The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(45)

“Are you okay, Abigail?” I ask quietly. She’s not; that much is obvious. She wasn’t okay at the party on Saturday night, and she’s not okay now.

“I’m fine,” she snaps back.

“Abigail—”

“I heard you were all over him like a rash after I left on Saturday,” she hurls at me, disgust all over her face. I try hard not to blush. I definitely was all over him, and he was all over me too.

“I thought you said you were there with someone else.”

“He’ll get bored,” she states, completely ignoring what I just said. “He always does and he always comes back to me.”

“You need—”

“Always!” she declares again, and I’m mortified to see her chin start to wobble as tears appear in her eyes.

I start to stand—to do what, I don’t know—but when you see someone so totally devastated right in front of you, it’s hard to feel anything but pity for them.

She turns on her heel before I’m even fully standing and storms away, leaving me and the rest of the class staring after her and wondering what on earth is going on. That was not the Abigail Baker we know.



“I heard Abigail hunted you down this morning.”

“Good morning to you too,” I mutter to Aaron, sliding into the seat beside him.

He grins sheepishly. “Sorry, morning.”

I turn away and pull out my textbook and paper then dig around, looking for a pen. After another minute, I find one in the deepest depths of my bag, and I pull it out. I turn to Aaron, and he’s still there waiting for me. “What?”

“Are you okay?”

I sigh. I’m getting tired of hearing about Abigail today. She only came up to me a couple of hours ago and it’s already gotten around school. It’s embarrassing and it’s unnecessary. Sophie caught up with me in between classes, telling me she wouldn’t have Abigail talking to me like that and promising she’d take care of it, and then Chase has been texting me about it too. It’s all totally pointless. I’m more worried about Abigail and the state she’s in than what she actually said to me. “I’m fine.”

“You sure? She can be a total bitch when she wants to be.”

I sigh. “Yeah. I mean, yeah, she was a bitch, but she…” I trail off. I don’t know how to say what I want to.

“What?”

I shrug. “She seemed like a bit of a mess, Aaron. She didn’t look or act like the Abigail Baker I’ve seen running this school for the last three years.”

“What do you mean?”

“She was upset—really upset, not just being bitchy—and she didn’t look as put together as she usually does. She looked tired and gaunt, and what was that about on Saturday? Letting that guy paw all over her in front of everyone just to get Chase’s attention?” I sigh. “I don’t know. Is she okay?”

Aaron pauses at that and I can see him racking his brain, trying to see if what I’ve said makes any sense to him. “I haven’t spoken to her much recently. Every time I have she’s just bitched about Chase, so I’ve avoided her.” Well that won’t help. She probably considered Aaron a friend too and now he’s ditched her along with Chase. He must read the look on my face. “Okay, okay, I get that it’s pretty shitty.”

I bite my lip, feeling guilty beyond belief. Here I am pining after Jessie and using Chase to get his attention, and meanwhile, Chase is trying to get rid of Abigail but having us act like a couple is breaking her heart. “She really loves him, huh?”

Aaron looks uncomfortable. “I don’t know. She’s always been obsessed with him, but they’re not right together. They never have been—not even at the start.”

Now it’s my turn to be surprised. “It must have been good at the start or they wouldn’t have stuck it out for so long.”

Aaron shifts uncomfortably.

“What?”

He turns away and looks around the room. He’s out of luck. The bell still hasn’t rung, students are still casually strolling in, and the teacher hasn’t started yet.

“Aaron!”

“Chase maybe didn’t always make her feel as important as he should have.”

I screw my brow up. “But isn’t it always her who breaks up with him? Not the other way around?”

“I don’t know…I kinda have this theory that she does it so she can see that he cares, so she can see that he always comes back to her and picks her over anyone else.”

That is some seriously messed-up shit. When I agreed to this, I had no idea how crazy their relationship actually was. Now, seeing the state she’s in and how Chase doesn’t seem even a little bit bothered—it must be killing her.

“Then why am I different?” I glance around quickly to make sure no one is listening and lower my voice. “We’re not even the real deal. Soph pointed out that she doesn’t usually react like this, and she’s right.”

Aaron shrugs. “You guys have been together longer than he usually stays with other girls.”

My eyes widen. “But it isn’t even real!”

He opens his mouth to say something but then snaps it shut. He looks around nervously. I wait for him to finish his sentence. “I guess she knows it’s different this time,” he finally tells me after a minute.