The Truth About Faking (13 page)

We continue walking in silence, and I notice he’s humming a little tune. It sounds familiar, and I imagine us holding hands and smile. Soon I’ll be the one gazing up at him blissfully.

“
So I guess I’ll see you after algebra?” I hope knowing that we’ll see each other again so soon will give him plenty of time to start planning how he’ll ask me out.

“
Right!” he smiles. His lavender-blue eyes are so bright now. Hooray for love!

“
And I just… I don’t know what I’m doing this weekend.” Did I actually just say that?

“
This weekend.” Trent grins and looks away. “Well, I’d better get to class.”

“
OK. See you in a few hours!”

“
Yep.”

Now I’m feeling a little bouncy, too. Everything is back on track. I’m finally going to go out with Trent! After all the planning and waiting and faking, it’s finally going to happen. I trot to class counting the minutes to third period.

Trent’s leaving Ms. Gipson’s room when as usual I casually, oh so unexpectedly, happen to be walking up at the same time.

“
Hey!” I laugh as if it’s the most surprising thing.

“
Hey,” Trent smiles. He really does look happy. “So we meet again.”

“
Yep. Getting to be kinda regular,” I say.

“
Uh huh.”

We stand there facing each other. Again. Me waiting, holding my books. Trent looking down, and then glancing up at me with those beautiful, bluish-purplish eyes. Such a pretty color. Like that hydrangea bush. Right before…

“
Hey, H.D., Trent.”

Jason. My jaw clenches.

“
Oh, hey, Jason,” Trent straightens up and starts moving away from me.

No! This is not happening again!

“
Wait! Trent,” I jump and move toward him. “I was thinking…”

“
Huh?” Trent looks a little startled. I feel like an idiot. And I know Jason’s back there watching the whole thing.

“
Um… well… remember how I said something about this weekend?”

“
Yeah?”

I wait a beat. Silence. Nothing’s happening. Trent’s just looking at me.

“
Oh, well.” I start. “I was just thinking…”

“
Yeah?”

Oh my god! Why won’t he ask me out? It’s like he doesn’t want to date me or something. But that can’t be right. Not after how sweet he’s always been and rescuing me and asking Brian about me. I summon my courage and press on.

“
Well, would you like to catch a movie or something? With me?”

“
Really?”

His surprise makes me pause. Maybe Trent isn’t so smart. When I think about it, I have no idea what kind of grades he makes. He’s never struck me as a dumb guy, and he always dresses so nicely. But still, he’s awfully slow to catch on to things.

“
Yeah. Like maybe Friday? You could pick me up?”

“
Friday?” he seems to be thinking about something. “Friday… okay.”

“
Okay!” I laugh a little and start to breathe again.

“
You want me to pick you up?” He smiles.

“
Sounds great!” My voice has gone a little high, so I clear my throat.

“
Oh, wait,” he stops.

“
What?” My heart lurches.

“
I might not… would Saturday work for you?” His eyebrows come together over his pretty blue eyes.

“
Saturday?” I start to wilt.

“
Yeah, I just remembered I’ve got this thing. With my mom. On Friday.”

“
Your mom?”

“
Yeah,” he breathes a little laugh.

“
But I thought, doesn’t your mom get her massages on Friday?”

“
Yeah.” He seems confused. I guess he doesn’t realize that it’s my mom doing the massages. Or now it’s Ricky, I guess. Whatever.

“
She says driving makes her tense again. After her massages,” he explains. “So I told her I’d hang around in case she needed to go somewhere.”

“
Oh. Okay.” That makes sense, and it’s very chivalrous. It doesn’t bother me. Much.

“
So Saturday? Yeah?” He smiles.

“
Sure.” I say.

That’s actually better. Now it’s more like he’s asking me out, instead of the other way around. Like he’s as excited as I am about us dating.

“
OK.” He gives my arm a little squeeze and walks away.

I wait a second and then turn around to see Jason leaning against the lockers grinning at me.

I narrow my eyes. “What?”

“
So you
do
ask guys out.”

“
Shut up, Jason.” I turn and walk into class, but I hear him chuckling.

“
I’d like to think I had something to do with this evolution in your character.”

“
I’m sure you would.”

He smiles as we take our seats. Last week established the unfortunate pattern of Jason sitting right next to me in class.

“
Nicely done,” he says. “Although I was a little worried about you for just a second.”

“
What? The Friday thing?” I pretend like that hadn’t bothered me a bit.

“
Yeah. I didn’t want to see you crash and burn on your first try.”

“
And what would you have done?” I smile.

“
Oh, nothing,” he smiles back. “Unless you’d wanted me to, of course.”

“
Hasn’t Shelly gotten to you yet?”

“
I can handle her. Can you handle Mr. Personality?”

“
Trent is very nice. Just because he’s not all in your face like some people doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a nice personality.”

“
Uh huh,” Jason nods, opening his notebook. “Very nice.”

Mrs. Gipson walks in the door, and I say a little prayer of thanks. Now Jason has to be quiet. But after that exchange in the hall, I’m getting a little worried about my hottie-future-husband.

Nine

Even Mom’s happier when I get home that evening. She’s breezing around the kitchen singing one of her classic rock songs in her typical tone-deaf fashion. I like that Ricky’s not hanging around in the afternoons as much now that they’ve traded appointments. Maybe Dad’ll start coming home a little earlier, too. I won’t even complain about having to make myself scarce a few times if it gets them back on track. Not that they’re off track or anything.

“
Hey, hon! How was school?” she asks as I walked in the door and drop my bag on the table.

“
Perfect,” I decide.

“
That’s pretty good. What made it perfect?”

“
I got a date with Trent Jackson on Saturday. At last!” I do a little dance.

“
Wait. What happened to Jason?”

“
Oh. Well. We just decided it wasn’t working out.” I shrug like it’s no big deal. Because it isn’t.

“
Really? You’re kidding.” Mom frowns and goes over to fluff the couch cushions. Then she flops on them. “I actually liked him. And you guys were so cute together.”

That makes
me
frown. “You liked him? After the grilling you gave him before the luau?”

“
Well, c’mon, honey,” Mom smiles, twisting her long brown hair back into a knot. “He shows up topless to take you out for the first time. What do you expect?”

“
I guess.” I can’t help a tiny grin when I remember half-dressed Jason shaking my dad’s hand for the first time. He’s so crazy. But in a very irritating way, I remind myself, putting the brakes on that train of thought.

“
So Trent,” Mom continues. “He was the first one you were trying to go out with?”

“
That’s him!”

“
Well, great! Is he picking you up here?”

“
Yes, Mom. You’ll get to meet him.” I roll my eyes and walk over to the refrigerator, reaching inside for a soda. “Hey, you’ve probably already met him. His mom’s one of your clients.”

“
Who?”

“
Ms. Jackson?”

“
Oh. Really? They’re the ones over in the new development.” She releases her hair and picks up her yoga magazine avoiding my eyes. Very curious response.

“
Right,” I say, watching her.

“
I do remember her mentioning her son, but I guess I didn’t put you two together.” Mom flips through the pages without really paying attention. “Ricky’s taking her appointments now.”

“
He told me this morning.”

Mom stops for a second as if she just remembered something.

“
So Ricky seemed very… upbeat this morning,” I say.

“
Did he?” She doesn’t seem impressed.

“
Yeah. Except I guess you weren’t here to see it.”

“
I haven’t seen him at all today.” She goes back to flipping.

“
Well, he was
very
upbeat,” I repeat, watching for any sign that it bothers her.

My phone interrupts our conversation, and I dig in my bag to find it. Mom motions to me and walks over to the front door, opening it and going outside. I look at the number. It’s Stephanie Miller.

“
Harley?” She says in her direct, head-cheerleader-giving-orders voice.

“
Hey, Steph.”

“
Listen, Robin can’t make it to the game on Friday. Can you fill in? I mean, I know you’re dating Jason and all, but you’re a junior. And you’re sort-of the new person. So that means you have to fill in when a senior can’t cheer—”

“
Sure, Steph! No problem.”

“
Really?” It almost sounds like she’s relieved.

“
Yeah,” I say. “And I’m not dating Jason. I mean, we only went out like twice.”

“
Oh. I didn’t know.” She sounds even more surprised. “You guys looked really tight at school.”

God, high school is so dumb. Two dates, and everyone thinks you’re engaged. “It’s okay,” I smile. “I’m actually going out with Trent on Saturday.”

There’s a pause. And for a second I worry I might’ve offended her, but that wouldn’t make any sense. Stephanie dumped Trent. And it was almost two months ago.

“
Really?” I can tell she’s skeptical. “You’re going out with Trent.”

“
Yeah.”

“
Trent Jackson.”

“
That’s the one!” I say brightly.

“
Well, have fun.” It sounds like she means just the opposite. “But you’ll be there Friday?”

“
You bet!”

“
Okay. Thanks, Harley.”

We hang up, and I stare at my phone a second. Stephanie didn’t sound mad that I’m dating Trent, but she certainly sounded surprised. Does she think I’m not good enough to date her ex-boyfriend? Just because she doesn’t want to go out with him anymore doesn’t mean I can’t. He might not be right for her, but she’s not the Queen of the World. Whatever. At least now I don’t have to worry about being home alone Friday night.

“
So it all worked out!” Shelly’s beaming as I get into her car the next morning.

“
What?”

“
You’re going out with Trent on Saturday and Stephanie says you’re cheering for Robin on Friday!”

“
Wow. News travels fast.” I pull the visor down to check my face in the mirror.

“
Steph called me first about Friday, but I told her to check with you and call me back.”

“
Thanks,” I say, raising my eyebrows. Mom’s health magazine said frowning causes premature aging.

“
Harley! I knew you didn’t have plans Friday, and I was hoping to be doing something with Jason.”

“
And are you?”

“
Yesss! We’re going to the game first and then after that, who cares! Sin City?”

“
Shelly.” For some reason, the thought of her being sinful with Jason makes me miserable. Which is ridiculous, since I don’t care what Jason does now. Because he’s just an irritant to me. That’s all.

“
He is so hot. I cannot wait til Friday. I can tell he’s the best kisser.”

I close the visor and look out the window. It doesn’t matter what kind of a kisser Jason is.

Shelly glances at me. “So you’ll have to let me know.”

“
Know what?” I look back, trying not to frown.

“
What you think about Trent. You know, after your date Saturday.”

“
What do you mean, what I think about him?”

“
I’m just saying. He was a total cold fish with me. I’m wondering if he gives you the same treatment.”

“
You know, he could just be slow to warm up.” I think about how Trent is always polite. A perfect gentleman.

“
Maybe.” Shelly purses her lips and makes the turn into school. “But I’ve never had any problem warming guys up.”

“
You can be a bit much, you know.”

She smiles and slants her eyes. “That’s just your daddy talking.”

“
My dad would flip out if he heard you half the time.”

“
Which is why he doesn’t. Ooo, lookie there. Yum!”

Jason’s leaning against the Passat again, and the truth is, he does look good. Possibly even yum. But none of that matters to me now. He’s in the past, a problem I don’t have to think about anymore. Except for how I can totally predict his moves. Like for example, as I said, I had to ride around in the Gremlin and Shelly gets the luxury car. I get out and slam the door, walking straight to homeroom. I hear some remark directed at me, but I don’t turn around. I’m not even interested in hearing his voice today.