Chapter 7
lilah
By Monday morning, I was sure everything would be back to normal.
I stayed in my room all day Sunday, spending most of the day just watching TV with Poppy and eating food from our mini-fridge since I didn’t feel like dealing with people in the cafeteria. I was sure that by the time I walked down to breakfast before class on Monday, it would have all blown over.
I was deeply wrong.
I knew something was wrong the second I stepped into the dining hall.
Usually the noise level in there was enough to give a person a headache but the moment I stepped inside, it went silent.
Everywhere I looked, other students were either outright staring at me or looking at anything else in a way that told me they were trying to be subtle about staring at me through the corners of their eyes.
It wasn’t that being looked at was uncommon for me—I was the younger brother of Jude Turner after all, and my roommate and my two best friends were dating popular hockey players in the grade. I could deal with people talking about me. I didn’t mind it.
But it became a little bit weird when I kept hearing my name in conjunction with Tino’s. I tried to keep my face neutral and my head turned only toward the other end of the cafeteria where I could get food, but it was hard not to look at the people whispering on either side of the aisle.
“Is that her?”
“Do you think he calls her babe?”
“Her brother’s gonna flip when he finds out.”
“Do you think the management labels are forcing them to date for publicity?”
Perfect. Just perfect.
The hum of conversation slowly swelled back up to a normal volume as I got a bowl of cereal and walked toward my usual seat at a round table with Saylor and Poppy.
I did not want to come sit with them. I wanted to go back in time approximately twelve hours and not end up in a matching costume with Tino Valentine.
But unfortunately, time travel hadn’t been invented yet, so I dragged myself across the room like someone heading to their own execution.
From a subtle glance around the room, I determined that the boys were nowhere around. Granted, they didn’t always come down to breakfast, but their absence right now made all of this feel so much more strange.
“Can you believe this?” I mumbled, slouching down in my seat.
I used my spoon to push around the Froot Loops in my bowl, having suddenly lost my appetite.
The idea of Tino and I dating had been a little funny on Saturday night, I supposed, but now, it was making my skin crawl.
I guess it wasn’t the actual idea of dating him that felt so weird, but rather that everyone here seemed to have an opinion on it.
“They’re just excited,” Poppy said. “I mean, that photo was...” She waggled her eyebrows at me.
I threw a Fruit Loop at her as she laughed.
“It wasn’t like that,” I insisted. “None of it was what people were saying.”
“So we shouldn’t start calling you Lilah Valentine now?”
I had never been so tempted to strangle my best friend.
And the feeling only got that much worse when she slid her phone across the table to me and pressed play on a video.
Not an odd occurrence except that it was an edit of Tino and me—not just the photo from the store but photos from the party, including me resting my head on his shoulder while I was tired.
All of it was set to an aggressively romantic song.
“Poppy,” I said carefully, “why is this on your phone?”
“Because it’s on everyone’s phone,” she said. “Look at the caption!”
I did.
Famous Family Feels? Tino & Lilah Take It Public #Valenturner
As if we’d done a red-carpet reveal instead of trying not to get recognized in a costume store.
“Valenturner,” I repeated flatly. “That sounds like a disease.”
Saylor snorted. “You have to admit it’s catchy.”
“I don’t have to admit anything,” I said, shoving her phone back. “We’re not dating.”
“Sure,” Poppy said, smirking. “And I’m not addicted to Kit Kats.”
I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “This is a nightmare.”
Across the room, I could hear a couple of freshmen were already arguing over what our ship name should be—apparently Tilah was another contender, which was an even worse disease name.
Then someone shouted across the cafeteria, “Congrats, Lilah!” and I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
And then, because the universe hates me, Tino walked in.
Of course he looked completely unfazed. His light brown curls were doing that annoying soft-bounce thing, his uniform tie was loose in a way that made him look effortlessly cool, and he smiled like he’d just been elected class president of the world.
The second he spotted me, he grinned. And waved.
Waved.
I considered dumping my orange juice on my own head so I’d have an excuse to run to the bathroom and hide there forever.
Instead, Tino made his way across the room like this was all perfectly normal. A couple people actually whistled and applauded as he came our way.
“I am in the ninth circle of hell,” I announced.
A tray clattered onto the table beside me. Tino slid into the seat next to mine like this was just another Monday.
“Morning,” he said, too casually. Then he put his arm on the back of my chair. I shoved it off. He put it back. I glared at him.
“I take it you’ve seen how much the news has spread?”
“I’ve heard the whispers, yes.”
“What about the fan edits?” I grabbed Poppy’s phone and slid it toward him with a little more force than necessary. It nearly slid right off the table until he grabbed it and watched, his eyes lighting up with every second. “You’re happy about this,” I accused.
Tino laughed. “Well, it’s fun, isn’t it? We’re entertaining. We’re doing the school a public service.”
I wanted to strangle him. Preferably with his tie. But the worst part was that when he smiled, that stupid dimple appeared, and for one stupid half-second, I forgot how mad I was. I snapped out of it immediately, of course, but still. Unacceptable.
Tino leaned forward, brushing a hand on my shoulder like he was comforting me. I shrugged it off before someone could take a photo and spread it like wildfire across the school. “Well, at least now people know you have good taste.”
I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. “This is your fault.”
“My fault? You were the one who said we should wear those costumes.”
“I said we should wear them to escape, not to become an internet couple.”
Across the table, Poppy was already recording us on her phone. “Sorry,” she said when I glared. “It’s just—this is history.”
Tino leaned closer, smirking. “See? Even she ships us.”
“I don’t want to be shipped. I want to graduate in peace.”
But the universe, apparently, had other plans.
By the end of the day, I’d tried denying it six different times, and all it had done was convince people we were “keeping it private.” By mid-week, things had somehow gotten worse.
Someone had edited the photo into a fake magazine cover.
Someone else had made a poll titled “Cutest Celebrity Sibling Couple?” with me and Tino versus two actors from that teen drama we all watched last year.
We were winning.
It was all so ridiculous that if it happened to anyone else, I would be laughing my butt off about it—which meant I couldn’t really blame Poppy and Saylor for doing so.
But as it was, I was ready to use a pencil to stab the next person who asked me about my “secret relationship” or referenced Valenturner (a word that only got more disgusting every time I heard it).
At the end of the day on Thursday, I slammed my locker shut and leaned my face against it for a moment, willing myself not to scream. I lost the battle when I looked up again and found Tino leaning against the locker next to mine like it was where he belonged.
“No,” I said. I pulled my books tight to my chest and spun on my heel, walking the opposite direction from him even though my dorm was the other way.
Tino came after me, catching up easily because of his ridiculous long legs. “No what?”
“Whatever you’re about to say, the answer’s no.”
“What if I was just coming by to offer to carry your books?”
I scoffed. “Then the answer would be no times ten. I’m not giving these vultures any more ammunition than they already have.” I eyed him. “If you’re going to walk with me, could you at least put a couple feet of distance between us?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Wow, you’re really bugged by this.”
“And you’re not?”
“I’m clearly holding up better than you,” he said.
“Oh, so it’s a competition now?” I snapped.
I was being ridiculous and I could feel it as the worst came out of my mouth, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I felt like the frayed end of a rope right now, ready to break at a moment’s notice.
And the worst part of it was that I didn’t even realize why I was struggling so much—especially if Tino wasn’t.
So what if nobody believed that there was nothing going on between him and me?
Life would go on. They would find this funny for a week or two then move on to something new and this would all be forgotten.
But the annoyance had burrowed deep in my heart and now, it wasn’t going anywhere.
I was still storming down the hall when Tino veered to stand in front of me. I stopped walking even though I was somewhat tempted to shove him out of the way. The only reason I didn’t was because I’d learned from experience that I wouldn’t be physically able to move him.
“Seriously,” he said. “You look like you’re about two seconds from crying.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Or maybe burning my room down—which I would really rather you didn’t because I need to sleep, not to mention I think Bear would kill me for causing it and—”