Semua Bab Faking It With The Hockey Playboy: Bab 111 - Bab 120

Derek POVThe picture spread faster than I could have imagined.By the time Lila and I left the park, my phone was exploding with notifications. Messages from teammates. Messages from people I barely knew. Messages from numbers I did not recognize.All of them about the same thing. The picture of me kissing Lila at the park."Derek, what were you thinking?""Dude, are you seriously with her?""Your reputation is done.""The whole team is going to suffer because of this."I dropped Lila back at her car in the shopping center parking lot. She looked devastated."I am so sorry," she said. "I should not have let you kiss me. I should not have dragged you into this.""You did not drag me into anything," I said. "I kissed you. That was my choice.""But now everyone thinks you are with me," Lila said. "And they are going to destroy you for it.""Let them try," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.But as I drove back toward school, I realized just how much damage the picture ha

Derek POVI sat across from Lila in the coffee shop, watching her try to hold herself together."You need to post the statement," she said again. "You need to save your hockey career.""But it means throwing you under the bus," I said. "Publicly saying our relationship was a mistake. That I do not support you.""I know what it means," Lila said. "And I am telling you to do it anyway.""How can you ask me to do that?" I asked."Because I care about you," Lila said. "Because your future matters. Because I am not going to let you destroy everything you worked for just to stand by me.""Standing by you is the right thing to do," I argued."Maybe," Lila said. "But it is also the stupid thing to do. Derek, you have scouts watching you. You have college offers. You have a real chance at playing professionally someday. That is not something you throw away.""Even if it means abandoning someone who needs help?" I asked."Even then," Lila said firmly. "Sometimes you have to make hard choices. S

Derek POVI barely slept. Every time I shifted position, my ribs reminded me of what my father had done. My face throbbed. My head ached.When my alarm went off at six AM, I dragged myself out of bed and looked in the mirror. The bruises were worse than last night. My eye was almost swollen shut. My nose was still swollen.I could not go to school looking like this. Could not face my teammates. Could not pretend everything was normal.I grabbed my phone to text Coach Williams that I would miss morning practice. Then I saw the notifications.Hundreds of them. Messages. Comments. Tags.My stomach dropped.I opened social media and saw it immediately. A new post on my account. Posted at three AM."I need to address the rumors about me and Lila Richmond once and for all. The truth is, I was never involved with her romantically. She pursued me repeatedly despite me making it clear I was not interested. The photo that was circulated was taken when she approached me at the park and I was try

Lila POVI was still in my room when I heard the front door open downstairs.My mother was home early. And from the sound of multiple footsteps, my stepfather was with her.I had been dreading this moment since the school called them yesterday. Since the meeting I had run away from. Since everything had spiraled completely out of control."Lila!" my mother's voice called from downstairs. "Come down here. Now."I did not want to go. Did not want to face them. Did not want to see the disappointment and disgust I knew would be on their faces.But I could not hide in my room forever.I went downstairs slowly. My mother and stepfather were standing in the living room. My mother's face was red. My stepfather looked tired and angry."Sit down," my mother said, pointing to the couch.I sat."The school called us this morning," my mother began. "They said you left campus yesterday without permission. That you missed a scheduled meeting with the principal and the counselor. That they spent hour

Lila POVI could not sleep.I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling, watching shadows move across the walls as the hours crawled by. My mind would not stop racing. Every thought was torture. Every memory was pain.Derek had denied me. Publicly. On the internet for the whole world to see.The message had gone viral within hours. Everyone at school had seen it. Everyone knew that Derek Stone was claiming he had never been close to me. That our relationship was a lie. That I was nothing to him.I had checked my phone a hundred times throughout the evening, hoping to see a text from him. An explanation. An apology. Something to tell me that the denial was not real. That his father had forced him to do it. That he was sorry.But my phone stayed silent.Derek did not call. He did not text. He did not reach out at all.It was like I did not exist to him anymore.The boy who had kissed me at the park just days ago. The boy who had held me while I cried. The boy who had promised to help me thro