Fake Boyfriend - Kate Brian (7 page)

Oh, Marshmallow, you are so very dead, Vivi thought, fuming.

"Uh . .. who's that?" Lane asked finally, with a too-calm voice.

"Oh ... uh ... no one," Isabelle said quickly, bringing up her New Y Liberty screen saver. "Just someone I met online." Her cheeks turned a little pink,

ork and she bit her lip to keep from grinning. Vivi's heart started to pitter-patter in her chest. It was working!

"No one, huh? Then why are you blushing?" Vivi teased, nudging Isabelle with her arm. As irritated as she was at Marshall right then, she was ecstatic to see Isabelle's reaction to Brandon firsthand.

"I don't know. He's... he's sweet. But it's nothing. I mean, it's ridiculous," Isabelle said, lifting her hair off the back of

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her neck as if she were overheating just thinking about it. "We've just been talking. That's all."

"Flirting, you mean," Vivi said, moving to take charge of the mouse, as if she wanted to check out Brandon for herself.

"Well, maybe," Isabelle admitted with a shrug, letting the grin finally come through. In the same move, she swooped in and stood between the computer and Vivi.

"Y ou're totally crushing on him!" Lane announced, looking amazed.

"That's insane. We met online." There was another beep, and Isabelle flinched. "I'd better write back. Give me a sec."

She pulled out her chair and sat down, forcing Vivi to back up a step, but she managed to hover close enough to be able to see what Izzy and Marshall were typing.

IzzyBelly: Busy just now. Sorry. Can I IM you later? Brandon: Definitely. Just wanted to ask how the prom stuff is progressing. Found anyone worthy?

Isabelle giggled before replying. Vivi held her breath to see what she would say.

IzzyBelly: Still working on it. Will keep you posted.

No mention of Shawn. That had to mean something-- Isabelle wasn't telling her online crush about her potential date with her ex. It had to mean that part of her was still hoping for something better--that there was still a possibility they could fix this. But how?

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Isabelle brought up her screen saver again and stood. "What were we talking about?" she asked, all goofy.

"The prom," Lane supplied, with a huge grin.

"Oh. Right," Isabelle shook her head and looked toward the window, still smiling. She was still giddy over just four lines between her and Brandon. The last thing Vivi wanted to do now was steer the conversation back to prom and Shawn and away from Izzy's new crush.

"Look at you. I haven't seen you like this since you got Dwayne Wade's autograph," Vivi said happily. "This Brandon kid makes you as giddy as Dwayne does."

Isabelle laughed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Ha-ha. Too bad I can't take him to the prom."

Vivi felt as if someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. Every single nerve in her body tingled. How had she not thought of this before?

"Hey, Iz? I'm kinda hungry. Can Lane and I go raid the fridge?" Vivi blurted, her voice unusually loud. Lane looked at Vivi quizzically and then quickly covered it up when Izzy looked at her.

"Sure," Izzy said with a shrug. "I think there's still some sandwiches left over from the fund-raiser my parents hosted the other night."

"Perfect!" Vivi said with a grin, yanking on Lane's arm.

The second they were through the door, Vivi pulled Lane's arm hard and dragged her down the hallway.

"Ow! Vivi! What the heck?" Lane said, wrenching free from Vivi's grip.

"I just had the most brilliant idea!" Vivi whispered furtively.

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Lane took one look at her, and her shoulders slumped. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Don't! I'm telling you! It's the most genius, brilliant, perfect idea I have ever had!" Vivi promised her. "Even you are not going to be able to deny my genius."

Lane took a deep breath. "All right," she said reluctantly. "Lay it on me."

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* * * * six * * * *

"Y have got to be kidding me!" Lane cried an hour later, sitting in the passenger's seat of Vivi's convertible Jetta. It was a beautiful, sunny spring

ou afternoon. Kids played hopscotch in their driveways, moms speed-walked along the sidewalks, a pack of middle school boys did tricks on their dirt bikes in the deserted parking lot of the old roller rink. It was the kind of day on which Lane would have normally enjoyed tooling around with the top down, reveling in the quaintness of her town. Unfortunately, Vivi and her insanity were making that virtually impossible. "Y really want to hire some guy to play

ou Brandon and take Isabelle to the prom?"

"Why not? It's perfect!" Vivi replied, her blond hair whipping around her head as she drove. "Brandon is perfect for her. What better way to get her mind off Shawn than to set her up with her perfect guy?"

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Lane stared at her Vivi. Had she finally cracked? One too many schemes, and she'd crossed the line into total delusion.

"Y eah. One problem. Brandon doesn't actually exist!" Lane's voice rose with each word as she held her own hair back from her head so that it would stop hitting her in the eye.

"So? We didn't post a picture. We could get anyone to play him!" Vivi said easily.

"Right. And where are we going to find a guy our age who'd be willing to go to our prom? Oh, and who Isabelle has never met?" Lane asked as Vivi turned onto her tree-lined street. "At another school," Vivi replied, lifting a hand off the wheel. Like it was so obvious.

"And how, exactly, are we going to get him to pretend he's some fictional guy named Brandon?" Lane asked, using one hand to hold her hair back and the other to shield the glare of the afternoon sun.

"We'll pay him!" Vivi said.

"With what?"

"I still have money left over from lifeguarding last summer," Vivi told her. "It's gotta be enough to buy one prom date."

"Come on. What kind of guy would do this for a little money?" Lane asked.

Vivi gave her a sidelong glance. "Please. Look at Curtis! What would that boy not do for some extra Xbox cash?"

Lane sighed in consternation. Curtis had once babysat his next-door neighbor's twin two-year-old girls for an entire

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Saturday just so he could get the new Tony Hawk game. He'd come home with a chunk cut out of his hair, applesauce up his nose, and permanent purple marker slashes all over his arms, but had claimed it was totally worth it.

"Okay, but once we find a guy, he's going to have to learn everything we made up about Brandon," Lane said as Vivi stopped her car in front of Lane's house. "How are we going to teach him all that?"

"Please. The prom is almost three weeks away!" Vivi said happily, turning to face Lane as the car idled. "We have plenty of time. Besides, Curtis can help. It might be good to spend as much time with him as possible right now," Vivi wheedled, looking sly. "Maybe plant some seeds about what a perfect prom date you'd make ... ?was

Lane leaned her head back on the leather seat and groaned. Why did Vivi have to be so damn persistent? And why, why, why did she always have to suck Lane into her plans? As if Lane didn't have enough to deal with in her own life. Although, the idea of bringing Curtis in did make it slightly more appealing...

"Come on, Laney," Vivi pleaded. "We cannot let Isabelle go to the prom with Shawn. It'll be her sweet sixteen all over again!"

A lump formed in Lane's throat at the very memory. Isabelle's sweet sixteen was supposed to be the party of the year, and Shawn was supposed to play an integral role. Back then, when Izzy's parents weren't as familiar with Shawn as they were now, they had left Isabelle's new car with him, and he was supposed to drive it to the hall where the party was taking

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place. Unfortunately, Shawn had decided to take the auto for a joyride first and, while flipping stations on the satellite radio, had driven the thing right into the rear bumper of a student driver. Then he proceeded to tell the driving instructor off until he noticed the guy taking down the license plate number and ran off, abandoning Izzy's car in a parking lot like a coward. In the end, Shawn never showed up, the car was impounded before Isabelle ever got to see it, the police had come to the party to inform Isabelle's parents, and Izzy had ended the night in tears.

"I still can't believe she forgave him for that," Lane said, her heart heavy.

"Y eah, well, it was an 'accident'!" Vivi said facetiously, throwing in some air quotes. "All he had to do was make himself the victim and, presto, instant forgiveness."

Lane looked down at her hands. As insane as Vivi's plan was, it was preferable to seeing Isabelle that heartbroken all over again.

Lane sighed and looked at Vivi. "Okay, now let's just say I said yes--was

"Y es!" Vivi cheered, slapping her hands together.

"I haven't said it yet!" Lane blurted, avoiding Vivi's eyes and looking out the windshield. "But say that I did. Where are we going to find some perfect hottie to be Brandon?"

Vivi smiled slowly and Lane's heart sank. She should have known the girl would have an answer for everything.

"Where do all the most perfect boys in the tri-state area go to school?"

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Lane, suddenly, found herself smiling as well. Vivi was brilliant.

"Saint Paul's Prep."

***

Vivi slammed open her bedroom door. Marshall was so startled, he jumped up from her computer and knocked over her chair.

"Omigod! Are you still talking to her?" Vivi demanded, walking across to the computer screen. Marshall reached for the mouse to try to close the window, but Vivi was too fast. She snatched it away, and he backed up a few steps. Sure enough, there was an IM window open, and Isabelle was typing a response. "Y are unbelievable!" Vivi shouted at Marshall. "Y can't write to her when I'm not here!"

ou ou

Marshall's mouth opened and closed a few times as he struggled for words. "How did you--?was

"We were at her house when a message from Brandon suddenly popped up," Vivi said, pulling her Rutgers sweatshirt off over her head as she tugged down on the black T-shirt underneath. "I was so surprised, I almost freaked out and gave the whole thing away."

Marshall shoved his hands into his armpits. "Did you ... uh ... see what we were writing?"

"That is not the point! I'm supposed to see what you're writing," Vivi blurted. She crouched down to set her chair up again. "Y cannot write to her

ou without me here!"

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"Why not?" Marshall asked.

"Because! What if you ... I don't know... said something that contradicted what we made up?" Vivi asked, yanking her ponytail out and then smoothing her hair back to retie it.

Marshall followed her with his eyes as she paced across the room, his expression doubtful. "It's not that much, and it's all on his page," he said. "I think I can figure it out."

"Don't you have anything better to do than talk to my best friend as a fictional character?" Vivi asked, whirling on him. Then she thought about it for half a second. "Never mind--I know the answer."

"Y ou're the one who asked for my help with this thing," Marshall said, indignant. He grabbed his soda can from her desk and headed for the door. "If you don't like the way I do it, then maybe I'll just not do it anymore."

"No!" Vivi blurted, panicking. "Y can't quit now."

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Marshall paused and looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Why not?"

"Well, we don't want her to think you've lost interest," Vivi said, cursing herself for having to plead with Marshall. "Y have to keep it up--at least until

ou we find somebody to play Brandon."

"Play Brandon?" Marshall asked, suddenly looking a little pale.

"Y eah. We're gonna hire someone to pretend he's him and take Isabelle to the prom," Vivi explained quickly, grabbing a brush from her dresser and pulling it quickly through her hair. "Y know, so she doesn't go with Sluttig."

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Marshall's jaw dropped, and he walked over to Vivi's

73 dresser. "Are you out of your mind? Y ou're going to set your best friend up with a fake prom date?"

"He's gonna be a real guy," Vivi retorted, swinging her hair to her other shoulder to brush out the ends. "It's not like I'm building a robot or something."

"Y may as well be!" Marshall said, putting his soda down on the wood. "Where are you going to find this person?"

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Vivi's nerves started to sizzle, and she slammed the brush back down. "Coaster, loser?" She practically tossed the soda can back to Marshall and quickly checked for a water stain. "I don't know. Around," she replied. "We're thinking about going to Saint Paul's Prep, actually."

Marshall let out an indignant noise that only irritated her more. "So you're just gonna pick up some guy off the street? What if he turns out to be a psycho killer or something?"

"Dude, you've read too many Hannibal Lecter novels," Vivi replied, tying her hair back again. "Y don't think I'm smart enough not to hire some crazy

ou person?"

"No. No way." Marshall turned and walked out the door. "I can't do this. Helping her get over a breakup is one thing, but hiring guys to take her out? That's way too pimplike for me."

Vivi jogged out her door and followed him down the hall to his room. On the way, she couldn't help noticing his jeans. His brand-new, dark-wash, kind- of-distressed, and totally cool jeans.

"Hey, where did you get those?" Vivi asked, pointing as she leaned into his door jamb.

Marshall looked down. "The mall," he said. "Now would you please leave me alone?"

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Part of Vivi wanted to grill Marshall a bit more about all these random changes. The new hair, the new jeans, the toned arms. But she had more important details to focus on.

"No. I won't," Vivi protested. "Come on, Marshall. Y can't quit now! What're you gonna do? Break up with her?"

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Marshall flung himself down on his bed and raised his hands to his temples like he had a splitting headache. "I don't have to break up with her. Y can ou talk to her from now on."

Vivi considered this a moment, but knew it would never work. She could never sound like Marshall if she tried.