Chapter 6
1172 Words
Keira POV
“Don’t act like you care now.”
Kaden’s voice hit me before I even reached the gate.
He was leaning against the fence, hands in his pockets, eyes locked on me like he’d been waiting.
I stopped.
“I don’t.”
“Good,” he said. “Because if you do, we’re both screwed.”
The courtyard was emptying fast. Students drifted away in groups, phones out, heads together. I could feel their eyes. Again.
Lila had done her job well.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“Keep letting them talk? Let Lila win?”
Kaden pushed off the fence.
“We tell the truth before she twists it.”
“That’s not a plan. That’s suicide.”
He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“We act. We argue. Loud. In public. Make it look like we can’t stand each other. If people believe we hate each other, they stop looking for something else.”
I stared at him.
“You want me to fake-hate you?”
“You already do a pretty good job,” he said, almost smiling.
I wanted to punch him.
But he wasn’t wrong.
“Fine,” I said. “But if this backfires, I’m blaming you.”
“Deal.”
---
The car ride home was silent.
Not the comfortable kind. The kind where every word felt like a trap.
Mom was in the kitchen when we walked in, stirring something that smelled like tomato and garlic.
Mr. West sat at the table with the newspaper, pretending not to watch us.
“Hey, kids,” Mom said without looking up.
“How was school?”
“Fine,” Kaden said too quickly.
“Keira?”
“Fine,” I echoed.
Mom glanced up, frowning.
“You two look like you’ve been fighting.”
Kaden laughed, loud and fake.
“Every day, Mom. It’s normal.”
He said it for the whole house to hear.
I shot him a look.
He winked.
Dinner was worse.
Mom kept asking questions. Mr. West kept watching over his paper. And Kaden kept playing the part—rolling his eyes, making snide comments, acting like I was the most annoying thing in the house.
“Pass the salt,” I said, flat.
“Get it yourself,” he replied.
“You’ve got hands.”
“Yeah, and you’ve got a brain,” I shot back.
“Use it before you burn the chicken again.”
Mom laughed.
Mr. West didn’t.
“Okay, enough,” Mom said.
“You two sound like cats.”
“Only because she acts like one,” Kaden said, leaning back.
Under the table, I kicked his shin. Hard.
He didn’t flinch. Just smirked.
---
I locked my bedroom door the second I got upstairs.
Sat on the bed and stared at the wall.
It was working. Mom believed it. Mr. West believed it.
But it felt wrong. Like I was lying to them. Like I was lying to myself.
My phone buzzed.
Mia:
Heard you two are fighting again. Cute act. Nobody’s buying it.
I deleted it. Blocked her.
Another buzz. Unknown number.
Unknown:
You can’t hide forever, Keira. Lila knows.
I threw the phone on the bed. My hands shook.
A knock.
“Keira?” Kaden’s voice was low, careful.
I didn’t answer.
The door creaked open. He didn’t come in. Just leaned against the frame.
“You okay?” he asked.
“No,” I said.
“I’m not okay.”
He nodded, like he expected it.
“Me neither.”
I looked up.
“Why are you doing this? Really?”
“Because if I don’t, Lila wins,” he said.
“And if Lila wins, you’re done here.”
“And if she wins against you?”
He went quiet for a long time.
“Then we’re both done.”
That wasn’t an answer. But it was honest.
“What if it doesn’t work?” I asked.
“What if people still think there’s something between us?”
“Then we keep going,” he said.
“Until they stop caring.”
I swallowed.
“And if I start caring?”
Kaden froze. His eyes met mine.
“Don’t,” he said quietly.
“Not like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’ll ruin everything,” he said.
“Because if you start caring, and I start caring back, Lila will use it. She’ll destroy us both.”
I looked away first.
“Right.”
“Get some sleep,” he said.
“Tomorrow’s going to be worse.”
He left the door open.
I didn’t close it.
---
Morning came too fast.
The drive to school was silent. Kaden drove like his mind was somewhere else. I stared out the window, trying not to replay last night.
When we pulled into the lot, he stopped the car and turned to me.
“Remember,” he said.
“Act like you hate me.”
I nodded.
“I don’t have to act.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Good.”
We walked through the gates together.
It took less than ten seconds for the whispers to start.
“Look, it’s them.”
“Thought they hated each other.”
“Maybe they’re faking.”
Kaden bumped my shoulder, hard.
“Move it, Keira. You’re slow.”
I shoved him back.
“Maybe if you didn’t drive like an old man, we’d get here faster.”
He rolled his eyes.
“You’re impossible.”
“Yeah, well, you’re insufferable,” I said.
It felt fake.
It felt real.
I didn’t know which was worse.
Lila was waiting by the lockers. Mia and two other girls stood behind her, phones ready.
“Well, well,” Lila said, smiling slow.
“Look at you two. Still fighting, I see.”
Kaden stepped in front of me.
“Go away, Lila.”
“Oh, but I can’t,” she said.
“I have something to share.”
She held up her phone.
“A little video. From the library yesterday.”
My stomach dropped.
Kaden’s voice went flat.
“Delete it.”
Lila laughed.
“Or what? You’ll tell everyone we’re just step-siblings who hate each other?”
She looked at me.
“Is that what you’re telling yourself, Keira?”
I didn’t answer.
Lila hit play.
Kaden’s laugh. My voice, sharp. The moment he stepped too close.
The moment I didn’t pull away.
Thirty seconds.
That was all it took.
She stopped it right before the kiss that never happened.
Right at the moment it looked like it might.
“See you in class,” Lila said sweetly.
And walked away, leaving the courtyard in chaos.
Kaden turned to me, face pale.
“Keira—”
I didn’t let him finish.
I walked away.
Because if I stayed, I wasn’t sure I could keep pretending I hated him.
And I wasn’t sure I could keep pretending I didn’t care.
- Writer
