The Boyfriend Trick Read online

  I rolled my eyes and started to play from the sheet music in front of me. What did I expect? He was related to Miss Jespersen. Of course he’d be an overbearing, annoying jerkhead who needed to boss everyone around…God, this song was awesome!

  I was halfway through the first page, dancing and doing a butt wiggle when I realized no one else was playing. My fingers stuttered over the keys. “Am I doing it wrong?” I couldn’t take failing twice in the same day. I stepped back from the keyboard, my cheeks suddenly heating up. What had I been thinking, barging in here? I was such an idiot. A little JamieX and I’d lost my mind? “Never mind. Sorry I bothered you. I’ll just get my stuff and go—”

  “No.” Chris held up his hand. “You’re awesome.”

  Warmth flooded through me. “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He turned to the rest of the group. “Let’s go.”

  Rafe grunted, hit his sticks together in the air for a few counts, then started a strong beat with his drums. The other guitarist joined in, then Angel. Chris pointed at me.

  I grinned and started playing.

  As soon as Chris started singing, I closed my eyes and let the music wash over me. This was awesome. I let my shoulders sway and gave up following the sheet music, letting my fingers flow. Chris’s voice was pretty good, sort of melodic and deep, and the rest of the band was decent too. Except Rafe.

  Rafe was positively brilliant on the drums, and I let my music follow his. We never looked at each other, but the connection between us was intense and filling the room with such energy that I felt like the walls were going to explode. It was the most amazing feeling I’d ever experienced.

  The song ended, and I added an extra little flourish at the end, complete with a full spin, just like in the video. I grinned at the band, who were all high-fiving one another. “That was great,” Chris said.

  “The best we’ve ever played it,” Angel agreed.

  The other guitar player nodded at me. “Nice job, Lily.”

  I smiled at him. “Sorry I didn’t stay on the music, but—”

  “No,” Angel said. “You did way better than the music we had.”

  My smile got wider, and I felt like skipping around the room. “Thanks.” I turned to Rafe. “What did you think?”

  After a moment he nodded. “You did great.”

  Goosebumps shot down my arms. I could tell that Rafe didn’t say anything nice unless he meant it, and suddenly I felt better than I had in a while.

  “Lily!”

  The smile dropped from my face and I spun around.

  Miss Jespersen was standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips and her face all scrunched up like she’d been sucking on lemons for the last fifty years.

  The room fell silent, and I knew I was in deep trouble. “Um…”

  Rafe started drumming again. “I asked Lily to help us out since Paige is late. Sorry if I screwed up, Aunt Joyce.”

  I jerked my gaze toward him, stunned by his willingness to face down his aunt in my defense, but he kept his eyes on his aunt.

  Miss Jespersen’s face tightened. “Your mother’s looking for you, Lily. If you can drag yourself away, I suggest you let her know that you haven’t been abducted.”

  “Yeah, okay.” I stepped away from the keyboard, letting my fingers trail over the keys in a farewell moment. Crusty would cut off my fingers before she’d let me waste my time and talent on an electric keyboard. I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. “So, um, see you guys.”

  Chris touched my arm. “Can you practice with us again? Like tomorrow?”

  “No, she can’t.” Miss Jespersen flicked his hand off me. “Lily is a gifted musician and doesn’t have time for this kind of music.”

  The welcoming expression vanished from Chris’s face. Angel seemed surprised and a little offended. The other guitarist shot me a look of pity. I felt my cheeks heat up as I tried to explain: “That’s not true, I—”

  “Now, Lily.” Crusty propelled me toward the door and I glanced over my shoulder at Rafe, mouthing the word thanks.

  He nodded at me just before the door shut behind us.

  I couldn’t believe he’d actually defended me against his aunt.

  So. Totally. Hot.

  Chapter Three

  My mom laid a major guilt trip on me for making her and Miss Jespersen think I’d been abducted when I’d bailed from my lesson. I was actually kind of surprised that Miss Jespersen had been worried about me. Almost made her human…until she and my mom had lectured me on the audition again, brainstorming ways to help me rediscover my passion for piano. Ha! As if! Those days had disappeared the day Miss Jespersen had taken over my life, and I seriously doubted I’d ever see them again.

  So by the time school started the next morning, I was more than ready to get out of the house and think about something other than piano. As I rushed into homeroom on Monday, ten minutes early, the only thing keeping me sane was the thought of seeing my friends after two weeks on the road. Sure, it was an all-girls school, but that didn’t matter.

  “Lily!” My best friend, Erin Reed-Fitzgerald, screamed my name as soon as I got inside the room.

  “Erin!” I ran across the room, threw my navy backpack on the floor, and hugged her. “I missed you!”

  “Oh, my God, you totally missed out this break.” Erin grabbed my arm and tugged me over to where Valerie Collins and Delilah Somers were huddled up. Val and Delilah were the other half of our foursome, though they weren’t as tight as Erin and I were. Erin and I had known each other since day care, whereas Val and Delilah had joined our inner circle when we all started attending St. Mary’s in the sixth grade. But they were awesome, and I was so happy to see them. “Lily’s back,” she announced.

  They screamed and jumped up to hug me, and I screamed back and hugged them. “I’m so psyched to see you guys!” I flopped down next to them at an empty desk. “So, did you guys have a great break, or what?”

  “The best,” Val said. Her blond hair was blonder than it used to be, and I think she’d gotten even taller. She looked gorgeous, even wearing the navy pants and white shirt of our school dress code.

  “But we missed you big-time,” Delilah added. Her brown hair had new highlights in it, and she had a tan.

  I slid a sideways glance at Erin, who was putting on lip gloss. She had highlights too. Clearly, I’d missed out on a “let’s get our hair done” day on the town. Not that I could have participated. Streaked hair was inappropriate for pianists.

  “Love the ’do,” I said.

  Val fluffed her hair. “Thanks! We got it done last week. Came out great, didn’t it?”

  “Yeah.” I fingered my boring dirty-blond hair and decided I was going to wear a hat tomorrow.

  Val held out her cell phone. “So, what do you think of this guy? Cute or not?”

  I took the phone and peered at the image of a guy with short blond hair wearing lacrosse pads covered in mud. “Cute.”

  “See?” Val snatched the phone back. “You have to go to the semiformal with him.”

  “Me?” I asked. They’d arranged a date for me to the biggest event of our freshman year, which was only three weeks away? They were the best friends ever!

  “No, you goof. I’m talking about Delilah,” Val said. “She’s afraid he’s not cute enough to be seen with in public.” She waggled the phone in Delilah’s face. “Lily thinks he’s cute.”

  “He is cute.” I grabbed the phone from Val and looked at it again. He was way cute. I’d never seen him before. “How’d you meet him?” Since we went to an all-girls school, meeting boys was high on our list of priorities and low on our list of successful activities. Except for Rafe, of course. He was hot, and I’d met him, so life was good. Well, at least not as bad as it had been before he’d defended me to his aunt.

  “Delilah met Jeff through me.” Val looked smug. “The Inverness lacrosse team was practicing on the next field while I was at softball mini-camp.”

  Inverness was the boys school across town that was affiliated with our school. Varsity and junior varsity teams from our school used the Inverness fields for practice. I’d never been to Inverness, but I’d dreamed about it. I looked at Val with renewed interest. “You really went to Inverness?”

  “Sure did.”

  “But that’s not the best part,” Erin interrupted. “Delilah and I went to watch Val’s practice and we met this group of guys on the lacrosse team.” She grinned. “And they’re sophomores.”

  “Wow. Really?” A glimmer of jealousy flickered through me and my smile got kind of stiff. “I met the governor last week when I—”

  “Keith is having a back-to-school pool party on Saturday,” Erin interrupted again. “His dad always fills the pool early and heats it, in case of hot weather. And it’s supposed to be in the eighties this weekend.”

  “Keith? Who’s Keith?” I asked.

  Delilah poked Erin’s arm. “You know he’s having the party only so he can make a move on you.”

  Erin’s cheeks turned red. “No way! He likes you.”

  “Nope. Jeff already asked me to the semi,” Delilah said.

  “No way!” Erin screamed. “When?”

  “Last night. And he said Keith wants to ask you, and Hugh’s going to ask Val. If you guys go, I’ll go.”

  Val sucked in her breath. “Hugh? Really? He’s going to ask me?” She leaned back in the chair. “He’s so hot.”

  I tapped Val on the arm. “Who’s Hugh? Is he one of the lacrosse players?”

  “Hugh’s cuter than Jeff.” Delilah groaned. “That’s so unfair that you get Hugh and I get Jeff.”

  Who did I get? Anyone? I drummed a pencil on the desk and tried to get noticed. I cleared my throat extra loudly. “So, are you guys going t
o fill me in? Who are all these guys?”

  They stopped talking and stared at me, like they’d forgotten I was there. It was Erin who recovered first. “Omigosh! You need a date for the semiformal too! You have to come on Saturday. I’m sure Keith could find another friend so there would be four guys there.”

  “Really? You could get me a date?” My bad mood faded. My first real date? How awesome would that be?

  Delilah’s head bobbed in agreement. “We definitely could. We’ll go to the semi as a foursome.”

  Val flicked an unseen speck of dirt off her manicured nails. “We should move fast though. The semi’s only three weeks away. I bet a lot of the cute guys will be snatched up soon.”

  “That’s okay,” Erin said. “Lily will take anyone.”

  Oooh, I didn’t like the sound of that. “I’m not going with a loser.”

  “Well, no, that’s not what I meant,” Erin said. “It’s just that you never meet anyone because you’re always practicing, so it’s not like you’ll find someone on your own.”

  I frowned. “You guys, I do have a life. I met lots of great people on my tour.” Yeah, okay, so none of the Mueller-Fordham students I’d toured with had exactly become my best friends, and none of the guys had been dating material, but it wasn’t as if I was a loser. Yet. But if I ended up in the NESM secondary school program next year, then they’d be absolutely right. My life would be over.

  Delilah giggled. “What hot guys did you meet on tour? Some gray-haired mayor of a tiny town in western Mass?”

  “Or, I know,” Val chimed in. “A geek who plays the violin and drools whenever he has to talk to the opposite sex.”

  “What about that really skinny guy who plays the flute? He was on tour with you, wasn’t he? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind leaving the argyle sweater at home for the dance.” Erin giggled. “Can you imagine if you went with him? I love you, but I so wouldn’t be able to associate with you in public.”

  Dismay washed over me. “Howard’s not that bad…”

  Erin sat up. “You guys have to come to Lily’s next recital at Mueller-Fordham. You won’t believe the geeks who play music. I mean, if you showed them a lacrosse stick, they’d probably run away screaming.”

  I scowled. “So, you’re saying I’m a geek?”

  “Not at all.” Erin put her arm around me and giggled. “But you’re the only non-geek at the place, you have to admit.”

  I sighed. Except for Rafe, they were right, and I doubted Rafe or anyone in Mass Attack was actually a student there. They probably got Miss Jespersen to arrange cheap practice space since she was Rafe’s aunt. “So, I’m cool, then?”

  Erin’s smile slipped and something like pity flickered in her eyes. “Of course you’re cool, but, it’s not like you really do much besides play the piano, you know?”

  “I do too.”

  She raised a brow. “What else do you do?”

  “I…” Crud. I couldn’t think of a single thing. “I eat.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” Val said. “We’ll get you a date for the dance.” She fingered my hair. “Maybe you should get some highlights.”

  I flipped her hand off, resentment beginning to boil inside me. “I don’t need a charity date. I’m—”

  “It’s okay, Lily,” Erin said. “You don’t have to pretend with us.”

  “Pretend what? That I have a life?” The identical expression of pity on all their faces infuriated me. “I can get a date. A hot date. Not a leftover who isn’t cute enough for you guys.”

  “Good.” Erin grinned. “Then come to the party on Saturday and pick who you want.”

  “I will.” I sat back in the chair and folded my arms, determined to prove to them I could be as cool as they were. I could jump right into their little clique with their new boys….

  Then I remembered I had a recital on Saturday. Not fair!

  Erin sighed at the look on my face. “You can’t come, can you? Piano thing?”

  “I have to do a recital for a senior citizen banquet thing in Portland, Maine,” I muttered.

  Val raised her eyebrows, Delilah sighed, and Erin patted my shoulder, shaking her head as Val started to say something.

  And that’s when I realized how they all saw me. Despite their claims, I was the ugly, loser friend with no life who they took care of because I was too pathetic to take care of myself. Even worse, I was an outsider. While I was gone this vacation, they’d gotten tight. They had the boys, they had the dates, and I was baggage. All because I’d spent the last two weeks on tour instead of hanging out with them.

  But they were mistaken. They had to be. For my sake. “You’re wrong. I can get a date. A hot guy.”

  They all looked at me with the same doubtful expression on their faces. “Name one cute guy you know,” Erin said.

  “Rafe.” The name tumbled off my tongue before I could stop it.

  “Rafe? Who’s Rafe?” Val looked skeptical. “A guy at the gas station who fills your mom’s car?”

  “No. He’s sixteen, and he’s a drummer at Mueller-Fordham. He’s way hotter than Jeff.”

  Delilah wrinkled her nose. “Everyone’s hotter than Jeff.”

  Erin gave me this look, like she felt so bad that I had to lie. “Have you even met him?”

  “Of course,” I said haughtily. “I’m dating him.”

  My three friends stared at me as if I’d gone insane. “You’re dating a guy?” Erin asked skeptically. “Your parents would never let you date.”

  Delilah leaned forward and peered intently at me. “Have you kissed him?”

  Uh-oh. If I said I’d kissed him, they’d want a description and Val would know I was lying, because she’d kissed tons of guys. But if I hadn’t kissed him, that didn’t really count as dating. But I so couldn’t take their pity party anymore. Mostly because they were right, and I didn’t want them to be.

  “Well?” Delilah asked. “Have you?”

  I jerked up my shirt and showed them my pale stomach in a most excellent change of subject. “I got a belly-button ring over break.”

  They gaped at my new jewelry, and Erin slapped her hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe it! Did your parents freak or what?”

  “They don’t know.” I’d done it with Maria, a flutist who’d been on the tour. We’d snuck out after a particularly miserable recital at this library where there’d been only three people in the audience because it had been a gorgeous Saturday and the rest of the world had been somewhere fun or at least outside. Maria had been the one cool chick on tour, and I think I could have been friends with her, but then she’d gotten invited to solo for some concert series in Europe and she’d left me behind.

  But I had the ring; it was a great feeling to be stuck in a boring recital in my frilly dress, knowing I had a belly-button ring that Crusty and my parents would never allow. It hadn’t changed my life at all, but it made me feel better. Sometimes. Except when it itched and got caught on things. Washcloths were now banned from my life.

  Val touched my gold stud in reverence. “Wow. That is so sweet.”

  I grinned. “See? I’m not a loser.”

  Delilah still looked skeptical. “What does Rafe think of it?”

  “It was his idea.” Well, it probably would be, right? I mean, he seemed like a belly-button-ring kind of guy.

  Val sat back in the chair. “It looks good. Did it hurt?”

  “Not at all,” I lied.

  Erin sighed. “I’m so jealous. I thought you were having the worst spring break, and you were off with some boyfriend getting a belly-button ring.”

  Relief rushed through me at the genuine look of envy on her face. She had no idea as to the truth, and that was the way it would stay, until I could fix my life and actually have something worthwhile to talk about. I dropped my shirt back down as Mrs. Griffith walked into the room and ordered us to our seats.

  As I slid into my seat next to Erin, she slipped me a note. Do you really have a boyfriend?

  I wrote back one word. Yes!!!!!!

  Are you going to invite him to the semiformal?

  Invite Rafe? As if! He can’t come.

  Then who are you going to the semi with?

  My mind raced to come up with a believable excuse. I chewed on my pen for a few seconds, then wrote, I don’t think I’ll go. It might upset him if I went with someone else. Yeah, that was why I was going to stay home. Because of my devoted boyfriend. Ha.