The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(33)

“Nice! You lucky bitch,” Tia exclaims. She reaches out and bumps my shoulder with her fist, her way of showing respect. Hugs are forbidden for Tia. “That boy is fine. I didn’t know he went for soccer players or I would have gotten on that.”

“Didn’t he hook up with Brittany and Mel last year?” I ask, listing two of the girls on our team. For someone who’s had an on-again, off-again girlfriend for the last three years, he’s certainly gotten around. Hopefully they’re not pissed I’m with Chase—well, pretending to be with Chase, but they don’t know that.

“Please. He hooked up with them for like two minutes at a party before forgetting them and crawling back to Abigail.”

“Yeah, has he ever actually had an official girlfriend other than Abigail?” Hallie asks, looking between us like we should know. I shrug my shoulders. I’m no expert on Chase’s love life. “This is big,” she confirms.

I laugh nervously. This is so unrealistic that I don’t understand how anyone’s buying it. Chase Mitchell and I just don’t make sense on any level, and why is he so desperate to put Abigail off? The truth is, they’ve been on and off for three years, so he must have feelings for her—you can’t just switch that off.

“Hey guys.” An arm is slung around my shoulders and I turn to see Sophie at my side. “You talking about the hottest couple in school?”

I snort and bump my hip into hers. “Shut up.”

“They’re like this hot, sexy, soccer-playing power couple.”

I burst out laughing and shove her again. “You’re so full of it.” I smile as she winks back at me then turns back to the girls, who are smiling at her.

“No cheerleaders allowed in here,” Tia teases her. She doesn’t mean it; she might think the rest of the cheerleaders are airheads, but everyone likes Sophie—everyone.

“Bite me, Ramirez,” Sophie replies instantly. Tia laughs and drifts away. Hallie looks at her walking away and something like panic crosses her face, and I notice she’s blushing a little.

“Uh, see you out there,” she tells me before turning to Sophie and turning a darker shade of pink. “See you later, Sophie.”

She darts away from us, leaving me looking after her. I’m pretty sure Hallie has a crush on Sophie, and that exchange only confirmed it further. Whenever Sophie’s around, Hallie gets all bashful and tongue-tied. Sophie doesn’t notice, and I’m not about to bring it up. Hallie will come to terms with her sexuality in her own time; I just hope she’s not tying herself in knots about it the way I do with Jessie.

“Do you need something?” I ask her, pulling my cleats out of my gym bag.

“Can you come over later? I want to binge on Dawson’s.”

I nod my head. We recently discovered Dawson’s Creek and have been doing multiple-hour binges on it. We’ve both agreed it would be sacrilege to watch an episode without the other. I glance down at her cheer uniform. “Do you have practice?”

She nods. “But I should still be able to catch the end of yours.” I smile. She’s so supportive. Despite the fact that she has her own practice, she usually hangs back for an extra half an hour so she can see the end of soccer practice, and she’s the only one who does. Anyone else who watches the sports team practices is always watching the boys.

She steps in closer to me, her eyes darting around the room to make sure no one’s looking. “Abigail is pissed,” she whispers, a grin on her face. “She just screamed at Sasha for no reason, and when Sarah mentioned Chase’s name in passing, Abigail nearly ripped her hair out.”

I sigh uneasily. Abigail makes me nervous—seriously nervous. It is not a good idea to get on her bad side. When I mentioned this to Chase, he just dismissed it and said she wouldn’t say anything, but I’m not so sure now.

“Have people been asking you about it?”

I nod. “Yeah, all day.”

“What has Jessie said?”

I shrug. “Not much. He was pissed yesterday but I think he’s ignoring me today.”

Her face lights up. “He’s jealous.”

I shrug. I hope so, but I still don’t like that he didn’t show up to lunch today and hasn’t answered my texts.

“People have been asking me about you guys too.”

“What have you said?”

“That you’re together and you can’t keep your hands off each other.”

I snort and shake my head in disbelief. She’s enjoying this a lot more than she should be—definitely a lot more than I am. “I can’t believe everyone’s buying it. I mean, no one would ever put us together in a million years.”

She winks at me. “It’s because we all saw that kiss in the cafeteria—you can’t argue with chemistry like that.”



Practice is brutal today. The temperature is higher than it’s been in weeks, and Coach makes us run suicides for a solid 30 minutes until I feel like my legs are going to give out. He finally lets us stop for a water break, and it was only me, Hallie, and Maria still running at the end. Everyone else had given up and collapsed in exhaustion, which worries me. If we’re going to get to the state finals, we need everyone unwilling to give up.

“Don’t look at me like that, Chapman.”