FAKE

9

today was monday, meaning joey and i are supposed to stage a break up today and i wasn't ready for the laughs, and the constant stares and whispers. and i bet tori will even make some snotty comment about how she's back with joey. 

i saw audrey standing by my locker picking at her nails. she looked up as i got closer to her.  

"hey," she said and pushed herself off the locker next to mine.  

"hi," i responded and opened my locker. i put my bag in my locker and took out my folders. i grabbed a pencil and shut my locker. i slipped my phone into my back pocket and audrey and i walked down the hallway in silence.  

"can i ask you something?" she asked and i looked at her. "on friday, it seemed like you were acting different."

"apparently i got drunk" i said and she giggled.  

"i know i was talking to you when the alcohol finally hit you. but you seemed different with  joey. you two are normally close, but, you seemed, closer that night. almost like the feelings towards each other were actually real" she whispered the last part. "do you like him?" she asked.

i bit my lip. i think i do. but should i tell her?  

"oh god, you do don't you" she said.  

"i don't know" i said. 

"you don't know?" she asked.  

"i don't know if i like him. i know that all of this is just an act but when we're alone he treats me like we're more than friends" i said. "like the other day, we almost kissed and we were by ourselves, no one was around" i said.  

"really?" she asked.  

"i've been thinking about it all weekend" i said.  

"are you gonna tell him?" she asked. i sighed and shook my head.  

"i can't" i said. "if i tell him, and he doesn't like me back then it'll ruin our friendship" i said.  

"but he took you home when you were drunk, he cares about you" she said.  

"it's what a best friend would do" i said. "he thinks of me as his little sister, or best, best friend, and if i told him, all of that would disappear" i said.  

"he'd be crazy if he didn't like you, avery" she said and i smiled.  

"thanks auds." i said. she nodded and then i saw him, talking to charles. it looked like he was stressed out about something. i watched as he ran a hand through his chocolate brown hair and then glanced over at me making eye contact.

"oh dear," i said and quickly turned around.  

"avery, where are you going? class is this way!" she shouted as i was already half way down the hall. i plan on avoiding joey all day. i don't want to talk to him, and i really don't want things to end between us.  

"avery," i heard someone say. oh my god, it was joey. i picked up my pace and someone grabbed my elbow and turned me around. dammit, why does he have to be so fast?  

"are you avoiding me?" he smirked.  

"no" i lied and he raised an eyebrow at me.  

"you're avoiding eye contact, you're lying to me" he said. i looked back up at him, and met eye contact with his hazel eyes then i looked away.  

"avery why are you avoiding me?" he asked.  "are you mad? did i do something wrong? did i say something?" he actually looked concerned.  

"no joey. i didn't even realize i was avoiding you, sorry if you thought that" i said. maybe i am a good liar.  

"its okay" he said.  he pulled me in the direction towards class.  

"so how do you want to do this" he asked. i was afraid he was going to say that.  

"i don't care, honestly" i said and he stopped me.  

"yeah you do" he said.  "you want to break up with me, right" he whispered.  

"no you do it" i said.  "it'll look better if you do it, because it'll seem like you're over me" i said.  

"avery..."  

"just do it joey" i said. "do it loud enough so people can hear you." 

"i don't want to be the bad guy here" he said. 

"you've done it with other girls, why can't you just do it with me?" i asked, folding my arms across my chest.  

"because this is different avery." he said.  

"how is this different?" i asked.  

"because you're different. you're  different then most girls i date" he said.  "i don't want the guys to call you names and make fun of you and i don't want to pretend to laugh along with them. so please, just do it."  

"joey, just get it over with" i said. "rip it off, like a band aid" i said and he sighed.  

"this won't affect anything right" he asked.  

"no joey" i said.

"wait but i don't want to avoid you for a while" he said as charles ran over to us. 

"dude" charles said.  

"tori's dating someone, she moved on man!" he said and patted his back. joey looked at me. so what does this mean?  "we're talking dude, leave" joey said and charles looked at me.  

"oh, sorry" he said and walked over to the other guys. they all started whispering. 

"so," i said.  

"this isn't working, if she moved on then we need to do something else... dammit" he said and sighed angrily. he raked a hand through his brown hair and then looked back down at me.  

"i guess we're going to have to keep doing this" he said. wait really? "but we need to move to the next level, step it up, you know?" he said. i nodded.  

okay maybe i was a little excited for this... he pecked my cheek, and grabbed my hand. we walked back down the hallway and i saw tori on the lockers making out with someone.  

"tori's over there" i said and looked up at joey. i don't think he was even listening. i could tell he was thinking about something.  

"joey?" i said. he looked down at me. 

"wear my jersey tomorrow" he said.  

"what?" i asked.  

"tomorrow's our first game, people will be there, and she'll be there. so wear my jersey" he said.  "we have to start to make people think that this isn't just some fling between us." he doesn't know how much i wish this was real.

"so i'll bring you to school tomorrow, and you'll wear my jersey" he said and i nodded. "that should do it" he said and nodded to himself.  he stopped at my class and pecked my lips.  

"i'll see you at lunch avery" he said and then walked away to catch up to his friends. i saw audrey sitting at her desk and i walked over to her and sat next to her.  

"hey, what happened?" she asked.  

"we're still dating" i said. she raised her eyebrows at me. yeah, i'm surprised too. 

"tori's dating some guy" i said.  "i think he's a senior, so joey said we should date longer" i whispered and she nodded.  

"what a coincidence" she said and looked down at the paper in front of her.  

"what?" i asked.  

"it's like, all of this happened the day he was supposed to end it."