Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating(48)

Ishu nods again. “Yeah, you’re right. I guess our plan really is working, huh?”

I smile. There’s not a whole lot of time until we vote for Head Girl. I just have to find a way to keep my feelings at bay and get through these next few weeks.

“We obviously came up with a really good plan.”




I make the decision to try and lay low for a little while. After all, the summer exams are only weeks away and I definitely haven’t been focusing on my studies. If I can steer clear of Ishu and me spending time together alone, I should be all set. Hanging out with Aisling and Dee is fine because they always take over the conversation anyway.

I can do this.

At least that’s what I tell myself. I’ve convinced myself of it.

The next morning, Ishu greets me at my locker like that’s something we do.

“Morning,” she says.

“Morning …” I’m definitely not a morning person, but I’m even worse when I’m ambushed like this by a girl I was dreaming about just a few hours ago. “What are you doing here?”

“Well … applications for prefect and Head Girl are closing today,” she says. “You applied for prefect, right?”

“Yeah … obviously. I told you that I did, didn’t I?”

“Well … that means the teachers are going to start considering us soon. We’re going to have our interviews and then the votes.” Ishu’s eyes are getting wider and wider with every word that she speaks. “And then—”

“Ishu … stop freaking out.”

“I just think we need to make more of an effort, you know?” she says.

“An effort to …?” Instead of answering my question, Ishu leans forward and takes my hand in hers.

“To look like the couple we’re supposed to be?” she says. “I mean, other than some Instagram photos it’s not like we’re going to win cutest couple in our yearbook or anything.”

“Okay, we don’t vote on that crap,” I say, pulling my hand away from hers and pretending that I have to eagerly search for a book in my locker. I mean, I do have to search for books in my locker but suddenly I can’t even remember what subjects I have this morning.

“Did you just curse?” Ishu sounds amused.

“Crap is not a curse word,” I say. “Other words that are synonyms of crap might be. But crap … isn’t.”

“Okay, okay,” Ishu says. “Look … I know it might not be comfortable but it’s kind of what we both signed up for. Holding my hand isn’t that bad, right?” She looks at me with the kind of smile that definitely looks strange on Ishu’s usually grumpy face.

I sigh. “No … holding your hand isn’t … that bad,” I concede. If I was being honest, I would say that holding her hand was probably the nicest thing I have done in a really, really long time. But I guess I’ve not done the honesty thing for a while now, either. “We don’t have to do any weird couple-y things, right? Like … canoodle?”

“What the hell does canoodle mean?” Ishu asks.

“I don’t know, like … the stuff you see couples doing.” I feel my cheeks warm because suddenly us being a couple is all I can see.

“Just holding hands. Hanging out?” she asks. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” I say. I know Ishu is only asking because of what happened on the Luas the other day. I guess I appreciate her checking my boundaries.

“So … are you finished with your books?” she asks, extending her hand like she’s been waiting for me. “I’ll walk you to your first class?”

I have to smile, because things like this do not seem like Ishu things at all. I guess she’s pretty dedicated to being Head Girl. And this is definitely a great way to show everyone that she is a likeable, charismatic person. Who knows the right people.

So I shut my locker door and slip my hand into hers. Her hand is soft and warm, and somehow the exact shade of brown as mine. And also somehow the exact shape and size to fit into mine perfectly.

“So … did you do anything fun after class yesterday?” she asks. I know she’s trying to make small talk but it just feels awkward. Everything about this feels awkward and weird and unnatural.

“Just … studied,” I say. “We have exams coming up so … I need to brush up on stuff. I’m really bad at maths.”

“Oh,” she turns to me with a frown. “You know I’m really good at maths? I could help you study?”

“That’s … okay,” I say in the nicest way I can. “I’m not great at studying with other people.”

“Right,” she says. “That’s fair.”

“Well …” I point to the double doors of the art classroom. “This is me.”

“Okay … I’ll see you at lunch?” Ishu asks.

“Yeah.”

She shoots me a smile and turns away. Toward whatever class she has, I guess. The strange thing is, despite how weird and awkward and unnatural Ishu walking me to class felt, I still feel a strange emptiness at her being gone.




As much as I don’t want to have any feelings for Ishu, I can’t help that I keep opening up our guide. It almost feels like second nature.