The next day at school I walked in with Matty's arm slung across my shoulder. Nichole had stared us down as Matty walked me to my locker. Nichole marched over to us.
"What the hell are you doing Matthew?" She questioned giving me a look I assumed only Satan himself could have spawned.
"Walking my girlfriend to her locker, what about you?" He mocked her tone in a more laid back manner. I admired how he kept his cool in situations like that.
"Girlfriend? You're supposed to be mine." She said quietly as people began to take interest in the conversation. I stood there with a smile printed across my face, our plan had not even been going on for a full twenty four hours and it was already successful.
"You're too late hun, toodle-loo." He waved in her face and I laughed a bit at the action until she slapped his hand away. She shook her head turning around to leave.
"It's working." Matty enthused placing his arm around me again.
"Yay." I smiled, slamming my locker shut. He jumped a bit calling me out for being too aggressive to my innocent locker.
"Shall I walk you to class?" He asked. I smiled shaking my head yes.
"We have the same class." I stood on my toes to whisper it in his ear.
"Oh right, I knew that, maths so fun." He smiled, turning his a head a bit as I did to see her still eyeing us down. He turned back to look at me and without warning he kissed me. Not on the lips as I had expected but on the cheek.
"We should go now." I grabbed his hand, grinning at Nichole as we made our way to period one.
-
The walk home was full of Matty and I walking hand and hand, George tailing along behind us, his car refused to start that morning, which was the worst thing ever at the time as he lived thirty minutes away.
Even though my house was ten minutes from Matty's and if I ran I could make it home before my mother's return at five, I knew she would have a fit that I hung out at a boy's house.
We waved goodbye to George as he continued the walk to his house and Matty lead me inside, his hand still interlocked with mine. I had thought that we would be friends behind closed doors, that our fake relationship would end as soon as no one was around to see. He told me we had to keep it real. We had to practice.
"Don't be afraid to kiss me, you know, like I said we gotta make it believable." He said rolling around his room on a desk chair. I sat comfortably on the bed.
"I don't want to, I want my first kiss to be with my actual boyfriend, if I ever get an actual one." I confessed seeing the frown on his face.
"You've not kissed anyone before?" I shook my head yes to the question, telling I had already told him that. He seemed to forget. I couldn't help but feel ashamed although it hadn't been my fault.
"I'll keep it that way." I tucked my hair behind my ear in my state of awkwardness. He shook his head and smiled at me.
"How about this," he made his way over to me still on the chair, placing his hands on my legs, "we can make it believable and not actually kiss." Placing his hands on either side of my face, he pulled me closer, planting a light kiss less than a centimeter away from my lips. I felt myself wanting an actual kiss, and I would've if he hadn't moved away. I told him that was fine and that is what we would do to make Nichole super jealous.
-
Over the next few weeks, we had used that little move a few times, letting it be know that he was 'mine' and I was 'his'. I sometimes would forget that our little scheme was fake and had no feelings involved. Pete had confronted me telling I had forgotten about him, that when Matty breaks my heart he won't be there to pick up the pieces. I felt bad to say the least but he didn't want anything to do with me. I had doubted that, as most of the time he was a very forgiving person.
I had become closer to the other three boys, and two other girls. Alissa, who was Ross's sister and one year older than the rest of us, and Kaylee, a short brown haired girl who was dating George. The height distance between them was a bit amusing but adorable at the same time.
One night when summer had started and it was too hot for anyone's comfort, we all went down to the lake. None of us prepared for the trip, we all swam in what was under our shirts and pants. I had been happy I wore matching undergarments.
It was dark and I only wanted to go a bit in, for all I knew anything could be in there and I wouldn't see it. Matty had taken it upon himself to bring me in so far I couldn't touch the ground like he could, standing a good five inches taller than me. I couldn't swim.
"Matty!" I squealed, latching my arms around his neck, "I can't touch."
"You can swim can't you?" He asked in seriousness and I shook my head no, "okay, that's okay, I got you, you're okay, I'm not gonna let you drown." He smiled planting a kiss on my forehead. In moments like this I'd forget this was all fake. He was only doing it to make Nichole jealous and to practice our acting skills for when we were around her. We had even tricked the boys into thinking we were together, although Kaylee and Alissa were not as easily convinced. Then Matty did something I had never thought he would do. He gently leaned closer to face, his lips meeting mine briefly. It wasn't much but my stomach churned and I melted into his kiss. I wanted it to last forever. It was short lived though as he pulled away.
"Can we go back to where I can touch?" I giggled, and Matty obeyed my request. I let go of him, making my way to Kaylee and Alissa. Since they had caught on from the beginning, I told them not to tell for Matty hadn't known I told them. They both grinned at me and dragged me away from the boys.
"What was that?" Alissa blurted, and I hoped it wasn't loud enough for them to hear. I looked over my shoulder and saw them playing chicken. They hadn't heard.
"What was what?" I questioned as if I didn't know what they were talking about.
"You kissed Matty." They both said in unison, jinxing each other.
"I know, it just happened." I had expressed to them before my feeling towards Matty, but I also swore I wouldn't do anything with him. We all agreed that my feelings were not shared with him, that I would only get attached if we were to do anything. He would leave for Nichole when she finally had enough of watching our happy fake romance. No matter what I did I could never have him.
