Page 16 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
“Sorry,” I said. “But we’re pretty serious. And we are definitely going to prom together. I got him a tie that matches my dress and everything.”
A little white lie but one that I thought was forgivable. All the girls’ faces dropped immediately. I felt a little guilty for a moment, as if I had crushed their dreams, but as I couldn’t help but smirk as I walked away, also feeling a little powerful.
seven
Our grad tripinvolved a six-hour bus ride from our town to Montreal, the city we would be staying in for three days. Since it was such a long drive, and we wanted to get as much time in the city as possible, we had to meet at the school at five in the morning on Wednesday.
“It’s too early to be alive,” Madison groaned. It was a cold and rainy day, so we were both hiding under the overhang outside the doors to the school. The bus was already there and our suitcases were all packed in the compartment under the seats, but the teachers weren’t letting us get on until they were done doing attendance. It didn’t seem like the most efficient way to run things to me, but I was sure they wouldn’t appreciate my criticism.
“At least you have coffee,” I said, eyeing the silver travel mug in her hand. I wasn’t big on coffee but I would kill for any hot drink right now; I couldn’t believe it was this cold in June.
“Should have brought your own,” Madison said, taking a large swig on the drink.
“Or my best friend could be nice and share.”
“I could,” she said easily. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for the second half of the statement. She smiled. “But I won’t.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. I didn’t really expect her to share — rule number one was to never get between Madison and her coffee, especially that early in the morning.
“Okay everyone,” Ms. Moscowitz called out. “You can line up to get on the bus now.”
As I expected, there was practically a stampede as everyone ran for the door to the bus. Personally, I would have just waited for the really eager people to get on the bus first and then gone to line up, but unfortunately for me, Madison was one of those eager people. She grabbed my wrist and ran to the bus, pulling me along behind her. My shoelaces were undone so I was tripping with every step that I took but unable to stop until we made it to the bus.
“Basically at the front of the line,” Madison said happily.
I forced a smile on my face. “Yeah.”
When it was our turn to get on, Madison pushed me in front of her, so I got on the bus first. It was much warmer once I got inside, since the bus was running and had the heating on.
“Where do you want to sit, Madison?” I asked as I walked down the aisle.
“Wherever,” she said. She was walking so close behind me that she was practically on my heels. I could feel her looking over my shoulder every two seconds. I had a feeling that she did not really mean what she said; based on the way she was looking around, she had a specific spot where she wanted to sit, or people she wanted to sit near, and she was trying to look around me to make sure we got in the right aisle. Why she pushed me to get on the bus first just to do that, I had no idea.
“Near the back?” I asked.
“Right…” She stretched out the word for nearly thirty whole seconds, before unceremoniously shoving me into a seat. “Here.”
“Hey!” I yelled as I toppled onto none other than Jaxon Andrews in a moment that was reminiscent of our time in the closet the week before. There was a loud cracking sound as I hit him so hard that his head slammed into the window. I gripped the edge of the seat in front of me to help pull myself up. Behind me, Jaxon groaned and rubbed his forehead. “What was that for, Madison?”
“Couples are supposed to sit together,” she said. She flipped her blonde hair and continued down the aisle. “Have fun, my lovelies!”
I twisted in my seat. A couple of rows back, Madison sat down in the window seat, put her bag on the aisle seat, then rested her legs on her bag. Of course — she had forced me to sit with Jaxon so she could have an aisle to herself.
I pressed my lips together and turned forward again. I felt like I should apologize to Jaxon for falling on top of him, maybe ask if his head was okay, but I didn’t have it in me to talk to him yet. I was sure he was fine; if he wasn’t, he would have been making a big fuss about how he was probably concussed.
“You know, you could at least look happy to see me,” Jaxon said. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted his trademark smirk. I didn’t respond. “Come on, Evers. Am I really that bad?”
Yes. You really are.
Knowing he wouldn’t shut up if I didn’t give him some sort of response, I said, “I’m not much of a morning person.”
Jaxon scoffed. “That is not true.”
“Yes, it is!” I argued. He was actually right, I was the kind of person who genuinely enjoyed waking up at five in the morning, but I hated for him to think that he knew anything about me.
“No it’s not,” Jaxon said, shaking his head. He lifted his foot and harshly kicked the seat in front of him twice.
“Jaxon!” I snapped. “What are you doing? Stop!”
