My Fake Boyfriend Is My Biggest Rival

Westbrook Enemies Are Dating

"That's it?" Luca asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You sound disappointed."

"I was expecting at least ten rules, honestly."

"I can add more if you want."

"No thanks. Four's plenty."

He held out his hand. "So. Partners?"

I looked at it like it might bite me. "We're not partners."

"Fake partners."

"Temporary fake partners, and only that."

"See, you're warming up already."

"I really am not."

He wiggled his fingers at me, waiting. "Come on, Bennett."

I sighed, dramatically enough that he'd get the point, and put my hand in his. The second our palms touched, his fingers closed around mine, warm and firm and completely unnecessary, and I pulled my hand back almost immediately.

"Rule two," I reminded him. "No unnecessary touching."

He put both hands up in surrender. "Sorry." There was something odd about how he said it, no teasing in it anywhere, no smug grin attached. Just plain and genuine, which threw me more than the joke would have.

Before I could think too hard about that, he walked over and checked the hallway through the blinds. "Clear."

"Good."

"After you, then."

I grabbed my backpack off the floor and slung it over one shoulder, and the quiet between us felt different walking out than it had going in. Less hostile. Still awkward, still a little dangerous, but different somehow.

Students were streaming toward the parking lot after the final bell, laughing, loud, most of them not even glancing our way. A couple of people looked over and looked right back away. Nobody had connected anything yet.

I let out a breath. "Looks like we got lucky."

Luca didn't answer. His eyes had already moved past me to something down the hall.

"Oh," he said.

I turned around. A girl with long honey-blonde hair and a fitted cheer uniform was heading straight at us, three friends trailing behind her like an entourage, and she walked like she genuinely believed the hallway belonged to her personally. Fiona Reed. Captain of the cheer squad, unofficial queen of Westbrook, and from the look on her face right now, not remotely happy to see me standing next to her favorite person.

"Luca!" she called, bright as anything, ignoring me completely. "There you are."

He sighed under his breath. "So much for lucky."

She reached us and turned the full wattage of her smile on him. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Been busy."

"I noticed."

Only then did her eyes slide over to me, and the smile didn't drop, it just sharpened at the edges. "Oh. Harper Bennett." She tilted her head. "Unexpected pairing."

"We're not really a pairing," I said, crossing my arms.

Luca shot me a quick look. Right. Fake dating. Already.

Fiona laughed, soft and a little too pleased with herself. "I heard the most ridiculous rumor just now."

"I bet you hear a lot of those."

"They're saying you two kissed."

Nobody said anything for a second. She looked straight at Luca, waiting. He didn't answer right away. Instead he adjusted his backpack strap and stepped closer to me, not touching, just close enough that anyone watching would assume we belonged together. My pulse stuttered, and of course Fiona caught it.

"So it's true?" she said, arms folding.

"What if it is," he said.

Her smile actually slipped. "You're serious?"

He shrugged. "I don't usually kiss people just for fun."

I nearly choked on air. Fiona laughed again, but it came out forced this time. "You're joking."

"No."

She turned to me. "Harper?"

I opened my mouth and nothing came out, because if I denied it right now the entire day fell apart and Noah won by default. Luca just waited, not speaking, not saving me, letting it be my call.

"We're together," I said, and the words felt completely unreal coming out of my own mouth.

Fiona blinked twice, then laughed, louder this time. "Good one."

"I'm serious," Luca said.

Her expression froze over. For the first time since she'd walked up, she actually looked unsure of herself.

"I didn't know you liked girls like her," she said, sweet as anything on the surface, the insult sitting right underneath it. Quiet girls. Scholarship girls. Girls who bought regular notebooks instead of designer ones. Heat rushed up into my face before I could stop it.

"I do," Luca said. Just the two words, flat and certain, and something in my chest pulled tight in a way I didn't have a name for.

Fiona looked at him, then at me, then back at him again. "I have practice," she said, forcing one more smile before she turned and walked off.

The second she rounded the corner I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

"That was awful."

"You did great."

"I lied to her face."

"So did I."

"I hate lying."

"I know you do."

We started toward the front doors together. "I wasn't acting, by the way," he said, quiet.

I frowned at him. "What?"

"When I said I don't usually kiss people for fun."

I looked over at him and couldn't read a single thing off his face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means..." He stopped himself. "Never mind."

Before I could push, a burst of laughter came from behind us. Two sophomores hurried past, and one glanced back over her shoulder. "Oh my God, they're actually walking together." The other one lifted her phone without even trying to hide it. A shutter clicked. I barely noticed at the time. Neither did he.

Outside, the parking lot was already full, cars honking, the football team yelling something across the field, the whole school moving on exactly like nothing had happened. Except something had.

By the time I got to my bike, my phone was already buzzing. Once, twice, then again and again without stopping.

"What now," I muttered, pulling it out of my pocket.

Twenty-three notifications. Twenty-four. Thirty-one, climbing while I watched. A text from Maya: WHAT DID YOU DO??? One from a number I didn't recognize: OMG IS THIS REAL? Then another, and another after that.

My stomach dropped out from under me. Someone had tagged me in a post, and I opened it because I didn't know what else to do.

There it was. A photo of the two of us walking out of the classroom, his head turned toward me, me looking up at him, and from that angle we looked comfortable together. Like an actual couple. The caption read: WESTBROOK'S BIGGEST ENEMIES ARE DATING?

The likes were climbing fast enough that I could watch the number change in real time. 128. 129. 131. Comments piling up faster than I could scroll through them. *I knew it. No way. Didn't she date Noah literally yesterday? Captain finally has a girlfriend??*

I looked up slowly. "Luca."

He glanced at my screen, and for the first time all day the smile actually left his face.

"Oh," he said, right as his own phone started buzzing too, and then mine again, and again, and again, notifications stacking on top of each other faster than either of us could keep up.

By the time we made it to the parking lot, the whole school already knew, and neither of us had gotten a single word in about what actually happened.