Angelina and Ashton stepped off the bus, their eyes scanning the crowd for any sign of their friends. They were excited to be on their class outing, and they were looking forward to spending time with their classmates. They didn’t know that their little brothers had been planning a ‘surprise’ for them once they were back home, and they were about to be caught up in a scheme that would change their lives forever.
Ashton’s eyes widened as he stepped into the resort. He felt like he had entered a fairy tale, with the grand staircase, the sparkling chandeliers, and the lush gardens. He could smell the fragrant flowers and hear the soothing sound of waterfalls. He exclaimed, “Whoa, this resort is beautiful!”
He was so distracted by the beauty of the resort that he didn’t notice someone sneaking up behind him. Suddenly, he felt something cover his eyes. “Who turned off the sun?” he asked rhetorically, and put his hands to his eyes. He felt a second pair of hands preventing him from seeing, and pulled them off.
He turned around to see his best friend Joseph, a tall, slightly tanned, black-haired boy wearing blue glasses standing behind him, giggling to himself. “Hi Ash,” he said, with a small smile.
Ashton was momentarily blinded by the sudden brightness, and he blinked a few times to adjust his vision. When he could finally see again, he smiled at Joseph. “Hey, Joe. How was your bus ride?”
“It went pretty well. I had so much fun dancing to all the songs.”
Ashton laughed, thinking of all his classmates in the bus he was traveling in, dancing and singing to the music. He knew Joseph would join in (and force Ash to do so as well) the noise. His friend was much less self-conscious, and more extroverted than he could ever dream of being, although they were both extroverted. “Typical you…” he said with a knowing smile.
“Too bad we’re in different buses. Otherwise I’d have forced you to dance along.”
Ash chuckled lightly at the thought. “Yeah, I know.”
But even as he laughed, Ashton felt a pang of sadness. He wished he could be more like Joseph, more outgoing and carefree. But he knew that he was just too shy.
“Come on,” Joseph said, putting his arm around Ashton’s shoulders. “Let’s go explore.”
Ashton nodded, and they started walking through the resort. As they walked, Ashton couldn’t help but feel a sense of excitement. He couldn’t wait to see what this place had in store for him.
While the ninth-graders were having fun at the resort halfway across town, Leo and Jay were sitting in their classroom at school, talking about their plan. They had been planning this together all day, and they were finally ready to finalize it all.
Jayden was the older of the two boys, and he was the one who had come up with the idea of getting their siblings married. Leo was the younger of the two boys, and he was the one who was helping Jayden with the plan.
Leo was a bit skeptical about the plan at first, but Jayden had convinced him that it would work.
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think we’ll get in trouble if we do this, Jay?”
Jayden rolled his eyes. “That’s why it’s a secret, duh!” he replied, and put his shoulder around Leo’s. “Trust me, man. They’ll thank us later.”
Leo smiled. “You’re right. We’re gonna be brothers!” he cheered.
Jayden grinned back. “See, now you get it! This is big brain stuff.”
Leo nodded, his eyes shining with excitement. “Yeah, it is. I can see it now. They’ll come up to us on their wedding, holding hands, saying, ‘Oh, thank you so much, boys, without you we’d have never found each other.’ Angie will be so proud.”
Jayden laughed. “And then we go, ‘It was our pleasure. It was a team effort from me and my new brother.’ Because we helped them, they’ll let us wear whatever we want to the wedding! No itchy suits, or annoying bow-ties!”
Leo pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “Shorts life forever! No itchy suits for me!”
The boys high-fived, their eyes filled with dreams of the future.
|•|•|•|
Meanwhile at the resort, Angelina was sitting by the poolside, talking with her best friends, who, to her dismay, arrived in a different bus from the one she was in.
Her friend Lisa finally brought up the topic she had on her mind ever since she heard about the breakup. “Oh, and by the way, I think Ashton’s been cheating on you.”
“Yeah, I saw him at the pizza place with Leann a few days back.” her twin Lana added. “Did you know about this?”
That was when it all came back to her. The fake relationship for the prank war. The most elaborate performance she ever put on. Her first taste in the world of romance. She had to think fast. She didn’t want to reveal that it was fake just yet, so she said,
“Oh, we broke up silently. A few days before Ash started missing me so much he started dating Leann.”
“Why didn’t you tell us? You must have been devastated!” Lana urged.
“I’m not ‘devastated’ at all, and never was. I knew he had feelings for her, so I let go.”
“It was to get back at Jake, wasn’t it?” Lisa asked with a deadpan tone.
“Yes, yes it was. And now that Jake left school, well… we had no reason to keep pretending.” she replied, heaving a sigh of relief.
The epiphany splashed Lana on the face like a bucket of water. “Oh, yeah! The poop cake you two baked while I was down with a fever.”
“The whole school still believes that he cheated on you for so long, before breaking up with his ex near the lockers. You guys need to explain it all to everyone.”
“But, how?” Angie asked.
The twins smirked at each other with knowing glances. “Oh, we know how.”
|•|•|•|
Ashton looked at the two red-haired girls with curiosity and confusion, then at Angelina, who was hiding her face in shame. “Okay, why am I here? Lana, can you explain why you dragged me here?”
“The fake relationship, Ash. People think you’re cheating on Angie. So you’ll have to find a way to prove your innocence, and that you guys never dated in the first place.” the girl replied, putting on her baseball cap, covering the top of her red hair.
“Okay, how?” the boy asked.
“During lunch time, you realize your ‘mistake’ of breaking up with Angie for Leann, so you come to her sayin’ that you want her back.”
“And then me being badass as I am, will reject you coldly.” Angie added, with an evil smile. “The plan actually sounds reasonable.”
“Then you pretend to bawl your eyes out, get on your knees if you have to.” Lisa said, rubbing her palms together and mentally cackling at the thought.
“No, ew. That’ll make her seem really heartless, and him seem really desperate.” Lana scolded.
“Yeah. That’s just dumb. I’ll probably plead with her a few times, before realizing, ‘Fine, she’s not the one. Why do I even bother?’ and walk off. Simple.” Ashton nodded, sarcastically.
But in reality, he felt a surge of panic and anger. He couldn’t believe what they were asking him to do. He looked at Angelina, hoping she would say something to stop this madness. But she just avoided his gaze, her cheeks red with embarrassment.
“What do you think?” Lisa asked.
“I think…”
But before he could say anything, Lana grabbed his arm and dragged him to the resort’s breakfast hall, where most of the students were having lunch.
She pushed him into the center of the room, where everyone could see him. She shouted, “Hey, everyone! Listen up! We have an announcement to make!”
The noise in the room died down, as everyone turned to look at them. Ashton felt hundreds of eyes on him, curious, confused, or amused. He wished he could disappear.
Lana continued, “You all know Ashton, right? The guy who cheated on Angelina with Leann? The guy who broke her heart and made her cry? The guy who’s a total jerk and a liar?”
The crowd murmured in agreement, some nodding, some booing, some jeering. Ashton felt a wave of shame and anger wash over him. He wanted to defend himself, to tell them the truth. But he knew they wouldn’t believe him. They would think he was lying even more.
Lana said, “Well, guess what? He has something to say to Angie. Something very important. Something that will change everything.”
She turned to Ashton and said, “Go ahead, Ash. Tell her what you want to tell her.”
Ashton looked at Lana with disbelief and resentment. He couldn’t believe she was doing this to him. He hated her for putting him in this situation.
He looked around the room, hoping for someone to help him. He saw Joseph in the corner, his eyes wide with shock and sympathy. He saw his teacher at the door, her mouth open with surprise and concern. He saw Lisa and Angie next to him, watching Lana with curiosity.
But none of them could do anything for him. None of them could save him from this nightmare.
He looked at Angelina, who was standing next to Lisa and Lana. She looked at him with a mix of emotions: sadness, regret, pity, anger, and curiosity. She looked like she wanted to say something to him, but she didn’t.
She just waited for him to speak.
Ashton felt a lump in his throat and a knot in his stomach. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to end this charade.
He decided to go along with their plan, hoping it would be over soon. He decided to pretend that he loved her, hoping it would solve the problem, hoping the rumors would end.
He decided to lie one last time.
He took a deep breath and said,
“Angelina… I love you. I want you back. I don’t know what got into me that day, that… that phone call when I said I wanted to break up.”
The crowd of murmurs and hushed whispers fell silent. They all turned to Angelina, awaiting her response.
She took a minute to put her thoughts into order. She secretly couldn’t believe how much emotion he showed with the act. She took a deep breath and clenched her fists.
“No. I don’t like you! What makes you think I’ll forgive you all of a sudden?!” she spat.
" Just… give me a chance?”
She sighed. “No way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go have lunch.” she said, and walked away from him.
Ash went away as well, under the guise of going to the restroom, feeling low-key impressed at how she could act.
The bus ride back home was sleepy. The students had been up late the night before, exploring the resort, and they were all exhausted.
Angelina and Ashton were made to sit next to each other for convenience in the headcount, and were, to all of our surprise, talking quietly. They had been through a lot in the past few days, and they were both relieved to be going home.
“I’m so glad this is over,” Angelina said. “I was so worried that everyone would find out about our fake relationship.”
“Me too,” Ashton said. “But I’m glad we did it. It was worth it to see the look on Lana’s face when we told her.”
They laughed, and then Angelina leaned her head on Ashton’s shoulder. He put his arm around her, and they closed their eyes.
As the bus drove on, the students all slowly drifted off to sleep. They were all looking forward to getting home and getting some rest.
The chapter ends with Angelina and Ashton asleep on the bus, their heads leaning on each other. They are both exhausted, but they are also relieved and happy. They have finally put the fake relationship behind them, and they are looking forward to starting a new chapter in their lives.
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