The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(52)

“He’s a total handful. Seriously, my mom should rent him out to schools—one afternoon with him and it’d be enough to turn teenagers off from having sex for life. Kids are hard work.”

“Oh yeah?” He suddenly perks up, and I blush realizing I just brought up sex. It’s not something we’ve discussed at all before.

“Not that I’d know. I mean, I’ve never…I haven’t…you know…”

He starts to laugh at my complete awkwardness.

“I mean, I know people do it—obviously they do. I’m sure you’ve done it. I mean, I know you have.”

He cocks an eyebrow at me. Oh my God! I am actually talking to Chase about his sex life.

“Oh, sorry. That’s none of my business. It’s just, you know, rumors at school and stuff.”

He shakes his head, but I can see he’s amused.

“I’m sorry, I just—what I mean is, I haven’t ever—”

“Liv! Relax. I get it.”

My face is probably the same shade as Sophie’s favorite lipstick right now. I cannot believe how ridiculous I am.

“It’s a shame though.”

“What is?”

“You not wanting to have sex.”

My jaw hits the floor.

“I mean, you’re an athlete.” He stretches his arms up over his head, all casual like we’re having a perfectly normal conversation. “Your stamina would be great, and my guess is you’d be pretty good at it.”

I just sit there, my mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, at a complete loss for what to say while he nearly kills himself laughing at me. He’s so busy laughing that he doesn’t have time to duck when I launch a pillow at his head with all my strength. It’s only later that night when I think back on our conversation that I realize what he did—he made me forget about my crappy dad.





I’M STUDYING IN THE LIBRARY after school when Sophie appears in front of me.

“Awesome about Jessie, huh?”

My heart gives the familiar hammer in my chest at the mention of his name, but I raise my eyebrows questioningly. I don’t know what she’s talking about.

Sophie looks confused. “Didn’t he tell you? He’s starting on the varsity team against Liberty.”

My jaw drops open. No, he didn’t tell me. He’s wanted to play on the varsity team since he was a freshman so this is huge news, and he didn’t tell me.

“He didn’t say anything about it to me,” I tell her, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Three months ago I would have been the first person he told about this. When I was sick, things went back to normal between us, but in the couple of weeks since I’ve been better he’s been surgically attached to Courtney, even more so than usual, and has even been skipping lunch with us. Last week I was walking down the hall and I swear he saw me, turned, and walked away. I honestly nearly burst into tears. I clear my throat. “How come he got the call up?”

I know I sound disloyal, but there has to be a reason behind it. Jessie is never going to be Coach Jones’ first choice.

“Well, it’s just a scrimmage against Liberty. Chase, Aaron, and a bunch of others have been pulled since they won the championship, and since the game doesn’t count for anything in terms of the league, Jones wanted to give some of the JV team a chance, especially seniors since it’s their last season.”

That makes sense. It’s tradition at our school to play a scrimmage against Liberty—our local rival—every year. Chase and the team won state last weekend and they’ve got nothing left to prove. Why not let the JV squad play? The state finals were incredible. It felt like most of the school was there to support them, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. They won easily, and it made me even hungrier for our own finals, which are slowly approaching. I know we’re capable of taking state too, and then I think about how Jessie is barely looking at me, let alone talking to me. He probably won’t come to my game, and the thought makes me want to start crying all over again.

“Livs?”

I force a smile at Sophie and try to look happy for Jessie, but it’s hard. It’s hard when I know how much this will mean to him and he hasn’t shared the news with me himself.

Sophie can read me like a book. “I’m sure he was going to tell you.”

I shrug.

“Chase didn’t mention it?”

I shake my head. Chase doesn’t talk about Jessie; it’s an agreement we’ve come to. He can’t hide the dislike he has for him, and I won’t have anyone say anything bad about Jessie, so it inevitably leads to arguments. We’ve learned to just not talk about him.

“When’s the game?” I ask.

“Tomorrow after school.”

I smile. “That’s awesome.” It really is. Jessie’s finally going to get one of his big high school moments.

Sophie glances down at her watch. “You know, I think Coach Jones called a last-minute training session for those who are playing tomorrow. You can probably catch him before he goes home.”

I bite my lip. I hate this. I hate that things are so strange between us at the moment that I’m even second-guessing approaching him to congratulate him. I mean, he’s my best friend, for Christ’s sake, but whenever I’m around him recently, he just seems so irritated with me.