The Boyfriend Trick Page 3

  Erin snorted and Mrs. Griffith snapped her gaze in our direction. We both huddled over our books and it was a few moments before Erin slid the note back toward me. I checked out Mrs. Griffith, then pulled the note onto my book. Come with us to Inverness today and pick out a guy. Rafe can get over himself.

  I almost grinned. I had a feeling Rafe did need to get over himself. But there was no way I could go to Inverness today. Miss Jespersen would be waiting for me at three o’clock at Mueller-Fordham. With my audition less than three weeks away, I had lessons almost every day. My fingers curled around my textbook at the thought of heading back into that torture chamber.

  Erin slid me another note. So? Are you coming today or what? You have to quadruple date with us to the semi.

  Longing washed over me. If Val, Delilah, and Erin all went to the semi and I stayed home, it would make me even more of an outsider. I so wanted to go. Like, really, really, really badly. I drummed my pen on my desk and thought about how I could swing a trip to Inverness this week. My mom worked late on Thursdays and couldn’t take me over to Mueller-Fordham. I always took the bus home and practiced on my own.

  No one would know if I went to Inverness this Thursday instead, as long as I got home before my mom.

  Excitement trilled at the thought of how much trouble I would be in if anyone found out. There was something compelling about the thought of bailing on practice, knowing it was so illegal. I’ll try to make it on Thursday. Okay?

  Erin read my note and gave me the thumbs-up.

  God. Did I really have the guts to blow off practice?

  I didn’t.

  Did I?

  Chapter Four

  At my lesson two days later, Miss Jespersen finally made me cry.

  I was sitting there at the stupid piano with the stupid tears trickling down my cheeks, and Crusty’s face was all scrunched up in confusion. “Why are you crying?”

  Maybe because you just called me a failure for the fiftieth time in the last ten minutes and I can’t take it one more second? Yeah, that might be why.

  I lifted my chin and sniffled. “I’m not crying. Allergies.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Toughen up, Lily. You’ll never be a success if you can’t take criticism. You want me to tell you you’re great? Well, then, be great. I’m not going to prop you up with false praise just to make you feel good. My job is to make you better, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

  I dug my fingernails into my palms and stared at the piano keys. I hated those ugly pieces of ivory. I wished they’d shrivel up into a miserable pile of rabbit poop. How could I ever have enjoyed pounding away at them? It seemed so unreal that I’d actually been the one to beg my parents for lessons in the beginning. Had I known what I was getting into, I would have asked to have my toes amputated without Novocain instead.

  “Are you listening to me?” Miss Jespersen said. “Less than two and a half weeks to go, and you’re still playing uninspired music.”

  I gritted my teeth so hard my jaw started to hurt.

  “You better stop pouting right now or I’m walking out,” she warned.

  I’d had it.

  “Don’t bother.” I swung my legs over the piano bench, stood up, then walked out and slammed the door shut behind me.

  Miss Jespersen yanked the door open before I’d made it five feet. “Get back in here, Lily!” she commanded. Her voice was low and threatening.

  I ignored her and walked down the hallway lined with individual practice rooms. When I walked past an open door that had JamieX pouring out of it, I couldn’t stop myself from peeking inside. Rafe was at the drums, and he looked completely cute in a white T-shirt and blue jeans. He saw me at the door, and gave me a nod.

  I nodded back, keeping my expression composed. No way was I going to rush in there, throw myself at his feet, and beg him to go to the semiformal with me, though if I thought it might work, I’d consider it.

  Chris waved at me in the middle of his singing, and I grinned back.

  Angel smiled at me, but the other guitar player ignored me, too into his music to look up.

  But what I noticed most was the girl playing the keyboard. She had wild red hair, perfect cheekbones, and she was frowning in concentration.

  I was much better than she was.

  Miss Jespersen came up behind me and wrapped her fingers around my arm, but I yanked free before she could get a grip. “I’m done,” I told her.

  “You’re finished when I say you’re finished,” she whispered, like it was some secret threat too horrible to be overheard by Rafe and his friends.

  I turned around to face her. “You don’t own me.”

  Her eyes widened in what looked like genuine confusion, but I knew she had to be faking it. “I’m not trying to own you, Lily. I’m trying to help you.”

  “How? By torturing me? I’ve had it with how you treat me and I’m so sick of the piano!”

  At my words, Crusty’s face darkened. I realized the band had stopped playing and everyone was listening.

  Involuntarily, I checked out Rafe. He was watching us, but I couldn’t read his face at all.

  “Lily! Stop flirting with Rafe this instant.”

  Oh, no. Tell me she didn’t just say that. Heat flared into my cheeks as Rafe’s expression morphed into surprise. He surreptitiously peeked at the keyboard player, who was frowning at me.

  Crusty leaned in close. “Get back to the practice room. Now.”

  I heard Angel snicker. How could Crusty humiliate me like that in front of them? Private torture was one thing, but in front of them? It was too much. Unforgivable. “Get away from me,” I snapped.

  Then I turned and stormed outside.

  I stalked out to the front porch of the gorgeous brick house that now housed Mueller-Fordham and sat down on the top step. Over an hour until my mom was due.

  I hugged my arms to my chest and dropped my forehead to my knees, preparing for Crusty to come after me. The front door squeaked and I immediately lifted my head and started humming JamieX, wiggling my shoulders with the beat. Yeah, look at me, dancing away because I didn’t care about anything.

  “You okay?” Rafe asked.

  I jerked my gaze up at him. “Yeah. Fine.” I was fine, now that he was here.

  He sat down next to me, so close we almost touched. “That was kinda cool.”

  I slid a glance at him, but he was watching a sports car drive by. “What was cool? The car?”

  His gaze flicked toward me. “No. You telling her off.”

  “Oh.” A feeling of warmth flickered through me. “Oh.”

  He bumped his shoulder with mine. “Don’t take her personally. She’s not that bad once you get to know her.”

  I snorted. “She’s been teaching me for three years and I’ve never seen anything good about her.”

  He shrugged. “Aunt Joyce can be okay.”

  Uh-oh. I’d forgotten she was his aunt. I tried to recover. “I’m sure she can be, but I don’t bring it out in her. I disappoint her all the time.”

  “Maybe.” He fell silent, and I didn’t know what to say, but it didn’t feel like an awkward silence. It felt sort of comfortable. “You need a ride?”

  I almost choked. “What?”

  “A ride. You need one? Paige had to leave early, so we’re calling it a night. Angel and Chris hate to practice without a keyboard.”

  Omigosh. “Yeah, a ride would be great.” My heart was racing so fast that my chest actually hurt. “I just need to run inside and call my mom…”

  He set a phone in my hand, his fingers brushing against my palm. My hand was shaking as I dialed. He had a car and a phone and was giving me a ride home? I swallowed hard and somehow managed to talk when my mom answered her phone. “Mom, it’s me. I got done early with my lesson, so Cru—Miss Jespersen’s nephew is giving me a ride home. Is that okay?”

  My mom wasn’t an idiot. “Why is your lesson over early?”

  “Miss Jespersen went insane and had to be carted off in a straitjacket.”

  “Lily,” my mom warned.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’ll tell you later. Gotta go. Bye.” I hung up and handed the phone back to Rafe. His fingers grazed my hand again as he took the phone, and I felt my skin tingle where he’d touched it. I was never going to wash it again. Ever.

  “Ready?” He stood up and held out his hand to pull me to my feet.

  I lifted my hand, and he grabbed it and tugged me up. For like forever, we stood there, like we were holding hands, only a foot apart…then he let go, spun around, and jumped down all the steps in one leap. “Let’s go, then.”

  Rafe swung into a black Jeep without a top. “Climb in.”

  Oh, wow. This was so awesome. I grabbed the roll bar and pulled myself into the passenger seat, plopping down next to him. “Love the car.”

  “It’s a guilt present.” He started the engine and put on his seat belt. “Where to?”

  I gave him directions as I tugged on my own seat belt, making sure it didn’t mess up my scoop-neck white top with the cool embroidery around the collar. I’d picked it out hoping I might run into Rafe. Point for me. “What’s a guilt present?”

  He pulled out onto the road. “My parents are getting a divorce, so they kicked me out of the house so they could try to kill each other in private. The car was to make them feel better.”

  “Wow, that’s a major bummer. The divorce thing, not the car.”

  He shrugged. “It is what it is.”

  “So, where do you live, then? Did they really kick you out?” I couldn’t imagine my parents throwing me out. I would freak out.

  “With my aunt.”

  I couldn’t help the heebie-jeebies from crawling down my spine. “Seriously? You actually live with her?”

&n
bsp; “Yep.” He eased to a stop at a red light, rested his forearms on the steering wheel, and turned his head toward me. “What’s your story?”

  He had dark green eyes, I realized, with long eyelashes that were so cute. “Story about what?” My gaze drifted to his mouth, and his lips. Were they soft? What would it be like if he kissed me? Would he—

  “Child prodigy on your good days, piece of dirt on your bad ones,” Rafe quoted. “What’s up with that?” The light changed and he shifted into first and pulled out.

  “I play the piano. My parents and your aunt have high hopes for me, but I’m failing miserably.” I chewed my lower lip and watched the trees flash by.

  “You seem pretty good to me.”

  I glanced at him, but he was checking out the rearview mirror, not me. “Maybe you can drop a hint to your aunt over dinner so she’ll back off.”

  “Maybe I will.” He turned on his blinker. “Right here?”

  “Yep.” We fell silent for a while, while I frantically tried to think of something to say that would impress him. All I could come up with was to compliment him on his drumming. Bor-ing. Think of something scintillating.

  He turned on the radio and started flipping through stations. Great. I was so boring that he was giving up on conversation. Then he grinned and turned it up. “Great song.”

  It was another JamieX song, an older one that still rocked. “I love this song!” I started singing along immediately.

  He flicked me a surprised look. “You’re—”

  “A terrible singer. I know.” I blushed. “Good thing I play an instrument, huh?” I started singing again.

  After a second, Rafe started singing too.

  I immediately whooped and hit him on the shoulder. “You’re awful too!”

  He grinned at me, his dimples completely adorable and out of character with his tattoo and scruffy hair. “Good thing I play an instrument, huh?”

  I laughed, a warm bubbly feeling exploding through me. “I think you’re even worse than I am, and that’s nothing to be proud of.”

  He finally laughed too. He’d been cute when he was doing the über-serious mysterious bad boy thing, but he was beyond gorgeous when he was happy. “You’re definitely worse,” he said.

  “No way. You’re insanely jealous of my incredible voice.” I turned it up and started singing louder.

  He joined in, and we sang the rest of the way to my house. We didn’t even stop when we hit the stoplight in the town center, even though there were kids standing on the sidewalk five feet away. They were making fun of us, but we kept singing.

  Yeah, those girls were eyeing Rafe. Too bad for them. I was the one making bad music with him, and it rocked!

  He pulled into my driveway and turned down the radio. His cheeks were sort of flushed and he was grinning.

  “Thanks for the ride, Rafe.”

  “Anytime, Lily. Despite what my aunt says about you, you’re not too bad.”

  I smacked him lightly on the arm. “Not funny.”

  His grin faded. “Sorry.”

  Shoot. I didn’t want him to drive off thinking I was some oversensitive loser. “I’m just kidding.” I swung out of his Jeep and landed on the driveway with a graceful thump. “If you ever need a stand-in for the keyboard again, let me know.”

  His smile disappeared and he got this really awkward expression on his face. “Um, about that…”

  All my happiness suddenly vanished, but I shrugged like I didn’t care. “It’s no problem. I know you already have a keyboard player. I just meant—”

  “She’s my girlfriend.”

  I felt sick. “Who is? Angel?”

  “No, Paige. The girl who plays the keyboard.”

  I took a deep breath and tossed my hair. “Whatever.”

  “I just didn’t want you to think, well, I mean, because I gave you a ride today and stuff.”

  Oh, God, this was the worst! I was getting dumped before I’d even dated! “Rafe, seriously, it’s no biggie. I was just having fun on the ride home. I have a boyfriend already, so I’m glad it’s not an issue,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Yikes! Had I really just said that?

  Something flickered across his face. “You have a boyfriend?”

  Too late to back out now. “Yep. Sophomore over at Inverness. Plays lacrosse.” Wow. Two fake boyfriends in three days. My social life was rocking. I managed a smile, even though I felt like running into my house and curling up into a miserable little ball. “He can sing, though, so don’t tell him I stink, okay? That’s our little secret.”

  His mouth curved into an intimate smile. “Our little secret,” he agreed. “Deal.” He started the Jeep back up. “So, I’ll see you around.”

  “If you’re lucky.”

  That same weird look crossed his face again. “If I’m lucky,” he repeated. Then he shifted into reverse and backed out of the driveway.

  I refused to stand there and stare after him, so I turned and ran into the house, jumping over two geraniums in case he was looking. Girls who had just been rejected by a guy they had a major crush on didn’t leap over flowerpots. They sobbed and cried and got all pathetic.

  But not me. No way.

  I vaulted up the steps, shoved my key in the lock, and danced inside, then slammed the door shut so I could collapse on the floor and be a loser in private.

  Chapter Five

  I told my mom the truth about what happened at the lesson, and what did she do? She went off to call Miss Jespersen and find out her side, not believing me when I told her that Miss Jespersen was laying the pressure on way too thick.

  Lucky for me, Crusty wasn’t home, but my mom still made me practice. For two hours.

  By the end, even my mom admitted I sounded awful. That put me in an even worse mood, especially when she started talking about the audition again.

  I practiced for another miserable hour, trying hard to remember what it was like to enjoy piano, but failing miserably.

  Then I did homework, because I had nothing else to do.

  By Thursday afternoon I was so sick of practicing that I didn’t feel even the least bit guilty about playing hooky and sitting on the sidelines at the Inverness practice fields, watching a bunch of guys do drills while Val was at softball practice. Mom was at work. Miss Jespersen was teaching at the school. Everyone trusted sweet little Lily to go home like a good girl and practice.

  Not.

  I hugged myself, watching the guys. Since when was I the type to cut practice? I wasn’t, but I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong. I felt like I was living! And I was on the verge of discovering the trick to getting myself a real boyfriend. I was a rebel!

  Erin nudged me. “See number ten? That’s Keith. Is he cute or what?”

  I studied the field, and got a vague glimpse of number ten before he disappeared beneath a slew of grunting bodies and lacrosse sticks. “I like his helmet.”

  Delilah pointed at the pile. “That’s Jeff at the bottom.” She sighed. “He’s not that cute, plus he’s getting squashed. I really think I should tell him I can’t go to the semiformal with him.”

  “You have to go,” Erin said. “He’s best friends with Keith and Hugh, and if you don’t go, then they might not ask us and then—”

  “So, which one’s mine?” I was risking the wrath of Miss Jespersen and my parents because my friends had sworn that the guys had a friend who needed a date for the semiformal. I was there to meet him. Since Inverness and St. Mary’s hosted the semiformal together, the guys were going to get dates if we didn’t snag them first. I had to move in today for the kill, or risk staying home, since my “boyfriend” Rafe was still unable to attend.

  And if I got a date, then maybe my friends would forget about Rafe. They hadn’t stopped grilling me about him so far, forcing me to make up lies constantly. As of this moment, Rafe and I had been dating for two weeks, had gone to three movies, and he’d given me a stuffed animal. And he was sixteen, birthday in March, and he had written a song about me. Unfortunately, he was not available for the semiformal, but was now okay with me going without him. What a guy.

  My plan for the moment was to start to date this Inverness guy, whoever he was, fall in love, and then “break up” with Rafe. Or something like that, so long as it ended with Rafe out of the picture and no one realizing I’d lied about him being my boyfriend.