"Of course I'm sure," Phil whispered back. "We're always so close anyway that nobody will even notice we're pretending to be together except for Trent. And he's the only person we need to notice."
"Okay…" I replied, still feeling a little unsure of our plan.
We arrived at our lockers, releasing each other's hands so we could get our stuff out. It was looking like I'd be in the clear—for now, at least—when I saw Trent walking toward me down the hall.
I glanced over at Phil. "He's coming."
"Remember what I told you," Phil said to me. "Just act natural. Casual."
"Natural. Casual. Got it!" I nodded and took a deep breath.
"Hey, Keely," Trent said when he made it to our lockers. "I was going to call you yesterday, but I figured you were busy."
"Yeah, I was," I replied, thankful that he didn't call. That would have been one awkward phone conversation. "I was at Phil's all day." Not a lie. I HAD been at Phil's all day—we needed a lot of time to perfect our plan.
"Oh. Phil. Right." Trent nodded at my best friend standing behind me.
Phil nodded back. I gave him a VERY urgent stare for help, but all he did was shrug at me. Some help he was turning out to be.
"So, Keely, can I walk you to class?" Trent asked, holding his hand out to me.
"Actually, I was planning on walking Keely to class this morning," Phil stepped in. I let out a long sigh of relief.
Trent laughed. "No offense, man, but I think Keely would rather her boyfriend walk her to class."
Woah. Even if I DID like him—when did he become my boyfriend? There was a major overstepping of boundaries going on here.
"Yes. I'm sure Keely WOULD rather her boyfriend walk her to class." Phil threw an arm around my waist casually—a little too casually. But I had to admit, he was doing a good job so far.
I shrugged at Trent with a weak smile. "I told you we were close," I offered.
"Come on, Keely," Phil said, slamming my locker door shut for me and taking my hand. "We don't want to be late for class."
And down the hall we walked, leaving a dumbfounded Trent Parker standing alone in the middle of the hallway looking after us.
Once we were out of Trent's sight, I threw my arms around Phil. "You were great!" I exclaimed. "Really awesome. You even had me believing we were an item there for a second."
Phil smiled. "Well, it looks like Trent won't be bothering you for awhile now," he told me proudly. "How does it feel?"
"It feels GREAT!" I answered. "Thanks, Phil. You really are the best friend a girl could ask for. And you know what? Being your girlfriend for the past ten minutes has actually been kind of fun."
"Yeah, it was fun, wasn't it?" Phil took a deep breath. "Listen, Keel… I know this is gonna sound crazy, but… do you think you wanna try that again? Like, on a real date? I promise not to order lobster."
How long had I waited to hear him ask me that particular question? I grinned at him. "Of course! Phil, I would love that!"
Phil grinned back. "Great. So how does Friday sound?" he asked.
"Perfect," I replied. I kissed him quickly on the cheek. "See you at lunch, sweetie pie."
Then I disappeared into my classroom and he disappeared into his.