Induction

Chapter 43: Fake

Gabriel knew he was being a bastard, but it took everything in him to not interrupt their cute little conversation and wiping that stupid smile off of Brad's face. If Brad weren't his friend, he wouldn't have been so calm about it. He caught Ava looking back at him a few times, and every time, he wanted to grin at her and give her a little wave, but he had to remind himself that he was giving her 'distance' and to forget about forcing any kind of friendship with Ava. So instead, he found himself scowling and had to pretend to not give a damn, when inside, it was literally killing him to see her so jovial with Brad.

He had switched seats with his buddy, abiding by Ava's wishes, and to off-handedly make her jealous by sitting next to the second cutest girl in class, Amelia Thatcher. He had every intention to put on his fake charms and feign interest in whatever the hell Amelia was talking about, but he was failing miserably. He was so damned distracted by what was going on in front of him. Thank God Ava wasn't able to see him brooding like this.

Amelia continued on "...and I got this cute dress for the homecoming dance. I can't wait! So are you going to the dance too?"

Distracted, it took Gabriel a moment to notice a pause in her speech and realized that she was waiting for his reply. "What? Sorry. I didn't hear you."

"Oh, that's okay. I was just asking if you were going to the dance."

He offered her a half-smile for not listening. "Nah. I don't do dances. Not my thing."

"What? But you're on the football team, and aren't you on the ballot for homecoming king?"

"Well, I didn't put myself on that ballot, so I honestly don't care. Tell people not to vote for me, because I can guarantee that I won't be there."

"Won't your girlfriend be upset? I heard she's an awesome dancer. I wouldn't think she'd want to miss out on homecoming even though she just moved to another school."

"Who??"

"What do you mean 'who'? Your girlfriend Simone. She dances, right?"

Shit. He forgot that he made up a fake relationship with Simone when things got crazy last week after he hooked up with Nikki. Girls had practically been stalking him, so he made up some story about being off limits because he now had a girlfriend. Fortunately, Simone was cool enough to go along with it. She was already at another school, and it didn't hurt her reputation that she was "dating" Gabriel Giuliani. It seemed realistic enough, and he had already hooked up with her once, and they continued to text. They were friends, but he had no romantic feelings for the red-headed girl. Granted, she was hot, but he already had his sights on someone else. Someone unattainable at the moment. Someone having a damned good time in the seat next to Brad Manning.

Gabriel had to make up an excuse, fast. "Oh...right. Yeah. She's going to be busy anyways. Something to do with out of town auditions." Gabriel had to remind himself to text Simone to make up some story about auditions if anyone asks her about the homecoming dance. Shit would literally hit the fan if people found out about their sham. He had already planned on "breaking up" with Simone next week, when things cooled down a bit.

Amelia sighed to herself. "Well that's too bad you're missing it."

"I'm sure you'll have a good time. It's just not my thing." Gabe didn't want to explain how fucking stupid he thought school dances were. He had been to a few of them in his early years of high school, but it was all about the girls showing him off and wearing too much makeup. The guys only showed up, hoping to get lucky by the end of the night. He realized long ago that he didn't need any help getting lucky, so why the fuck bother with a stupid dance.

Amelia elbowed him gently while nodding towards Brad and Ava. "Don't tell Brad this, but I can hardly understand the things he says. I feel bad because I'm sure he thinks I'm just ignoring him, but for real..I can't tell what he's talking about sometimes."