"Everybody wants you, but I don't like a gold rush..."

Aru really should have considered how popular Aiden was before she agreed to pretend to date him. She also thought that whispers about who's dating who stopped in High School, but apparently she was wrong about that too. Maybe it was the fact she went to a small college nobody had heard about. People got close to each other.

She was pretty sure there was like, a group chat with everyone in her major except her, because as just a few hours after Aiden grabbed her hand in public (also known as the bench on the quad), everyone was whispering.

"Since when are they dating?!"

"How did she pull Aiden Acharya?"

"I'm so jealous of her."

Aru almost turned to see who said the last comment—no one had ever been jealous of her—but thought better of it at the last second.

She didn't know that everyone in Archeology would be so interested in her relationship status, but that's what they were talking about as they waited for the professor to show up.

All of her friends majored in different things, and since it was the start of a new semester, she needed to make friends. She couldn't exactly do that with everyone whispering about her. Fine, she'd make friends the hard way.

She glanced at the person to her right. They had long black hair and blue eyes. They were also furiously clicking the "refresh" on their computer. Oh, they were buying tickets for Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour." Rudy had mentioned it a few times.

Aru started trying to get tickets. Even if she did, she could just re-sell them or something. She logged on to the website.

Oh my gods, she was 17,000th in queue. Maybe she shouldn't worry about re-selling tickets.

They saw, leaned over and said, "You listen to Taylor too?"

Aru turned and smiled at them. "Yeah! She's really good."

The stranger smiled. "I'm Poppy." they said.

"I'm Aru. She/her. What are your pronouns?"

"She/her. Whats your favorite Taylor album?"

Fuck. The only Taylor Swift songs Aru ever listened to were the ones that played on the radio or in a public area. It was how she'd gotten the lyrics Me-he-heeeee! stuck in her head for a week.

"Uh...Taylor Swift?" There went her first, last and only friend of the semester.

Instead of looking confused, Poppy smiled. "Mine is 1989. You're the first Debut fan I met. Are you that into country music?"

"I'm from Georgia."

At least she was able to tell the truth one time in a conversation.

Before she could dig a deeper grave for herself, the professor came in and introduced himself just as Aru made a mental note to listen to Taylor Swift by Taylor Swift. It was the same speech about the rules they had all got last semester, and the only time she really paid attention was when he passed out the syllabus.

Oh. They had a partner project next week.

Aru tapped Poppy's shoulder. "Partners?" she whispered, pointing to the assignment.

Poppy nodded.

After class, they both had some time until their next class, so Poppy and Aru planned out their project in the library.

Unfortunately, Aiden was also in the library.

Aru gestured to the far side of the library, away from Aiden, but Poppy pointed and said, "Your boyfriend is over there."

So Aru had no choice but to sit at Aiden's table. It would have been embarrassing enough to pretend to date someone that gorgeous, but there were also whispers. Both around and about them.

"This is Poppy." Aru introduced her new friend, and she waved.

"Third wheel." muttered someone a few tables away.

"Why do they keep talking about us." Aiden muttered. Poppy giggled, but Aru rolled her eyes.

"I think it's more about you." Aru responded.

She wasn't wrong. The remarks were mentioning Aru, but Aiden seemed to be the one everyone was interested in.

"How lucky can you be to date someone like that?"

"I knew I should've asked for his number when I had the chance."

"This is so unfair."

Aiden pulled his hoodie over his head.

"Hey," Aru started. Then she stopped. What was she supposed to say? "Don't listen to them. So apparlently a ton of students have a crush on you. So what?"

Aiden glanced down at his hoodie sleeve, and Aru realized she has placed her hand there in her effort to comfort him. She jerked it away.

Poppy shot her a confused look.

"Sorry," she said to her pretend boyfriend. "I know you aren't that into physical touch."

Aiden looked like he had never been more grateful. For the fact that she knew his boundaries or her ability to lie, she wasn't sure. But that was fine. She didn't care.

She really had to just used to actually pretending she was in a relationship.

She would also need to learn how to get used to the whispers. They didn't look like they were going to stop anything soon.

"What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? With your hair falling into place like dominoes..."

—

If How You Get The Girl (Taylor's Version) gets messed up you will never be hearing from me again.

ALSO PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUNG ROYALS I AM GOING INSANE.