The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(54)
The next day Chase is waiting for me outside my last class of the day.
I try to force a smile at him but don’t quite succeed. I haven’t seen him all day. I avoided the cafeteria at lunch and although he’s texted me a couple of times, I haven’t replied. Jessie’s words keep flying through my head and I know it’s not Chase’s fault, but somehow he’s gotten between Jessie and me and I hate that.
“You okay?”
I shrug. “I’m fine.”
“You wanna talk?”
My eyes find his. “Jessie and I got into a fight.”
He nods in understanding. “I know.”
I sigh. I didn’t see anyone around yesterday after we got into it, but it doesn’t surprise me that he knows about it. He probably asked Sophie why I’ve been MIA all day. I look down the hallway, which is emptying out, all the kids glad to be free of school for the day, and then I turn back to Chase. “I’m gonna go home.”
“The game starts in twenty minutes. The team got dismissed early from their last classes because it’s an early kickoff.”
I have to bite my lip to stop myself from getting emotional. Whenever I think about the way Jessie spoke to me yesterday, it makes me want to bawl.
“Sophie, Mark, Aaron, and a bunch of others are heading over to the field,” he continues. I nod. Sophie asked me earlier if I wanted her to come and hang out with me this afternoon instead of watching the game, but I told her to go watch. One of us should support Jessie.
A thought suddenly occurs to me. “You’re not watching the game, are you?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “No.”
I nod, feeling relieved. If Jessie doesn’t want me there, he definitely doesn’t want Chase there, and I’m glad Chase is giving him his moment.
“You should go,” he tells me softly, his deep green eyes finding mine. This is what I like about Chase: without me even having to say anything, he just seems to get me. He knows despite what he thinks of Jessie, it’s killing me not to be able to support him today.
I scoff and shake my head. “He doesn’t want me there.” It hurts, but it’s the truth—he made that clear enough yesterday.
“You wanna see him play, huh?”
I shrug helplessly. Of course I want to see him play. I want to see Jessie get his moment in a Grove Valley varsity jersey, but it’s not going to happen.
Chase presses his lips together for another minute, his eyes not leaving mine, and then he darts his gaze down the hallway behind me before looking back to me. It’s like he’s trying to make his mind up about something. He reaches for my hand and pulls me into his side, leading me down the hallway. I don’t even think about pulling away from him. Holding Chase’s hand is something that initially caught me by surprise, but now we’ve slowly become more physical with each other ever since Jackson’s party. He holds my hand more, wraps his arms around me, and drops kisses on my cheek or in my hair when he’s next to me. He never kisses me on the mouth. He knows I only agreed to do that in front of Jessie and Abigail for the purpose of making them think we’re together, but these little acts of affection have crept in. It made me nervous at first, but I’ve realized he’s just an affectionate person, and to be honest, I really don’t mind it. It’s nice to have his attention, even if this is just to emphasize our fake relationship. After all the hurt Jessie inflicted yesterday, I need the comfort Chase brings to me.
He leads us down to a stairwell and begins to climb the stairs, ascending two flights until we’re up by the humanities rooms. He walks down the hall to the far end and enters a corner classroom. Ms. Fountain, a red-haired, middle-aged teacher who taught me in my first semester of freshman year, looks up in surprise and smiles when she sees Chase. Her eyes drop to our linked hands but she doesn’t mention it.
“Haven’t seen you up here in a while,” she tells him.
Chase nods, turning slightly pink in the cheeks. “I haven’t needed it.”
She smiles kindly. “So I see.” She turns to me. “Hi, Livy.”
“Hi,” I reply, looking at Chase in confusion. He doesn’t look at me but squeezes my hand gently.
“Well, have at it then,” she tells him, jerking her head toward the back of the room. “I have some papers to grade.”
She turns back to her books and I glance over at Chase, who tugs my hand and leads me to the back of the room. He goes to the side of the window and pulls up the blinds, securing the string before turning back to me. I raise an eyebrow, still confused, but then he raises a hand to my shoulder and maneuvers my body so I’m facing out the window.
That’s when I see the perfect view of the soccer pitch, completely unobstructed and possibly even better than if you were in the stands and had people jumping up in front of you.
My jaw falls open. “No way.”
He smiles at my reaction. “You won’t miss any of it.”
I shake my head in amazement. I’ve been going to this school for over three years and I never knew this room had such a perfect view. “How did you know about this?” I ask him, never taking my eyes off the pitch. The teams are running out and I can spot Jessie’s auburn hair from here. He might have been talking about it being a pity game, but the grin that covers his face proves how much this means to him. My heart lifts just that little bit at the look on his face.