Faking It

Chapter 15: Playing Hard To Get

Text from: Jake Morris-Whittaker, 6:35 am

Ellie's Daily Reminder 13/180: Network network network!

(No, I don't mean like wifi)

The one thing I've learned about Adulting: it's all about who you know

lmao

guess I'm doomed then

~*~

Pretending to be into Theo Ellerby was a lot easier than I'd expected. Disconcertingly easy, if I was being honest. But that was only because he could charm the skirt off a nun. And thankfully, I wasn't the only one on the receiving end of his attentions.

He'll know it's fake if it moves too fast, Theo had texted the morning after our scrimmage.

So don't freak if you see me flirting.

Oh. Right.
I'm supposed to give a
damn about that now.

Yes.

You're supposed to be
head-over-heels for my
charming self.

Shouldn't be too hard.

Debatable

You're so difficult

The feeling is entirely
mutual, darling.

🙄🤨

But the warning was appreciated. Because that way, when Gyeong-Ja and I walked back from math class to find Emma sitting on Theo's lap in the common room, I didn't immediately wonder whether he'd changed his mind about our whole arrangement. I did, however, take great satisfaction from the way her head whipped around when he waved at me. And then again, two days later, when he plunked himself down at our lunch table as if he owned the place.

"Can we help you?" Audra asked, pausing in peeling an orange.

"I assumed this seat wasn't taken," Theo said, with a wink at me. "Hope you don't mind."

"Oh, we definitely don't," Gyeong-Ja replied, then sipped her tea to hide her grin.

Much to my surprise, Audra didn't protest. She remained true to her word and didn't chase Theo off. She didn't even hassle me afterwards. Instead, she and Theo got to discussing Harcourt's varsity soccer teams, debating strategies and offering me unsolicited advice about how to best defend against their speedy strikers.

"You can talk to anyone, can't you?" I muttered after lunch, when Theo threaded his arm with mine on our way to English class.

He grinned. "It's my gift. Besides, what better way to broadcast my interest than by going out of my way to sit with you. Next time, you come sit with me."

"What?" My steps ground to a halt in the wood-panelled hallway just outside our English classroom.

Theo frowned at me. "What do you mean 'what'? If we're dating, we're gonna have to sit together at—"

I folded my arms. "So I'm supposed to just abandon my friends to go sit with yours?"

His chest swelled with a sigh as he studied me. "I mean...yeah. That's what all the girls who date me do."

"Not this one." I brushed past him into the classroom.

He slid into the desk beside mine rather than his usual one in the back row. "Remember when I said this was supposed to be fun?"