The Truth About Faking

watch Trent leaving. My brain’s spinning, and I’m grasping for anything to make him stop walking away.
    “Wait… Trent…” is all I come up with.
    He looks back and smiles, and I know he’s conceding to Jason. But then…
    “Oh, Harley.” He stops and takes a step back toward me as if suddenly remembering something. My heart rises… “Does Shelly have a date to the luau?”
    “Shelly?” Oh. My. God.
    “Yeah. I was thinking I’d… well,” he glances at Jason. “Maybe she’d like to go to the luau with me?”
    “Go for it, Big T!” Jason is so encouraging, I can’t wait to hit him over the head with my books.
    “I don’t think she has a date.” I think I might cry.
    “Okay.” Trent gives me a small smile. Yes. Definitely cry. “Maybe you could put in a good word for me?”
    “I’d love to…” I start, but I can’t finish.
    I’d been planning to say, “I’d love to go with you to the luau,” but it’s all wrong. He smiles and says something about being late as he does a little wave and walks away. I do a little wave back and turn slowly toward algebra, shoulders drooping.
    “Are you in here next period?” Jason asks. I nod, unable to speak. My whole plan. Out the window.
    “That’s awesome! So am I.”
    “Awesome,” I mumble.
    He laughs. “Somehow, I don’t think you mean it. What’s the matter?”
    I look up at him standing there all smiling and happy, and for some reason that does it. “You just ruined everything!”
    “What?”
    “You ruined it. All of it!” I storm through the door, Jason right behind me.
    “I don’t get you, H.D.”
    “I was trying to get Trent to ask me to the luau,” I lower my voice. “And you just big fat came up and ruined everything!”
    His smile disappears. “You wanted Trent to ask you to the luau?”
    “You might be fascinated to learn that I had a life before you rammed me with your car yesterday.”
    “I figured that—”
    “And you didn’t save my life, you nearly took it,” I continue, irritation surging through me. “I feel like taking yours.”
    He smiles and leans forward. “I love feisty women.”
    My lips clench and I try to shove him, but my bag strap falls and I trip over his stupid foot instead. He catches me. Strong arms. I quickly push away and sink into my chair.
    “Just leave me alone.” I drop my elbows on the desk and my face in my hands.
    “Look,” Jason’s tone softens and he takes the seat right beside me. “I’ll talk to Trent and tell him it was all a misunderstanding. Tell him to ask you to the luau… or something.”
    I think about that. Then I drop my hands and shake my head. “That would just make me look pathetic. Or desperate. Or not good enough for you of all people.”
    “I’d never say any of that about you,” Jason smiles, glancing at my hair and dress. “You clean up real nice.”
    My eyes narrow. “Just let me think about it. I’ll figure out something.”
    The bell rings, and Mrs. Gipson calls class to order. But I can’t concentrate on algebra. I can’t concentrate on anything but how Jason just wrecked everything again, and now I have to figure out how to fix this, to salvage my plan.
    I plot out several different scenarios as I watch the second-hand tick. Somehow I have to go to the luau with Jason and appear to be having a super-fun time without also seeming like I like him too much. I watch Mrs. Gipson scribble out a formula she says we should memorize for the SATs, and it hits me. Stephanie dumped Trent because she’s going away to college in California. She doesn’t want a long-distance boyfriend, so she callously broke his heart. What if my heart is callously broken in the same way? It’ll give Trent and me something in common, and since he’s so wonderful, he’ll naturally want to comfort me!
    I take a deep breath as a smile spreads across my face. It’s the perfect plan. I can’t wait for the bell to ring.
     
    Lunch follows third period, and of course, Jason and I have the same lunch shift. Sadly, Trent and I do not. But today it doesn’t matter because we need to strategize.
    “How great is it that we have lunch together?” Jason asks as we walk toward the cafeteria.
    “It’s a fluke,” I say. My plan is awesome, but I’m still annoyed with him for making it necessary.
    He ignores my tone. “So what have you decided about Friday?”
    “Well, I’ve been thinking,” I say as he holds the cafeteria door for me. “I’ve got an idea for how you