The Dating Deal

Ch. 9: Trouble Trouble

Ashley

When I was dating Shane, I hadn't realized how much of a suck-up he was. But that was the first thought that crossed my mind when I saw him sitting next to Kris in Psychology 101 on Monday.

After Kris and I had our first successful fake date on Saturday with both our friends convinced of our new relationship status, I'd mentally prepared myself to face Shane. I'd imagined meeting his gaze across the rows of seats in between us while I leaned on Kris's shoulder or maybe Kris would kiss my forehead like he'd done during our date. I was confident in putting up an amazing act in front of him.

But now? Seeing him beside Kris like that, I wasn't sure anymore. I briefly wondered if he was doing it on purpose because he suspected us and wanted to know if there was really something going on between Kris and me. Not knowing what his true intentions were was stressing me out.

Kris turned to face forward and his gaze collided with mine. A bright smile lit up his face as he raised his hand to beckon me over. I smiled back and made my way toward him where he'd saved a seat for me on his left.

Time to put on a show.

"Hey, baby," I said, pressing a kiss to Kris's cheek as I sat down.

To Kris's credit, he only looked mildly surprised but was quick to play it cool and kissed me back.

From the corner of my eye, I watched Shane's jaw tick and rejoiced on the inside. If he wasn't going to leave me alone, I might as well make him sick to his stomach by doing PDA with Kris.

Ignoring Shane, I turned my attention to Kris. "You're early today. That's a surprise."

Kris rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. "Yeah. Don't want Prof. Moore to hate me more than he already does."

"I wouldn't take that guy too seriously if I were you." Shane butted in like always. "He seems like a guy who has nothing going on in his life and that's why he likes to pick on students for entertainment."

If I rolled my eyes any harder, I feared my eyeballs would never return to their original state. I decided to ignore him and his big mouth again, and focused on arranging my pens and notebook on my desk. When Shane didn't get a reaction from either Kris or me, he changed his target.

"I see you still haven't let go of your obsession with stationary," he said, snorting. And as if he was telling the joke of the century, he leaned closer to Kris and continued in a stage-whisper. "You know we went to the same high school and Ashley here thought making pretty notes would get her good grades."

"You sure didn't have any qualms begging for those same notes," I remarked.

If he thought I was going to stay silent while he tried to ridicule me again, he had another thing coming.

Opening my notebook to the page I'd already prepped for today's class, I turned to face him and gave him my best smile. "And they did help me. Unless you have already forgotten, I was at the top of the class."

Despite him and his posse trying their best to drag me down.

Kris wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. "Lucky me for having a smart girlfriend. You'll help me out in this class, won't you cupcake?"

I rested my head on his shoulder, smiling up at him with heart eyes. "Of course. Who else would I help?"

Before I got to see Shane's reaction, Prof. Moore walked in and I'd to pull away from Kris, facing forward. Over the past week, I'd noticed a few peculiarities of Prof. Moore. Like how he walked in exactly ten minutes before the class began, how his outfits remained consistent apart from the color of his shirt, and how his presentations were made in a certain way.