My Ex's Best Friend Is My Fake Boyfriend

The worst thing about getting dumped wasn't the heartbreak.

It was having an audience.

I stood in the middle of the school cafeteria, holding a tray I suddenly didn't want, while two hundred students pretended not to stare at me.

Ethan stood across from me.

My boyfriend of eleven months.

My first real love.

And apparently, my biggest mistake.

“Emma, I think we should end this.”

His words were quiet, but the cafeteria had somehow become completely silent.

I blinked.

“What?”

Ethan sighed, running a hand through his perfectly styled brown hair.

“We're not working anymore.”

My fingers tightened around the edge of the tray.

“You could have told me this somewhere private.”

“I know.”

“But you chose the cafeteria?”

He looked uncomfortable.

Before he could answer, someone at a nearby table whispered, “Oh my God.”

Another voice followed.

“They're breaking up.”

My face burned.

Ethan glanced around.

“Can we not make this dramatic?”

I almost laughed.

“I'm not the one breaking up with someone in front of the entire school.”

His jaw tightened.

“You've been different lately.”

“Different?”

“You're always busy. You're always worried about what everyone thinks. I just... I don't feel the same anymore.”

There it was.

The sentence I'd seen in movies.

The sentence I never thought would be said to me.

I swallowed hard.

“Is there someone else?”

For half a second, Ethan didn't answer.

That half-second destroyed me more than anything he could have said.

“No,” he finally replied.

I didn't believe him.

Neither, apparently, did anyone else.

A chair scraped against the floor behind him.

Jake Anderson stood up.

Ethan's best friend.

The school's resident bad boy.

Jake was the kind of guy teachers warned you about without ever actually saying his name. He rarely followed rules, never seemed impressed by anyone, and somehow managed to look completely bored even when the entire school was falling apart around him.

His eyes moved from Ethan to me.

Then to my trembling hands.

Something in his expression changed.

“Dude,” Jake said quietly, “maybe this isn't the place.”

Ethan glared at him.

“Stay out of it, Jake.”

Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Wasn't planning on getting involved.”

He sat back down.

I wished I could disappear.

Instead, I forced myself to look at Ethan.

“So that's it?”

He nodded.

“I'm sorry.”

“No, you're not.”

His eyes flickered.

I put my tray down before my hands could betray me.

“Fine.”

“Emma—”

“Don't.”

I stepped around him.

The whispers grew louder as I walked away.

I heard my name.

I heard Ethan's name.

And then I heard the sentence that made my stomach twist.

“Poor Emma. She really thought they were endgame.”

I kept walking.

I refused to cry.

Not here.

Not in front of them.

I pushed through the cafeteria doors and hurried down the hallway.

The moment I reached the girls' bathroom, I locked myself inside a stall.

My breathing became uneven.

I pressed my hands against my face.

Eleven months.

Eleven months of good morning texts, football games, weekend dates, birthday surprises, and promises that we'd still be together after graduation.

Gone.

Just like that.

My phone buzzed.

I pulled it from my pocket.

Mia: Are you okay???

Another message appeared.

Mia: Please tell me you didn't see what people are posting.

My heart sank.

I opened social media.

Someone had already uploaded a picture of Ethan and me from the cafeteria.

The caption read:

IT'S OVER. EMMA CARTER IS SINGLE.

Hundreds of comments were already appearing.

I stared at the screen in disbelief.

Then another notification popped up.

A private message.

From Ethan.

Ethan: We need to talk after school.

I laughed bitterly.

Of course he wanted to talk now.

After humiliating me in front of everyone.

I typed three words. "We're done talking".

I put my phone away.

Then I looked at myself in the mirror.

My eyes were red, but I wasn't crying anymore.

Something inside me had changed.

Maybe Ethan had broken my heart.

But he wasn't going to break my pride.

I walked out of the bathroom.

And that's when I saw Jake standing at the end of the hallway.

His hands were in his jacket pockets.

His expression was unreadable.

“Are you following me?” I asked.

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

He shrugged.

“Because I saw what happened.”

I looked away.

“I don't need your pity.”

“Good.”

I frowned.

Jake took a step closer.

“Because I wasn't going to give you any.”

For the first time that day, I almost smiled.

Almost.

Then he said something I never expected.

“If you really want Ethan to regret dumping you…”

He paused.

His eyes locked with mine.

“I might have an idea.”

And somehow, I knew my life was about to become even more complicated.