Page 9 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy (Port Lane Romances #1)

It was a pretty nice day outside, so I found a bench in the courtyard to sit on.

I sat sideways with my legs resting along the length of the bench and pulled out my school-sanctioned and quite battered copy of Wuthering Heights .

My final paper in English was on it and despite the fact that the paper was due the first day we got back from the trip, I still hadn’t finished reading it yet.

I’d written most of the essay based on the SparkNotes of the book and some plain old bullshitting, but I felt a little weird handing in a paper for a book I didn’t even finish — even if I was sure I wouldn’t be the only one doing it.

In the distance, I could hear the track and field coach yelling orders.

I wondered whether Jaxon was in that class or if he only did track as an extra-curricular.

Most of the boys on the team did it as a class too since it was an easy grade twelve credit and it gave them extra time to practice without having to give up their evenings.

The track season officially ended the week before with their final meet, but practices continued for the team regardless.

Jaxon liked to say that the track season was all year round.

Without even trying to, I began to imagine what Jaxon would look like if he was there right then.

He was probably running without his shirt on since they made all sorts of uniform and dress code exceptions for the sports teams. I bet he liked to do that so he could show off his muscles to all the girls who inevitably found some reason to walk by the field.

He probably put on a show of running extra fast when they were there so they could swoon over how dreamy he was, then he would dump all the water from his water bottle over his head like all the jocks did.

I could see it all so clearly in my mind, as if I was one of those girls with my fingers hooked through the chain-link fence, just watching him and imagining our future together.

Then, I shook my head and wondered why I was thinking about Jaxon Andrews at all. Clearly, this fake relationship was getting to me.

I tried to go back to my reading, but I only made it a page in before the shadow of a person covered me. Maybe I should just take that as a sign from the universe that I wasn’t meant to read the classic words of Emily Bronte. What a shame.

I looked up to see who was interrupting me and was unsurprised to see that it was Eli.

He was the only one of my friends who had the same spare period as me.

Unfortunately, he didn’t look too happy and it didn’t take a genius to realize why: he had heard the news.

For the second time that day, I felt like the worst friend in the world.

I tried to reassure myself by thinking that if it had been a real relationship, I would’ve told him — but then, as far Eli knew, this was a real relationship.

And not only that, but it was a relationship with one of his best friends.

Hopefully, it was Jaxon who told him and not some random person who heard about it through the grapevine.

I pulled my legs up to give him space to sit down on the bench. He did so immediately, clasping his hands tightly and settling them on his lap. I knew he only did that when he was nervous about what he was going to say.

“I’m sorry,” I said. He looked up in surprise.

“For what?” he asked.

“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 .