Chapter Five

Ayla

Holy crap. I’d just blackmailed Luke Pressler. I’d really done it. My hands shook as I drove home. I couldn’t believe he’d actually agreed to it. But I didn’t have a choice. People like me didn’t win unless they had rich parents or they had no one to run against them. Or in my case, if they got one of the most popular guys in school to pretend to be their boyfriend.

When I got home, I parked my car in the driveway and followed the stone path to our large, yellow-and-white Victorian home. The porch wrapped around the whole house. A swing creaked back and forth beneath the gusts of wind. I inhaled deeply, catching the faint scent of fall lingering in the air.

Pushing inside, I called out, “I’m home.”

Mom came out of the living room, putting an earring in. “Hey, you’re late. Were you still planning on going out to listen to Dad’s band play tonight?”

“No, I’ve got homework,” I said.

My dad played in an Irish band called Bollocks and Beer. They did a lot of traditional Irish songs but also some original stuff, too. They were pretty good.

Dad’s parents had moved here from Ireland when he was two, and my grandpa had been very adamant about all his kids knowing their heritage and such. I’d gotten to visit some of our distant family in Dublin and Dingle two summers ago, which was totally awesome. The accents were freaking swoon-worthy. Um—not my relatives, but some of the local guys.

“I’ve left you a plate of food in the microwave. Ham and potatoes,” Mom said.

“Thanks, but I actually already ate,” I said.

She frowned. “Please don’t tell me you had pizza again, Ayla. It’s not healthy to eat like that all the time.”

I grinned. “I might’ve had a slice or two.”

“I swear, your grandparents think we’re the worst parents ever. You know how many times Grandma lectures me about not having sit-down meals?”

“I promise, I won’t go out for pizza tomorrow night, okay?”

“Fine. We won’t be too late.” Mom rushed toward the door. Dad followed close behind, carrying his guitar.

Once they were gone, I trudged upstairs to my room, which was in the large turret. My window overlooked our backyard and the flower garden below. I could actually see across most of the neighborhood from here. I plopped down in the window seat and grabbed my math.

But before I started on it, I took out my phone. Okay, time to come up with a list for Luke. Likes: drama club, movies, video games, singing, writing on the school paper, traveling, collecting nerdy T-shirts, pizza, and gardening. Dislikes: snotty people, censorship, anything made with fish, malls, and spiders.

When I finished, I texted it over to him, then switched over to check the drama club website to see if they had the cast list posted yet. Nervous, I closed my eyes. Took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer to whatever god or gods were listening.

I peeked out of one eye as the site filled my screen. Scrolling with my finger, I found the spot marked “Cast for Little Shop of Horrors.”

“Just look already.” I tapped the screen and waited for it to load. When it finally came up, I screeched. Oh. My. God. I got it. I got the lead part. I’d be playing Audrey! My eyes scrolled down the rest of the cast list. My friend Dre Kramer would be playing Seymour opposite me. Tom Ditwell would be playing the dentist. Chloe and Ray Maxwell would be working the large green plant, Audrey II.

I couldn’t believe it. Although it meant I’d have to kiss Dre. Which would be all sorts of weird, since he was one of my best friends.

I’d never had to kiss anyone before.

Right when I was ready to message Chloe, a text popped up from Luke. I opened it to find his list. Likes: movies, basketball, video games, singing, listening to music, collecting sports cards, hanging out with my little brother, cooking. Dislikes: my dad, snotty people, snakes, not having downtime.

Wow. We actually had a lot of things in common. Not sure why this surprised me so much, but I took him for some rich spoiled kid. Not someone who liked to cook or hang out with his brother. Unless he was lying and just giving me a BS list.

My fingers hit reply. Should we ride to school together tomorrow?

Luke: No. We can meet there. I’ll be waiting in the parking lot.

Okay. Well, here’s my class schedule so we can meet up between hours.

Luke: Got it. See you tomorrow.

Wait. You have to answer my questions for the interview. I’ll send over a short list.

Luke: Right. Sorry, I forgot. Can I read it before you put it in the paper?

I hesitated. The only people who ever read my stuff before we went to print were Chloe and Mr. Leaver. Besides, why the heck would he want to? I didn’t remember ever seeing him with a copy of the Eye of the Tiger.

Sure. But don’t be all judgy. I’d like to write other things, but Mr. Fairchild is really restrictive of the paper’s content.

Luke: No judging here. If you want, maybe I can talk to Fairchild for you. He really likes me.

Well. He hates me.

Luke: I’ll see what I can do. Good night.

Night.

Holy shit. So tomorrow I’d officially, or maybe unofficially, be Luke’s girlfriend. And I had no flipping clue how to act. Or maybe that was it, I was an actress—I could do this. Just pretend it was the biggest part I’d ever been given. Besides, I was doing this for more than just me.

…

After I got out of the shower, I searched my closet for something nice to wear. Chloe had told me no jeans or T-shirts today. Which sucked, because I had an awesome new Quidditch one I wanted to wear.

I chewed my lip, shoving my hangers back. Ah. Perfect. I tugged my Doctor Who dress out. The blue-and-white fabric looked like a TARDIS. I added a pair of black combat boots and a blue scarf and called it good.

My curls definitely needed some antifrizz serum. Once that was done, I slipped my glasses on, grabbed my backpack, and headed out to my car. When I pulled into the school lot, I searched for a parking spot. Luckily I found one that wasn’t in the back eighty.

Taking a deep breath, I slid from my vehicle. I scoured the parking lot for Luke. Maybe he’d decided to bail on me. Panic set in. Maybe I’d taken it too far. Maybe he thought jail time was better than having to pretend to be my boyfriend. Oh, God, I couldn’t even blackmail myself a boyfriend. But then I saw him, leaning against the building, waiting for me. My heart quickened as my gaze slid over his tall frame. He wore a dark blue sweater that made his already blue eyes even bluer. Like the type of eyes people wrote poetry about. His shaggy blond hair was tousled, giving him that dreamy, just-rolled-out-of-bed look. Even if I didn’t want to admit it, he was hot. As in steam-up-my-glasses hot. When he noticed me, I raised a hand and waved.

I bit back the nervousness and hurried toward him. “Hey,” I said.

“Morning.” He looked tired as he took my backpack from me and slung it over his shoulder. “Like the dress,” he said.

My face warmed. “Thanks.”

We walked the rest of the way to the school in silence. He held the door open for me, and I went in.

“You know, you could at least make it look like we’re talking or something. Otherwise, we just seem to be coming in at the same time,” I said.

He blushed. “Sorry. This is kind of new, you know.”

Didn’t I? I was just hoping we could pull it off. Which meant we needed more interaction. “Me too. It’s not like I go around doing stuff like this all the time. I’ve never even had a boyfriend before. Well, until now. I guess.”

He quirked an eyebrow, tugging at the bottom of his sweater. “Okay, so let’s talk. How was your night?”

I smiled. A real, genuine one. “Pretty good. I found out that I got the lead role in the musical. And I got my article in before deadline.”

“That’s awesome. It was good, by the way. Your story, I mean.”

“You’re just saying that because I wrote about you,” I teased, then awkwardly adjusted my glasses. Was I flirting with Luke? God, I was bad at this. Did he think I was lame? Not that I cared what he thought.

“So what play are you in?”

“Little Shop of Horrors. It’ll be fun. I wish we could’ve done something better, but we don’t have the money to purchase new scripts and stuff.”

“That sucks.” He frowned, turning to stare down the hall.

“Yeah, it does. It’s one of the reasons I’m running for class president. I’m kind of hoping to be able to get more money budgeted for the arts departments, instead of always going toward sports. Well, there’s that and the fact that the newspaper might be cut altogether.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I mean, your basketball team got new uniforms, while the arts department hasn’t gotten to purchase anything new in like ten or twelve years. We just have to keep recycling all our old stuff.”

“Well, then, we should change that, shouldn’t we?” Luke said, this time glancing down at me.

His eyes were all sparkly. The kind of sparkly, perfect eyes you usually only saw on movie stars. Jeez, why was I so obsessed with his eyes today? Millions of people had blue eyes that sparkled.

“Yes.”

After we got to my locker, Luke helped me put my stuff away, then grabbed my books for first hour. People peered at us, whispering. They definitely noticed us.

As we walked toward class, his arm brushed against mine, and I glanced up at him. He casually reached for my hand and entwined his fingers through mine. My tummy did this twisty-jump thing as nervous flutters erupted. I took a deep breath, trying to regulate my heartbeat, which had suddenly leaped into my throat. Already my hand warmed where his skin touched mine.

What was wrong with me? I damn sure better not be having any reactions to him. This wasn’t real. It was fake. Fake like Hollywood plastic surgery.

And that was when all the heads turned toward us. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the attention. I was used to being in the shadows. But if I wanted to win, I needed people to notice me.

Once we got to my AP chemistry class, Luke actually walked me in. “Where do you sit?”

“Here.” I pointed to the desk in the front row, right next to the corkboard with the periodic table on it.

“So, my brother, Landon, wants to know what video games you like to play,” Luke said.

“Any of the Super Mario ones, Skyrim, Dragon Age, any of the Zelda ones…”

Luke grinned. “Oh, God. Maybe I better not tell him, otherwise he’s going to be begging to have you come over and play.”

“How old is he?”

“Eight going on forty-five.” He laughed. “He’s a good kid, but he can be a handful sometimes. He’s kind of a know-it-all.”

“Are you guys close?”

He nodded. “Yeah. My mom is gone a lot, so I’m the one who takes care of him. Look, I should probably head to first hour. I’ll see you at lunch?”

“Sure. Where did you want to meet? Should we sit with your group or mine?”

“How about in the courtyard. If that’s okay?” He ran a hand through his already disheveled blond hair.

No one ever ate in the courtyard. Most of the tables out there were usually covered in bird shit. Was he doing that because he didn’t want to be seen with me? My lips turned down at the corners.

He watched me. “Or not?”

I leaned closer. “The point was for us to be seen together. No one will even notice us if we go outside.”

“Well, I figured we should probably get to know more about each other if we’re going to make this work. I didn’t think you’d want a bunch of people around when I’m trying to ask you questions I should already know the answers to,” he said in a soft voice. His breath was warm against my cheek, and I caught the faint, minty scent of toothpaste.

Jeez, he was thinking things through better than I was. “Fine. How about the library, then? Unless you want a pigeon to crap in your perfect hair.”

He snorted. “You don’t have any problem speaking your mind, do you?”

Actually, I normally didn’t speak up unless I was writing an article I was passionate about. I had no idea why I was able to go all Voldemort on him. “Nope. What you see is what you get. I want to be real, not some fake asshole who just goes along with everyone else,” I said.

“Like me?” His gaze shifted and rested on my face.

“I—no, that’s not what I meant. I just—”

“No. It’s fine. You’re right. I worry too much what everyone thinks. It’s a bad personality trait.”

Before I could answer, he stood to go. “I’ll see you later,” I called.

He grinned, leaned down, and twirled one of my curls around his finger. “Yes you will. Have fun in chem, babe.” With that he sauntered out of the room, leaving a trail of gawking girls staring after. Me included.

Babe? That was the nickname I’d been given? It seemed like something my dad would’ve called my mom in the eighties. Not that I expected him to call me honey love or sweetie pie or something ridiculous like that. But at least he’d given me one. My heartbeat thumped louder than it should have. What the hell was going on with me? I was not going to react to that Neanderthal, no matter how good-looking he was.

Chloe plopped down on top of my desk with a squeal. “Oh my god, I can’t believe this. You did it. You did it.”

I chuckled. “Um—yeah, I’m still not sure I’m awake.”

“And you wore a dress today like I told you to. Or was it for a certain someone else?”

“No. It was for you,” I said.

Her smile widened as she gave me a look of disbelief. “I’ll need to take some pics in between classes so I can work on your poster design in art. You seriously look great.”

Marissa Blossom hurried toward us. “Are you and Luke Pressler dating now?”

My finger traced the top of my textbook. “Yeah.”

“Wow. How did you land him?”

What she was really saying was how did someone like me end up with someone like him. But instead of copping an attitude, I sighed. “Luck, I guess.” I giggled. Frick. I never giggled. It’s all part of the act. Or at least that’s what I told myself. “I go to Crusty’s Pizza, where he works, a lot. We just started talking one day and kind of hit it off. It’s new—so we’re seeing where it goes.”

“You’re so lucky. Luke is the freaking hottest guy in the school.” Marissa pouted.

Before she could continue on, Jenna Lee pushed into chemistry. When her eyes landed on me, she scowled and marched right up to me.

Chloe slid from my desk and stood behind me, while Marissa went back to her seat.

“So, I heard you’re running against me?” She flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder. I swear it snapped like a whip.

I swallowed hard. “Y-you heard right,” I stammered.

Her lip curled up into a sneer. “Don’t think you’re going to win. No one even knows who you are.”

So you’re a no one now? I mean, you seem to know exactly who I am. Not that I’d ever say something like that out loud, at least not to her. Damn. Why couldn’t I stand up for myself? Maybe she’d just run along and leave me alone.

“People know who she is,” Chloe said. “And she’s going to beat you.”

Jenna glared from Chloe to me. “You’re going down.”

“You sound scared.” Chloe crossed her arms, standing next to me like a bodyguard.

“Of her? Not a chance.” With that she stalked over to her seat near the teacher’s desk and sat down.

“Thanks,” I said. “I really need to work on being more bitchy if I’m going to win this.”

Chloe laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back. And Jenna wouldn’t have freaked like that if she didn’t sense you were competition.”

Yep. It was definitely on. I only hoped my new association with Luke would propel me to victory. Or at least get me started. It was time Jenna Lee learned that there were other people in the school who mattered, too.