Faking It

Theo - Ch 4

"Heads up," Giselle stage-whispered as she slid her tray onto the table beside Connor's, "But Emily just got her ass metaphorically handed to her by the new girl."

"What? New girl?" Connor asked, gleefully whipping his head around to scan the dining hall.

Aurelia smacked him, but he didn't relent.

"That one," Giselle said, nodding to an auburn-haired girl beside Gyeong-Ja, the Korean girl Emily had taken a little too much joy in tormenting last year.

Here we fucking go, I thought, forcing myself to keep my eyes on my food rather than roll them when Emily appeared and slammed down into the free chair beside me with a huff.

"This place is going to shit, honestly," she snapped. "You don't even want to know what kind of people they're letting in here now."

"Poors?" Connor asked.

"Worse," Emily sneered.

"Town?"

"Bitches." Emily stabbed into her salad, glaring across the room.

I risked a glance up to the "bitch" in question. She'd taken a seat with the girls' varsity goalie, Audra Amberly, and didn't seem the least bit fazed that she'd pissed off one of the most vengeful girls in junior year. Poor, naive thing.

Two weeks, I thought. Two weeks of Emily's torment before she either cracks from the pressure and bails or leans hard into some weird hobby like drama club or anime.

"Apparently she fell all over herself when she met Will," Giselle said. "He gave her a tour and she was all but drooling on the floor about him. You'd think she'd never seen a guy before."

My hand tightened around my fork, but I forced my expression to remain neutral. Because of course. Of course Will would have yet another person lusting after him while he toyed with the person I really wanted.

"Maybe she's a poor," Emily said cruelly. "Makes sense, given her...everything."

Giselle was still watching me, likely hoping for some sort of reaction at the mention of my brother. Eventually, she went on, "Well she's definitely not town because she's Georgie's new roommate."

"Why, because they couldn't stick her and Amberly together again?" Connor waggled his eyebrows. "I don't see the problem. It's not like they'd knock each other u—hey!"

Aurelia smacked him in earnest this time. "Not cool. Gross, actually."

"What? I'm just—"

"Con," I said. "Enough."

He did that thing where he rolled his eyes and tried to make it look like he didn't care that we were all judging him. But his cheeks had gone the barest bit pink. "Right. Soccer code of honour. Can't insult a fellow player, right Tee?"

"Something like that," I said, too tired to spar with his shit. Especially when Will had sauntered in and all but perched like a bird of prey at Madeleine's table. No doubt to string her along just a little farther.

I forced myself not to look to see if it was working. I already knew, if the unanswered texts still haunting my phone were any indication. And yeah, fine, maybe I'd hoped for some sort of grand reunion. Mads, freshly tanned from her summer abroad, shoving Will aside and throwing her arms around me instead, telling me that all that stuff from last year hadn't been nothing, that she'd just made a mistake by going to prom with him and hoped I could forgive her.

That I was the Ellerby she wanted.

The thought was so sour it killed my appetite, and I cursed myself for not shoving it aside as I had all summer. But now that I was back, now that the sights and smells of Kingsbridge had enveloped me once again, it was impossible not to hope that daydream might've been more premonition than wish.

"I'm going on a run," I said to no one in particular, and made sure to keep my eyes well away from my brother while I dumped my tray and bailed from the dining hall.

**A/N: I have two more Theo chapters written, and I honestly think I'll probably just go in chronological order here as I post them. 

Not sure what is easier for you guys to read - if I cluster all the bonus Theo chapters at the end, or put them where they'd be in the story? Let me know which one is easier, especially if you're a reader who read this week-by-week as I posted! 

I know it can be hard to remember what happened in what chapter, and I'm not sure if I need to add more details or maybe just a proper chapter title to help orient you? I'm open to suggestions!**