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If it made Charlie feel better knowing he finally told me what he thought of me, then who was I to stop him? He believed love was real, a good thing, something to be excited about.
I didn’t.
There was nothing he could do to change my mind about that. All I knew about love was that it led to destruction, each time chipping away at your heart until you became a shell of a person. The harder you loved, the worse you broke.
And for what? A small amount of happiness? Was it really worth it in the end?
Absolutely not.
If the tables were turned, I would be the one convincing Charlie that—
An idea popped into my mind. I sat up straight, a smile coming over my lips. Placing my hands on the steering wheel, I gripped the fake leather tightly, a nervous energy flowing through my body as I considered this new plan.
If Charlie was so bent on showing me that love could be a real thing, then I would let him.
Because at the same time, I could teach him love was a construct. A trap. An emotional confine for society.
Yeah… that could work. I found the loophole. There wasn’t a contract or anything, but I already found a way around Charlie’s plan. I could show everyone they were wrong, and love was a waste of time. They would finally seemyside, and realize I wasn’t horrible for what I did to Ali.
And maybe Ali would finally forgive me for interfering if he saw my side.
I would let Charlie think he was teaching me that love was real, but flip the reverse card on him and showhimthat love wasn’t worth people’s time or energy.
It would be like being a double agent for myself. While he tried to prove love was real, I would go along with it, knowing that I had no feelings in the game. By the end, when I still felt nothing for him, because truthfully, I wasn’t really into Fairview kids, I could reveal my true intentions.
I could make it work. I just knew it.
“Ughhhhhhh,” I moaned, hearing my buzzing phone on the floor, interrupting my evil plans. It was Flow, who hopefully got off his butt and was on the move. I needed this contract finished by tonight.
The next morning,I entered school like any other day. Except one thing was different.
Charlie waited by my locker, stalking me.
“Are you insane?” I asked after opening my locker and ducking inside. I had to make it look like he wasn’t there for me, that I was ignoring him.
“Not entirely sure, but sometimes I do feel like it,” he whispered back. He leaned against the bank of lockers and fiddled with his phone. If the random person walked by, they would hopefully assume he was waiting for someone else and I just happened to be close by.
A piece of paper appeared in front of me, tossed over the top of the locker and spiraling down to the floor. I snatched it up before it hit the ground.
As soon as I scanned it, my face dropped. “A contract?” I whispered, still looking at the paper. “Are you serious?”
I froze for a second, thinking about last night. How I found a loophole in a contract we didn’t have. How did he know I thought that?
Charlie chuckled and shifted on his feet. I stood and closed my locker, staring straight at him. If anyone saw, they would now overhear us talking about a deal, which was completely normal behavior for me.
Charlie would be the one they talked about.
“I thought it out carefully. I figured if I made a contract, then it would be official, right? You’re Una Nielsen. You don’t turn down a good deal. Besides, the Fairy Godmother said business was slow…” He smiled like he was really proud of himself.
It made my heart do a weird flip-flop thing in my chest.
He had thrown in the magic words, too. He was right—I didn’t turn down a deal. Granted, Ihatedthe ones that had to do with love, but for the right price, I did them anyway.
I never had a contract that dealt with love and was aboutme, though. It felt weird taking money for a job I already planned to sabotage.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he spoke first. “Consider it a job. A deal. To allow me to take you out and show you what fun falling in love can be. Experience something new with me.”
My heart now switched from gymnastics to a steady pounding of a drum. “I… I… You can’t get something for nothing, you know.” When in doubt, I always flipped back into irritated businesswoman mode.
