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This day had taken so many twists and turns that my head was practically spinning when I walked back in to The Center next to Jake, my new so-called boyfriend. Every eye in The Center was now on me, including the dark eyes of Dana Rich. The boy who’d she’d previously been making out with, Dustin, tried to go in for another kiss, but she pushed him off her, crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at me instead.
I glared back. Maybe with a little goading, she could be pursuaded to reconcile with Jake sooner. Well, not too soon. My new relationship might’ve been fraudulent, but I still deserved the promised benefits of it. It was only right.
Jake’s lips dropped to my ear, giving me shivers that I didn’t need or want.
“Hey, babe. Wanna watch me shoot some pool?”
Twenty minutes ago, I would have watched him sort recyclables. My opinion of him had gone down dramatically since then. I bit back a cutting remark and pasted a sweet smile on my face.
“Sure,” I answered my voice tight. “Let me just go to the bathroom and, uh, freshen up.”
Ariel approached me on my left, and I grabbed her hand before Jake could object. Relief washed over me as she pulled me toward the back of The Center where the bathrooms were.
There was so much to tell her. So much for us to work out. I needed Ariel to help me pick up the pieces of my life that were currently scattered around me like a forgotten jigsaw puzzle. She would know what to do. How to act. How to dress. Her and Jasmine would be my advisors while I bided my time in Jake’s royal court.
It wasn’t until we stopped in front of the bathroom, and I looked in to Ariel’s eyes that I realized a terrible, terrible truth.
I could not tell her or Jasmine what was going on. If they knew about my secret arrangement with Jake, they’d tell me to run as far away from him as possible. And worse, if Ariel knew that Jake was nudging Eric in her direction, she’d think that everything Eric said was just one big lie.
I couldn’t let that happen. Ariel and Eric deserved a chance. Not just as some weird characters in an even weirder video game, but a real life, honest to god chance. She had done so much for me since I moved to New York. I had to do this for her. I had to let her see if what she had with Eric was real or not. And who was to say that Eric wouldn’t like Ariel once he got to know her offline?
This was my chance to give something back to her. To be a real friend.
For the first time in my life, I’d have to keep a secret from Ariel and Jasmine.
I’d never felt so alone.
“Do you mind telling me what that was about?” She hissed as we stood in front of the girls bathroom door.
She looked like she was deciding whether to be angry or happy about the whole me and Jake thing.
“What was what about?” I asked, smoothing my features into a mask of innocence.
“Are you kidding me? Jake Winsted just kissed you in front of everyone!”
My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.
“Well, uh, he said he, uh-”
“Hey!”
Suddenly, Regina Winsted, Jake’s sister, stepped in to my line of vision. She did not look happy.
“So,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She wore a purple dress that barely reached mid-thigh, and a sweater, belt, and low heels all the color of maple wood. Her long, black hair was perfectly layered. I was sure that her hair stylist bill was more than what Dad paid for rent. “You are Jake’s new girlfriend.”
By the way she said you, I could tell that she did not approve. She popped her gum while her eyes scanned me.
I nodded my head slowly. “Yes.”
Ariel’s eyes nearly pooped out of her head in shock. She took a step back so that she was fully facing me and mouthed:
“Girlfriend?”
I ignored her, instead focusing on keeping my breathing even and my face relaxed.
“And how long has this been going on?” Regina demanded. She said it as if Jake was doing something wrong by dating me. As if I were tainted. Blemished. Not enough. I tried not to think about how much that hurt me. Maybe slightly less than Jake not even knowing my name.
Jake hadn’t gone in to specifics about our dating history, and I didn’t think to ask. How long were he and Dana broken up for? A few days? A week?
“Just today,” I finally said, hoping my anxiety didn’t show.
Ariel’s eyebrows rose. She was thinking. Seeing my lies in the air and trying to decide why they were there in the first place.
“Interesting,” Regina said. She took a step closer, leaving only a foot between us. My nerves grew taunt, and my breathing turned shallow. “I am only going to say this once.” She held up one manicured finger. Her nails were blood red. “Stay away from Jake. He is not for you.”
“And if she doesn’t?” Ariel asked, taking a step forward.
I groaned. I appreciated my friend’s effort, but this was seriously not the time.
“Then she will regret it. You, too.”
“We’ll take our chances,” Ariel replied, narrowing her eyes at Regina.
Regina looked amused and stepped toward my friend.
I stepped between them. I could not have my best friend leave a fist print on my fake boyfriend’s sister’s face.
“Thank you for the heads up, Regina, but I’m sure that Jake and I will be fine.”
Regina paused. Her eyes slid to me, then Ariel, then back to me. Her lips quirked up at the ends.
“You have twenty-four hours. End it, or I will end you.” She gave us one final warning stare before walking back to the video game section where she presided over the boys who were crammed on to the couch.
She didn’t look at us again.
“What a jerk!” Ariel said. “Who does she think she is, anyway?”
I let out a breath. “She’s Jake’s sister.”
“Yes. Sister. Not master.”
“What do you think she meant by twenty-four hours?”
Ariel waved the comment away. “Who cares? Whatever she has planned, we’ll be ready for her. Remember, there are three of us, and only one of her. As long as she doesn’t bring reinforcements, we’ll be fine.”
I couldn’t help but smile at Ariel’s comment. She was the first one to fight for one of us, but she was also the first one to laugh. My heart squeezed a little knowing that I was lying to her when she’d done nothing but be a good friend to me.
“And don’t think that you’re off the hook. I’m still pissed that you didn’t tell me you were going out with Jake. Why wouldn’t you say anything? I’m your best friend.”
I smiled nervously, hating that I was lying to her when our friendship had always been so honest. But I had to. She would thank me later when she and Eric were vacationing in Cabo with their three kids and their dog.
“It just, kind of, happened,” I replied, my voice going up a few octaves. “I didn’t have time to tell you. But now you know, so...”
I cleared my throat.
She took my hand and squeezed, her eyes gazing deep in to mine.
“Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me?” she asked.
I tried to speak, but the words didn’t come out. I wasn’t a liar, but it seemed that Jake had turned me into one in thirty minutes or less. This had to be some sort of record.
“Friends don’t keep secrets from each other,” Ariel said.
I closed my eyes, trying to breathe though my chest was tight. I wanted to tell Ariel everything, but I couldn’t. Not now.
“Jake saw me today and asked me out. I said yes. That’s it.”
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
I let out a guilt-ridden laugh.
She raised an eyebrow, as if she wasn’t quite sure that she believed my story.
“Are you sure that’s all that happened?” she asked, peering deeper in to my eyes.
I pretended to examine something on the back of my hand. “Positive.”
Her eyes went to the ceiling, then back to me.
“Okay then. I’m going to pee, then we can watch your new boyfriend play pool ... I guess.”
I nodded, and watched her disappear in to the bathroom.
She didn’t believe me. Helen Keller could’ve seen that. Why did I do this? Why did I think that I could pull this off? That I could hide something this huge from my best friend. I wanted to tell her, but I couldn’t. But I should have. But I-
As my mind circled the drain of my lies, Cole marched across the floor, heading straight for Jake.
He must’ve been in the weight room, because his jet-black hair was plastered to his head with sweat. His wide chest bulged beneath his sleeveless shirt. I couldn’t keep my eyes from roaming over his amazing body.
When did he get so ... hot?
He walked right past me, and cornered his brother by the pool table. The two traded words, then headed out the door. I heard yelling, but I couldn’t make out what they were yelling about. After a few minutes, Jake reappeared.
Cole did not.
What was that about? Were they fighting over what Jake and I had done?
I was so deep in my conjectures that I didn’t notice Ariel coming to stand beside me.
“Do you have to pee?” she asked.
I shook my head, my eyes still glued to the door that Cole had stormed out of.
“Then you’d better get back to your boyfriend.”
Boyfriend. Right. I had a boyfriend now. A temporary, fake one, but a boyfriend none the less.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I’d better get back to my, uh, boyfriend.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Shouldn’t you be happy about this? This is Jake Winsted we’re talking about. Remember? The boy you’ve dreamed about since I’ve known you. Why aren’t you doing backflips?”
I forced myself to smile, though inside, I was having a full-on misery party.
“I don’t know. I’m tired, I guess.”
“You’re tired? What does that even mean? What’s up with you? I swear that if Eric ever showed up out the blue and kissed me, I’d sprout wings and fly.”
Her face was so happy when she spoke about Eric. So dreamy. Yes, some of that happiness was for me, but some of it was just the thought of Eric. It boosted my resolve. I was doing the right thing.
We walked up to the pool table. Eric leaned on his pool stick while Jake lined up a shot. Kenny Jenners, local drug dealer, quietly leaned one bony hip against the table. His ever present black bookbag was wider than his body, making him appear even skinnier.
“Hey. It took you long enough,” Jake said with a teasing grin that I’d seen on his brother before. “I thought you fell in.”
It was so weird having him talk to me. Almost as if my Avengers poster came to life and Chris Hemsworth showed up in my bedroom, Thor costume and all.
Come to think about it, that would probably be less weird than how I felt right then.
I swallowed, and tried to act like everything was cool.
“Your sister came to visit me,” I said, quiet enough so that no one else could hear. “She said that we have twenty-four hours to break up or else.”
He waved my comment away, his gaze focused on somewhere behind me. I turned to see what could possibly be more interesting than his fake girlfriend’s impending murder. A dark-haired kid had approached Kenny. The two walked away, disappearing around the weight room wall.
Really? He was ignoring me to witness at another Kenny Jenner misdemeanor?
Incensed, I whipped back around to face him.
“Jake,” I hissed.
His attention turned back to me, his mood significantly darker than it was a moment ago.
“What?” His voice was harsh, more like a bark. I took a step forward, refusing to be intimidated by him.
“Your sister. She threatened me.”
“She’s all talk. In a few days, she’ll forget about it.”
“Didn’t her and Dana get in to a fist fight outside of the school a few weeks ago?” I asked.
“Yeah, well, that was different.” He leaned over, lined up a shot, and pushed his pool stick forward, sending a red ball flying.
“How was that different?”
“Because Dana stood up for herself. You shouldn’t have that problem.”
My hands fisted, and a growl escaped my mouth.
“Jake, either you stop insulting me and rein in your sister, or else our deal is off.”
He rolled his eyes, and grinned at me as if I was the world’s biggest fool.
“Is it?”
His chin jerked to Ariel and Eric.
Eric’s eyes had latched on to Ariel’s, a slow smile spreading on to his face like butter on warm bread.
“Hi,” he said, extending a hand. “Eric Shipman.”
Ariel looked star struck for a moment. Her arms were limp at her side, a silly grin on her face. Eric didn’t seem to mind, though. His warm smile remained, his eyes on her.
After a few, dazed moments, she finally snapped out of her trance. Her cheeks reddened, and she put her hand in his.
“Ariel,” she replied softly.
Their hands pumped between them, their eyes locked, their smiles full.
“I’ve seen you around,” Eric said. “You’re on the swim team, right?”
I could see patches of red on Ariel’s neck. I was sure that, on the inside, she was melting into a puddle.
“Yeah.”
“I went to your last meet. You are the fastest girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You should be in the Olympics or something. You’re amazing.”
Ariel’s cheeks turned beet red, and she let out a high, nervous laugh.
Eric’s smile only widened.
Was this part of Eric and Jake’s act, or was this something real?
With the way that Eric was grinning at her, I couldn’t be sure.
A crack sounded as Jake’s stick hit another ball and sent it flying in to a corner hole. He straightened with a self-satisfied smile. His eyes found their way to Eric and Ariel, then he glanced at me with a sly grin.
“Chill out, Brenda. Let’s not make this harder than it has to be.”
So this was a trick. A game. Ariel had become a pawn, and I had put her on the board. But with the way that her and Eric were whispering and smiling, I couldn’t tell her now. That time had come and gone. I had to ride this out, and pray that Eric was not planning on hurting my friend.
Before I could ream Jake on all the reasons my name wasn’t Brenda, he spoke up again.
“You know how to play pool?” he asked, his eyes moving from me to somewhere over my shoulder. He was obviously looking for Dana, to see if she was watching. From the way his smile turned seductive, I was sure that she was.
How did I get myself in to this?
I shook my head, letting him know that I, in fact, did not play pool.
“Here. Let me show you.”
My stomach tightened a bit, but I did what I was told. Jake briefly explained the game, then handed me a pool stick. He ushered me to his side of the table and stood behind me, helping me line up a shot.
His nearness made me feel warm all over.
It’s fake, I reminded myself. It is just for show. It’s not real.
I repeated my mantra as Jake patiently showed me how to hit the ball just right so that it went in to one of the pockets. He laughed when I hit the ball too soft and it didn’t go anywhere at all. He hugged me when I hit the ball too hard and it went flying off the table. When I finally hit the ball and sent it in to one of the pockets, he whooped and he gave me a high five before pulling me to him and kissing me on the temple.
Though his hugs felt nice, and my treacherous body greedily pulled him closer, my mind and heart told me that it was not me he was hugging. It was Dana. I’d seen him hug her all over school, and it was always the same. First a hug. Sometimes a kiss followed. Always one hand on her upper back, and one hand on her lower back, right above her butt. He was showing Dana how replaceable she was.
I was his gun, and he was using me to wound her, hug by hug, kiss by kiss. For a fleeting moment, I felt bad for her, until I remembered that she had just done the exact same thing to him.
It was Eric’s turn to take the pool stick, but he told Jake that he could go again.
He and Ariel were speaking excitedly about an upcoming concert. He asked her a question that I couldn’t hear. Something that made her pause, and smile. He held out his hand for a low high five. She slapped it, and they both laughed.
Was that real? Was Eric actually interested in her? If not, he was an amazing actor.