Alle Kapitel von My Fake Boyfriend Is My Biggest Rival: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 10

Harper almost took out her own ankle chasing Noah through the gym doors, which would have been a fittingly stupid way to end the night. By the time she got inside, he was gone, and the hallway had that after-the-game emptiness to it, everyone already funnelling home or toward whatever counted as a party in the cafeteria. She stood there for a second, feeling ridiculous, chest still heaving a little from the sprint.Her phone buzzed.NOAH: Can't wait to see you tonight. :)She read it twice. If he'd sent that, calm and sweet and completely normal, then who had she just watched with his arm around a cheerleader by the fence? Harper made herself breathe. She'd spent enough of her life rehearsing catastrophes that never happened. She wasn't about to blow up her first real relationship over something she'd seen for maybe four seconds across a crowded field, in bad lighting, from far away. Talk to him instead of guessing and feeling cheated on. That was the whole plan. Simple.She found his

The call cut out before Harper could say anything else. She sat there staring at the black screen for a second, replaying the sound that had come through right before the line died, that laugh, low and unmistakably a girl's laugh. She told herself it could've been the TV. A hallway. Anyone walking past him. But she'd been telling herself things all night, and every single one of them had been wrong.She had seen him go off with someone else earlier and decided not to think about it. She'd found the pile of letters he never mentioned and decided it meant nothing. She'd agreed to meet him in a place as strange as the locker room without asking why because at that point she'd stopped asking questions altogether. That was then. If he had anything to say, it could be said in looking at her face.She headed toward the music wing, where a door was ajar just enough to let voices spill into the hallway. She was not near enough when a voice reached her and stopped her dead in her tracks."Come

Fiona's heels hit the hallway floor before she even turned the corner. Sharp little clicks, fast. Harper knew that walk by now."Luca!"Harper let go of his hand."What are you doing here?" she whispered."Hiding.""From who?"He just looked at her."You'll see."The door handle rattled."Luca Hayes, I know you're in there!""She's coming in," Harper said."Yeah.""So answer her.""Rather not."The handle turned and stopped. Locked. Fiona let out a groan through the wall, loud enough that a few lockers over probably heard it too. "My dad's going to find you eventually!""Her dad?" Harper asked."Coach Reed.""Oh." That explained a lot actually — the hovering, the stuff that kept turning up in his locker, half the rumors going around school. "I get it now.""Get what.""You need somewhere to hide.""I do.""And if people thought you were already with someone—"He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to say the rest."They'd stop trying to shove you and Fiona together."He went quiet for

My heart was pounding so hard I was surprised Luca couldn't hear it.He was still standing close enough that I could smell the faint scent of cedar from his hoodie mixed with the clean soap he'd probably used after practice. One hand rested against the classroom door behind me, the other braced against the wall. Anyone walking past would think he had me cornered.Which, annoyingly, he did."So?" he asked, one corner of his mouth lifting. "What's it going to be, Bennett?"I folded my arms, more to stop myself from fidgeting than because I was angry."You think this is funny?""I think you're thinking too hard.""I always think.""I know."That simple answer caught me off guard.He said it so casually, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.Like he knew me.I quickly pushed the thought away."No."He raised an eyebrow."No... what?""No, I'm not becoming your fake girlfriend.""You already kissed me.""You kissed me.""You kissed me first in the locker room.""That was an

Twelve steps past the front gates, tops, before somebody said my name loud enough for me to catch it."That's her.""The girl from the post.""Told you it was real.""Wait, her and Luca Hayes? Seriously?"I slowed down without meaning to. Told myself maybe it wasn't about me. Some other Harper, some other post, sure.A phone flashed off to my right. A girl fixing her ponytail with the camera angled a little too obviously at my face. Some guy elbowed his friend and jerked his chin at me, not even bothering to be subtle.Great. Wonderful. My stomach did the thing where it just kind of falls out from under me, and I gripped my backpack strap and kept my head down and walked faster. Don't look at anybody. Don't react. Maybe if I didn't feed it, the whole thing would just die on its own by lunch.Lasted about twenty seconds, that plan."Harper!"I looked up anyway, couldn't help it. Three juniors were camped outside the admin building, and one of them had a smile plastered on way too early