Title: Pretend To Be Mine
Pairing: Donald/Stacie
Author's Note: Hey, I just want to give a big THANKS to those who have reviewed, as well as favorited and followed this story. I really appreciate it. This chapter will take a quick turn from the fun and cheerful chapter one. There will be a lot of mother-daughter bonding, as well as Stonald-alone time. I really hope you all like it, so please review!
Chapter Two
…
Life in general sucks, but occasionally, it gets better.
Stacie smiled when she saw the flyers of the Barden Bella's on one of the bulletin boards in the girls dorms. She's heard of them before, but she never really thought they would let just about anyone in. She loved singing, even though she wasn't exactly good at it. It's just something that the average person likes to do.
"Hey Conrad girl!" Stacie heard someone call her last name from across the hall of the girls dorm. She whirled around when she recognized the voice.
Donald was jogging towards her, panting slightly. "Con-r-rad—Conrad girl!" he called again as he finally stopped in front of her and leaned on his hands on his knees.
"Stop calling my last name." Stacie whispered in annoyance.
He finally looked up, his glasses sliding slightly off his nose. He stood up straight, a smirk planted firmly on his lips as he pushed his glasses back into place. "If you're not gonna tell me your name, then I guess I'll just call you the Conrad girl." He said as he used the back of his sleeve to wipe off the thin sheet of sweat across his forehead.
Stacie rolled her eyes at him and turned away to go back to her room.
He followed closely behind her. "You are a very hard-to-find person." Donald stated.
Stacie looked at him. "Why are you trying to find me?" she questioned curiously.
Donald cocked his head to the side. "Didn't know I needed a reason to find you."
Stacie rolled her eyes again. "Well, now you know." She said and sped up a little.
He only sped up too and continued to walk alongside her.
"What do you want?" Stacie asked.
Donald shrugged, "I want to know your name."
"Why?"
"Do I really need a reason to know your name?" Donald asked incredulously.
Stacie pretended to think about it, before answering. "Yes. For all I know, you could be a serial killer, or a kidnapper, or a thief, or a rapist, or a—,"
"Alright, I get it!" Donald said quickly, cutting her off. He looked around warily. "Jeez woman, stop talking so loudly." He whispered. "I think half the floor heard you and they're thinking I'm one of those." He muttered.
Stacie quirked an eyebrow at him, "Are you?" she asked with a smirk.
Donald laughed, "You've got jokes, huh?"
Stacie flipped her hair over in his face as she continued to walk.
"I'm going to my room." She stated.
Donald smirked and followed her. "Do you wanna have lunch with me?" he asked almost excitedly.
Stacie stopped abruptly and turned her head to look at him. "Are you asking me out?" she asked.
"If you're gonna say yes, then yes." Donald nodded.
"And if I say no?"
Donald shrugged. "You won't."
Stacie folded her arms across her chest and turned to face him. "What makes you so sure?" she questioned.
"No one has ever rejected The Donald."
Stacie rolled her eyes and turned back to continue towards her room. They went up a flight of stairs, before they finally reached the floor with her room.
Stacie cleared her throat softly before speaking. "I—look, I'm sure you're a great guy… deep down, way on the inside." She began.
Donald rolled his eyes at her. "Ha-Ha. You're hilarious."
Stacie smirked at him. "Thank you."
"but?" Donald asked, waiting for that impending rejection that he could already see on her face, and the news about her having a boyfriend. He felt a weird sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach, and he can't quite describe it. It's like a mixture of sadness and something else, warring inside his brain and sinking like quicksand to his feet.
"But, I'm trying to focus on school right now, and I can't be in a—,"
"Wait. What?" he asked quickly cutting her off, not quite sure if he had heard her right.
"I'm trying to focus on school." Stacie repeated slowly.
"So you're not dating anyone?" he asked, and Stacie didn't know what to think about the grin spreading across his handsome features.
"Umm, no." she said shaking her head in confusion.
Donald nearly jumped up and down, feeling victorious. She wasn't dating anyone! He quickly abandoned the thought, and cleared his throat as he tried to keep his facial features straight, even though a grin was threatening to split his face in two. "Umm, so you're just trying to focus on school, and you're not dating anyone?"
Stacie nodded, "I believe so, yes."
Donald nodded as his mind raced. "And when will you stop focusing on school?"
Stacie's eyebrows furrowed further in confusion. "I won't stop until I graduate."
"That's four years away." Donald said flatly, and his brain nearly stopped functioning. Four years?!
"Yeah."
"So, you won't start dating until you graduate?"
Stacie nodded.
"And you don't have your sights set on anyone?"
Stacie stared at him. She actually has someone in mind, and she wasn't about to admit that she liked him back, so she tried to change the subject. "What's with the one-man interrogation squad?"
Donald blinked and looked away. "Uhh, just curious. As you're fellow upperclassman, I have to make sure that the freshmen are doing as they're directed and that they focus on school."
Stacie stared at him unconvinced that he was just looking out for a fellow underclassman. But she muttered a soft, "Okay."
Donald nodded, turned on his heels and walked away. "I'll see you around!" he called over his shoulder.
Stacie shook her head as she turned towards the direction of her room and walked towards it. But even with so many thoughts racing across her mind, she couldn't stop herself from smiling.
...
…
It's the third month since school started, and Stacie had just gotten off the phone with her mom. This time, she felt terrible because she didn't just fib with her answers. She had flat out lied to her mom about having a boyfriend. It's not that she didn't want to tell her mom the truth. It's just that her mom kept nagging her about finding a good boyfriend, so she lied and said that Donald Travers had asked her out, and that she had said yes. She just wanted her mom to know that she was indeed happy, and it seemed like her mom didn't think it possible if Stacie didn't have a boyfriend.
Stacie sighed heavily as she stared up at the ceiling of her room. The weather was getting colder each day, and she found herself spending a lot of her time inside the warmth of her room. Her roommate, a blonde girl who called herself Fat Amy, kept popping out of nowhere and asking if she'd like to go shopping. Stacie loved shopping, but lately, she's been staying inside and doing a lot of online shopping instead. Maybe it's the fact that she didn't like cold weather, or the fact that Donald Travers wasn't even around anymore because according to Fat Amy's boyfriend Bumper, (who happened to be Donald's best friend) Donald went home to see his mom who was in the hospital, and won't be back for a whole other week.
All in all, this week was the worst week she's had since she's been here at Barden University.
...
One month later…
Stacie Conrad, always loved spending time with her mother. But, life was so damn unfair, that she found herself in a situation where she feared facing her own mother.
Stacie answered her phone on the fifth ring when her mother called. She knew what was to come. Her mom had called a week earlier and broke out the news of the possibility that she might be headed to Atlanta on a business trip, and she might get the chance to drop by at the Barden University to see Stacie, and officially meet her "boyfriend" Donald Travers.
Stacie took a deep breath, "Hey mom." She greeted weakly.
"Hey sweety! Great news!" her mom practically screeched.
Stacie closed her eyes tightly. That phrase used to give her an amazing thrill. It usually meant something good. And it does to a certain degree. Until the fact that Stacie's so called "boyfriend", doesn't even know that they were supposedly "dating" for two months in Stacie's mothers mind, killed the feeling.
"Let me guess, you're headed to Atlanta?" Stacie predicted.
Her mom squealed in delight. "YES! I'll be there in a week, and you can tell me all about your school, and we'll have some mother-daughter bonding time, and I'll finally meet your infamous boyfriend, Donald!"
Stacie couldn't help but smile a bit, even though she was feeling terrible. Her mother always rambled when she was excited, and it made her feel good that she was in a way, the source of excitement. She focused on the last bit of her mother's sentence. "He's not my Donald, mom."
"Nonsense! I'm sure any boy who would get my daughter smitten, belongs wholeheartedly to you because he seems to be keeping you all cheerful."
Stacie's brows furrowed in confusion. "Uhh, not that he doesn't get me cheerful, but, how do you figure I'm cheerful?" she asked curiously.
Her mom laughed a bit before answering, "Sweety, I know when my daughter feels something for a person. If it's not love, it's a special connection that will eventually lead to something bigger. And you have it. I just know by the way you talk about him."
Stacie was silent for a few moments as she thought back on the last four months since she had met Donald. He was confusing, extremely annoying, a bit rude, and sometimes acts like a five year old, but… He always made her smile or laugh. He sometimes dropped by her dorm and wait for her at the front door, nagging her to let him walk her to her room, which is about 14 feet away from the front door. She denied his offers of course, but it never stopped him from trying again, every single day. And Stacie even realized that she looked forward to the ends of her classes, just so she could hurry to her dorm, to see him leaning against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest, and the same, boyishly playful grin planted firmly on his face. It was confusing how he jumps from this sweet guy who's trying to impress and sweet talk her everyday, to the guy who walks around campus, winking at anything and everything in a mini skirt. She still had that weird feeling in her gut when she catches him in the act of flirting or winking, or just checking some girl out. She has the suspicion she knows exactly what that feeling is, but she chose to call it annoyance.
"Fine." Stacie finally muttered.
"See? Mother knows best."
Stacie rolled her eyes but grinned. "Yep. You sure do."
"Well, I think you should get some rest. You have English class tomorrow morning, right?" her mom asked.
"Yeah." Stacie agreed.
"Okay then, I'll call you again tomorrow or the day after, but I'll see you in a week, sweety."
Stacie's voice cracked up as she said her goodbyes. She hung up and groaned loudly.
She had no idea how she was going to pull off a lie. She had only one thing to do. It was totally against her rules, but she had no other choice. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?
Stacie rolled over in her bed and shut her lamp off. She knows she won't be getting any sleep anytime soon. She has a mission ahead of her, and that mission will either fix everything, or ruin everything. But she's willing to risk it all, if only to convince her mother, that she was indeed, very happy with her life.
As her eyes finally closed after nearly an entire hour, Stacie's thoughts flitted to the next day. She wondered how she was going to pull this deal off, but she had no other choice. It was all or nothing before her mom arrives in Atlanta in a week.
…
Authors Note: This is chapter two, and thanks for reading. Please review, and I'll update as soon as possible. I'm also sorry for cutting this chapter short. The next one will be a tad bit heavier than this easy, light, fun chapter. Thanks again!
-Sux2budude