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Her sleeping with Nathan was a little believable. She’d guess about thirty percent of the female population of the school could claim the same thing, but dating? Boyfriend and girlfriend?
Apparently, she was the only one in the entirety of Richmond who could say that, and she didn’t even know until thirty seconds ago.
No one in their right mind would believe that Nathan Rondeau actually wanted to date her of all people—especially Joliet.
At least he was smart enough to keep quiet and not question her as she dragged him to the only place she deemed private enough to explode at him. If he so much as uttered a word before they got there, she might snap.
She rounded the corner, into the small alleyway between the cafeteria and gym and planted her feet into a stop. Nathan stumbled behind her, caught off guard by the sudden halt, and caught himself right before running into her back.
Dropping his sleeve, she finally turned to look at him.
She bit her tongue, taking a deep breath. Her hands clenched over and over at her side.
Relax, Tully, relax. Relax. Relax. Relax.
Nathan at least had the decency to look somewhat guilty. Not enough for her liking though. He smiled, yet his eyebrows furrowed in a way that made the expression look more like a grimace.
She inhaled and held her breath, calming her voice enough to speak. “What was that?”
Oh her voice was calm alright—so unnaturally calm that even Nathan, who barely knew her, winced. “I was—”
She didn’t let him finish. “I asked you to say we were sleeping together. That’s it. Sleeping together is believable—kind of. Dating? Rondeau, no one is going to believe that we are dating.”
He paused, and she gave him an exasperated encouraging nod to continue talking. He swallowed. “I thought it would be better.”
She laughed, and slapped her hands against her face, covering her eyes. “Please, explain to me like I’m a child—how is this better?”
He stepped forward, gesturing with his hands as he began his explanation. “Clearly, you want to piss off your sister or something. Fine. Telling her you slept with me might do that, but wouldn’t dating me make it even worse?”
Her fingers, which had been rubbing against her eyelids, paused.
She hated to admit it, but what he was saying did make sense. In the same way that going into Nathan’s bedroom with him made sense to her at the party.
But she saw what good that did—it was the reason they were in this mess.
She opened her eyes.
He watched her expectantly, his hands held out like he’d just given a sales pitch. The deep frown on Tully’s face stayed put.
This sounded like something that would require much more than just starting a simple rumor. In her limited experience with fake relationships, which was none, there was a certain degree of active participation frombothparties to make it even moderately believable. Which begged the question—
“Okay, spit it out. What do you want from me?” She narrowed her eyes and looked him over. Everything he was saying was for her benefit alone. In her limited experience with Nathan Rondeau, which wasalmostnone, he wasn’t the type to do something like that for free.
His eyes ticked open a fraction wider, and she knew she’d hit the nail on the head when his hands dropped and his posture straightened. “You’re valedictorian, right?”
She tilted her head. “Yes . . .”
“So that means you’re smart.”
“Typically, valedictorians are smart, so yes.”
“Help me.”
There it was. An offer like the one he laid on the table did not come without its own price.
“With what?”
He sighed and took a step closer. Tully made a conscious effort to keep her feet planted, even though her nerves spiked when he was close enough to touch. Her body did lean away though. He didn’t seem to notice and his hands moved along to his explanation. “At the risk of exposing myself, I’m failing three classes right now.”
