Page 8 of The Stand-In Boyfriend

The tension at the table is almost palpable, like a living, breathing thing. And it definitely doesn’t help that I can still feel the eyes of our fellow classmates looking in our direction, waiting to see what will happen.

Seriously, could this day get any worse?

I stab my fork into the lettuce more forcefully than necessary. I need to finish this meal and get out of here. Fast.

But apparently I’m not fast enough.

“Jessy?”

I lift my head only to find a pair of curious eyes staring at me.

Self-consciously I push a strand of my hair that I left to curl around my face behind my ear. “What?”

Evie looks down at her phone, and then back at me. A frown appears between her brows. “What is this?”

She turns the screen to face me. For a moment I just stare at it, not believing my eyes. I blink. Once. Twice. But nope, the picture is still there in full color, mocking me.

Noah kissing me against my locker. His large hands cupping my cheeks, lips pressed against mine as we stare at each other. There is no mistaking the fire in my eyes either.

A shiver runs through me.

God, I was so pissed at him. Still am, but to an innocent onlooker it could easily be interpreted as the look of somebody in love.

Fuck. My. Life.

“Who posted this?”

I go for the phone, but Evie pulls it out of my reach.

“Oh no, you don’t.”

“What are you doing?” I let my fork fall out of my hand and reach for the phone again. “Give it to me. I want to know who posted it so I can make sure that person removes it.”

By any means necessary. Seriously, what is wrong with people? Taking that kind of photo and posting it online. My skin crawls just at the thought of somebody taking my picture when I’m vulnerable like that and not even noticing them doing it.

A shiver runs through my body as the unease settles underneath my skin.

Yes, I love social media like just about any person in this whole school, but I’d never do something as sneaky as that!

“It’s Snapchat, it’ll disappear soon enough.” Evie waves me off. “Better question is, how did you end up kissing Noah?”

“What?” This one sounds suspiciously like Jack, but I ignore it.

“I wasn’t kissing him!” I hiss in protest, scanning the room to see if anybody is listening on our conversation. But if Evie has seen it, then probably the whole school has.

She looks down at the screen, and then makes a point of turning it toward me once again. Like I don’t have the real deal stuck haunting me in my own head.

“Umm, a picture tells a thousand words and all that.”

“Stop it, Eves! And turn that thing off.”

“What did you think would happen when I found out?” Thankfully, she does as asked, exiting the app, locking her phone and putting it on the side for good measure. Only now, all her attention is on me. I’m not sure I like that all that much.

“You weren’t supposed to find out.”

Nobody was, but that’s just another thing that I apparently don’t deserve to have control over.

Evie pushes her glasses up her nose. “You can’t be serious.”

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