My Favorite Love (The Lakeland Boys Book 1) Read online

  He just tilted his head and gave me a look that let me know what he thought about my naiveté.

  “Anyway,” I continued, “you’ve got to pick one. Or, someone else.”

  He looked at me for a long moment. As if trying to decipher the inner working of a complex machine.

  “What?” I said, as my stomach tumbled. What was he thinking? And, why did it worry me so much?

  “I’ve got an idea,” Jason said finally.

  He paused for a long moment, as if afraid to present his wondrous new idea.

  “Well?” I finally said, breaking the long silence.

  “You,” he said. As if that answered everything.

  “Me? What about me?”

  He smiled that smile of his. The one that could melt a girl’s heart and make her forget what was important in life.

  “You, Amber. You are the solution.”

  I took a deep breath and fought down the rising panic threatening to explode around me.

  “Please be more specific,” I said, as I tried to understand him.

  “You should be my girlfriend...”

  “Me?” I hissed, as I looked around frantically to see if anyone had heard him. The boy was going to ruin me socially. Even worse than I already was.

  “Let me finish,” he said holding up his hand. “It’d only be pretend. A fake girlfriend, boyfriend thing. Just enough to get them off my back.”

  Pretend? This could not be happening. This was so not how I had dreamed of my first relationship coming about. The entire public school idea was starting look crazier and crazier every minute.

  “So, let me see if I understand correctly,” I said. “You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend, so you don’t have to select a girlfriend.”

  “Yes, exactly,” he said with a smile.

  I shook my head and started to gather my stuff so I could get away from him. The man was seriously deranged.

  Jason held out a hand to gently hold me in place. “Hear me out. Please.”

  I sighed and sat back down. The least I could do would be to hear his crazy idea.

  “It’s perfect,” he said. “It gets them off my back. A month from now they will all have trapped other boys into painful relationships. We can break up. Go our separate ways. Perfect.”

  This was so ridiculous. My heart was jumping around like an excited frog.

  “Jason, you can’t be serious.”

  He looked at me for a long, serious moment. “I am very serious. This is the perfect solution.”

  “What’s in it for me?” I asked. Ever the practical person. “What if I was hoping to find someone myself? I can’t exactly do that if I’m supposed to be in a relationship with you.”

  “Who?” Jason asked, as he frowned back at me.

  I swallowed hard. Of course there wasn’t someone else. But, there was no way I was telling him that.

  “It doesn’t matter who.” I said. “It’s the principle of the thing.”

  He smiled again and shook his head. “Again, perfect. If you do find someone else. Then, being my girlfriend will make him jealous. Right? Not only that. You’ve got to admit. Being my girlfriend will greatly increase your social status.”

  “Jesus,” I said, as I looked up to the ceiling of the cafeteria. “Do you hear yourself? That has to be one of the most conceited things I’ve ever heard.”

  He shook his head and said, “No, not really. I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about my social status. A fact that in reality has nothing to do with me as a person and everything to do with how others perceive me. I am just saying, that as my girlfriend, your social status will increase. For one thing, people, meaning the other girls, will stop ignoring you.”

  A massive cringe moment passed over me. He had noticed that, had he?

  I had to put a stop to this now. Things were getting to that hurtful stage.

  “Jason, this is ridiculous. Funny, but ridiculous.”

  “No Amber,” he said. “It’s not. It solves both our problems and doesn’t really cost us that much.”

  Great, now I was a low-cost item.

  “This wouldn’t work anyway. They could tell that it was fake. There is no way they are going to think that you are my boyfriend.”

  His eyebrows narrowed in confusion for a moment. “Why not?” he asked. “You’re beautiful, you’re smart. You live next door to me. It’s a natural.”

  My stomach froze as the idea slowly began to seep into my soul. Could I do this? Should I do this? I had to admit, the idea of seeing Cindy’s face when she found out was just delicious. What would Ruby think? She’d probably laugh her butt off.

  No, this couldn’t happen. So many things could go wrong.

  Jason seemed to read my mind. “Listen,” he said, “you can break up with me at the right time. A big public display. Dump me. List all my many shortcomings to the world. Think what that will do for your image.”

  “I don’t care about my image,” I said.

  “Yeah, right,” he replied with a chuckle.

  Was he right? Did I really care what these people thought of me? Then, a sudden thought popped into my mind. This would be a perfect way to learn about the whole relationship thing without actually having to get emotionally involved. I could get my feet wet without having to be dunked into the dating world.

  He was staring at me, waiting.

  “How would this work?” I asked.

  His face lit up like a Christmas tree, as he realized I had stopped shooting the idea down.

  “Nothing special. I post something on Facebook. They see us talking. Maybe holding hands. I walk you to your classes. You look at me with adoring puppy eyes. You know, the typical.”

  I scoffed at his mention of puppy eyes. Like that was happening. Then, I blanched as my mind flashed back to that first day at school. The couple locked in an embrace. Their hands wandering over each other.

  Would he expect that? Would I mind if he did?

  “So, no, um ... real physical intimacy.” I said, as my cheeks burst into flame. It was unbelievable that I was having this discussion with Jason Turner.

  “No,” he said, as he shook his head. “Of course, not unless you want to.” That silly smirk of his had returned full force.

  The conceited jerk. “Get over yourself Jason. I’m doing this for you. Remember.”

  He smiled. “Then, you agree?”

  I paused for a long moment, then slowly nodded my head.

  “But, only pretend. And, only we can know. If anyone finds out, I will ruin your life. I don’t know how, but I will.” The idea of everyone discovering that Jason was only pretending to be my boyfriend filled me with pure terror for some reason. If I examined it, I would have to admit, part of the reason I was agreeing to this charade was because I wanted people to think that a boy like Jason Turner could pick me to be his girlfriend.

  Something inside of me was jumping with pure joy and fighting with the other part of me that was terrified. Whatever happens, Amber, I said to myself. It won’t be boring.

  Chapter Seven

  Jason

  My heart pounded in my chest as I walked next to Amber. What had I done? This was ridiculous. The whole idea had been to avoid situations like this. Yet, here I was, walking a beautiful girl to her class, instead of finishing my notes for Peterson’s trig class. This is what happens when you don’t plan things out, I told myself.

  An awkward silence had risen between us as we weaved our way through the hallway crowds. A silent wall. A barrier to all conversation. A few minutes ago, we had been talking like friends. Neighbors. Teenagers plotting and planning. Now, after the mere mention of girlfriend, boyfriend, even in the pretend state, it was like we were two strangers trapped in a lifeboat together. Nowhere to go and the last place we wanted to be.

  More than a few people raised an eyebrow at us as they passed us in the hall. I swear they could see the awkward wall between us. The barrier sending of a psychic message of togetherness.

&nb
sp; I could see it now. It didn’t take much in this place to get the tongues wagging.

  Amber turned to me as we reached her room, a small smile creasing those delectable lips of hers.

  “Um... What now,” she whispered.

  Before I could stop myself, I bent down and lightly kissed those delicious red lips.

  She didn’t gasp. Didn’t slap me. She played her part well. Leaning in, she returned my kiss briefly, then pulled away. A quick smile and she was through the door and into her room.

  I stood there for a moment. Lost in the memory of that brief kiss. My mind reeled, as it tried to come to some kind of understanding. My entire body hummed and I felt about two feet taller. What was that all about?

  “Jason Lee Turner, what are you doing?” Marla asked, as she came up behind me. Her hands were on her hips. She had the same stare our mom got when she was disappointed.

  “You stay out of this,” I hissed as I tried to get past her. The last thing I needed was my little sister getting all judgmental on me.

  She grabbed my arm and gave me a concerned look. Like Mom, she could see through most of my deceptions. I really didn’t want her knowing the truth. She’d kill me, then tell my mom what I’d done.

  “Is it official,” she asked. “I mean, are you guys like dating, or what?”

  I almost told her to mind her own business, then remembered that the whole point of this was pretend I had a girlfriend so I’d be left alone. But, if I came right out and said it, Marla would know I was lying.

  “None of your business,” I snapped.

  She laughed and said, “That is a non-denial denial if I ever heard one.”

  I kept my mouth shut. Let her draw her own conclusions.

  Her eyes studied me for a long moment, then she seemed to relax. “Be careful big Bro,” she said. “Hearts are easily broken.”

  “I’m not going to break her heart.”

  Marla laughed. “Who said I was talking about her.”

  She gave me one last sisterly concerned look, then turned and hurried to her class.

  The warning bell rang, reminding me to get my head out of the clouds and get to class. Coach Erikson would kill me if I got detention.

  See, this was why I didn’t want a girlfriend, remember? It had only been minutes and already I was getting behind schedule. My mind was off wandering. Thinking about kisses and the soft scent of vanilla.

  I was sliding into my desk, as the last bell rang and Mr. Peterson started the class.

  A warm prickly feeling on my neck made me glance over my shoulder. Julie Short was shooting me a look of pure death. A quick glance around the room let me know that several other girls were feeling pretty much the same thing. Wow, that was fast.

  Johnny Templeton, one of our better defensive linemen, leaned over and said, “So, you and the new chick, smooth, buddy, very smooth.”

  I had to fight not to laugh out loud. Leave it to Marla, the girl was better than Facebook, google, and yahoo when it came to spreading the word. I just wondered how things were going for Amber.

  .o0o.

  I should have been furious with him. Kissing me like that without any warning. But, deep down, I couldn’t be mad at the guy. It was too perfect. The look of surprise on Sheryl Anderson’s face was priceless. It was as if someone had stolen her favorite teddy bear.

  She was probably regretting the whole concept of slumming in an easy Art Appreciation class. She should have stuck with her debate and Latin classes. She wouldn’t have had to watch the ruination of all of her plans.

  Flipping my hair over my shoulder like I didn’t have a care in the world, I sat at my desk and tried not to smile too big.

  It’s only pretend, I kept reminding myself. He doesn’t really mean it. That kiss was just for show.

  That didn’t slow my pounding heart, nor remove the tingle still on my lips where his had touched mine. I knew I was being silly. But, a girl’s first kiss was special. Especially, when she gets to be seventeen and never kissed. It takes on all kind of weird meaning.

  The fact that it had happened in public. With a gazillion people watching wasn’t exactly how I would have planned it. But, it was with a super-hot guy, and Sheryl Anderson was eating her heart out. So, it did have that going for it. Plus, my entire body felt like a harp string. As if it would snap at a moment’s notice.

  “Was that Jason Turner?” Bridget Smith whispered. Her eyes were as big as beach balls. “Is he your boyfriend?” Obviously, the girl had serious doubts.

  My instinct was to deny and avoid the whole subject, but then I remembered the purpose of that kiss. Jason wanted to tell the world we were a couple. This was the plan, remember. It was all pretend. Go with it.

  So, I just smiled and nodded slightly. My insides might be rebelling. It wasn’t right. But, that didn’t stop me from continuing the farce.

  Bridget squealed, and then immediately turned to tell the girl on the other side of her. Within seconds the word had spread through the class like a fire through a library. I kept my head down and concentrated on my work. All the while, my fingers itched to take out my sketch pad and work on the drawing of Jason. I thought I might have figured out what to do with the lips. Definitely. I had a much better idea on how to draw his lips.

  The rest of the day passed in a blur. I didn’t see Jason once. Our fifth-period classes were too far apart, and he was off to football practice for sixth. My stomach sort of ached, and I swore my lips wanted another kiss. But, it wasn’t to be.

  People did treat me differently, though. Where before I was invisible, ignored, and unknown. Now, I was very much known, but still ignored. At least at first. It was as if people didn’t know how to treat the news. Should they believe it? What would the queen bees do?

  I ignored them as I made my way to my last class of the day.

  A sudden wild perfume entered my awareness. An arm pulled me into a tight hug.

  “New girl,” Ruby said with a huge smile. “You are my new hero.” And with that, she was off, lost into the crowd. A short skirt, big boots, and a warm hug. I think I was going to end up liking that girl.

  As the bell rang for the end of the day, I sent up a silent thank you for having made through it unscathed. At least I thought I had, until I found my path blocked by Cindy Cooper and three of her minions.

  She stared at me like I was a slug out for a stroll in her garden.

  “So, it’s true,” she said with an evil sneer. “You and Jason Turner.”

  I ignored her and tried to squeeze between her and Jessica Banks, chief minion.

  “You know,” Cindy said, as I pushed through, “it won’t last. There is absolutely no way Jason will stay interested in a girl like you.”

  You could have heard a pin drop in the hallway. Two hundred kids might have been within hearing distance of her remarks, and not one of them was breathing. Everyone waiting to hear what I would say.

  I was tempted to ignore her. But, I was getting to like the power that came with being Jason’s girlfriend. Even if it was only pretend. This was supposed to be one of the benefits, I reminded myself.

  This girl had gone out of her way to make me a pariah. An untouchable. Well, two could play this game.

  Turning, I smiled sweetly. “Maybe,” I said looking straight into her eyes. “But, we both know. He picked me first. And, no matter what happens from this point forward. You can never be better than second.” And, with that, I turned and actually flounced a little, as I left her there in her own curdled cream of a life.

  Things were pretty cool until I got ready to step onto the bus. Marla. I had forgotten about Marla. How was she going to take all this? What would she think if she learned we weren’t really boyfriend and girlfriend? For some reason, our deciept didn’t seem so harmless all of a sudden.

  She had saved me a seat next to her. At least she didn’t completely hate me.

  Her eyes bore into me, as I made my way down the long aisle. No smile. No welcoming grin. Just a steady star
e as she waited.

  I sat down next to her and held my breath.

  “If you hurt him,” she said. “I will cut you into little pieces and feed you to my fish.”

  I almost laughed until I saw she was very serious.

  Gulping, I nodded. Then said. “Marla, this is Jason we’re talking about. I promise you. He will not get hurt.”

  She studied me for a long moment, then her shoulders relaxed as she accepted my statement. I was so tempted to tell her the truth. So tempted to unburden myself. If it had been anyone other than her brother, I would have. But, I couldn’t. Instead, I swallowed my words and waited.

  Marla smiled at me, and I knew we were going to be okay.

  “My brother?” she said. “I thought you had more sense than that.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, well, what can I say? I’m a pushover for a hot body and a sweet smile.”

  Marla joined me in laughing and said, “Aren’t we all. And, ewww, that’s my brother we’re talking about.”

  My world returned to semi-normal. I was able to breathe. Able to think in a straight line. This might work if I was careful. It might work.

  Marla jumped into asking me a dozen questions, the how, when, where of it all.

  I gave generic answers where I could. Jason and I really should have coordinated our story. I ignored her questions and tried to shift things to what she had heard and what people were saying.

  That was all the encouragement Marla needed. She had a dozen different tales of hurt feelings and lost dreams. I swear the girl reveled in each one. I was learning that Marla had a bit of a vindictive streak in her. It reminded me that I did not want to get on the wrong side of this girl.

  When we got off the bus, she gave me a quick hug and said she was happy for Jason. At least for now. But, that he’d probably screw it up somehow.

  I laughed. No one must ever know. Every minute this charade kept going drew us deeper into a weird world of lies, deceit, and denials. Not a happy place to be. Especially, for a new couple. Even if it was only pretend.

  Chapter Eight

  Amber

  I had just finished the dishes and was headed up to my room when my phone buzzed with a text message.