Page 65 of The Pucking Kiss

Romai looked confused and grabbed onto my hand. “What is she going to do?” she whispered. “Is this the surprise she was talking about?”

“As you know, we have our school's new IT couple in attendance today, Romai and Bryan…”

Everyone in the look began to look over at us in curiosity. I tightened my grip on Romai’s hand. Something told me that this was not going to end well.

“They are kind of an odd couple, right? But endearing. I wanted to come on here and tell everyone just how real their love is,” Kathy continued, now staring directly at Romai.

She pressed a small button, and Romai’s voice filled up the speakers in the room.

Bryan isn’t really my boyfriend. We’re just doing it to keep up appearances. Our whole relationship is fake.

Chapter 25

Romai

I stared back in horror as everyone in the school listened to the recording of my voice being played from the speakers.

Kathy smirked at me, seeming proud of herself for embarrassing me like this. “There you have it, everyone. Romai had been lying to all of us this entire time. What a loser.”

My knees went weak, and embarrassment flooded over me. Everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of a freak, and all I wanted was for the earth to swallow me whole so that I didn’t have to face this moment.

“Wow, who fakes a relationship?”

“That’s so desperate.”

The sound of other students jeering at me filled my ears, and I decided I could not take this public shaming anymore. I made a move to exit, but to my surprise, Bryan clasped my hand firmly, preventing me from leaving.

“I need to go,” I told him with tears pooling into my eyes. “She’s had the last laugh, and now everyone knows my secret.”

“Don’t,” Bryan instructed me, “We will fix this.”

Taking my hand, he began pulling me over to the stage where Kathy was. I resisted, but he dragged me along anyway.

“Bryan… it’s only going to make it worse,” I plead, “They all know I’m a fake.”

“But you’re not,” he said firmly. He grabbed a mic from the side of the stage, and the smile from Kathy’s face began to wipe away as she realized that he was actually going to stand up for me.

“I have something to say,” he said in the mic, still holding onto my hand. “I guess both of us have a confession to make…”

All eyes were on us now. Prom was never usually this dramatic, and everyone was eager to know what was going to happen next. My cheeks burned with embarrassment, and I could barely muster up the courage to look up at the crowd.

“It’s true that our relationship started off as fake,” Bryan continued. “But that changed once we got to know each other.”

“You’re lying,” Kathy accused, fuming now. “They’re still putting up a show. I would never believe anything that comes out of their mouth.”

“Not everyone is as miserable as you, Kathy,” Bryan said. “It’s clear that you have a vendetta against Romai and just want to embarrass her in front of everyone. We all see through you.”

I expected everyone to support Kathy. Why would anyone support me? I was the biggest loser in school, after all. But to my surprise, there were several murmurs of agreement to Bryan’s statement.

“So what? You’re just going to pretend as if you like her?” Kathy scoffed. “Give me a break. I don’t think a person like you would ever willingly go for someone like Romai.”

“You’re not the one who gets to decide that,” Bryan corrected her immediately. “In fact, thanks for doing this whole drama because now I have the opportunity to tell her how I really feel about her in front of everyone.”

My heart began pounding loudly in my chest as I took in what was happening around me. Everything was happening so fast that I could barely keep up with it.

“Romai…” Bryan began. Everyone in the room was focused on me now. “I’ve realized that I do feel something for you, and I don’t want to be in a fake relationship with you anymore. I really like you. Will you be my girlfriend? For real this time.”

Kathy’s jaw dropped open. Even I could not believe that this was happening to me.

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