As If I Could Ever Fake You

Chapter 5– “The Wrong Kind of Attention”

Jay could hear the whispers before she even entered the hall.

“Is that her?”

“She’s the one dating Keifer, right?”

“She doesn’t look like his type.”

“No way he’s serious. Probably just a dare or something.”

Her grip tightened on the straps of her backpack. The hallway was packed with students milling around after lecture, but she could feel eyes darting to her every few seconds. Some were curious. Some judgmental. Some just plain nosy.

Jay kept her head high.

Kept walking.

Kept pretending her heart wasn’t beating way too fast for something that wasn’t real.

This was the deal. She had agreed to this. Keifer had asked her — in that calm, infuriating voice — if she would help him out. If she would pretend to be his girlfriend to get back at his ex, to shut up the rumors, to make people believe he’d moved on.

And like a complete idiot, she had said yes.

Because deep down, she had liked him first.

Crushed in secret. Daydreamed in silence. And when the chance came — when he came to her — she couldn’t say no. Even if it meant pretending.

Even if it meant waking up every day knowing she was just a placeholder.

She reached her classroom and pushed the door open, only to nearly walk straight into him.

Keifer.

Of course.

He was standing near the door like he owned the place, arms crossed, that lazy smirk already forming on his lips the moment he saw her.

“Hey,” he said smoothly. “Miss me?”

Jay rolled her eyes. “This is a 9 a.m. class. Who misses anyone at 9 a.m.?”

“You do,” he said, stepping closer. “You just won’t admit it.”

“You’re ridiculous,” she muttered, brushing past him to her seat.

But the truth was, her pulse was already betraying her.

Because when Keifer looked at her like that — when he made it feel like it wasn’t fake — she didn’t know how to breathe properly.

He followed her, pulling out the chair beside hers.

“People are talking,” he said, as if she hadn’t already noticed.

“No kidding,” she replied.

“You okay?”

She didn’t answer for a moment. Then she muttered, “I just don’t like being looked at like I’m a joke.”

Keifer’s tone shifted instantly. “Who said that?”

“No one. Not directly. But it’s in their faces. Their voices. I hear them.”

His jaw clenched. “Let me talk to them—”

“No,” she cut in. “You’ll just make it worse.”

He sat back, watching her carefully. “You shouldn’t care what they think.”

“I don’t,” she said too quickly. “I just…”

She trailed off. Didn’t finish. Because the truth was, she did care. It was one thing to fake date Keifer in theory — to imagine stolen glances and fake smiles and maybe one or two dramatic public moments. But this? This was different.

This was the entire school suddenly knowing her name.

This was people calling her a nobody who didn’t deserve someone like him.

This was people whispering behind her back like they knew her story.

Like they knew him.

But they didn’t.

And neither did she.

Jay turned to him, finally asking the question that had been eating her up since day one. “Why me?”

Keifer blinked. “What?”

“You could’ve asked anyone to fake date you. Literally anyone. So why pick me? We’ve never even talked before.”

He looked at her for a long time. Too long. His eyes searched her face like he was trying to pick which lie to tell.

Then he smirked — effortless, charming, practiced. “You’re pretty. And you don’t seem like the type to fall for me.”

Jay’s heart twisted.

That was the perfect answer.

Exactly what she should’ve expected.

Exactly what a guy like Keifer would say.

But somehow, it still stung.

“Right,” she said, turning away.

She didn’t see the way his smile faded the moment she wasn’t looking.

Didn’t see the tension in his shoulders as he reached into his bag.

Didn’t see how his eyes lingered on her just a second too long — like he was thinking something he shouldn’t.

Because Jay didn’t know the truth.

Not yet.

And she couldn’t.

Not when she was already starting to wish that maybe — just maybe — this wasn’t fake at all.

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There something defenitly going on? 

And you my poor readers have to wait to find out.💖✨