Page 62 of Fauxmance

Just one syllable, three little letters.

But Hayden's reaction was priceless.

He whooped, did an air punch, and even jumped out of his chair, came over, and pulled me up in a hug.

"You won't regret this, Magnolia," he said, speaking into my hair. "This is going to be great. You'll see."

"Will it?" I asked faintly.

As he leaned back, Hayden gave me a soft smile. "Don't sound so worried. I'm going to be the perfect fake boyfriend."

I didn't tell him then—but that was exactly what I was worried about.

We exchanged numbers and made plans to meet up soon to "hammer out the details." Whatever that meant. It was all kind of a whirlwind, and before I knew it, Hayden was gone, and I was left with this feeling, like I'd just done something that would alter the course of my whole life.

For better or for worse, I wasn't sure.

But I was excited to find out.

#

School was the same as always. Everyone always made it seem like senior year was a big deal. Maybe for some people it was. For me, it was just another year, a reminder that I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I'd actually always been certain of at least one thing. But that was before.

The halls of Honeycomb High were abuzz with the news: Sean and I were through. Our couple status had been well-known, and now so was our break-up. Somehow people knew he had dumped me, that it happened in front of my locker, and that he was already seeing someone else. It wasn't like you could hide that kind of thing—not that my ex tried to. Apparently, he was telling anyone who would listen about his new girl.

The news bothered me, but probably not in the way it should have.

I wasn't mad at Sean. I was upset with myself for wasting so much time on him. Had he always been such an inconsiderate jerk?

"Yeah," Ruby said to me, and I realized I must've asked the question out loud, "he was always like this—or at least since we hit high school. I'm glad you finally saw the light."

I shook my head, packing the rest of my books and shutting my locker.

"I don't even care that he's with someone," I said then amended. "Well, I do. It still stingshow everything went down, but that's not the point. It's like he's trying to rub it in my face."

"He probably is." I looked to Amanda for an explanation, and she shrugged. "You must've seen the pictures."

"No…what pictures?"

"Haven't you noticed the weird looks everyone's been giving you?" she said.

I nodded. "Yeah, I figured it was pity for being dumped. Or that they were waiting for me to break down or something."

Ruby scoffed, slamming her own locker, and crossed her arms. "As if our Magnolia would break on account of that asshat."

"Tell us how you really feel, Ru," Amanda said, then turned back to me. "They're looking at you because they're curious. Not so much about you, but about the guy."

"Sorry, I'm not following."

Her eyes twinkled as she showed me her phone. "The one in these pictures. To be honest, I am, too. I mean, that jawline looks like it could cut glass."

"Hmm," Ruby said, staring over my other shoulder, "could just be the lighting. But I do like his whole rough-yet-pretty vibe."

Hayden would love that, I thought as I gazed at picture after picture of my wedding date and…me. There were several photos. One was of the two of us as we walked down Haven House's grand staircase. Another showed me laughing at something Hayden had said. And then there were three photos of us looking very close as we danced the tango.

"Where'd you get these?" I asked.

"They were on the Honeycomb High website."

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