Faking It

Chapter 8: Strike Two

"He has a project for Halpern that she wants done before 8," JJ said, though I didn't miss the way his eyes slid towards me.

"Well text me his pizza order. We're going to get ready." Audra swiped a piece of pepper from my plate. "Wow, sharp knife skills, El. So uniform."

She snatched up the plate and told me that JJ would clean up the rest. I followed her back upstairs and we both startled when deafening K-pop exploded from her room.

"Sorry, sorry!" Gyeong-Ja called when the music fell to a more manageable level, "I can never figure this speaker out!"

She grabbed a handful of veggies and danced back into the en-suite bathroom, her hair clipped all over her head so she could curl it.

"There's another bathroom down the hall if you need mirror space," Audra said, throwing herself onto her bed and swiping open her phone. "She'll be awhile."

I grabbed my bag and headed to the next bathroom, where the music was noticeably quieter but still vibrating through the heated floor tiles. I'd had no idea what to wear to a Kingsbridge party, but Gyeong-Ja had changed into a smocked top and loose pants, so I hoped I wouldn't stand out too much in my black tank top and distressed jeans.

I hadn't brought any styling tools to touch up my hair, so when I took it down from the bun I'd worn it in all day, I finger-combed through the waves and hoped I looked more beachy-tousled than just-woke-up-and-didn't-have-a-brush. I hadn't brought nearly as much makeup as Gyeong-Ja either, who had an entire, giant box of it. Instead, I swiped on the look I'd perfected back home, after an entire summer of studying YouTube videos before I'd decided makeup wasn't really my thing.

To be honest, it was starting to feel like Kingsbridge wasn't really my thing, either. From the way the rest of the students debated philosophy and literature the way my old classmates argued about the Kardashians and the Real Housewives, my feeling of being out of place wasn't really waning. Especially not when Audra's house was basically an American palace. I didn't want it to skew my perception of our budding friendship, but it did. I couldn't imagine inviting her and Gyeong-Ja to my house, suburban and ordinary as it was. I'd thought I was well off because we had a finished basement. Now, I felt like the humble peasant beside Audra's royalty.

"Come on, Ellie," I said to my reflection when my stomach tensed. "Just breathe."

I'd known it was going to be like this. And I couldn't want to quit yet. I'd just made starter on the varsity soccer team. I was making new friends—something I hadn't exactly excelled at back home. Sure, I'd been friendly with my teammates, but I already felt closer to Gyeong-Ja and Audra than anyone from my last school. Which was lucky, because of all the students at Kingsbridge, they were probably the only ones who wouldn't care that I wasn't loaded. Which was fine. I could find my place here even if I wasn't one of them. And maybe dating someone like William, who was smart and handsome and had his entire life together, could help me do same...right?

With a shrug at my reflection, I packed my uniform into the bag and pulled open the bathroom door.

I nearly knocked William over again, and my bag swung around and smacked him when he caught my waist to stop my forward momentum. His fingers were warm through the thin cotton of my tank top. He wasn't in his uniform anymore, but in a tailored button-down shirt and pair of jeans that fit him in all the right ways. I caught a whiff of his cologne again, and something deliciously tingly tumbled around my stomach.

"Strike two," he said, eyes dancing when they met mine. "You must really be out to get me."

"Sorry," I said, cheeks flushing as I took a step back.

"Will, you think..." JJ poked his head out from a door just down the hall from Audra's room and trailed off upon noticing us. "Oh, Ellie. You all right?"

"Just the usual," William answered, winking at me. "Barrelling people over and the like."

I elbowed him.

"Right," JJ said, "Well it's almost 8, so if you two can stop flirting for a mo', then—"

"What?" I blurted, right as William cleared his throat and scraped a hand across the back of his neck.

"—we can have this thing finished before the guests arrive," JJ continued, with a pointed look at William before he backed into his room.

"Insufferable as he is, I do have to get back to it." William grinned ruefully. "I'll catch up with you later. That is, if you don't run me over before then."

"Now who's being insufferable?" I called after him. He winked over his shoulder at me before he closed JJ's door.

"Flirting with your boyfriend?" Audra asked the moment I set foot in her room. She'd moved from the bed to a triple-mirrored vanity, where she'd arranged her braids into a topknot and swiped on some berry-colored lip stain to complement her crop top and sleek black pants.

"Not flirting. Not my boyfriend," I replied, dumping my bag.

"Good," Audra said to her reflection, "Because Madeleine's coming tonight, and she won't take kindly to you making eyes at Willy dearest."

I flopped onto Audra's bed. "So they're dating, then?"

"More or less," she replied. "Less, since he met you."

I bit my cheek to keep from grinning at the butterflies those words awakened. "Then why do you keep warning me away from him?"

"For starters," Audra said, leaning in to swipe on her mascara, "There's the fact that you're someone shiny and new, which according to JJ has always been William's Achilles heel. But it won't last. Not when Madeleine's perfect for him."

The butterflies soured. "If she's so perfect, then why aren't they dating already?"

"Because she made out with his brother at the prom last year," Audra said matter-of-factly.

I almost fell off the bed. "What? And he still wants to date her?"

"Ooh this sounds like gossip," Gyeong-Ja sang, emerging from the bathroom with a far more flawless version of my beachy-waves. "Who? What? Dish!"

"Madeleine and the Ellerbys." Audra capped her mascara and shoved it into a drawer.

"Ugh, that's a mess," Gyeong-Ja said. "Is it true that Theo only did it because he knew William liked her?"

"Wouldn't put it past him," Audra said. She glanced down as her phone buzzed then hopped to her feet. "Pizza's here. C'mon, ladies. Let's go stuff our faces before the boys do."

**A/N: The plot thickens! Anyone have any suspicions what Theo is up to now that we know a little more about his history with Madeleine and William? 🤔

And the best part is that the next chapter is one of the longest in the whole story - I like to do my party scenes justice, especially when introducing one of my ALL TIME favorite tropes 😉😘😍

As always, if you enjoyed it, please take a moment to vote and comment! **