since almost all my pants had either useless front pockets or none at all. I lived in fear that my phone would be stolen from my back pocket without noticing.
“That’s the spirit,” Sabrina said with a thumbs up.
Jaxon grimaced as the phone rang.
“Eli!” he said gratefully when Eli answered. “I need a huge favour!”
I couldn’t hear Eli on the other side of the phone call but I got the gist of the conversation through Jaxon’s side. He explained what happened in our room, then said that Eli might still be able to pretend Jaxon is in the shower if he plays music through a speaker in the bathroom, since they would think he was listening to music and just couldn’t hear the knocking.
