Page 65 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
They, of course, all dissolved into giggles, their faces red. Madison glanced back at me before she walked inside and shot me a wink. I smiled back, thankful for the little bit of humour to help calm my nerves. I took a deep breath and walked up to my hopefully-not-fake-for-long boyfriend.
Jaxon was still focused on my friends walking in, so he didn’t notice me until I whispered, “Hi.”
His head swivelled around so quickly that I thought his neck must have cracked. When his eyes settled on me, they widened just a fraction. I imagined what he might say — how he would tell me I was beautiful, how happy he was that I came, that he actually loved me and wanted to get together.
That last one might have been a stretch but you couldn’t blame a girl for trying.
“You’re wearing the dress,” he said. Okay, not as romantic as I’d hoped, but at least he noticed.
“I am,” I said. We stared at each other for a moment. “It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”
“The colour brings out your eyes,” he said.
“Just like you intended.”
His face split into a wide grin. “You read the note.”
“I did,” I said. I swished my dress around a little as I considered how much I wanted to say right now. We needed to talk but standing outside our prom didn’t seem the best spot to do it. “It was lovely.”
He looked me over for a moment, before holding his arm out for me to grab.
“M’lady,” he said.
I giggled and wrapped my arm around his. This was it. The moment this whole fake relationship had been leading up to — going to prom together and proving once and for all to Lewis that he had lost.
My heart was pounding. Some hotel workers held the doors to the room open for us and I was once again reminded of an old-timey ball. Jaxon and I looked at each other and then, in unison, took a step inside. As soon as we entered, I felt like all eyes were on me. I was sure nobody really cared about what I was doing, though — they may have cared about Jaxon, as the most popular boy in school, but I doubted anybody could give less of a crap about me beyond the fact that I was the girl Jaxon Andrews chose.
I almost immediately made eye contact with Lewis, who was leaning against the wall and looked like he was ready to punch somebody. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did by the end of the night; I didn’t really care what he did, as long as it didn’t affect me.
Jaxon’s hand slipped onto my bare back as he leaned in and whispered, “Let’s go find our seats for dinner.”
I nodded in agreement and followed his lead to the middle of the room. It wasn’t hard for us to find our spot, since Madison, Eli, and Sabrina were all already sitting there and we knew we had requested a table with them. Jaxon held out my chair for me and I sat down carefully, not wanting to wrinkle my dress.
“I really think we should talk,” I whispered to Jaxon before he walked to his spot.
“Now’s not the time,” Jaxon said. I was happy to note that he didn’t sound angry. At least, not as angry as he did in the closet the other day. “There’s too many people around. And trust me, there is nowhere private for us to sneak off too.”
I chose not to question why he was so certain of that fact.
It was probably just as well that we couldn’t go right then, though, because I still needed to figure out exactly what I wanted to say. I didn’t know how to apologize for what I did or how to confess to him that I really didn’t want this to end.
In some ways, I wished that I hadn’t fallen for him. It would have been so much easier to continue pretending if real hadn’t gotten involved. I couldn’t stop the sinking feeling in my heart that no matter what I said or did now, there was no way Jaxon was ever going to want to be with me.
The dinner was fun enough, though I had a hard time enjoying myself when I didn’t know how my night was going to end. Would Jaxon and I sneak away together during the after party? Or would he leave me there heartbroken?
After dinner, the tables and chairs were moved away to make room for the dance floor. Jaxon held my hand as we stood together and waited. Kelly Wess, the Social Chair of our Student Council, walked up to the microphone. Since she was the one who had planned the whole prom, she was also in chair of doing all the announcements.
“I hope you’re all having a wonderful evening!” she said. Everyone cheered loudly. “Now, I’m sure you’re all looking forward to dancing, but before we do that, we have to announce the Prom Court!”
Wild cheering followed again. The tradition at their school is that the Prom King and Prom Queen have the first dance, followed by the rest of the Prom Court, then finally everyone else. I didn’t really understand all the hype behind it but I was definitely ready to get it over worth.
“All right, Prom King first!” Kelly said. One of the other members of the Student Council walked onstage and handed her an envelope. She took her sweet time opening it and reading the name to herself, really drawing out the suspense. Finally, she looked up with a grand smile and said, “Jaxon Andrews!”
I was sure it came as no surprise to anyone, but given how loudly everyone clapped, you would have thought the decision came out of nowhere. I guess that was what happened when you were the most popular guy in school. I politely clapped along as I watched him walk on stage and take his place to the left of Kelly. I had to admit, he looked good up there. His tux was well-fitted, his hair nicely done, and that golden-boy smile on his face that he used in front of other people. I thought that was his real smile until we started our ruse. I understood why he used the fake one, he wanted to look picture-perfect all the time, but I thought his real one was much prettier.
Standing up there like that, he looked like the ideal Bayshore Student. I wondered whether our school would ask him to model for their advertisement photos before he graduated. He certainly would convince a lot of parents to send their kids here.
“Congratulations, Jaxon,” Kelly said, also clapping along politely. “And now, Prom Queen.”
