All Chapters of Playing Hard To Get: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

It was raining.Not the heavy, dramatic kind you see in movies. It was the kind that lingered. The kind that settled into your bones, made everything gray, made the world feel like it was waiting for something to end.Harper sat in the living room wrapped in an oversized hoodie that swallowed her whole, the fabric still faintly smelling like her mom's old lavender detergent. The TV was on—an episode of some sitcom she could recite by heart—but the dialogue was just background noise to the storm inside her chest.Her sketchbook lay untouched beside her, pencil still tucked between the pages. She couldn’t focus. Couldn’t create. Couldn’t do anything but sit and exist in the ache she refused to name.She hadn’t heard from Jaxon in four days.Not since the art room. Not since she told him not to come back until he knew how to be honest—with himself, with her, with everyone.She thought he’d listen. She thought maybe this time, he’d choose to be better.The knock came just after midnight.

By Wednesday morning, Harper couldn’t walk down a hallway without feeling like she’d grown two extra heads.The stares weren’t subtle anymore. The whispers weren’t whispers.They were daggers with smiles.“She’s the junior he dumped Kenzie for?” “No way she’s just tutoring him or whatever. You know they’ve been messing around.” “I heard she’s been obsessed with him for years. Freak finally snapped.”Harper kept her head down. Hoodie up. Backpack gripped tight. She’d walked these halls for three years, practically invisible—and now she couldn’t breathe without someone dissecting it.And worse than the whispers were the eyes. Everyone looked at her differently now. Not just like she didn’t belong, but like she’d invaded some unspoken rule of high school hierarchy.All it took was a breakup, a party, a crying Snap story from Kenzie, and Jaxon’s kiss in the parking lot to turn her into a villain.She should’ve felt powerful. She felt hunted.Mia was at full DEFCON 1.“I swear, if one more

There wasn’t a hoodie. No ball cap pulled low. No skulking around like some heartbroken cliché.Jaxon Brooks walked into school Friday morning wearing his letterman jacket, curls pushed back, chin high.If anyone had something to say, he’d hear it.Because for once, he wasn’t pretending.No fake smiles. No playing the role of the golden boy. No sidestepping the truth just because it was easier.This wasn’t about popularity. It wasn’t about damage control.It was about her.And if Harper Lane was going to keep ignoring him, pretending he didn’t exist, that was fine. But he wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t matter.Not anymore.He leaned against the lockers outside her first period class, like it was nothing. Like his heart wasn’t pounding out of his chest when she turned the corner.She walked past without looking up.But her hand tightened on her bag strap.She noticed.She always noticed.At lunch, Jaxon didn’t sit at his usual table. Didn’t high-five teammates. Didn’t nod along whi

It was 11:42 p.m. when she finally picked up her phone.The knock had happened hours ago. The kiss. The confessions. The way his mouth had felt on hers, warm and real and impossibly gentle, like he was still memorizing her.She hadn’t expected him tonight. She hadn’t expected herself to open the door either.But she had.She’d let him in. Let herself feel him. Kiss him back like she’d been waiting for it longer than she wanted to admit.And now she was in her bed, wrapped in her comforter, his kiss still tingling on her mouth, her phone face up on the blanket beside her.Jaxon’s name sat there in her messages.No unread texts. No blue dots.Just the memory of his hands, his voice, his forehead pressed to hers when he’d whispered that he’d loved her since kindergarten.Her cheeks flushed just thinking about it.Every message between them had been silent paper things. Handwritten. Folded. Tucked away like secrets.You made the world feel real. Even when I wasn’t.She traced the edge of

Booth for Three… Then TwoHarper – Junior Year, Age 17Harper was seconds from slipping into Mia’s car when her dad’s truck rumbled up to the stadium curb like the plot twist she didn’t ask for.He leaned halfway out the driver’s side window, grinning like he hadn’t just detonated her plans for a quick post-game exit.“There’s my girl!” he hollered. “And Jaxon too—perfect.”Harper paused mid-step. “Dad. No.”He waved her over anyway. “Come on now, I’ve got a table waiting for us at Boudreaux’s.”Boudreaux’s. The local Southern kitchen where the waitresses knew everyone’s middle name and sweet tea was served in mason jars the size of a human head.Jaxon stepped up behind her, looking like he was trying not to laugh.“I really don’t think—” Harper started.Her dad eyes locking on Jaxon. “You like fried catfish, son?”Jaxon blinked. “Uh. Yeah. Sure.”“Great,” her dad said with a satisfied nod. “Y’all ride together. I’ll meet you there.”Harper spun on him. “You planned this.”He smirked.