Nope. Jimmy definitely wasn’t fazed. Not even by blackmail.
That was the moment I realized I might be in over my head.
6
Jimmy
That girl had some nerve.
Anyone who was anyone in this school knew I didn’t do relationships. Yeah, I went out on dates, but never more than three in a row with the same girl. And I was proud of my legendary flirting talent. But Jimmy Alston didn’t do relationships. Not even fake ones.
Where did Mia get off blackmailing me into one?
My pre-calc homework was starting to blur in front of my eyes. I bit hard on my pencil as Dad came strolling into the kitchen, a towel hanging over his arm. He took one look at me and then threw me the towel.
“Looks like you could use a study break. I wash, you dry?”
“Sure.”
I abandoned my homework on the kitchen table and followed Dad to the sink, already filled with suds. We fell into the rhythm we’d adopted many years ago: he’d wash and rinse, I’d dry and put away. It was easy work for two bachelors. Most of our meals consisted of frozen stir-fries or casseroles. Nothing fancy.
It should’ve been the perfect distraction, but the wheels in my head were still turning as I dried a plate. I couldn’t get Mia out of my head. That stubborn glint in her eyes that frustrated me to no end. The misleading way her curly blonde hair formed an almost halo-like effect around her head. And the curve of those perfectly-formed lips when she smiled knowingly at me, as if she knew she had me in the palm of her hand.
She was like a sea siren, tempting me into the water with promises of riches, only to turn around and drown me. A sea siren with business cards. Seriously, what seventeen-year-old carried around business cards?
I chuckled at the ridiculous thought, and Dad glanced over at me.
“Something on your mind, son?”
“Not really.”
“Might it have anything to do with that shed burning down on school property?”
My nerve endings all buzzed at the reminder of my criminal behavior. Not a topic I wanted to discuss tonight. At all. Especially not with a dad who could see right through me. Instead, I let out a defeated sigh and put away a handful of silverware.
“No, actually, it’s just…it’s a girl from school. She’s the most frustrating person I’ve ever met, but she thinks we can help each other out with class stuff.”
That was as far into detail as I was willing to go and close enough to the truth to not feel quite like a lie.
He grunted softly in understanding. “And this girl, does she also find you frustrating?”
I pulled my chin back and made a face. Dad had a way of dissecting every little thing I told him and turning it around on its head. Honestly, I’d never wondered what Mia thought of me. We traveled in such different circles. I was always in the middle of a crowd, and Mia seemed more like a loner.
“Yeah, probably. We’ve never really gotten along. I guess we’re like fire and water.”
“Or maybe, fire and gasoline?” he suggested, handing me another dish.
I’d never really thought about it like that, but I suppose it made sense. Maybe I was the fire, and Mia was the gasoline. Whenever we were around each other, things seemed to escalate. Twice, she’d already made me forget the carefully practiced mask I’d formed at school. It was hard to pretend like I didn’t care about anything when she looked at me through those glasses.
“You know, son,” Dad continued, oblivious to my inner turmoil. “Your mother and I were much the same way. Before we went steady, Miranda used to find any reason to bother and make fun of me. I thought she was crazy. Turned out, love makes people do crazy things.”
I barked out a laugh. “Dad, what Mia and I have is about as far away from love as possible. It’s not even hate. It’s indifference. We are so not you and Mom.”
He shrugged. “Whatever you say. But mark my words; love will rear its head and bite you when you least expect it. It’s best not to fight it when it happens.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“And remember, most of all,” he added, scrubbing hard on a pan, “love is always worth it.”
This time, I really had to hold back my response. There was so much about that statement that I wanted to argue against. Was love really worth the years of pain that Mom’s death had piled on my dad? Was it worth the golden band circling his left ring finger, serving as a constant reminder of everything he’d lost? I wasn’t so sure about that. It seemed that the best way to go through life was keeping love at a safe distance.
I loved my friends. I loved baseball. I loved my dad. But these things were safe. Falling in love was another thing altogether. And definitely not something I needed to be thinking about at this moment in time. Especially not with my future hanging in the balance. But it wasn’t worth getting into another one of Dad’s lectures about love and life.
“Okay. I’ll try to remember that,” I told him, taking the last plate to be dried.
Dad nodded silently and then went to park himself in front of the TV to catch the late evening news. I tried to return to my studies, but the same face, surrounded by cascading blonde curls, kept popping up in front of my homework.
Maybe agreeing to Mia’s deal wouldn’t be the end of the world. She’d hold back the article, and I would get out of this trouble scot-free, save my scholarship, and leave this town once and for all.
And it wasn’t like I was in any danger in a fake relationship. Dad might have been right when he said we were fire and gasoline, but we’d burn each other up before we ever managed to have real feelings for each other. It just wasn’t possible. Mia was the most over-eager, stifling, frustrating girl I’d ever met.
For once, that was a good thing.
I gripped the edge of the kitchen table and nodded to myself. Okay, it was settled. If Mia really wanted to write for The Prowler that bad, then I could be her fake boyfriend.
She said she didn’t want emotional baggage.
Too bad for her, I knew exactly how to push each and every one of her buttons.
7
Mia
Last night had been a disappointment. Jimmy didn’t call. Didn’t text. And most disappointing of all, I’d sat by my phone like a debutante from the nineteen fifties, waiting for a man to call and complete my life. What a cliché.
I didn’t need Jimmy.
Or his fake relationship.
There were lots of guys in this school I could date instead. I just had to find one.
“Ooooh, what about Logan Cartwright?” Raquel leaned her elbows on the tabletop across from me and wagged her eyebrows.
She’d been brainstorming potential boyfriends with me ever since I filled her in on the problem last night at the library. Raquel was the only person in this school I could trust. She knew about everything, from the fire to my deal with Jimmy. She didn’t judge me. And she knew how to keep a secret. Two majorly important factors in a friendship.
“Nothing wrong with a senior,” she added. “Plus, he’s got those amazing muscular legs from running up and down the soccer field.”
I wrinkled my nose. “No, he got together with Bella Davenport at the beginning of the year, remember?”
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” She sighed and turned to look around the study hall. “I hate to tell you this, but all the best options are already taken. You’re going to have to settle for a second-string jock or something.”
“No jocks.” I sliced through the air with my flattened hand, immediately picturing Jimmy’s smirking face. “I’ve already had my fill of jocks for the rest of my life. What about someone from the marching band? I hear the trumpet section has a good selection.”
Raquel bounced in her seat with excitement and began listing off the names of eligible bachelors from the marching band. It was definitely her territory. She played piccolo and often acted like marching band competitions were on par with the Superbowl. As she rattled off her reasons why I should da
te this guy or that, my gaze shifted slightly over her shoulder, and what I saw made the blood drain from my face.
Incoming!
Slouching down in my seat, I tried my best to hide. Lindsey Beck and her boyfriend were walking this way, making a straight line for mine and Raquel’s sacred study hall table. If I had the powers of invisibility, I would’ve used them at that moment to avoid the nasty, superior look Lindsey had on her face.
“Raquel,” I muttered. It wouldn’t do any good for Lindsey to hear Raquel listing off potential men for me to date. “Shut your mouth.”
She threw me a puzzled look. “What’s wrong with Terrence? I mean, yeah, he’s got that overbite, but it makes him an awesome saxophone player. You should hear him hit a jazz solo. That boy is smoother than butter when he lets loose.”
“I don’t care about Terrence. We’ve got company of the very worst kind. Batten down the hatches.”
Raquel caught on just as Lindsey pulled into hearing range. She mimed zipping her lips and then picked up her copy of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before to hide behind its pages. Confrontation wasn’t a strength of hers. In fact, unlike most kids I knew, she’d probably escape high school pretty much unscathed because of her ability to disappear whenever something dramatic was going down.
“Mia Jackson.” Lindsey posed behind Raquel’s chair with her hand on her hip, and her pink lips curled up in a sugary sweet smile. Hearing her say my full name like that was the first time I’d ever found it offensive. “Where’s the boy toy? I want to make my introductions to this mysterious boyfriend of yours.”
My throat thickened. Shoot. I was supposed to have someone lined up by now. She was totally going to see right through my lie. Still, I had to think of something. And fast!
“Oh, he’s around.” I matched her sickly sweet smile with one of my own. “You know what, we should totally double date sometime. The arcade has a Wednesday night special for half-off games. I’m sure the boys would love that.”
Lindsey’s eyes narrowed, and she pushed her lips to one side of her mouth. “Yeah, sure. That sounds like fun. Doesn’t that sound like fun, sweetie?”
Dale nodded, his shaggy blond hair falling into his eyes. “I could be down with that.”
“Only one problem.” Her smile seemed to grow fangs. “Mia’s boyfriend doesn’t exist.”
I pressed a hand to my chest as if I were faint at the very suggestion, but inside, my heart hammered away like a trapped woodpecker. “Why would you say that?”
The edges of Lindsey’s lips curled up in disgust. “Because I’ve done some asking around, and no one can corroborate your story. You might have been able to pull one over the teacher, but I’m not stupid. I can see right through the lies you’ve built, Mia Jackson. And this is me bulldozing through them.”
The venom in her voice would’ve taken down a charging bull. I leaned back in my chair, just about ready to wave the white flag. It had been nice being an official member of The Prowler for a total of about twenty-eight hours. It had been short and sweet. I hadn’t even had time to order new business cards with my new role as the official relationship column writer.
My dream of becoming a journalist was sailing farther and farther away.
Maybe, it was time to beg.
“Listen, Lindsey.” I placed my hands flat on the table in front of me, desperation filling my voice. Begging wasn’t exactly on my list of mastered skills. It felt strange to be lowering myself like this. “I know you and I haven’t always gotten along, but can you give a girl a chance? I could really rock this column. I’ve already got loads of article ideas. Just check them out.” I pulled the tiny notebook out of my back pocket and flipped through the pages until I got to the right one. “See? There are at least a dozen gems here.”
Lindsey scoffed and threw her head back, shaking her mane of hair. “I knew it! You’re a dirty little liar. You aren’t in a relationship. And if you’re not in a relationship, you can’t do the column. Period. So you’re off the paper.”
Lead filled my stomach as my nails dug into the wood grain of the table. “Wait, you’ve got to understand—”
“I understand that once Mrs. Drake finds out that you lied, you’ll probably be banned from the newspaper for life.” Lindsey’s face glowed with vicious triumph. “It comforts me to know that even after I graduate this year, you won’t be able to tarnish the sacred name of The Prowler.”
Now, she really had me sweating. Not once during all of this had I considered the fact that Mrs. Drake would ban me from the newspaper club. But it made sense. If the truth came out about my deception, she’d never be able to trust me to write an objective and honorable article. I’d be blackballed from the noble profession before I’d even started.
What had I done?
Frustrated tears burned at the corners of my eyes, and the rapid pulse of my veins echoed in my ears. I stared down at the table, fighting desperately to hold it together. Just like those times when Dad came home, falling over and reeking of alcohol, or Mom had to work over another holiday, I had to focus on keeping myself from falling apart. Stuff down the emotions so deep that I couldn’t feel them anymore. It was a practice I’d perfected over the past couple of years. After all, no one was going to pick up the pieces of my mess for me.
That was life in a nutshell for Mia Jackson. And it wasn’t ever going to change.
“Hey, babe,” a deep voice purred from behind me. “Sorry I’m late.”
I looked up to see Jimmy slide coolly into the seat next to me wearing his infamous grin, and hope made a sudden and intense revival inside of my chest. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward him, where I got a whiff of cologne that reminded me of dark caramel candies. My mouth instantly watered as the sudden craving for sugar overcame me. Brushing back my curls with his other hand, he leaned in close to my ear, his warm breath sending an alarmingly strong shock up and down my spine.
“I’ve accepted the terms of your deal,” he whispered in a low voice. I should’ve been rejoicing, but having his arm around me and his lips so close to my ear was making me feel sort of dizzy. He cleared his throat and spoke even quieter. “Now, if we’re going to make this believable, you’ve got to work with me.”
I didn’t have time to ask what he meant by that. Before I knew it, he had pressed his lips to my earlobe in a sensual kiss that nearly shot me up out of my chair. Never had anyone ever touched me like that. I was pretty sure I was going to melt into a puddle on the floor. And then he moved down my jawline, placing another kiss.
“Hey, J-J-Jimmy.” I wasn’t proud of the way my voice broke as I said his name, but I seriously couldn’t concentrate with the guy so close. “I was just telling Lindsey and Dale we should go on a double date together sometime. How does that sound to you?”
He pulled away finally and smiled up at Lindsey and Dale as if he’d just noticed they were standing there. Their mouths both hung open in shock. I had to hold back a giggle.
“Oh, hey, guys,” Jimmy said with a nod of his head. “That would be awesome. We’ll have to go before the baseball and track seasons start.”
“Dude, yeah.” Dale reached across the table to bump Jimmy’s fist with his own. “I heard you got a scholarship to UI. Congrats.”
Jimmy laughed. “Thanks. I’d better get used to seeing cornfields, right?”
“It’s better than sticking around here,” Dale replied with a grin. “That’s why I’m headed out to Cali.”
The fact that Jimmy was sitting next to me, so very close, was not sinking in. It felt like a strange hallucination. Or a bizarre dream. The only clue that this was real life was Lindsey’s very real, disbelieving face as she watched us with eyes the size of Blu-ray discs.
“You’re her boyfriend?” She huffed. “Seriously?”
Jimmy leaned back in his chair and grinned at her. “I prefer the term arm candy, but yeah, you could say that.”
I was pretty sure my brain had forgotten to tell my lungs to brea
the. I took a sudden, shuddering breath, my eyes darting to Raquel, still sitting across from me. It was a good thing she had her back turned to Lindsey because her face had turned purple, and she was giving Jimmy crazy eyes. Seemed like she could hardly believe what had just happened, either.
I had a boyfriend—a fake boyfriend. My spot on the school paper was safe thanks to a well-timed crime and my newly discovered skill of blackmailing boys to date me. The ridiculousness of the situation struck me suddenly, and I snorted with a burst of laughter, drawing everyone’s attention back to me.
“You know, Lindsey, I’d love to talk some more, but if you don’t mind, I have an article to write for my relationship advice column,” I said, managing to pull myself together enough to smile up at her.
Point to Mia Jackson. And all thanks to Jimmy with the last-minute play.
“Fine. Let’s go.” Lindsey snatched Dale’s hand and began pulling him away, her parting gaze throwing daggers my way. “You win, Mia. For now.”
I couldn’t believe my luck. Lindsey was leaving. For once in my life, I had the upper hand. It was thrilling. Exhilarating. A feeling that I never wanted to give up. I kept my eyes on her and Dale until they left the room.
Victory!
Giving a little shriek, I turned back to Jimmy. “Oh my gosh, that worked! It really worked!”
He smirked and draped his arm over the back of my chair as if he did things like this all the time. “Of course, it did. I’m just that good.”
I couldn’t help but bite my bottom lip and grin at him. He had been perfect. If we kept this up, my position on The Prowler would be cemented for good. Soon enough, that position in current events was going to be mine. It was closer than ever.
My Fake Boyfriend Page 4