“I thought it would be the slushy again,” I said, glancing at Saylor. She’d had one at the hockey game two weeks ago and the team won, so now the boys were insisting she had to keep doing the same. I wasn’t sure why Poppy was bringing it up now, since we would obviously get it at the game.
“No chance,” Saylor said adamantly, shaking her head and making her high ponytail swing back and forth. She shoved her hands into her hoodie pocket and looked disdainfully toward the machines at the back. “Last time I thought my tongue was permanently stained.”
“But something blue is tradition, so we’ll get something here!” Poppy said brightly.
“Is it really tradition if I only did it twice?” Saylor asked.
“How do you think traditions are created? You have to repeat it.”
“But I don’twantit to be tradition. I like my tongue the color it is.”
I trailed after them, half-listening to what they were saying, but the mention of hockey made my mind drift back to Tino and, more importantly, to his suggestion. The deal I’d agreed to. Since walking away from him, I’d questioned my decision about a thousand times but I knew that it was pretty much the only option available to me. Not to mention that it was too late to back out now—I hadn’t seen Tino since then, but who knew how many people he’d already confirmed the rumour to.
Poppy turned around and squinted at me. “You’re quiet.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.” She pointed at me accusingly. “You have that look.”
I raised my brows. “Thelook?”
“The one where you’re…” She waved her hand around. “Scheming.”
I grimaced. “I don’t have a scheming face.”
Saylor pulled a bag of chips off the shelf and tossed it into the basket. “She’s been like that all week. Bet it has something to do with Tino.”
“What?” I asked. “Why would it have anything to do with him?”
But I must have sounded too defensive, because Poppy gasped dramatically. “It does have something to do with him!”
I sighed. “Can we not do this in the snack aisle?”
“I think the snack aisle is the perfect place to have this conversation,” Saylor countered. Then they both stopped what they were doing and just stared at me, clearly waiting for me to crack. If it was something I was actually trying to keep a secret, I would have deflected and kept walking until they got the hint, but seeing as I knew I had to tell them about this tonight, I decided I would just rip the band-aid off.
Glancing around to make sure there weren’t any prying ears around, I took a deep breath and said, “Fine. You want to know? Tino and I have decided to…” Even though it was all just pretend, I felt like I was swallowing a lemon as I said, “go along with the rumours and say we’re dating.”
For a second, neither of them said anything.
Then Poppy screamed.
At the far end of the store by the drink fridges, two freshman girls jumped and stared our way with wide eyes. I smiled weakly, hoping it was enough to reassure them that we weren’t dying, then grabbed my roommate’s arm.
“Poppy!” I hissed. “Keep your voice down!”
“Sorry,” she whispered, eyes huge. “But—dating Tino?”
“Fake dating,” I hissed again, my eyes darting back over to the freshmen girls. They still hadn’t looked away.
Poppy ignored me. “Lilah, this is the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”I highly doubt that.“How did this happen? Whydidn’t you tell us sooner? Has this been going on all week and you?—”
“It’s not romantic,” I interrupted. “And no—you’ve seen me denying it all week. It wouldn’t be a very good fake relationship if I was doing that, now would it?”
Saylor crossed her arms. “So, what changed?”
“Nobody will let it go.” I continued down the aisle, in the opposite direction from the freshmen. We wandered slowly, Poppy still grabbing stuff off the shelves every couple of seconds. “Everyone thought we were together after that stupid photo from the costume store and since the rumors only seem to get worse every time we deny it, we’ve decided to just roll with them. Hopefully if we tell everyone we’re dating, they’ll get bored of it within a couple weeks and this will all be over.”
“That’s…” Saylor tilted her head. “Actually kind of smart.”
