Page 31 of The Charade

"Just a little curious." I drummed my fingers on the wooden tabletop. "You might say that you totally flirting with me after signing a paper saying that you wouldn't try to date me was kind of the opposite behavior that I expected."

"So I may have had a little fun." A little smirk lifted her lips, like the memory of the whole debacle was hilarious to her. "But I guess after everything today, it got me thinking that maybe we could make an arrangement that’s mutually beneficial." She studied me, and for the briefest moment there was a glimmer of vulnerability that showed through the mask of confidence she'd been wearing all day. She looked down as she smoothed her hands along her pleated skirt. After releasing a heavy breath, she met my gaze again and said, "I know that during lunch I joked a little over the fact that I needed a tutor in order to even attend this school in the first place, but—" She shifted in her seat and tossed her long hair over her shoulder, as if trying to get more comfortable for an uncomfortable conversation. "—it's actually something that I'm really embarrassed about."

She trained her gaze to the side, as if admitting her weakness took a lot of bravery. Then she said, "And I guess that since I really don't want everyone at school to know that I need help with math and you seem eager enough to make Sofia regret breaking up with you, then maybe we could kill two birds with one stone and pretend like we're spending our afternoons together for less scholarly reasons."

"You want people to think we're romantically entangled?" I asked, not sure I was understanding her correctly.

"Well, maybe not exclusively," she said. "I'd still like to have a fun senior year with guys."

"Like my brother Nash," I offered since she'd just been with him.

"Sure, him and others." She shrugged. "It’s my first day, there are still a lot of guys to meet."

I knew it was insane to feel the least bit possessive of this girl whom I'd just met twenty-four hours ago, but for some strange reason, her talk of datinglotsof other guys caused an unusual jolt of jealousy to rise in me.

But I pushed the feeling away since caring about who or how many guys Ava spent her time with really shouldn't affect me at all.

"So anyway," she continued, "I was just thinking that while neither one of us is officially dating anyone else, it would be a nice arrangement for me to save face and for you to get back a little at Sofia."

I strummed my fingers on the table as I thought over what Ava was proposing.

I hadn't exactly wanted to mess with the drama that dating and girls brought with them this year, so pretending to flirt with Ava wouldn't hinder any of that—in fact, it might even help fend off other girls who might otherwise try to flirt with me. And then, of course, making Sofia believe I'd moved on and was completely over her was also a very appealing idea—especially since I could do that without the less desirable side effects of having to actually be invested in a new relationship.

Plus, this plan of hers wouldn't even add an extra time constraint into my schedule since I'd already planned on our Tuesday and Thursday tutoring sessions for the rest of the school year.

The only thing I'd really need to do differently was more of what we'd done during last period, which—when I thought about it—had actually been kind of fun.

Maybe Nash and Cambrielle weren't the only Hastings siblings with a future in the theater?

"So, what do you think?" Ava asked.

"You think it’ll actually work?" I pressed my lips together as I looked at her.

"I think so," Ava said with a shrug. "I mean, I guess I've heard that you only date supermodels, which yeah, obviously I'm not one, so maybe that simple fact will make it unbelievable to anyone who knows you. But if you're not too worried about looking like you're slumming it with the new girl, I think it could help us both in our own ways."

"I don't think anyone would think I was slumming it," I said, not wanting her to think that my lack of interest in dating her had anything to do with the way she looked.

"Why, Carter Hastings!" Ava put a hand to her chest in a show of surprise. "I think that may be the nicest thing you've said to me yet."

"Well, I do what I can." Then after thinking about it for a moment longer, I said, "How about we nail down a few particulars for how this would even work, and then maybe I can give you a better answer?"

11

Ava

Carterand I spent the next few minutes going over the details of our little arrangement. Since this was all pretend, and definitely not an exclusive sort of thing, it was pretty simple. Basically, we would just be extra flirty in the classes we had together so Sofia would have a front-row seat to it all, and then we'd just make it seem like our study sessions were more of a social thing instead of an actual requirement for me to pass math.

It was kind of a great situation, actually.

I was still allowed to flirt with other guys and go on dates if I wanted while he would, in his own words, continue to ignore everyone else like he usually did.

Man, my math tutor sure was a catch, wasn't he? The kind of hot that could make me forget my own name, but severely lacking in social skills.

But if publicly flirting with him kept my secret safe while I earned my first ever A's in math, I could put up with Mr. Grumpy Pants.

Carter pulled out his phone once we were ready to get back into the interview questions Mrs. Simmons had assigned us. "I think what’s next is whether we'd like to be famous or not, and if so, in what way?"

"I'll go first on that one," I offered. I liked that the questions so far were pretty non-invasive, even though our teacher had suggested that these might bring out some things we didn't already know about our classmates. "I think it would be fun to be famous." It would mean that I'd probably not have to worry about money since hopefully, I'd be a rich famous person and not famous for something bad. "And as for what way, I'd love to follow in my mom's footsteps and make a name for myself in the fashion world."

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