Whispered Promises

The Plan

Josephine's POV

I should have known this was coming. The second Marques and Jackson cornered me, I felt the inevitable tug of a favor on the horizon. It's always been like this—my twin and his best friend hatching some grand scheme, and me? I'm their "secret weapon."

"Josy, we need you," Marques had said, leaning against the kitchen counter like he was asking me to grab lunch, not pretend to date Jackson Browns, captain of the football team, for weeks.

"Come on, Josy," Jackson had added, flashing me those bright blue eyes of his. "Coach is all over me about my grades, and if I don't fix my reputation, I'm done. Off the team. This isn't just for fun—this is survival."

I'd stood there for a beat, letting their words sink in. On one hand, it sounded insane—fake dating the hottest guy in school? The kind of drama that only existed in the pages of my guilty-pleasure romance novels. On the other hand, what harm could it really do? I had a lot on my mind already, and a distraction wouldn't hurt.

"What's in it for me?" I'd asked.

Jackson had smirked, the cocky jerk. "I mean, you'll be able to focus on your grades, and won't have to deal with any annoying guys for a while. Plus, it'll be good for your reputation too." 

I rolled my eyes, but nod. 

What had I just agreed to?

I watched Jackson and Marques celebrate like they'd just scored the winning touchdown. Meanwhile, I was still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened.

"Okay, enough. We need rules if we're going to make this convincing," I said, grabbing a notebook and pen. If I was going to do this, we were going to do it right.

Jackson sat up straight, his grin fading slightly as I started writing. "Rules? Really?"

"Absolutely," I replied. "We can't just wing this and hope for the best. We need to make it believable."

He sighed but didn't argue, which was a good sign.

Marques rolls his eyes dramatically. "You and your romance book obsession..."

"Hey, those books have solid plans," I shot back. "Now sit down. We're doing this properly."

"I'm out." Marques raises his hands in mock surrender, backing out. "Have fun, you two."

Jackson glares at him, a 'please don't leave me alone' look on his face. Tough luck. If he wants me to play along, we do this my way.

So here we are, sitting at the table, hammering out the details like it's some kind of business transaction. Maybe that's how I should think of it—a deal. A way to keep everything under control while I figure out how to handle the mess in my own head. Xavier. God, I can't even think about him right now.

I started writing out the basics: "First, we need to get to know each other better. We can't just show up at school and expect people to believe we're dating if we don't even know basic things about each other."

Jackson nodded, leaning in to glance at what I was writing. "Fair enough. That shouldn't be too hard"

"We'll need to go to and leave school together when our schedules match. You'll also need to be loyal—no sneaking around with other girls, and definitely no parties without me. If we get caught in a lie, this whole thing falls apart."

Jackson smirked. "No sneaking around? I'll try to keep my friends in my pants."

I shot him a look. "I'm serious. We need to act like a real couple, which means holding hands, maybe a few public kisses. And we never talk badly about each other."