Page 13 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
“Bet?” Madison asked. She looked bewildered. “What bet?”
So Madison hadn’t known about the bet, then. That was something, at least — not all my friends were keeping it from me. Maybe Jaxon, Eli and Sabrina had just made a pact not to tell us about it for some reason.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I said. We were getting too close to our classroom door for me to feel comfortable talking about it. I would rather keep it under wraps, on the off chance that it was just a few people who knew about it.
“Well, hello there.” An arm wrapped around my shoulders and squeezed. I didn’t even have to look over to know that it was Jaxon; I would recognize his cologne anywhere. At least it was one that actually smelled good — the years of sitting next to pre-teen boys who had absolutely doused themselves in axe body spray after gym class had traumatized me. “You know I never believed in love at first sight until I met you.”
Beyond the fact that I hated all pick-up lines, mostly due to Mr. Jaxon Andrews saying them to me every single day, that one was particularly bad since we had actually known each other for more than four years already. Not to mention the fact that we were supposed to be dating already. Was he planning on continuing the pick-up lines while we were in a fake relationship? That seemed like an odd choice to me but then again, what did I know about having a boyfriend?
Madison rolled her eyes. “Leave her alone, Jaxon,” she said.
Okay, I took back anything bad I thought about her for not telling me about Lewis’s feelings. She was a good friend. Unfortunately, I was about to seem like a really awful friend to her because I had completely neglected to tell her that Jaxon and I were dating now. Of course, if it was a real relationship, I would have told her as soon as it happened, but that obviously wasn’t the case. And now, she was about to find out about it from Jaxon in a public hallway, which couldn’t possibly end well. Given the way Jaxon was smugly grinning, I was right to be worried.
“What?” Jaxon said. “She didn’t tell you?”
Madison crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Tell me what?”
“Why, Violet and I are dating!” he said it so loudly that there was nobody in that entire hallway who didn’t hear the news. Everyone sitting at their desks in our class turned to stare at us, shocked faces all around.
My face warmed so much that I felt like it was burning. I couldn’t believe Jaxon just announced it in front of everyone like that. Of course, I knew that everyone would find out eventually, but I figured it would spread around our grade a little more slowly. Fast enough that pretty much everyone would know about it by the time the grad trip started in two days, but not so fast that I would have to deal with thirty kids staring at me like this.
Cursing Jaxon in my mind, I grabbed Madison’s wrist and pulled her into the room. She and I sat at a table beside the far wall in the second row, which meant that we had to walk past everyone to sit down. I refused to look at anyone as I walked, staring steadfastly at the tiled floor. Madison, for her part, was so shocked by the news that she didn’t resist me pulling her along.
Unfortunately, sitting down didn’t save us from being near Jaxon, since he sat in the spot right in front of me. Sitting in the first row of desks wasn’t exactly his prime seating choice, especially since his desk was pressed against our teacher’s desk. That spot was usually left open for part of the year, only used when somebody got in trouble so many times during class that Madame Dubois felt like she needed them right under her nose. Jaxon, on the other hand, had gotten in so much trouble over the past three years that as soon as he walked into the classroom on the first day of school, Madame Dubois made him sit there, even though nobody else had assigned seats. Of course, Jaxon took his trouble-making seriously and wore that punishment like a badge of honour.
Jaxon all but pranced to his seat and sat down like royalty. As usual, he sat sideways on his seat so his arm was resting on my desk. Madame Dubois always got angry with him for doing so and told him to sit forward during class, but that didn’t stop him from doing it before class every afternoon.
Today, though, it felt especially loaded. There was a good chance that nobody in the class believed Jaxon’s announcement on his word alone. They were waiting for some sign of confirmation from me, some reason to believe it. Short of kissing him, I could only think of one thing to do. Feeling everyone’s eyes on me, I hesitantly put my hand on the desk and reached for his. I expected his skin to be rough and calloused but it was surprisingly smooth. I wouldn’t say that it was pleasant to hold his hand but it also wasn’t as unpleasant as I would have previously expected. He shifted his hand so that they were positioned more naturally then leaned back in his seat and smiled dopily at me. That was what couples did, right? Hold hands at every possible moment and smile weirdly at each other?
I finally looked up properly at everyone. They all suddenly pretended they weren’t looking, choosing instead to stare out the window or doing their work or talking with their friends. The only person who continued to stare at me was Lewis. I couldn’t believe the audacity of him to stare at me like that, looking so angry, as if he wasn’t the one who ruined our friendship. As somebody who wasn’t even my friend anymore, he had no right to be angry about who I was with and especially not to glare at me about it. If he wanted me, he should have said something sooner.
Lewis finally broke eye contact with me, instead turning to stare at the blackboard. I focused my attention on Madison instead, who was looking at our intertwined hands with wide eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Her eyes softened and she smiled widely at me. Then she held up her hand towards Jaxon for a high-five.
“Well, it’s about damn time,” she said.
I didn’t have a class during the last period of the day but didn’t bother to go home immediately. It would take me almost an hour to get home by bus, assuming there was no delays, and at that point, it was more worth it for me to wait for Madison to finish her final class and drive me home.
Students weren’t technically allowed to use their phones anywhere on the school campus and with the trip coming up so soon, I wasn’t willing to risk it despite my potential boredom. Most teachers were more lenient by that time of year since they were also desperate for summer but there were a select few who never lightened up and that kept me in line.
It was a pretty nice day outside, so I found a bench in the courtyard to sit on. I sat sideways with my legs resting along the length of the bench and pulled out my school-sanctioned and quite battered copy ofWuthering Heights. My final paper in English was on it and despite the fact that the paper was due the first day we got back from the trip, I still hadn’t finished reading it yet. I’d written most of the essay based on the SparkNotes of the book and some plain old bullshitting, but I felt a little weird handing in a paper for a book I didn’t even finish — even if I was sure I wouldn’t be the only one doing it.
In the distance, I could hear the track and field coach yelling orders. I wondered whether Jaxon was in that class or if he only did track as an extra-curricular. Most of the boys on the team did it as a class too since it was an easy grade twelve credit and it gave them extra time to practice without having to give up their evenings. The track season officially ended the week before with their final meet, but practices continued for the team regardless. Jaxon liked to say that the track season was all year round.
Without even trying to, I began to imagine what Jaxon would look like if he was there right then. He was probably running without his shirt on since they made all sorts of uniform and dress code exceptions for the sports teams. I bet he liked to do that so he could show off his muscles to all the girls who inevitably found some reason to walk by the field. He probably put on a show of running extra fast when they were there so they could swoon over how dreamy he was, then he would dump all the water from his water bottle over his head like all the jocks did. I could see it all so clearly in my mind, as if I was one of those girls with my fingers hooked through the chain-link fence, just watching him and imagining our future together.
Then, I shook my head and wondered why I was thinking about Jaxon Andrews at all. Clearly, this fake relationship was getting to me.
I tried to go back to my reading, but I only made it a page in before the shadow of a person covered me. Maybe I should just take that as a sign from the universe that I wasn’t meant to read the classic words of Emily Brontë. What a shame.
I looked up to see who was interrupting me and was unsurprised to see that it was Eli. He was the only one of my friends who had the same spare period as me. Unfortunately, he didn’t look too happy and it didn’t take a genius to realize why: he had heard the news. For the second time that day, I felt like the worst friend in the world. I tried to reassure myself by thinking that if it had been a real relationship, I would’ve told him — but then, as far Eli knew, this was a real relationship. And not only that, but it was a relationship with one of his best friends. Hopefully, it was Jaxon who told him and not some random person who heard about it through the grapevine.
I pulled my legs up to give him space to sit down on the bench. He did so immediately, clasping his hands tightly andsettling them on his lap. I knew he only did that when he was nervous about what he was going to say.
“I’m sorry,” I said. He looked up in surprise.
“For what?” he asked.
