The Fake Girlfriend's Rulebook

Zoey.My life was a complete mess after catching my boyfriend Orion Gritton, the star hockey player from Oakwood University cheating with a cheerleader. That alone would’ve been enough to wreck me. But getting dumped by him in front of the entire state during his big game? That was a new level of humiliation.All I wanted to do afterward was crawl under my blanket, disappear forever, and pretend none of it happened. But life doesn’t work like that. I had to get up eventually, had to step out of my tiny dorm room and face the world again.So today, I forced myself to get dressed. I tugged on my favorite oversized Riverview University hoodie and a pair of ripped black jeans that felt like armor more than clothing. I shoved my hair into a loose ponytail, even though a few stubborn strands kept falling around my face like they were mocking me.When I finally arrived at Riverview University’s main campus I let out a tired groan as I stared at the building. I stayed there for a moment, not

Zoey.I woke up to my phone buzzing like a damn alarm in my ear. My head felt heavy, like I hadn’t slept at all which was true. I had tossed and turned all night, thinking about that stupid photo over and over again.‘Play along or I will.’ Those words kept taunting me, almost driving me crazy. When I eventually fell asleep the whole hockey team visited me in my dreams. It was like I was being haunted.I groaned, when I heard another buzzing sound coming from my phone, rolling over I smacked my hand around until I found my phone on the floor. The bright screen nearly blinded me. It was a notification from our campus gossip feed.I couldn’t help but groan. Our campus feed was basically a digital jungle. People posted everything, from cheating scandals to fights behind the dining hall. Once, someone uploaded a video of a cheerleader hooking up with the chess club president in the library basement. Another time, there was a whole thread about a professor caught leaving a frat party at 3

oey.The weekend passed like a blur, I had stayed up in my room, feeding on the snacks that I had gotten, no, Casper had gotten for me, as a bribe to make me attend their game.It was today, later in the evening. As much as I had wanted to decline going, I wanted to reclaim a narrative and the only way was going to the game. It meant a lot of things, meeting Orion because he had always made it a thing to attend their games. "Do you still care about him?" I questioned myself.I didn't, I haven't since the day we broke it off, the day I signed myself to the boys for whatever this game was. On the bed was a custom jersey of the Ridgeview Titans, which Casper had brought with him.It had theirs names on it. "A way to let everyone know that you belong to us and that will make Orion angry." He'd said.I had never worn a jersey with Orion's name when we were together, he had marked me already, there was no need for me to go to that extend. But today, I was going to do something that I had

Third POV.They knew how proud everyone was of them, the team won the game because of them and they were so cocky of it. But Orion had to be so much of the jerk, by teaming up with the number sixteen of the opposing team.If it wasn't for Casper that had come between them, Kieran and Rowan would have beaten him up, there in the rink and nothing would have happened. The worst would be them being penalized and they were okay with it. "We should take her to the cafe down town to celebrate our win." Casper suggested.On a normal day, after their win, they would have ended crashing at Rowan's place, drinking away their happiness but for once, they wanted to make a change and it was for a woman that they had ropped into theirs. "My boy is stepping out and coming out of his shell." Rowan commented, wrapping a hand around Casper while dragging him down to the car park.It was dark, though the street light illuminated the entire streets. From afar, the cricket made sound, that funny sound that

Zoey.'Don't be suck a fool.' The message said.Rowan almost snatched the phone away from my hand before I could even properly process the message. "What is that, man?" Emrys pushed him back on my behalf."I just wanted to see what is making her so damn curious when we told her that we have a surprise for her." Rowan sagged down his shoulders, moving an inch closer, his eyes still on my hand that I was holding the phone.I rolled out my eyes. With the boys, I had learnt that I had to be more vocal, more stubborn and more like them. I had to speak out for myself most of the time, but once it wasn't just the five of us, they would go out to keep me safe.I was only theirs to be bullied and I had accepted that. "If you keep on doing this, I will stop coming here." I warned and they all burst out laughing, all except for Casper.Since I had entered the car , I had noticed how he talked less, or even participated in whatever games the rest were trying to play. "You are infatuated with us,