Faking It

Best Of Wishes!

A/N: I deadass have no name for this chapter so please comment something I can change it to.

Zoe Benson [5:03 pm]

I was trying to join a club to get my name out there, but I might have accidentally admitted to being a fake lesbian.

Madison stared at her phone, trying to think of a response. She didn't really care about what the school had to think of her, but that's not the point. Zoe might be in trouble tomorrow and had that to be worried about.

Madison Montgomery [5:05 pm]

It's okay, don't worry about it.

All u have to worry about is the number of presents you're getting tomorrow.

Zoe had been stressing too much about their secret being leaked that she forgot her birthday was tomorrow. Madison calmed Zoe with all her party hat emojis. Hopefully, it's enough to get them through the torment that is tomorrow.

When Zoe walked to school the next day, she felt the angry gazes of everyone on her. She walked straight to her locker, avoiding anyone who tried to talk to her. A note fell out of her locker, and she bent down to pick it up. At first, she thought it was a threat, but she turned the card around to see a red wax stamp with the initials K.S.

Zoe looked across the room to the other row of lockers. Kyle stood there, slightly smiling at her but turned around abruptly once he saw Madison coming from behind.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Madison cheered. If it was anyone else's birthday, she wouldn't have given a single thought, but this was Zoe, and everything is different when it comes to her.

Zoe turned around to see Madison holding a balloon and card. She would normally pull her best friend into a hug, but they both agreed not to do that for now. Instead, she smiled back and took the balloon. "Thanks!" she replied, but Zoe knew this wasn't it.

Madison's eye caught the letter Zoe was holding from Kyle. Grabbing it, she inspected it closely. "Who's this from?" Madison questioned. "I thought people hated us now."

Zoe snatched it back quickly. "It's from Cordelia," she muttered. She knew keeping this secret was bad, but maybe they could talk about it when it wasn't her birthday.

"Our principal?" Madison asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

The taller girl nodded and placed the letter in her bag, just in case Madison tried to snatch it again. Madison looked at her weirdly but shrugged it off. "We're skipping school. I have a lot of activities for us to do."

Zoe let Madison take her out of school like she has every year. It was kind of a tradition to do a bunch of things Zoe liked. This included going to a book cafe, watching a bunch of boring history documentaries, and eating a lot of food. After half of their activities were done, it was around 4 PM. Madison brought Zoe to her house, so they could take a small break from all the running around.

Zoe decided to sneak off into the living room to open the letter. She's been wanting to read it all day. When she opened her bag, the letter was nowhere to be found. She looked behind her to see if it had dropped somewhere, but instead, she saw Madison holding it.

"Didn't I tell you no presents until later? Why is Miss Cordelia's letter so important to you anyway?" Madison asked. She walked forward, so there was less distance between them.

God, why did I have to say it was from the principal? Zoe cursed internally. She knew she couldn't lie now. There was no way Madison would buy it. "It's not actually from her..." Zoe started but was cut off.

"It's from Kyle, isn't it?" Madison interrupted.

Zoe looked at her best friend, confused. "You knew?"

"I knew the whole time. The letter even has his initials on it. Today was supposed to be about us! But once again, Kyle's getting in the way!" Madison argued.

This was the last thing she wanted to happen on Zoe's birthday: anyone getting involved between them. What makes it worse is that it was Kyle, and Zoe never told her.

"Are you serious? You're acting like a jealous ex! I swear nothing's going on between us. And remember, I picked you!" Zoe said in a louder tone than normal, emphasizing the ending.

Madison stepped back, wanting to get farther away from her. Of course, I'm acting like a jealous ex. I'm still in love with you, and Kyle keeps showing up. "You picked me? What does that even mean?"

"I knew that I couldn't date Kyle and still be friends with you, so I picked you," Zoe admitted.

"It doesn't feel that way..." Madison said, looking a bit hurt. She knew how much Zoe liked Kyle, and she was pretty much gatekeeping him from her.

Zoe grabbed the letter from Madison's hands and ripped it apart. The paper fell to the ground in pieces. "What more do I have to do to prove it?" Zoe mumbled and walked out.

Later that day, Madison sat on her kitchen table with the ripped-up letter still on the floor. She kept thinking about how she and Zoe should be sneaking into movie theatres right now or doing other fun things. Her daydreaming was cut short by the clicking of her mother's heels.

She was about to walk outside when she saw her gloomy daughter. Sitting down next to her, she asked, "Now, what's this? I thought you and Zoe would be out right now." And she was right, they should be hanging out right now.

Madison's heart ached again. "We had a fight, I guess."

Her mother stared at her daughter in pity and grabbed both of her hands on the table. "Did you two break up?" she asked carefully.

Madison forgot to tell her all about the fake breakup, but now she was focused on how her mom was so comforting. "Zoe's straight, Mom," Madison responded.

"And you?" her mother questioned. It wasn't in her normally offensive tone. It was just a question for once.

"I still love her," Madison admitted quietly.

Madison's mom sighed. "I know what it's like. I loved this boy in high school, and he didn't like me back, so I tried to get over him by getting a new pair of boobs to fixate on. It didn't work, but after a while, I kind of just got over it. You need time, that's all."

Madison lightly laughed. She didn't know if it was because her mom admitted to having plastic surgery or the sad fact that she could never get over Zoe. "I think time is good," Madison agreed, genuinely thinking it might work.

The older woman patted her on the back and stood up. "I've got to get to work. I hope things work out for you two."

Madison waved her mom goodbye. Right after, she knew what she had to do. She texted Zoe quickly and walked out of her house to get to school.

Madison Montgomery [8:41 pm]

Can you meet me in the school courtyard?

Madison arrived at the courtyard and sat on the bench. She waited for almost fifteen minutes until Zoe showed up.

"I'm sorry I was being so jealous. The truth is I want to keep you for myself, but I also want you to be happy," Madison said.

Zoe listened carefully until she heard someone walk behind her. It was Kyle, looking confused.

"I got your text. What is this?" Kyle asked, looking between the two girls.

Madison stood up and got closer to Zoe. "This is my gift. You two like each other, I can see it. The only thing keeping you guys apart is me."

Zoe looked at Kyle, and then at Madison. "Are you sure?" Zoe lowered her voice, so Kyle couldn't hear her.

"Happy birthday," Madison smiled and then walked away to leave them alone.