A Collection of Short Stories

Indifferent - Pt 1

Lana Smith walked up to Daniel Finch that afternoon, right after his jock friends all went their separate ways and Daniel was walking up to his car.

'Finch!' She called and sped her pace just slightly to catch up to him, he turned around with a frown upon seeing her.

'Lana, right? What do you want?' He asked, confused. Lana and Daniel were never close friends — or even friends, for that matter – but they had known each other since kindergarten, and that's the only reason Lana chose him. Well, that and the fact he was the most popular guy in high school.

'I need you to be my fake boyfriend.' Lana said.

Daniel was shocked. He just stared at the girl for what seemed like ages. He leaned his head closer to her slightly.

'I'm sorry?' He said, hoping he had heard her wrong.

She rolled her eyes, 'I need you to be my fake boyfriend.' Daniel leaned back, staring at her again. Lana huffed, 'Come on, Daniel, I haven't got all day, I need a reaction.' She urged him, getting annoyed. She didn't want to do this with Daniel, but it was either him or the captain of the lacrosse team, and that guy was just a jerk.

'I don't understand...' He trailed off. She rolled her eyes, maybe she'd have to settle for the captain of the lacrosse team, after all.

'It's not that hard, Finch.' She stated, 'I just need you to pretend to date me until prom. After that, we go our separate ways.' She finished with a small grin.

'Why? I mean, are you that desperate for a date to prom that you need a fake boyfriend?' He asked, blurting the first thing that came to his mind. Lana rolled her eyes for what seemed to Daniel like the hundredth time since their interaction.

'No, dimwit, I need your popularity.' She explained as if it were obvious.

'You're crazy.' Daniel said, shaking his head and turned around to go to his car.

'Finch, wait!' She called and he turned around, putting his hands on his hips with an air of impatience.

'Lana, no. I'm not going to fake date you so you can be popular, I don't know what kind of twisted delusional dream that is!' Daniel exclaimed. Lana rolled her eyes. That was starting to annoy Daniel.

'It's not a dream of mine to be popular, trust me, I really don't want to do this.' Lana said. That statement left Daniel even more confused.

'Then why do you need me to fake date you?' He asked. She rolled her eyes.

'I have my reasons.' Was all the explanation she gave him.

'Well, then you better find yourself some other solution, because I'm not doing this.' He said, crossing his arms.

'Come on, you'd also benefit from this situation...' She trailed off.

'What do I get out of dating you?' Daniel asked, mockingly.

She rolled her eyes, 'Well, you know my family's rich, right? That means I can get you anything you want...' She trailed off again, with a mischievous grin on her face.

Daniel scoffed, 'I don't want your money, Lana.' He stated and turned around, walking away.

Lana's voice stopped him, 'Not even to treat your mother's cancer?'

He clenched his fists and seemed almost like he was having an internal debate. Lana crossed her arms and smirked. She was amused to see him struggle like that, just like she knew he would. He turned back around to her, raising a warning finger.

'This is wrong on so many levels!' He exclaimed, almost more to himself than her, 'How would this even work?!' He exclaimed more than asked, raising his hands into the air and pacing.