Page 3 of Scarlett and the Fake Boyfriend (Scarlett #2)

Tuesday

My mom barely said two words to me as I ate breakfast. But she kept glancing at Jacob’s varsity jacket around my shoulders.

I didn’t know whether to feel worried or relieved about my mom’s studious glances. If she knew I’d put a hole in the floor of one of the guest bedrooms, I felt like she would have already said something though. Right? Which meant she was acting strange because I was dating Jacob.

And my dad kept whistling for some reason.

I grabbed my backpack and headed to the door.

“Scarlett?” my mom said.

I turned to look at her over my shoulder.

“Do you maybe want to go shopping sometime this week? Just the two of us? Your father mentioned something about you needing new pajamas.”

Well, that wasn’t what I thought she was going to say. But my dad hadn’t been thrilled about what I’d been wearing when Axel showed up the other day. “Yeah, sure.”

“Great.” She smiled.

Okay then.

“I really like this outfit on you,” my dad said as he opened up the door for me .

I looked down at Jacob’s jacket. It was huge on me.

It practically covered up my whole uniform.

Which was probably why my dad liked it. But I liked it too.

Jacob thought I’d lost my confidence over the years, but I felt a lot more confident with his jacket on my shoulders.

Except for when I remembered the whole thing was just a facade. “Thanks.”

“You and Jacob.” He chuckled and took a sip from his to-go cup of coffee. “Who knew?”

“What are you smoking?” Liam asked as we all stepped onto the elevator.

“Nothing,” my dad said. “Why would you say that?”

“Because Scarlett has her first boyfriend ever and you’ve spent the whole morning whistling instead of...I don’t know...something more you.”

My dad laughed. “Jacob’s a good kid. He even came to me to ask me permission to date my daughter. I can’t think of a more respectable way to go about it. And we all love Jacob. What’s there to be upset about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Liam said. “Maybe...Scarlett losing her V-card and getting pregnant and ruining her whole future? Wasn’t Mom really young when she had Scarlett?”

My dad almost spit out the sip of coffee he’d just taken.

What the hell, Liam?!

“Your mother was not a teenager when she got pregnant,” my dad said. “She’d graduated from college.”

Liam shrugged.

“She was 22. And she was 23 by the time Scarlett was born.”

Liam just shrugged again .

“That’s very different than 17,” my dad said. “Entirely different.”

“If you say so.”

I elbowed Liam in his side. What was he doing? Trying to get me put in a convent?

Liam had the audacity to smile at me.

Twerp.

“Besides,” my dad said as we got into the car. “Scarlett is waiting until marriage.”

That was the second time in less than 12 hours that my father had said that. Where had he come up with that idea?

Liam laughed.

My father ignored him. He seemed perfectly content in his delusions.

But hell, my dad was probably right. The only person actually interested in me was my kiss thief.

And I refused to go to third base, let alone home, with someone in a dark closet.

I stared out the window the whole way to school.

Maybe I had it right last night when I was crying on Jacob’s shoulder.

Maybe I was going to die alone. A virgin.

Since I was waiting till marriage or whatever.

God, what was I doing reinstating Operation Too Hot to Handle? It hadn’t worked the first time. Why on earth would it work now? Axel thought of me like a little sister. That wasn’t going to change just because I was wearing another guy’s varsity jacket.

The pity party in my head ended pretty quickly though. Because when we pulled into the parking lot of Empire High, Jacob’s truck was parked right next to my dad’s usual spot. And Jacob was leaning against his truck waiting for me.

There was nothing like a fake boyfriend to lift your spirits, I guess. I climbed out of the car. “See you in class, Dad.” I hated that sentence. I still couldn’t believe that he worked here. But I didn’t let it bother me as I walked over to Jacob.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey.” Jacob put his hands on my waist and pulled me closer. “Gotta look the part.” His hands slid a little lower.

I laughed. I’d seen plenty of people hanging out just like this in the parking lot before.

“Jacob,” my dad said from behind me.

I cringed and didn’t turn around.

“Uncle James,” Jacob said.

“Hands a little higher.”

“Yes, sir.” Jacob moved his hands back to my waist.

“Good. See you both later.”

I heard my dad’s footsteps heading toward the school.

Jacob looked over my shoulder. “He’s going to be...a lot, isn’t he?”

“My dad is always a lot. But he’s been whistling all morning. He’s been in a strangely good mood.”

“Well that’s good.”

“I guess so.” I found the whole thing highly suspicious.

“Are you ready for our test run?”

I sighed. “Not really. Lying to my parents and Liam is one thing. But lying to Sophie? She’s going to see right through the fake boyfriend test run. Can’t we just loop her in?”

“If we can trick her, we can trick anyone.”

“True. ”

“We’ll tell her as soon as she believes we’re actually dating.” He looked over my shoulder and then slid his hands back down. His fingertips were definitely resting on my butt. “The news will be all over school by lunchtime.”

“Have you told Axel yet?” I asked.

Jacob shook his head. “I figured we could do it together in person. But his car isn’t here yet. It’ll have to wait till lunch.”

I didn’t love the idea of Axel finding out before I could tell him. I wanted to see his reaction. To gauge if it affected him at all. But what choice did we have?

“Let’s get to class,” Jacob said. He slid his hand into mine and we walked up to Empire High together.

It seemed like everyone we passed turned their heads.

I definitely felt more confident when I was wearing Jacob’s jacket. Or maybe it was just holding Jacob’s hand that did it. But I was standing up a little straighter. And I didn’t even compare myself to any of the other girls wearing their high heels. I felt completely content in my flats.

We walked up the stairs and Jacob held the door open for me.

Sophie and I had decided that we were starting our senior year over last week. A fresh start. But today I actually felt it.

“Do you need to stop at your locker?” Jacob asked.

“No, I’ve already got my books for calc.” My stomach rolled. With all the fake boyfriend stuff, I’d totally forgot that Mr. Halifax was one of the lead suspects for my kiss thief.

Jacob guided me to Mr. Halifax’s room. We stopped in front of the door. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he said. He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “I’m going to kiss you now. Just a peck. Try not to lick my teeth or anything.”

I laughed. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”

Jacob’s nose brushed against mine as he placed a soft kiss against my lips. He slowly pulled back.

It was a quick kiss. But I didn’t bite him or anything. So that was a win. “See. I didn’t do anything weird.”

“If you say so.”

“I didn’t this time!”

He smiled and dropped my hand. “Bye, love.”

I swallowed hard as he walked away. I really liked when he called me that. And kissing him and him calling me love certainly made it a little easier to lie to Sophie for a bit. I walked into calculus.

Mr. Halifax looked up from this desk and smiled at me.

Ah! Don’t look at me! I hurried to the back of the room where Sophie was sitting.

“Did he just smile at you?” Sophie asked. “He never smiles at me.”

“Because he’s always intensely staring at you,” I said.

“Really?” She looked so excited about that.

“Yes.” It was the truth.

Sophie sighed and put her chin in her hand. “I hate that he’s playing games with me like this. I can’t even.” She looked at me. “Sorry I didn’t wait for you at our lockers. But I didn’t want to be late. Tell me your thing though before the bell rings.”

“What thing? ”

“Scarlett, I’ve been dying waiting for you to text me since you called last night letting me know Jacob asked you out.”

“I already told you everything.”

“What are you talking about? I’m talking about the important thing.”

“What important thing?” I asked, even though I already knew. I was stalling. I wasn’t good at lying.

“Are you kidding me right now? Did you kiss him? Is he your kiss thief or not? Because I really want to clear everyone else’s names.”

I knew she was probably specifically talking about Mr. Halifax. But I couldn’t clear his name. The thought made my stomach roll again. “Jacob’s not my kiss thief,” I mumbled. I hated saying the words out loud.

“What did you say?” Sophie leaned in a little closer. “I couldn’t hear you.”

“Jacob’s not my kiss thief,” I said more clearly.

This time she definitely heard because a frown crossed her face. “No?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

The bell rang, saving me.

“Are you sure?” she asked again. “Like...did you really plop one on him?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Maybe if you try again...”

“We’ve kissed a bunch, Soph.”

She smiled. “Oh my. So you don’t care that he’s not your kiss thief?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t responded to my kiss thief’s text last night. I had no idea what to say to him when he was kind of right. I did dream of him every night. And my relationship hadn’t lasted long. Probably an hour max. And I hated that my kiss thief was right about all of it.

“And you’re suuuuure it’s not Jacob?”

“Miss Hunter and Miss Hunter,” Mr. Halifax said. “Are you both planning on talking during my whole class?”

I was surprised he never gave us detention. We almost always started his class by getting in trouble.

“Are you running detention today?” Sophie asked, like she always did. She leaned forward and bit her lip as she gave him sex eyes.

Good Lord, Soph!

“Actually, yes I am,” Mr. Halifax said.

“Really?” Sophie looked so excited.

Mr. Halifax always said no. But now that he’d said yes...I was very worried that Sophie was about to do something bad to get detention with him.