Page 14 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
“For not telling you about me and Jaxon,” I said. Taking a gamble, I added, “I didn’t mean for you to hear about through school gossip.”
Eli sighed deeply and thought for a moment.
“I thought you hated Jaxon,” he said.
I shrugged. “I guess my opinion changed.”
He frowned in disbelief. “Since last week?”
I closed my book and put it in my bag. I needed to focus if I was going to pull this off. I should have thought this through before agreeing to fake date somebody I was so outspoken about hating.
“Okay,” I said. “I guess my opinion hasn’t changed that much.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So, what? You’re just dating somebody that you don’t even like?”
“I’ve been a little harsh in how I’ve spoken about him,” I said slowly. I prayed that I could sell this. I hated lying to Eli but I wasn’t going to back out of my deal with Jaxon, especially so soon.
“Violet, you hate him,” Eli said. “I’m pretty sure you said if you never saw him again, you could die happy.”
“I don’t hate him that much,” I insisted. There was only one thing I could think of that might just convince him of the relationship. “I’m just… I’m looking for some fun for the summer before I leave for college. I mean, I made through all of high school without ever having a boyfriend and I just wanted to change that.”
I held my breath as I waited for some response from him. He continued to stare at me for another minute before he finally started nodding thoughtfully.
“Well, he is good for short term fun,” Eli grinned. He leaned back and rested his arm along the top of the bench. “As I’m sure you can tell by the slew of girlfriends he’s had over the years.”
It was well known at Bayshore Academy that Jaxon Andrews’s relationships didn’t last for more than a month. Every girl that started dating him hoped they would be the one to change it but thus far, none of them had been successful. Madison claimed it was because he was so in love with me that he couldn’t stand to be in a long-term relationship with anyone else. I claimed it was because none of those girls realized how immature he was until they were dating him.
“That’s all I’m looking for,” I reassured Eli. “Just some short term fun.”
And nobody will be surprised when we break it off in a month.
six
Other than everythinggoing on with Jaxon, my week was pretty boring until I left for the grad trip. None of our teachers were assigning new homework because the trip was upcoming, so I had nothing to do for the lunch period while Madison was busy with a club.
I went outside to kill some time. Maybe I’d walk on the track. I didn’t really like walking in a circle on a field, as opposed to walking somewhere with nice scenery, but it couldn’t hurt to try it. Jaxon seemed to like it well enough.
When I got closer to the field, I noticed a small group of girls sitting on the bleachers and giggling. I followed their gaze to the track and immediately understood what they were doing. Jaxon, dressed only in his gym shorts, was running laps.
I wasn’t really looking to speak with him right then but I saw an opportunity to help prove our relationship and I had to take it. I walked straight past the bleachers and through the gate in the fence that divided them from the field. I tucked my hands behind my back and leaned against the fence, watching Jaxon come closer. I guess I hadn’t been far off in my imagination of him running the day before.
Once he was within a few metres of me, I noticed that he was listening to music and staring at the ground as he ran, so he probably didn’t see me. I took a couple of steps forward, still not going on the red track, but making myself be more in his field of vision. He must have noticed me in his peripheral vision because he looked up. His eyes widened when I waved to him and he slowed to a stop. He looked at me, then at the girls on the bleachers, then at me again. I wondered whether they were still watching; they probably were but I didn’t want to turn around to check. Jaxon took the headphones out of his ears and crossed over to me.
“Hey,” he said. He put his hands on my upper arms, though our skin was honestly barely making contact, and kissed me on the cheek. “What are you doing here?”
“I was just going for a walk when I noticed that you were running here,” I said. “I thought I’d come say hi.”
“Hi.” He grinned. He looked me up and down. I blushed a little, even though I was certain he wasn’t checking me out. “Why do you look like you’re dressed for a workout?”
Our school had some weird rules about you could wear instead of your uniform. The overarching rule was that you could wear athletic clothes when you were either in gym class or planning to use the athletic facilities in the school as long as the clothes were “spirit wear,” aka anything you bought from the school. I was wearing my volleyball uniform from the tenth grade since it was the only semi-athletic clothes I had that wasn’t my ugly gym uniform.
“Madison and I are going to play badminton after lunch since her class was cancelled,” I said. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun while I was thinking about it. Every time she and I played badminton, I left my hair down and ended up with my racket somehow tangled in it.
“What?” Jaxon asked, looking perplexed.
“Her teacher went home sick and they couldn’t find a sub in time, so I guess they decided it was easier to just cancel the class,” I explained.
“That’s not what I was confused about,” he said. I tilted my head. “I meant, since when did you play badminton?”
