Page 18 of Fake It Till You Break It
“You’re talking like there was ever any magic in the first place,” I said with a snort. I climbed next to her and laid down on her pillow. My eyes closed to dismiss her. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“True.” She laughed and laid down next to me on the bed. The top of her head was pressed against my forearm.
Now, I would never admit this to Mia, but the cool sheetactually felt good against my face. Especially because I felt hot all of a sudden. Plus, it smelled good.
Cracking one eye open, I peeked over at Mia and almost jumped off the bed. My mask was so wet that it slid off my face. Instead of a plain white mask like mine, hers looked like a panda. With black circles around her eyes and a snout. Her hair was still tied up, but she also had on a pink headband that pushed up the top of her hair like it was a spiky pineapple.
It took all the effort I had not to laugh and wake her up. With a smirk, I slowly opened my phone and snapped a picture of her. Just for insurance, in case she tried to pull anything else on me in the future.
After a couple of shots, I laid back down and closed my eyes.
Now that the first step of our plan was over, I felt relieved. Like the huge boulder was finally off my shoulders. To be honest, this morning I was pretty sure we were going to screw it up. But somehow, we actually got our moms to believe us. And that was definitely the hardest part.
Mia yawned and snuggled a little closer into my side. The side of her head brushed against my shoulder. I lifted my arm to move away, but she just nestled into my chest and let out a soft sigh. I thought she might have woken up, but a few seconds later, her breathing was slow and even again.
I’d forgotten that Mia was a snuggler. Ever since we were kids. During naptime in kindergarten, she would always rollfrom her mat onto mine. Every single time. It didn’t matter if I was on her right or her left side. After five minutes, she’d be pressed against my arm.
Funny how she never rolled onto anyone else’s mat.
With a sigh, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and leaned my cheek against the top of her head. Her hair tickled my nose, but I just blew the few strands away and closed my eyes.
For the first time in two years, I fell asleep immediately.
MIA
IT WAS ONLY NOON,but I already felt like I had been in schoolforever. I stifled another yawn while Todd Kim, my bio partner, chatted about the guinea pig dissection we were supposed to do next week. Not exactly the best topic to talk about before lunch, but Todd was one of the top students in the class and because most of my biology knowledge basically came fromGrey’s Anatomy, I pretty much needed all the help I could get.
Rubbing my eyes, I stopped short and blinked so rapidly that my contacts moved. At first, I thought I was imagining things, but there was Mom coming out of the office with a tan envelope in her hand. Aly was right behind her, probably having just finished up her free period filing.
“Okay, okay, I got it. Dissection. Heart. Little veins. I’ll see you tomorrow!” I shooed him away midsentence. “Mom! What are you—what are you doing here?”
“I just came by to talk to Mrs. Martin, your adviser. She needed my expertise to plan your prom and senior events next year.” She clenched the strap of her tote bag. “What about you? Where’s Jake? I was hoping to catch you in the cafeteria to say hi.”
My mind was a blank. “Jake? He’s…”
“Jake’s waiting for us to meet him for lunch.” Aly interrupted, poking her head in between us. “Right, Mia?”
I shot her a grateful smile. “Yeah, but I’ll tell him to meet us up here instead.”
“That’s okay. I can go downstairs—”
There was no way I could let her go down to the cafeteria. It was one thing to pretend to be dating at home, but I wasn’t going to be all lovey-dovey with Jake in front of the entire school.
“No! No. I’ll just get him.” I pushed her to sit on the bench right by the office door. “Stay right here. Aly actually has something she wanted to ask you.”
Her wide blue eyes stared at me. “I do? I mean, I do! Yes. Lots and lots of questions about… stuff.”
“So just stay here and talk while I get Jake.” Before Mom could try to follow me, I spun on my heel and ran off. My hand dug my phone out of my pocket and I called Jake, but he didn’t pick up. Where the heck was he?
I sprinted upstairs past Jake’s locker, but he wasn’t there. Still redialing his number, I ran down two flights of stairs towardthe cafeteria on the first floor. Why the heck did his locker have to be on the third floor anyway?!
My heart pounded in my chest, and I bent over—hands on my knees—as I struggled to catch my breath. God, I felt like I was going to be sick. This was why I never joined the track team despite Coach Hill’s best efforts. Apparently, he just couldn’t understand why someone with my “muscular legs” didn’t run.
Maybe this was how I was going to die. When I had so much unfinished business. I still needed to go to college. I still needed to meet Lee Jong-suk, my Korean love. And I still needed to return that movie to Redbox before they fined me.
Scanning the cafeteria, I spotted Jake sitting with Rose in the far back corner. I sprinted over to his side and grabbed the bottle of iced tea from his hand.
“Mia, what the hell—?”
