Page 27 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy (Port Lane Romances #1)

seventeen

The next day was the morning we had to leave for school again. Our bus was picking us up early in the morning, so we headed to the bus immediately after eating breakfast — or in Sabrina’s case, after being dragged out of bed by Jaxon.

“Man, I’m exhausted,” Sabrina said as we got onto the elevator. She yawned loudly.

“Really?” Eli asked. “I slept great.”

“Of course you did, you got the room to yourself,” Sabrina said grouchily. “How did that go, by the way? Were the teachers suspicious?”

“Mr. Smith definitely thought something was up,” Eli said. “But he couldn’t prove that anything was wrong so we got away with it.”

“Thanks, man,” Jaxon said. “I owe you one.”

Eli brushed it off. “It was no problem. I’m used to covering for you.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the lobby.

I could see most of our class collected on the sidewalk outside, next to our bus.

Unlike when we came here, it seemed like Ms. Moscowitz was doing attendance as people got on the bus, which I thought was a much better idea than what they did before.

“Is that Jaxon’s sweater?” Eli asked me as we walked outside. I glanced down at what I was wearing, even though I already knew what it was.

“Yeah, he gave it to me last night,” I said. I grinned. “All thanks to your girlfriend recommending it.”

Eli laughed. “I’m not surprised. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t own a single sweater that she didn’t steal from me.”

We handed our suitcases to the driver, who was putting them under the bus for us, then waited for our turn to get on the bus.

“Hey, Violet,” Jaxon said, wrapping his arm around my waist, “do you mind if I take the aisle seat? My back is killing me and I want to stretch my legs out.”

“Yeah, no problem,” I said. I actually preferred the window seat, so that worked out well for both of us.

“Did you hurt your back?” Eli asked him.

“Just slept badly,” Jaxon said. “Guess being on the floor all night will do that to you.”

Mr. Smith, with his super-human hearing, appeared out of nowhere and descended upon Jaxon.

“Why were you sleeping on the floor last night?” Mr. Smith asked. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at us sternly. “If you were in your room last night, you should have slept in your bed.”

I was sure we were done for. He was right; there wasn’t a reasonable explanation for Jaxon to sleep on the floor if it was just him and Eli in their room.

But I shouldn’t have doubted Jaxon’s ability to come up with excuses.

He just stared back at our teacher in boredom and said, “I was in my room, sir, but Eli isn’t very good at sharing beds.

I’m afraid I had to take the floor to avoid getting literally kicked out of the bed in the middle of the night. ”

Eli looked away at his words, probably trying to pretend to look ashamed, but he was grinning from ear to ear.

The people in front of us in line got on the bus and Ms. Moscowitz called us forward. None of us moved, as Mr. Smith was still staring at us intently. Walking away would just make us look more guilty.

“Well, hurry up and get on the bus,” he said gruffly. We all quickly did so. I didn’t miss that as soon as they were on the bus, Eli and Jaxon slyly fist-bumped. I laughed and shook my head. I was finally starting to understand why Eli hung out with him.

“You need a ride home?” Jaxon asked as we got our suitcases from the bus when we got back.

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I’m just going to take the bus.”

“With your suitcase?” Jaxon asked, eyebrows raised. “No way. I’ll give you a ride.”

“How are you even going to do that?” I asked. The wind blew my hair in my face and I impatiently pushed it away.

“I have a car.”

“I know but didn’t you leave it at home while you were out of town for half a week?”

“No, I got permission from the school to leave it in the parking garage while we were gone.”

The school had a parking garage where students were allowed to park during the day, but you had to get special permission to be able to leave your car there overnight, let alone for three days.

I considered his offer for a moment. It would be a lot faster to drive than to take the bus and since he was offering anyway, there was no reason to say no, right?

“Yeah, a ride would be great,” I said. Then I frowned. “But, uh, do you know where I live? Because I’m pretty sure it’s on the opposite side of town than you.”

I only threw in the “pretty sure” so he didn’t think I was a creep for knowing his address. I’d only been to Jaxon’s house a handful of times, all of them for the yearly end-of-school pool parties he liked to throw.

“You live by Eli, don’t you?” he asked. I nodded. “Yeah, that’s no problem. I drive by there all the time.”

I was surprised he knew that, although it did make sense that Eli might have mentioned it at some point. It was for the best that he knew it, anyway, since that was a reasonable thing for people to expect my boyfriend to know.

“Let me just say goodbye to Madison,” I said. I left my suitcase with him and walked over to Madison, who was standing off to the side and texting someone.

“Hey, Vi!” she said when she saw me approach. “Do you need a ride? My dad’s on his way.”

I shook my head. “Jaxon is going to give me a ride but thanks. I’ll see you at school on Monday?”

“Yep!” She threw her arms around my neck in a hug and squeezed. “Have fun with Jaxon! I want to hear all about it.”

“He’s just giving me a ride, Madison.” I laughed. Well, more like wheezed, because her hug was suffocating me a little. “Not that interesting.”

“I know, I know.” She pulled back. “But you guys might talk about something interesting! Or hang out this weekend.”

“Well, thanks for thinking ahead,” I said. “See you later.

She nodded happily. With one last wave, I walked back over to Jaxon.

“Ready to go when you are,” I said, bouncing on my tiptoes.

“Perfect,” he said. He grabbed the handles of both of our suitcases and began walking down the path that led to the parking garage, which was conveniently located next to the bus bay.

“I can take my own suitcase,” I said. “You shouldn’t have to pull it.”

“I don’t mind,” he said.

His jeep was pretty close to the entrance of the parking garage, so it wasn’t a long walk. Jaxon put all of our stuff in the back while I waited by the side of the car for him to unlock it. When he did, he also came around the passenger side door and opened it for me.

“I can open the door myself, thanks,” I said.

“I’m just being chivalrous, like a good boyfriend,” Jaxon said. He tilted his head back and forth a couple of times. “And I’m also a little worried you’ll have trouble getting in since it’s so high.”

“I am not that short!” I said indignantly.

He ruffled my hair. “Whatever you say, short stack.”

I rolled my eyes but I did take his hand while I was climbing in because it was probably less embarrassing to take the help in the first place than to try, fail, and need the help for a second try.

Jaxon closed to the door for me then walked around to his side.

I watched bitterly as he climbed in with ease.

“Hey, don’t worry,” he said, noticing my expression. “Sabrina can’t get in without help, either. Eli has to help her every time.”

I laughed at the mental image of that. Sabrina was even shorter than me, so I could only imagine how hard it was for her to get in.

“I guess it’s a good thing she and I both have tall boyfriends, then,” I joked.

My mouth snapped shut immediately after the words came out.

Would Jaxon find it weird that I just called him my boyfriend when it was just the two of us around?

I didn’t even say fake boyfriend or anything.

But Jaxon didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with what I’d said. He just laughed along.

“Oh, do you want to go to Starbucks on the way home?” Jaxon asked.

“Sure,” I said. I didn’t go to Starbucks often since there was only one in our area and it wasn’t within walking distance of my school or my house. Everyone at Bayshore who had a car went there for lunch, though. Madison and I always did it when one of us got to borrow the family car for the day.

“What do you want?” Jaxon asked as he expertly navigated us to the drive-thru.

“A venti pink drink please,” I said.

He nodded. When we pulled up to the intercom he ordered my drink, a black coffee, and a blueberry muffin.

My stomach growled at the thought of a muffin, or any food really, but I knew it was too late to add something to the order as we pulled up to the next window to pay.

I would just have to eat when I got home.

Jaxon handed cash to the worker before I even had the chance to register that he was paying. By the time I figured out how much my drink probably was, the worker was handing him back his change and we were pulling forward again.

“I can pay for my own,” I said. Did I always argue against what he was doing this much? It felt like it was happening a lot today.

“It’s fine, I already paid,” Jaxon said.

“Then I’ll pay you back.” I grabbed my backpack and started searching for my wallet. It was somewhere near the bottom of the bag, under about a thousand other things, which made it a little difficult to find. “Just give me a minute. I’m sure I have cash in here.”

Jaxon put one hand over mine to stop me.

“We’ve been over this,” he said. “It’s what boyfriends do.”

I felt like I should protest to him calling himself my boyfriend but for some reason, I didn’t want to.

The window opened and the employee handed Jaxon the two drinks. He then passed them to me as he waited for them to get the muffin. I put his in the cup holder and held on to mine. A second later, he put the muffin in the empty cup holder.

My nose wrinkled at the smell of his coffee.

“I don’t know how you can drink that,” I said as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Especially black.”