Chapter 17 #3
He slipped his phone in his pocket and grinned. “Slimeball move on your part, Nash. Who knew that two-timing was one of your faults?” He shrugged. “Guess it won’t be a secret anymore.”
“I will kill you.” I fully intended to hurt him. I wasn’t even sure what made me angrier: Dahlia freaking out that I’d kissed Madeline, or Madeline freaking out that a picture of us kissing would make its way around the school.
Jasper and Henry stepped in my way, blocking me from Sherwin. Each grabbed hold of my arms and pushed me back.
“Don’t do it,” Henry said. “The last thing we need is for our quarterback to be suspended.”
I stopped trying to get to Sherwin. He lifted his chin and spread his arms out in a “go ahead and try it” gesture. But Henry was right. Sherwin had done enough damage. I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of getting me suspended.
I shook out my shoulders and glared at him. “Give me your phone so I can delete the photo.”
“Not a chance,” Sherwin said.
Henry spun on him. “Delete the photo or you won’t have to worry about Nash pounding you because I’ll do it for him.”
Sherwin glowered but after a moment, pulled his phone from his pocket. “Doesn’t matter. I already sent it. But fine. Whatever. I’ll delete the picture.”
While Henry checked Sherwin’s phone to make sure he had, Jasper turned to me. “So what was the explanation you were about to give us?” The amusement was back in his tone. “Maybe you should try it out on us before you tell it to Dahlia.”
Six pairs of eyes stared at me expectantly, waiting.
If I told them the truth, the whole school would find out that Madeline and I were fake dating. What were the chances of that news not getting back to our parents? Would Madeline’s father really send her to live with her mother in Norway?
After standing there, deliberating longer than a person who was about to tell the truth would do, I gave the only excuse I could think of.
“I was helping Madeline with a part for her play. She has a kissing scene she needs to work on.” I cleared my throat and resisted the urge to fidget.
“I have a lot more experience than she does at kissing, so I was giving her feedback.”
Six pairs of eyes continued to stare at me.
Henry said, “She was practicing a scene with you behind the refreshment shack?”
Keoni also looked doubtful. “She doesn’t have people in drama class to give her feedback?”
Jasper shook his head sadly. “I don’t think Dahlia will buy that. See, this is why it’s important to workshop these things.” He turned and made a sweeping gesture at the guys. “Who has a better idea Nash can use?”
“Stop it.” I lifted my hands to prevent more discussion. “I already told Dahlia that I was, um, helping Madeline. She understands.” It was the one glimmer of hope in all of this. I’d warned Dahlia that Madeline and I were fake dating.
Sherwin peered at his phone screen. “She has a lot to say about that photo, but the words ‘I understand’ aren’t among them.”
I clenched my fists. Great. Just great. I wanted to pound Sherwin.
Henry stepped in front of me, just in case I decided to go for Sherwin. “Coach wanted us to bring back the cones and practice dummies from the field. We’d better do that before he comes looking for us.”
Five of them left and continued to the playing field.
Jasper stayed behind. When the others were out of earshot, he said, “Two things. Number one, are you still going to tell me there’s nothing between you and Madeline?
Because I called that one, and I think I should get credit for it.
Number two, if you want to go to homecoming with her, I understand, but we have to cancel the double date.
Amelia might not be done hating you by then. ”
“It’s not like that.” I couldn’t trust Sherwin with the truth, but Jasper could keep a secret. So I told him about Madeline and me pretending to date and how we’d kissed because she didn’t think I could act convincingly enough. I’d just been proving that I could.
Throughout most of the story, he looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “You’re going to that much trouble to keep your parents apart? You know, Madeline’s dad might not be a total tool. Having a rich stepdad doesn’t seem like the worst fate.”
I didn’t want to tell him that I hoped my parents would work things out. People thought I was delusional about that. “Rich stepdad comes with Madeline as a stepsister.”
Jasper snorted and sent me a knowing look. “I don’t know, bro. Either you two have worked out your differences, or she never should’ve complained about your acting skills. Your kiss seemed pretty authentic.”
It had been authentic. At least on my side. But I didn’t know how to wrap my mind around that. Why had I gotten so carried away kissing Madeline? All along, she’d made it clear that kissing me was an act on her part.
Well, I would have to revise everything I’d said about Madeline’s father buying parts for her. Turned out the girl could act so well that she had no trouble flipping every switch inside of me. Even knowing that, I wanted to blow off football and go find her for an encore performance.
A stupid reaction. I had to get my head together.
The guys went by us, lugging cones and practice dummies.
Jasper and I followed after them, staying far enough behind to talk. “If Dahlia already knows about Madeline,” Jasper said, “just call her and explain.”
I really didn’t want to speak to Dahlia right now.
It wasn’t like we were exclusive or anything, so technically there was no cheating.
But I’d been insisting to the other guys that nothing had happened, and the truth was, I’d enjoyed kissing Madeline way more than I should have.
And that felt almost the same as cheating.
Still, Jasper was right. I hung back, called Dahlia, and after she’d given me an icy greeting, I explained what had happened.
When I finished, Dahlia sputtered in disbelief. “Madeline didn’t think you knew how to kiss? Like, she thought that task was beyond you?”
“You should’ve heard her critique on a hug I gave her. Two stars. Grandmas do it better.”
“So she insisted you practice kissing?”
“That’s how they do things in drama. You always have a dress rehearsal.”
She grunted in annoyance. “Can you not tell when a girl is hitting on you?”
Madeline wasn’t hitting on me, was she? My mind got stuck on the question, and I missed the next several things Dahlia said. I’d been the one to suggest the kiss, not Madeline. Although, she did agree to kiss me without argument. And she’d been very thorough. Very, very thorough.
If Madeline had actually been interested in me, though, she would’ve flirted and gone out of her way to be nice.
I mean, granted, she had flirted and been nice, but that was just part of her girlfriend role.
Her feelings for me hadn’t changed. If they had, she wouldn’t have told me how hard it was to pretend to have a crush on me.
I cut into Dahlia’s allegations. “Madeline is just a perfectionist about her acting. It’s the reason she always gets the leads.” One kiss from Madeline, and now I was publicly admitting she deserved the roles.
Dahlia went back to insisting that I was naive for not seeing Madeline’s ulterior motives, but I didn’t feel like hearing it. “Look, practice is starting, so I’ll talk to you later. Can you delete the picture Sherwin sent you?”
“Okay.” Her voice sounded chilly. She was still mad.
I ended the call and texted Madeline. Are you all right?
I thought about telling her that Sherwin had deleted the photo of us kissing, but she didn’t know there’d been a picture. Maybe it would be less stressful for her not to know.
She didn’t answer my text.
I told myself that was because she was at drama practice, probably up on the stage belting out Hello, Dolly! songs.
I hoped it wasn’t because she was angry with me too.