#Chapter 09 Playing House

Mission #1 of our fake dating plan: Look convincing. On the first day, if I wasn’t threatened with getting pushed out of the drama club, I would call it quits. Because Alex is entirely too popular and too social for me to handle. He doesn’t even get left alone at Mozzy’s Pizza on our first mock date. From entrance to ordering to looking for seats, folks keep coming to greet him. “Hey man, what’s happenin’?” “Haha, nothing much, how ‘bout you?” Alex greets the fifth person in what feels like ten minutes as I try to melt into the sidelines. It’s not hard—next to him, I look like a hobo. He’s all sleek sweater and dark jeans and I’ve stuffed myself into a fuzzy turtleneck and a long black skirt. He laughs and grasps hands with the visitor, someone not on the hockey team it seems like. However, they’re friendly enough with each other that he stands there and starts talking. Someone drops something in the nearby kitchen, and I flinch, almost knocking into Alex. Smoothly, he