Page 8 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend (Port Lane Romances #3)

four

It was the first day of operations for Penny and Alexander.

Alexander had to go to school early for a football team meeting, so we didn't walk together, but he did wait by the front door for me when I came up. Even though nobody was looking at us, he went in for a hug.

“You look lovely today,” he said when he pulled away, his voice deep and smooth. I blushed and ducked my head. It was the first time he had spoken to me like that, and it made my heart flutter for some indiscernible reason.

“Thank you,” I said. “So do you.”

He grinned and grabbed my hand, tugging me down the hallway.

“Where's your locker again?” He asked.

“In the first side hallway,” I said, jerking my chin in the general direction. “But you don't need to walk me there.”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Alexander said. “Of course, I will.”

We reached the school's main hallway, and Alexander slowed his steps.

I frowned and turned my head to ask him when I noticed the people along the walls staring at us.

Oh. He was slowing down to make sure everyone got the chance to see us.

As if to make sure nobody could mistake us for anything other than a couple, he pulled his hand from mine and threw his arm around my shoulder again.

I forced myself to giggle happily like I saw Nikki do with Joseph. Anything to sell the lie.

By this point, I was well used to people staring at me constantly, but it felt different today.

It felt like they were looking at me with curiosity instead of pity.

In a way, it was like they were approving of us.

Whispers followed us for the whole walk, and I caught at least two people taking pictures.

I didn't blame — nobody would believe that Alexander was with someone like me without photographic proof.

Alexander pretty much had a different date, and even if he did, I was just some loser.

Why would he pick me when he could have any girl he wanted?

And yet here we were, needing to convince them that he had.

We reached my locker, and I dialled in the combination for my lock. I pulled out the books I needed for the day, but before I could put them in my bag or anything, Alexander grabbed them from me.

“Let me hold those for you, my lady,” he said.

I grinned. “Thanks... babe.” The word was unnatural on my lips, but pet names were something most couples used, so I better get used to it.

“Come on; I'll walk you to class,” he offered. Then he winked — at me. Even though I knew it was all part of this, my heart stopped a little at the sight of my crush winking at me. “Don't want you are falling again, right?”

I cringed as I remembered the way he had caught me in the hallway the other day. Definitely didn't need a repeat of that one.

Alexander moved all my books to one arm so he could hold my hand with the other one, and we started walking down the hall again.

It might have been my imagination, but I felt like people were stepping out of our way as we walked, and I couldn't tell whether it was from the shock of seeing me with him or if this was just how everyone treated Alexander all the time.

Joseph was popular too, and I had been treated differently than usual when I was with him, but he had nothing on Alexander, who was the king of the school.

We paused outside my classroom door. As he handed me my books, he also leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “I guess this is working.”

“Seems like it,” I whispered back. I didn't expect people to be convinced so easily.

“Have a good class, babe,” he said in a regular voice.

“You too,” I said. He squeezed my hand one more time before walking away.

“I'll see you at lunch,” he called over his shoulder, and I nodded even though he wasn't looking at me. I watched as he walked down the hallway, his broad shoulders moving gracefully under his shirt. And for a moment, I felt like everything would be alright.

A moment later, he disappeared into a sea of students in the hall.

I took a deep breath and walked into my class.

As per usual, everyone went silent as I walked in, and they stared at me as I walked past. But this time, I kept my head held high, even as I felt Joseph glaring at me. He must have heard the news. Good.

“Hey, Penny,” the girl sitting next to me said.

I glanced over in surprise. It was the first time she'd ever spoken to me outside of class projects.

Honestly, I'd always been a little intimidated by her.

She looked more like she was ready to walk the runway every day than be at her.

Her silky brown hair was long and thick, falling gracefully over her shoulders, her eyes an icy blue, and her face a perfect mask of mild interest at all times.

“Uh, hey, Samantha,” I said. “What's up?”

“Are you and Alexander...” She looked around like she was worried somebody might overhear and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, “Like a thing?”

I glanced around as well. Even if they were pretending to be doing other things, I could see everyone leaning their heads toward us, trying to get in on the new gossip. I smiled.

“Yeah,” I said. “I guess we are.”

Samantha smirked and sat up straight again, then tapped a perfectly manicured nail against her chin. The polish was a deep rose red, almost the blood colour. I wondered whether she picked it on purpose; it certainly added to the intimidation factor.

“We should, like, totally hang out more,” she said with a rare smile.

I couldn't remember the last time someone other than Nikki asked me to hang out. It didn't even occur to me that somebody might want to.

“For sure,” I said. She nodded primly.

“Penn,” someone whispered from the other side of me.

Gosh, what was happening today? I looked over to the girl sitting there, Liv.

She ran a hand through her wavy strawberry-blonde hair, then raised an eyebrow at me.

“Is it okay if I call you that? Penn? I call all of my friends by one-syllable nicknames.”

Were we friends? We'd had occasional conversations, sure, but never about anything other than school.

“Of course,” I said, utterly confused. Liv grinned at me, making the light freckles on her face scrunch up. She held a pack of gum out to me.

“Want a piece?”

Liv was always snapping gum in class, and she never shared it with anyone. I didn't really care because I wasn't a gum person, but I wasn't about to throw that in her face.

“Sure,” I said, holding out a hand. She popped a piece out of the pack for me. I checked to make sure Mr. Foster wasn't looking before putting it in my mouth.

“So, who do you sit with at lunch?” Liv asked. She twisted the end of her hair around her finger.

“Oh, um...” I said. I didn't know how to tell her I usually sat alone.

For a second, it surprised me that she didn't already know that, but then I realized it was stupid of me to think that she would.

Just because I was intimately aware of every single thing going on in my life didn't mean everyone else was.

They knew I was a loser, and that was enough for them.

“Don't be stupid, Liv,” Samantha said. I glanced over my shoulder. She was leaning to the side so Liv could see her around me. “She's obviously going to be sitting with Alexander.”

Liv looked at me with inquisitive eyes. I assumed she wanted me to confirm it, so I nodded.

“Right,” I said. My mind flashed back to the other night when Alexander and I had written out our rules. We’d agreed that we would eat together every day like all the other couples in school. “Obviously.”

Liv looked me up and down, then grinned. “Well, great! I always sit at the same table as him. I'll see you then.”

“See you then,” I echoed hollowly. What just happened?

“Okay, class, settle in,” Mr. Foster called.

Everyone turned their attention to the front of the class, but my mind was on anything but schoolwork.

This plan was already working out better for me than I'd expected.

All I wanted to do was convince Joseph I could move on from him, and not only had I managed that, but it seemed like I was also making new friends.

Granted, they only liked me because I was dating Alexander, but I had to start somewhere, right?

Almost unconsciously, I sat up straight and pushed all my hair out of my face. I didn't need to hide anymore like I'd been doing ever since Nikki and Joseph betrayed me. I was no longer the victim or the girl everyone had to pity. I was Alexander's girl.

My school barely turned the heat on during the winter to save costs, so between classes, I went to the bathroom to run my hands under the hot water of the taps to warm myself up. It was empty when I walked in, but a minute after I got there, the door swung open again and Nikki walked in.

“Hey, Penny,” Nikki said. She crossed her arms with a smug expression on her face. “How are you?”

I didn’t respond and just kept washing my hands.

The scent of the soap filled my nose, growing more intense with each scrubbing.

I inhaled deeply, almost involuntarily, until I felt a tickle behind my nose, like a cold breeze touching the inside of my nostrils.

Then I pushed the air from my mouth through my nose in larger and larger bursts until it filled my head. I felt like I might die from it.

“What’s your problem?” She asked. Her smug smile turned to an angry expression. She waved a hand in front of my face, and I smacked it away. “I’m talking to you, Penny.”

“What do you want?” I muttered. She took a step closer to me until we were practically touching. “And could you back off a little?”

She crossed her arms together. “A little birdie told me you have a date for the formal, and I wanted to know who the lucky guy is.”

Of course. She stole my boyfriend, and now she wanted to rub it in my face by asking about my date. Since when was she so petty?