Page 59 of The Stand-In Boyfriend

“Did you seriously think you could make a laughingstock out of her, and we’d let you slide?”

I step forward, coming chest to chest with Jack. “I made a laughingstock out of her? You’re the one who cheated on her in front of half the school!” I hiss in his face.

“At least what we had was real, not some fake relationship that the whole school knows about!”

I stumble back a step, the blood in my veins turning to ice. “What are you talking about?”

“What I’m saying,” he comes closer, stabbing his finger in my chest, “is that everybody knows.”

“Fuck.” I run my fingers through my sweaty hair. “Fuck!” My eyes land on Liam. “Where is she?”

Evie was the one who drove Jessy to school, since she left her car here yesterday.

“They should be here any minute, if they haven’t already arrived.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I push through the two of them and get out of the gym. Maybe they’re late for whatever reason. Maybe there’s still time to get to her before somebody else tells her. Maybe…

As soon as I’m out in the hallway, I start running. I’m still in my sweaty workout gear, and my things are back in the locker room, but I don’t care about any of that.

I need to get to her before they do.

How did they even find out? Who was the one to tell? The only two people who knew the truth were Evie and Elliott and they wouldn’t tell. How then? Does it even matter?

God, please don’t let her find out like this.

People are giving me strange looks, but I don’t stick around long enough to hear them talk. My eyes are scanning the busy hallways for any sign of Jessica.

I probably should have stopped by the locker room to grab my phone, try and call her, but there is no way I’m going back now.

That’s when I see her, standing with some of her cheer teammates, Lisa included.

Lisa gives her one of her judgmental onceovers and Jessy takes a step back. I open my mouth to call her, but Lisa delivers the blow faster. “About your little sham. Did you really think nobody would find out? Please, be real. As if a guy like Noah would be interested in somebody like you.”

I come closer as Jessy takes another step back. She crashes into me and I put my hands on her shoulders, steadying her.

She looks at me over her shoulder, tears filling her eyes. They wreck me. Seeing her like this, when she’s normally all spunk and sass, hurts more than I could have ever imagined.

“Sunshine,” I rasp, my hand reaching to cup her cheek, only she pulls back, shaking her head, and then she slips around me and limps away.

“Jessy!” I call after her but she completely ignores me and continues walking down the hallway toward the exits, as fast as her sprained ankle can take her. “Fuck!” I yell, not caring one bit that we’re attracting attention.

“Noah,” Lisa coos, wrapping her fingers around my bicep. “You don’t have to pretend anymore. We all know the truth. Seriously, how pitiful do you have…”

“Shut it, Lisa,” I say, pulling my hand out of her grasp. “Because I swear to God, I won’t be responsible for what I do if you finish that sentence.”

She gasps, her mouth forming a perfect O in surprise.

“Are you the one behind it? Did you start this shit?” It wouldn’t surprise me, not one bit. Lisa is so power hungry she’d do anything to achieve it.

“You can’t tell me you actually want to date her?”

“I’m not saying that.”

A smile curls her lips.

“I’m saying Iamdating her. You might want to make sure to spread that news around. And if you ever look at Jessy the wrong way again, I’ll make you regret it.”

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