Thankfully all I have to do is sit back and watch hell break loose around me for the duration of the study session. Luke sulks for the rest of the afternoon, Caroline's bitch face goes into full gear, her boyfriend is oblivious, Lucy keeps trying to do damage control, Chase won't stop sending me weird glances, and Matt is having the worst time with limits. Not like his own limits, more like mathematical limits. No one is very helpful, and by the time we finish, I doubt Matt knows if the limit exists or not.

I, on the other hand, got a lot of shit done. I managed to surprise Chase and piss off his ex-girlfriend. I don't really want to examine why I'm being so protective of Chase, but I think it has something to do with me being the only person who can give him shit. Once someone else does, well, that's just getting into my territory.

I finish my drink before standing up. Everyone is packing up, but Chase finishes first. He starts to say goodbye, so I follow his lead. It doesn't take long for us to leave the coffee shop and climb into his car.

Chase doesn't put the key in the ignition, just stares ahead. I do the same thing, but inside my head I'm working out our future argument. I'm not going to apologize for doing him a favor, that's for sure.

"Why did you tell them we were, you know, dating?" Chase's face scrunches up at the last word.

"Why do you say it like that?" I reply, instantly offended. He's acting as if dating me would be the worst thing in the world. I'm not that bad.

"Say what?" He's caught off guard. I repeat the word 'dating' to him with the same contempt he layered on. He makes a face at me, but says something else.

"It's just that now that you've said we're together..." He trails off. I can't stand the puppy eyes he gives me. I don't understand what I've done wrong, so I try to fight my case.

"Look, I know who Caroline is. She was being all high and mighty so I wanted to take her down a notch." I say her name with a slight growl. I don't think I've ever instantly disliked someone as much as Caroline.

"What do you know about Caroline?" Chase is looking super nervous now. I almost don't want to tell him, but he really doesn't need another lying whore in his life.

"I was looking for something to fan myself with and I was going to use this letter I found..." I don't finish my sentence because I don't really want to say that I read his breakup letter out loud. Chase sighs for the longest time, while running a hand through his face.

"Go ahead. Jacey, I'm waiting." He finally says. He still hasn't looked up at me since his hands covered his face.

"Waiting for what?"

"You're not going to give me shit about this?"

"I'm not heartless!" I yell in offense.

"Yes, you are! If you had a heart you wouldn't have told them we were dating." He looks at me like I'm dense.  Frankly, I am feeling kind of slow. I don't know what his problem is.

"How does that make me heartless?" I yell in a weird squeaky voice.

"Now I'm going to get broken up with twice!" The guy looks like he's about to puke.

"No you're not."

"Are you serious? Are you just going to play my fake girlfriend like you do for Mike?" He's looking at me with a look of slight disgust. He clearly looks down on me for what I do for Mike, which really pisses me off. He doesn't know my life or my reasons.

"I was. But now maybe I will break up with you!" I'm yelling now. Really loud.

"We're not even dating!" Chase isn't any quieter. Thank god no one's around to see us screaming the shit out of each other.

"Do you want me to be your fake girlfriend or not?" I ask. I didn't mean to offer him that, I swear. Chase looks bitter and pretty turned off by the idea, but he glances back to the coffee shop where his friends still are.

"Fine."

 ——————————————-

Sometimes, the hardest part of being someone's fake girlfriend was finding what to wear. Now that I had not one, but two, fake relationships, being a fake girlfriend was starting to look like a good career move. I needed to invest in a better wardrobe.

Earlier in the day, my dad visited me in my room to talk about my 'plans for the future'. It basically involved him trying to act interested in what I was doing with my life. I didn't even think my parents really remembered that I was about to finish high school and the whole thing just felt scripted. I really didn't have the patience for him, so made a big deal about having a headache. He eventually left, but I couldn't help the chill that came over me once he wasn't in the room. He needed to stop acting like he really cared, it wasn't going to make me feel better.

I finally settle on what to wear. I'm in the middle of putting on my shoes when someone honks from outside my window. I don't bother looking out the window, since I already know it's Mike. We have a 'date' today. Tonight it'll just be Mike and I, a rare occasion. He's still trying make amends after ditching me to spend the day with Jake. I've already forgiven him, but I'm not going to let him think it was that easy.

I put the last touches on my makeup before heading out. My dad is somewhere around the house, but I don't bother seeking him out. It's a night full of rare occasions.

I climb into Mike's car before fiddling with the radio.

"Hey, Babe." He smiles at me before looking back towards the road. I say hi back before turning the music up. We chat about people from school, but neither of us mentions Jake. I want to ask what that day was all about, but instead I go on about dumb stuff that both of us really don't care about. Thankfully, the ride isn't very long and we pull up to the parking lot. There's a carnival going on. I shake the weary feeling away before grabbing his hand once we're outside. Tonight is going to be about my best friend and me. We purchase unlimited passes and start getting on some of the rides. I pull Mike around for the rest of the night and we slowly shift back to our comfortable relationship. Not our fake one, but the real friendship.

I spot a funnel cake stand and practically screech everyone's ears off. My love for funnel cake has no bounds. Mike is aware of this and leads me to buy one, or ten, as quickly as possible before I get testy.

Once my hands are coated in powdered sugar and I'm working on my third cake, Mike leads me to the Ferris wheel.

"You literally inhaled that." Mike says, while we're waiting in line. He's looking super amused, so I snort.

"Whatever, don't act like you don't love funnel cakes as much as me." He's eaten the same amount so far.  He flicks some powdered sugar in my direction, so I fight him until I take a direct bite out of his funnel cake. We're both laughing hard when we finally get our own seat on the Ferris wheel.

I'm feeling happy for once, when the seat starts it's ascent to the top. I don't notice the eyes of the people below me until Mike drops some of his funnel cake and I look down to see the pieces drop to the ground. We were the last couple to get a seat, so the people staring at me are first in line.

I'm going higher and higher, but I know they can still see me. Out of all the people in the world, it just had to be them! I try to swallow up the dough in my mouth, but choke on it instead. Mike starts patting me on the back, except I don't let him because I slap his hands away.

Then I realize that I just made myself look super guilty.

Caroline looks like she just cracked a code when our eyes meet. Even her boyfriend is looking at us. Thankfully the ride keeps moving until they're specks on the ground.

Thank you guys for reading! Hope you liked the update :)