Page 20 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
I shrugged helplessly. I glanced toward the bus where Eli and Jaxon were now walking down the steps.
“At least those two got paired together. I’m sure they wanted that.”
“Not exactly,” Sabrina said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Jaxon and I requested to room together,” she explained. “We normally do on school trips. They make an exception to the boy/girl room rule for us since we’re family.”
“Who was Eli supposed to share with, then?” Madison asked.
“Peter Johnson,” Sabrina said.
That set up made a lot more sense to me. Eli and Peter had gone to the same elementary school and in the early days of high school, they had stuck together. Since Eli, Jaxon, and Sabrina couldn’t all room together, it added up that he would put Peter as a back-up.
Jaxon and Eli joined us a minute later. Jaxon moved to stand between Sabrina and I, while Eli stood on the other side of Sabrina, forming us into a nice circle.
“Hey,” Jaxon said. “What’d we miss?”
“Not much,” I said. “We’re just trying to figure out why Sabrina and I got paired together, even though we didn’t request it.”
“Ah, I actually have the answer to that one!” Jaxon said happily. He looked like a kid who was surprised to see that he actually knew the answer to a question on a test he didn’t study for. He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Originally, Sabrina and I were supposed to room together, Eli was supposed to room with Peter, and you were supposed to be with Madison.” He looked at Reilly. “I have no idea who you were with, sorry.”
“No worries,” Reilly said with a small shrug. She looked like she really couldn’t care less about this whole situation.
“Then how did it get switched around?” Madison asked.
“The teachers got worried about some of the roommate pairings, so they moved them around at the last minute,” Jaxon said. “I think they were mostly worried about me and Sabrina being together. For some reason, they think Eli, and I guess Violet, keep us in line.”
Sabrina snorted like that was the most ridiculous thought ever, even though I was inclined to believe the teachers. Unlike the wonder twins, Eli actually had a solid head on his shoulders.
“How do you know all of this?” I asked. It wasn’t exactly information the teachers would just randomly share.
Jaxon smiled wickedly. “Oh, you know, I just like to occasionally spy on the staff meetings. Make sure I know what’s going on in the school and all that.”
I sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”
I only knew of four secret passageways in the whole school. I was certain that Jaxon knew of at least three times as many and used them.
“You know, we don’t have to stick with these room assignments if you guys don’t want to,” Madison said. She looked around us quickly, then added conspiratorially, “We could always switch it up.”
“Feels a little late for that, Mads,” I said. “The teachers would never allow it.”
“Oh, Violet,” Madison said loftily, “I’m not suggesting we ask.”
“What room pairings were you thinking?” Jaxon asked Madison.
“Couples?” she suggested. “You and Violet go together, Eli and Sabrina go together, and then Reilly and I will just stick together.”
“So, you’re suggesting we switch around while you stay out of trouble,” Eli said.
“Hey, I’m just trying to help,” Madison said, placing a hand daintily to her heart. “If you don’t want to do it, then fine, but I think Jaxon and Violet would appreciate getting to share a room.”
I grimaced. “Why would I want to share a room with Jaxon?”
The whole group fell silent as everyone turned to stare at me. I replayed what I’d said in my mind. Had I done something wrong? So what if I didn’t want to share a room with Jaxon? He was gross.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” Jaxon said in a forced voice. “Everybody knows about us now. You don’t need to pretend.”
