The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(2)
“You guys want to come over tomorrow and watch some movies?” I ask, looking over at Jessie. The thought of going all weekend without seeing him does not appeal to me.
“Aren’t you working?” Sophie questions, taking a bite of the granola bar.
I nod. I work in my mom’s bakery most Saturday afternoons and pick up the odd shift during the week when I don’t have practice. “I meant afterward. Tomorrow night? We could order pizza?”
Sophie nods in agreement but Jessie doesn’t respond, doesn’t even glance my way. His eyes are once again fixed on something behind me and I’m just about to turn around to look at what it is when Sophie sits up straighter too, focusing her gaze, flipping her hair over her shoulder, and smiling coyly.
“Hey, guys, hey!” Jessie calls out, and I turn in confusion to see Chase Mitchell and Aaron Wilson cutting across the grass behind me toward the parking lot. They turn at Jessie’s shout and after glancing quickly at each other, they divert toward us.
Of course. It’s my turn to smirk at Sophie as she tilts her head to the side and eyes Chase through hooded lids. Sophie has had a crush on Chase Mitchell for years—along with the rest of the female population of our school. He’s the star of the boys’ soccer team, and as far as I can tell, actually an okay guy. We played co-ed soccer together way back when we were little, but the most interaction we ever have these days is a nod of acknowledgement on one of the rare occasions I might see him outside of school or a couple of words when he gives me his order at my mom’s bakery. Inside of school, he sticks to his own crowd, and I stick to mine. Still, as far as popular guys go, he seems to be okay. Aaron is his best friend and is crazy popular too, but more in a friendly sort of way than Chase’s big-man-on-campus way. They’re both on the soccer team, which is undefeated this year and has a huge number of fans that show up every week to watch them play. Honestly, the discrepancy between how many fans they have and the number the girls’ soccer team has is embarrassing. The boys’ team is a big deal around here, and Jessie has tried out for it every year since we were freshmen but has never made it past JV.
I bite back a snort as Sophie repositions her body, pushing her chest out, and she subtly gives me the finger, never once taking her eyes off the guys approaching us from behind me. My focus shifts to Jessie and in truth, he’s not much better than Sophie. He has this stupid grin on his face and he starts to rise in his seat to greet them before thinking better of it and sitting back down. I swear Jessie’s crush on Chase is almost as big as Sophie’s. He seems to idolize the guy, always trying to hang out with him and his friends and talking about soccer whenever he gets close to him. If I didn’t find Jessie so adorable, I’d probably find it kind of pathetic.
“Hey guys,” Aaron says as they get closer. He stops at the end of the table between us, his eyes scanning around. “Sup, Chapman?”
I grin back at his greeting. I never spoke to Aaron until junior year. I knew who he was of course—everyone knows who he is—and he’s on the soccer team so I’ve seen him play a bunch of times, but I’m pretty shy and our paths barely crossed. Then we got paired up in chemistry last year and have been lab partners ever since. I get why he’s so popular now—he has me in stitches almost every class.
“Hey.”
“Hey, great game last night.” Jessie starts looking directly at Chase. “That second goal was insane, man. Totally your best one of the season.” Chase doesn’t even bother to crack a smile at the compliment, just kind of nods in agreement. Jessie doesn’t let up though. “Seriously man, the scouts there were going nuts. You’ll be able to go to any school in the country after this season.”
Aaron coughs suddenly, which I’m pretty certain he’s just doing to cover up his snort. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Jessie fangirl over Chase.
“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” Chase mutters.
“And think of the girls—they’ll be lining up to cheer you on.”
I screw up my face at this. Ew. Why does it always come back to this? Why can’t Chase just want to play soccer for the enjoyment of it? Who cares about girls cheering him on?
Chase just stares back at him. “Whatever, man.”
“Don’t mention girls lining up to Abigail,” Aaron says, grinning next to Chase and glancing over at him. “She’ll poison you before your next match.
Chase starts to laugh. Abigail Baker is Chase’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. She’s the sort of girl you have to look twice at just to make sure she’s real—she’s that hot. With her huge boobs and tiny waist, tanned skin and blonde hair, she’s every teenage boy’s wet dream, and I know Jessie thinks she’s amazing, something that bothers me way more than it should considering she’d never look twice at him. “Dude, I told you this morning, that shit’s done.”
Sophie sits up straighter in her seat at this news like it interests her, and I feel like rolling my eyes. She’s delusional if she actually believes they’re over. I’m hardly the fount of all knowledge when it comes to the two most popular kids in school, but even I know they’ve been breaking up and getting back together for the last three years. They date, Abigail throws a fit about something, they break up, Abigail dates someone else, Chase dates someone else, Abigail gets jealous, is a total bitch to whichever girl is brave enough to be with Chase, and then inevitably Chase and Abigail get back together before the whole cycle starts all over again. If you cared enough to pay attention, you’d probably get whiplash from all the back and forth.