Chapter 2
My brain completely short-circuited.
Logan Saunders—literal school god, untouchable heartthrob, the guy who’d never even looked my way—was kissing me. Not a fake peck or some party dare. This was a real kiss. His hands gently cupped my face, his lips soft but sure, and his body warm against mine. I froze, my heart hammering so loud I couldn’t hear the music anymore.
And just like that, it ended. He pulled back, still holding my face, his eyes searching mine.
I blinked. “What the hell was that?”
“Just go with it,” he muttered under his breath.
“Go with—what? You just kissed me!”
His expression was tight, like he was waiting for something. Or someone.
“Please,” he said quietly. “Pretend you’re with me. Just for now.”
I opened my mouth to ask why, but then I saw her—Sarah. She was storming toward us like a heat-seeking missile, heels clicking against the floor, mascara already streaking down her cheeks.
“Logan! Are you serious right now?!”
He turned slightly, positioning himself between me and Sarah, like he was trying to shield me. “You need to leave, Sarah.”
She scoffed. “You’re with her? Her? You can’t be serious. This is a joke, right?”
I felt like I was shrinking. My heart thudded in my ears. All eyes were suddenly on me, the invisible girl, now center stage in a drama I didn’t sign up for.
“Sarah, it’s over,” Logan said firmly. “We’ve been over for weeks. You just didn’t want to accept it.”
“I’m not talking to you!” she snapped, turning to me. “Do you even know him? Or are you just another girl hoping for attention?”
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but nothing came out. I didn’t even know what I was doing here anymore.
Then Logan did something that changed everything.
He reached down and laced his fingers with mine.
The contact was so simple, so unexpected, that it grounded me. Suddenly, I wasn’t drowning anymore.
“She’s not just a girl,” Logan said. “She’s my girlfriend.”
The room went silent.
I wanted to correct him—badly. I wasn’t his girlfriend. We’d never even had a real conversation. But something in his voice made me stop. It wasn’t a joke. He meant it. Or at least, he wanted everyone else to believe it.
Sarah laughed, but it sounded hollow. “You think I’m going to fall for that?”
“You can believe what you want,” Logan said coolly. “But I don’t owe you anything anymore.”
She stared at us for a long moment, like she was trying to decide whether to scream or cry. Then she turned on her heel and stormed out, her entourage trailing behind her like confused ducklings.
The second she disappeared, I pulled my hand out of his like I’d touched fire.
“What was that?!” I hissed.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, running a hand through his hair. “I just needed to get her off my back. She’s been following me around for weeks.”
“So you used me?”
He looked genuinely apologetic. “It wasn’t supposed to go that far. I just—I saw you and… you were the only one I could trust not to make a scene.”
My chest tightened. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to scream at him or melt under the way he was looking at me. “We’ve never even talked before tonight.”
“I know,” he admitted. “But I see you. I’ve always seen you.”
That shut me up.
What did that even mean? Was he just saying that to smooth things over? Because if he was, it was working.
I took a deep breath and folded my arms. “So what now? Do I just go back to being invisible while you pretend this never happened?”
“No,” he said. “Actually… I was hoping you’d help me. Pretend to be my girlfriend. Just for a little while. Until she backs off.”
I stared at him like he’d grown a second head. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “You don’t have to do anything crazy. Just hang out with me sometimes. Be seen with me at school. I’ll owe you big time.”
“This is insane.”
“I know,” he said. “But I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really need your help.”
I hesitated. Every logical part of my brain screamed no. But then I remembered how it felt when he kissed me. How, for the first time, someone really saw me—not as background noise, but as someone worth noticing.
And part of me wanted to see where that led.
“…Fine,” I said, shocking myself.
His lips quirked into a smile. Not his usual cocky smirk. A real one. Like he was relieved.
“Thank you,” he said softly. “You won’t regret it.”
I wasn’t so sure.
Because as we walked out of that party together, our hands brushing just slightly, I had a strange feeling in my chest.
A feeling that told me this was the beginning of something I couldn’t take back.