The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(84)
I stare back at her in confusion. I have no idea what she’s talking about.
“Before you he didn’t look twice at soccer players. You’ve paved the way for the rest of us.” I blink rapidly, trying to hide any emotion on my face. The thought of Chase being with one of my teammates makes me feel ill. “And I volunteer to try to hit that first because that boy is fine and it would be a damn shame not to try to mend his broken heart.”
I swallow hard and stare straight ahead, trying to force down the tears that are threatening to appear. I hate the thought of him with Maria. I hate the thought of him with anyone, but I know that’s ridiculous—I have Jessie now.
“Don’t be a bitch,” Hallie says, shoving her with her shoulder. Maria laughs and walks off, Tia following her.
Hallie offers me a sympathetic smile. “I heard a couple of people in English talking about how you and Chase weren’t really dating.”
I bite the inside of my lip. I’ve been waiting for someone to say that to me, to comment on the fact that Chase was asking me if it was real when we were fighting outside Jessie’s house.
“Chase told them to stop running their mouths. He said there was nothing fake about how he felt about you, which definitely shut them up.”
This tiny bit of information makes my heart soar. Part of me knows it’s him just covering for me because he knows I wouldn’t want our business to become public knowledge—well, more so than it already is; even if he won’t look at me, he still has my back. Another part of me knows it’s true. There was nothing fake about the way we felt about each other, not by the end.
“And”—my attention shifts back to Hallie—“Abigail found me earlier today. She apologized for what she said about me.” Her face blushes pink. We’ve never discussed what Abigail said; she’ll talk about it when she’s ready. “She said it was her own issues and she shouldn’t have used me to make herself feel better.” Hallie actually grins. “She said she deserved everything you said to her in return.”
That surprises me too. Abigail hasn’t been acting at all the way I’d expect her to be. When I’ve seen her in the halls, she hasn’t been giving me dirty looks. She hasn’t exactly been friendly either, but I swear yesterday she almost stopped to say something to me before thinking better of it.
Hallie offers me one last smile then turns and follows after Maria out of the locker room. After a couple of seconds, I follow too, and I try my hardest to get focused for my final practice of high school, but I can’t. All I can think about is what Maria said, the other girls Chase will use to replace me, and the way that makes me want to scream.
“No.”
Everyone turns and stares at me but I don’t look back at them. I just keep staring at Coach Simpson, who is standing beside the boys’ coach.
“We need to focus,” I tell him.
He screws his face up. “We’re state champions, Chapman. We did it. The season’s over and this is the last practice. We thought it would be fun.”
I audibly swallow. It would be fun…if the captain of the soccer team weren’t currently acting like I don’t exist.
“I’m down,” Maria says, glancing toward me as a wave of noise hits us and the boys stop beside us.
“It’s good for your fitness anyway,” Coach Simpson says, dismissing me. “Pick your teams, same rules as last time,” he instructs before turning to talk to the boys’ coach.
I bite my lip and continue to stare ahead. The last thing I want to do is spend my final practice of high school playing against the boys’ team, but I can’t exactly continue arguing without looking like a complete idiot. I can sense someone watching me, and I just know it’s him. I can feel it, but I don’t glance his way. I can’t stand that this is the closest he’s been to me in a week and yet I can’t talk to him. It’s like we’re strangers.
Hallie and Aaron step up like last time, and it doesn’t escape my notice that Aaron doesn’t choose me first this time. He doesn’t even look at me and I try to pretend that doesn’t bother me, but we’ve become friends over the last year and I hate that he now thinks badly of me. Although, if what Chase said is true, why would Aaron be angry? Chase was acting; that’s what he told me, but I know that’s not true, no matter what he says.
Aaron picks Chase as soon as he can this time, and when it becomes obvious they have no intention of picking me, Hallie does. This time when we’re playing, Chase doesn’t come anywhere near me. Even when I have the ball and am close to him, he doesn’t attempt to tackle me. It’s like, to him, I don’t exist, and I guess when he said we should stay away from each other, he meant it. I feel strangely emotional, and my performance is dismal. I can’t keep my head in the game, missing the simplest of passes, and I keep getting the ball taken from me.
It gets worse when I see Maria moving out of her position so she can mark Chase. She shouldn’t be close to him at all but she’s stuck to him like glue, and it’s definitely not non-contact soccer that she’s playing. When she actually manages to take the ball from him and pass to someone else on our team, he laughs and reaches out, grabbing her wrist, and I realize he’s flirting back. It’s too much for me. I turn to the sidelines, see one of the junior players watching, and call for her to swap in for me. I give her my jersey and run off the field before anyone even notices, and if they do, they don’t care. I run back to the locker rooms and don’t even bother with a shower, just grab my stuff and head to the parking lot. I jump in my car and drive home, head straight to my room, and climb into my bed, pulling the covers over my head and trying to pretend I haven’t made a complete mess of everything.