Cooper’s mouth thinned in a pained sort of smile, and he gripped my hand too tightly. He didn’t say anything.
I leaned my head against his shoulder.
It was probably this gesture of affection that prompted Ms. Nash to announce that Cooper still had homework and that it was time for them to leave.
Fine by me. If Cooper applied any more pressure to my hand, he would cut off my circulation.
Dad and I saw them to the door and said our goodbyes.
After they left, my father said, “I can’t believe Cooper sent you two bouquets of flowers.” Usually, when people say, “I can’t believe it,” they actually mean, “Isn’t it amazing?” My father’s tone leaned toward he actually couldn’t believe it.
“It was so nice of him.” I wasn’t about to admit to anything, let alone sending myself flowers and forging Cooper’s message. I headed to the kitchen. “I’m taking the flowers up to my room, so I can see them while I do my homework.” And so my father wouldn’t look at them or ponder why his daughter was lying to him.
Half an hour later, my phone rang. Cooper’s number. I knew he was going to yell at me about Dahlia or possibly yell at me about the flowers again—maybe even break up with me and tell me to go ahead and pick out the matching family sweaters—so I didn’t answer the call.
He texted,Call me.
I ignored that too.
Honestly, it was fine by me if we didn’t talk until my father dragged me to the next football game. I mean, it was bad enough that my real love life was a dismal mess; did I really want to talk about the disaster my fake relationship had become?
I trudged through my bedtime routine and went to sleep.
Dad liked to say that things always looked better in the morning, and most of the time he was right. This was not one of those times.
The next day before school, I told Selena about the debacle. She’d come early to feed Mascot with me and use her cat skills, and a bag of cat treats, to put him at ease so I could pet him. That didn’t work, by the way. He only ate the cat treats if she threw them within a couple of inches of him. After ten minutes, she gave up trying to coax him over. “Maybe in a few more weeks he’ll let us get close enough to catch him. He needs a real home.”
“He has a home. The school is his home.”
A flicker of sympathy passed over her face—sympathy for me, not the cat. “Feeding him every day isn’t a long-term solution. What is he going to do when you graduate?”
Come with me to a dumpster at collegeprobably wasn’t the right answer. Still, graduation seemed so far away, hardly worth worrying about yet. “I’ll find some incoming freshman who loves cats to take care of him for the next four years.”
Her expression said she thought that was going to be more difficult than I imagined but she didn’t want to ruin my dream.
That’s what friends are for—to let you keep the occasional delusion.
I poured food into Mascot’s bowl. He sat upright and unmoving, then looked away from us with an imperious expression like he wasn’t hungry at all.
Selena and I walked back toward the front of the school. As we rounded the corner, I glanced over my shoulder and saw him wolfing down the food. Furry little liar.
My phone dinged with a text. I pulled it from my pocket and saw it was another one from Cooper. The part I could read said,Hey, I have some things for our lips to do.
Right. His lips just wanted to yell at me. I shoved my phone into my backpack without answering.
“I told you that fake dating him was a bad idea,” Selena said. “You should’ve just let things play out between your parents and hoped for the best.”
“Hope doesn’t get you anywhere,” I said. “Action does.”
“Action already got you grounded for two and a half weeks. How much time is your dad going to add to that when he finds out the truth?”
I didn’t even want to consider what would happen if he realized I was trying to manipulate him. It would be worse than a grounding. “He won’t find out anything,” I said, and then relentlessly replayed our conversation last night, thinking about every word, implication, and facial expression my dad used.
Selena didn’t notice my silence because she was updating me on the messages she and Boden had sent each other. She thought he was nice and funny. They were meeting after school to do their chem homework together, so that was good news.My stint as an unintentional matchmaker had paid off. At least somebody’s homecoming prospects were going well.
As soon as we reached the school steps, Selena ditched me to wait for Boden in the library, and I wandered off to my locker alone.
While I spun my combination, Cooper appeared at my side, phone in hand. “You know, I’m beginning to think that Needy Cookie ex-boyfriend had a point. What is the deal with you not answering your phone or the text messages?” He put his hand on his chest. “Also, this is your reminder that I like chocolate chip cookies. I’m a fan of sugar cookies too if they have good frosting.”
