As they walked through the mall, Ebony listened half-heartedly to Salene go on and on about how Ram was being a complete jerk. She had given up listening a while back, when all she could think about was the fact that she had agreed to Jay's stupid plan, if there even was a plan now. She hadn't heard from Jay for almost a week. She sighed, still wondering what made her say yes.
Then she saw Bray walking on the opposite side of the mall with Pride, May, and Tai-san talking and laughing. While everyone else looked like they were having a great time, Bray looked completely oblivious to the world around him. He was like some kind of zombie, just occasionally nodding. It was then that Ebony knew she had to do something to help him, even if he didn't love her anymore like she still loved him.
"And then he tried to say that he was just being nice to May. That he didn't care abo…Ebony, are you listening to anything I'm saying?" Salene said, slightly irritated that she spent all that time telling a story and Ebony had missed it all. Ebony snapped her attention to Salene with an embarrassed smile.
"Sorry, Sal. I just have my head in the clouds today, but I'm really listening this time. Now what is going on with you and Ram? You two just got together like four months ago. Things can't be over so quickly. You're crazy about each other," Ebony said, smiling. Salene and Ram were on the verge of a break up pretty much every other week. All their friends knew the routine by now. Be supportive and listen and they would patch it up fairly quickly. Ebony wished things would be that easy for her and Bray.
The next day, Ebony decided that she was tired of waiting around for Jay to take action. She pulled out her cell and dialed his number for the first time in months. It rang and rang until finally Jay answered. "Hello?" he said, sounding like he had just woken up.
"Hey Jay. It's Ebony. I wanted to talk to you about the plan for Bray. We need to get started soon."
"Ebony, why are you calling me so early on a Sunday? You may be a morning person, but if you remember, I'm not," he said grumpily. Ebony laughed.
"Umm, Jay. It's one o'clock in the afternoon. It's way past early morning."
"Oh, hell," he said as he jumped out of bed. "Well, why the hell did you let me go on and on about early morning? We're wasting time here. Let me jump in the shower and I'll be at your house in half and hour." Before Ebony could object, the line went dead.
She threw her phone on the bed and went to the kitchen to grab some food. She loved days when she had the apartment to herself, though she did miss her dad when he was gone. Her mom had run off when she was ten and hadn't been heard from since. That's one of the things she and Bray had bonded over. They were both missing their mothers.
She tried to push thoughts of him out of her head as she finished her sandwich. She jumped up when she heard the doorbell. She invited Jay in and now they just awkwardly stood there, staring at each other.
"So…" Ebony said, not quite knowing where to start.
"So, we should probably start planning this out," Jay said, plopping himself on her couch. She sat on the opposite end and sighed.
"Well, how is this going to work? We can't just show up at school tomorrow as a couple. People will get suspicious and I haven't had time to fill my friends in on this whole plan," Ebony said. Jay looked at her and frowned. "What?" she asked.
"You can't tell you friends, Ebby. You can't tell anyone. This has to look and sound real and that will be hard if a bunch of people know it's just pretend." Ebony jumped off the couch and started pacing.
"You have got to be kidding me? I can't lie to my friends. They would never forgive me when they found out the truth." Jay sighed. He knew he would have trouble getting her to agree to this.
"Ebby, it's not lying so much as it's just not telling the whole truth." Ebony rolled her eyes.
"That's the same thing, you idiot," she said.
"Hey now. There is no need for name calling," Jay said with a slight smile. He didn't realize until right then how much he had missed Ebony's sarcasm and the bickering they did back and forth.
Ebony threw herself back onto the couch, defeated. "Fine. I won't tell them, but if they stop speaking to me when this is all over, it's completely your fault."
"I can live with that," he said. "Okay, now I know you said we can't just show up and be a couple, because no one would believe us, so I have an idea. Why don't we make everyone think that we have been secretly seeing each other, but were afraid to tell anyone? Surely they will believe that we were scared to tell everyone, especially Bray." He looked at her, hoping she would like the idea. She twirled a braid around her finger as she thought about it.
"That's sounds like it may work, but we're really going to have to make it sound and look real," she said. "So, I guess starting tomorrow, we're going to be a couple, at least everyone will think we are." Jay nodded.
"Looks like it. So why don't I pick you up tomorrow for school? If we show up together, it will look more believable." Ebony nodded in agreement.
The next day, Ebony was a nervous wreck waiting for Jay to show up. She knew that she was doing the right thing to help Bray, or at least she hoped she was doing the right thing. She jumped off the front porch step as Jay pulled up and got into the car. They sat in silence the whole ride there, both lost in their thoughts and doubts about their plan. When they pulled into the parking lot, Jay turned to face Ebony.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Once we start, it will be hard to just end it," he asked, concerned that maybe he was asking too much of her.
"I'm sure about this," she said as she put on her most confident smile. She got out of the car and walked next to Jay towards the school. He slipped his hand in hers, looking at her to see if it was okay. She just smiled at him, knowing this was part of the plan.
She took a deep breath as they headed towards her friends, seeing the shocked looks on all their faces. She knew that most of them weren't huge fans of Jay, especially Ram and Mega, but she hoped they would support her.
Ram pulled himself up from his seat on the ground and walked towards them. "Ebony, what the hell is going on and why the hell are you holding hands with that jerk?" he asked, angrily.
