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Chapter Two: Meet "Gavin"

He came back. Not that I doubted him…okay, maybe I did a little bit. I couldn't stop the smile that appeared on my face. There he was, in a suit and tie. He was tall and his hair was neater but still on the messy side.

This was perfect. We'd go inside and be seen as a 'couple'. Then at the end of the night, we'd break up and leave things at that. No smug glances from Kira, no pity shoulder pats from Piper, and no Ally-I-know-you're-lying head tilts from Trish. It was close to my original plan…in a way. My fill-in guy had just rearranged the order just a bit. I wasn't exactly telling a big lie, so no harm, right? Especially if it kept the quarter-evil Kira out of my hair for the rest of the year.

"Hi," I said as I approached his car. His door wasn't fully shut and he had the look in his eyes that said that he wasn't completely buckled up for this whole plan just yet. "You look amazing." But when I got closer, his hair was messier than I thought.

"Hold on," I looked up at him, considering he towered over me. "can you sit down for a sec?" He raised an eyebrow as he sat in the front seat. I scanned his hair for a quick second and started to rearrange his hair. In the parking lot lights, his hair looked blonder than it originally looked. When I finally got his bangs hanging off the side of his forehead, I smiled and gave a satisfied nod. "I gotta say, you clean up well. And fast too."

He gave a small chuckle and sigh. "Let's get this over with."

He offered an elbow and I looped my own with his. Muscular, nice. I began to pull him towards the gym doors.

"Whoa, whoa, there shorty. Hold on," He pulled me back abruptly, making my entire being jerk to a halt, which was not as much fun in these heels. "If we're actually going in there, a little back story would be helpful. You're trying to convince your friends we actually know each other, right?"

"Oh, yeah. That'd be a good idea." I laughed nervously.

"How 'bout a name?"

'Great work.' I laughed. I haven't even told him my name yet. "Ally Dawson. Eighteen. Senior at the lovely Marino High. I'm in the Cloud-Watching Club, Book Club, and Time-Management Club. Oh, and the student council. I also don't typically beg for dates. As in, I never have before today."

"I can see."

"And for the next two hours or so, you are Gavin Young. Junior at Tampa University, which is why my parents do not exactly give us the thumbs up. They think you're too old for me." I explained and added a casual eye roll.

"Right. I am," He said.

At that response, I didn't really know if he was talking about himself or Gavin. But earlier he did mention him still being in high school…I think? "How old are you exactly?"

"Let's see…if I'm a junior in college then that would make me at least, what? Twenty-one?"

He was talking about Gavin. I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Yes. But that's only four years."

"Which technically wouldn't be such a shocker if you weren't still…y'know. In high school. And underage."

"Age is overrated anyway. Besides, four more weeks and I wouldn't be in high school. You're starting to sound like my parents." I teased as I crossed my arms, raising an eyebrow.

He let out a small shrug. "Sounds to me like they've got good parenting skills."

"Eh, no matter. At the end of the night, you'll break up with me. Where my friends can see it, preferably. Just a quick and quiet break up. Then, like the real Gavin, you can walk out of here and everything will be…" I felt a lump in my throat building up as I pictured Gavin earlier as he got in his car and drove away. I pushed the image away and offered the tall blonde a smile. "Over."

"Think I can manage and handle that."

"Great. So…about your sister? Not to sound rude or anything, but she's not going to blow our cover right? Running across the gym, screaming your name?"

"Nah, she won't expect me to be there. And plus, she's really into her date. She goes wild for drummers and all that jazz. But if she so-happens to see us, I'll make sure to fill her in where your friends won't see and start suspecting something. She'll play along. She's cool."

"Could you text her? You know, just in case?"

"I would, but slight problem. I forgot my phone in my jeans while I was changing," He patted his pockets, indicating that he wasn't joking.

"She'll be cool?" I repeated slowly.

"She'll be cool."

"Alrighty then. I think we're all good to go."

His lips formed a smirk as if I had completely missed something.

"What?"

"Nothing. C'mon." He reached for my hand this time, lacing our fingers as he took a slow, confident stride towards the gym doors. Call me crazy, but it almost seemed…natural for our hands.

Once we passed the doors, I had handed our tickets to the chaperones behind the table and we made our way to the main room. The music was exceptionally loud. The band was semi-knew. I mean, the whole school had known about them, but they seemed like one of those starter-garage bands, so they were decent, but not exactly the best. They had won the auditions that we held about two months prior to tonight, best out of all the others. The previous year, a more popular local band played, but with unfortunate cuts, this was all the budget could afford, according to Mr. Conley.

I saw my group of friends across the room with their dates, standing at a high table. I closed my eyes and inhaled a huge amount of air, praying to conjure up all of my not-so-professional acting skills. When I lied or pretended, my voice would turn an octave higher, so I'm hoping tonight was an exception. My fill-in boyfriend, however, was neither trembling nor hyperventilating like I was. But why would he? He had nothing to lose.

"My sister is dancing right now, so I'd say we're in the clear for a while," he said.

Following his gaze, I spotted a girl in a light pink dress-the skirt was all puffy with the amount of layers it had. She was pretty-blonde hair like his, friendly face with a small amount of make-up. I racked my memory of trying to figure out who she was, but my mind was blank. I was pretty convinced that I had never seen her before. She was probably younger than me. He did say that they had recently moved here, so 'recently' was more recent than I thought. I hadn't recognized her date either.

"Okay, so how good is your 'madly-in-love' face?"

"Were you and Superman 'madly-in-love'?" He raised his eyebrow, slightly amused.

My first instinct was to reply with 'of course!', but we'd both known that that was a lie. Gavin and I were…we were happy. Or at least, I thought we were. I shook off the feeling and put on a teasing smile. "Do you not have a reference point for that emotion?"

He looked away for a moment, concentrating before turning his face back to me with a smoldering gaze and his eyes connected with mine. Whoa. He was good.

"Um, not to be picky and all, but that seems a bit thick. It kind of looks like you're trying to laser through my head."

His gaze instantly softened and it was then when I noticed his eyes. Hazel with little flecks of gold and green around the iris. Crap. Gavin had blue eyes.

"That bad, huh?"

"N-no! It's great. The look is great." Meaning, he did know what being in love was like. It was actually me who had no reference point. "Your eye color is frustrating, though."

"Don't know whether to take that as a compliment or…"

"I'm sorry. I'm sure girls say that they're extremely dreamy and all," Which was very true. "It's just…"

"Gavin had emerald green eyes? Oh no wait, sapphire blue eyes?"

I laughed as he melodramatically clutched his chest. "Yes. Ones that could make you melt."

He met my eyes. "Like yours."

"Well, my eyes are brown and his are blue, but…" I shook my head, trying to get back to my train of thought. Rambling again. "Just try not to make eye contact with anyone."

"Yeah, because that won't be creepy. I'll just stare at the ground as I tell them about my latest college project," He chuckled and I found myself doing the same. "Your friends really remember the color of his eyes? Did you talk about them that much?"

"No, not really. I mean, they've seen a few pictures."

"Hold up, they've seen pictures?" His eyes widened. "And how do you think we're going to get away with this?"

"Relax, they were from a distance. Once of them was even half of his face," Much to my frustration, Gavin wasn't really all that keen in taking pictures. "It's been a while since they saw him. Since your hair is slightly longer, it'll make sense. And I think you share a similar likeness that it'll work. Just work on the no-eye-contact thing; don't make it as creepy."

He lifted our (still)laced hands, kissed it, and gave me his smoldering stare, "I only have eyes for you anyway."

I giggled. He was really good. "I see my friends. Let's go."

"Wait, so, if your friends have seen pictures, how come they think I don't exist?" He asked as we swerved through the dancing bodies.

"Because you go to Tampa University and I was the one coming to see you. And when you were in town, you wanted to spend time together, alone, and not with my friends."

"So, I'm a snob. Noted."

"I never said that."

"When you came over, did we hang out with my friends?"

"No. With hardly seeing each other as is, we didn't want to deal with other people when we did." I explained.

"Ah, so you were my secret."

"Not exactly. That's how I wanted it, too. And I'm pretty sure you wouldn't drive a few hours to my school prom if you didn't want to meet my friends," It was weird to be talking as if he really was Gavin. I shook my head. "If he didn't want to meet my friends."

"And yet, he broke up with you right before he actually did."

I reached for my hair, nervously, but realized I couldn't because it was up in a bun that my mother had spent hours trying to create. Ten steps and we were in front of the group, so I had no time to tell him how poorly I reacted to Gavin. Two weeks without seeing each other and the first thing I thought about was how my friends were going to react. It was because he looked amazing. But I shouldn't have said that. I should've said that he looked amazing instead. I shouldn't have been all wrapped up with what my friends were going to think. I shouldn't have let Kira get inside my skin like I did.

Trish was the first person to notice me and her eyes lit up in relief as her gaze met my date. Trish had been my best friend since kindergarten, so she was always the one defending me. She might have been small, but it was nearly impossible to break through her tough personality. I loved her for it, though. "Ally!" With her exclamation, everyone else turned.

The look on Kira's face was priceless. First there was her usual smug grin, but then it dropped along with her jaw. For once, Piper didn't have her pity-frown on her face. I felt myself smile a huge smile.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Gavin."

He lifted his hand in a small wave and I couldn't tell if it was to be funny or unintentional, but when he said "Nice to finally meet you all," his voice was low and husky.

Trish's eyes widened at me and she gave me her way-to-go-Ally grin.

Meanwhile, Kira's smug grin returned and I braced myself for her to speak up about how he looked nothing like the pictures or that he wasn't the usual type I dated. But instead she said, "Y'know, I'm surprised you wanted to go to a silly old high school prom."

He looked straight into my eyes and his hand slipped down my back, hooking around my waist, "It was important to Ally." With his words leaving his lips, he pulled me closer to his side, my back tingling to his touch. My first instinct was to jerk away, but I realized that that would instantly end our roleplay. I would have leaned into Gavin. I would have happily sighed. So, I did both.

Kira smirked. "I'm guessing that's the theme of your whole relationship? 'The importance of Ally'?" She actually did air quotes. Yup. She was out to incinerate me.

Trent, Kira's date, started laughing but was quieted abruptly by one of the other guys smacking him on the back of the head.

"No," my date responded before I could get the chance. "But maybe it should be."

They all laughed, but I was too busy mentally throwing daggers at Kira to even chuckle.

"Now, please excuse us, but my lady and I are going to dance." my date said.

And with that, he led me to the dance floor. It was then when I realized that I didn't even know his name. Was that why he smirked at me right before we came inside? So when the guy-whose-name-I-didn't-know snaked his arm around my waist, I leaned into his chest and whispered, "Sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Fill-in Gavin asked.

"I didn't even ask what your real name was, yet."

He let out a low chuckle that I felt through his chest. Then he leaned in close so that his breath tickled my ear when he said, "My name is Gavin."

I slightly gasped. "Seriously?"

He scrunched up his nose, smiling, as he shook his head. "Nah, I'm a method actor. I become the person."

"You're an actor?" That shouldn't really surprise me. He obviously had a natural talent.

He looked up, thinking. "Huh, didn't know that about myself. You didn't tell me that before."

I lightly hit his chest with a laugh. "Stop."

I watched his eyes glance over my head-he towered over me a good six inches or so-toward where my friends were still talking. "Some friends you have there."

"They're mostly nice. Kira's just the one constantly trying to murder me in my sleep."

"Why?"

"Honestly, I have no clue," I sighed. "I think she thinks that I'm the Harry of our house and that there's only room for one without resorting to prettifying each other."

"I'm going to take your weird Harry Potter analogy and guess that she wants to be the leader of your group."

"Hey, you still got my reference." I shrugged and gazed across the room as Kira hooked her arm through Trish's and said something to her. "It's the only think I can think of. You can thank or blame her because she's the reason I needed you here tonight. She already thinks I'm lying to everyone on a daily basis. I didn't want her to conjure up more information. She's able to find some anyway without me offering my head on a silver platter."

He raised his eyebrows-something he liked to do a lot. Yes, I took notice. "So if she found out you've been lying…"

"Yeah, I know. That's exactly what I'm doing now and wasn't doing before. But she thought I was. And if you didn't walk through those doors with me, she would've carved out my heart and placed it in a box in her secret vault by now."

"You don't trust your other friends enough not to let her do that?"

"I trust them. But she'd been working on this for two months. For two months, she gathered up all she could. She really thought she caught me and could expose me. I needed tonight."

"So," he said 'so' a lot, too. "if you really were the 'Harry' of your group, why haven't you kicked her out of it?"

That question ran through my mind more times than I could remember. One possible answer was that I personally didn't think I was in charge, as much as she thought I did. But secretly, deep down, my real answer would be that I was paranoid that if I did make everyone choose, they'd pick her. I was terrified that no matter how much effort I put in, how much confidence I showed, people didn't like me deep down. And they probably had the right not to. But I didn't tell him that. I couldn't. I hardly knew the guy and he already knew more of my weaknesses than some of my friends did. "Because I'm not hardcore evil."

"What?"

"Sometimes, I'd call Kira 'the Evil Queen', the Regina George, you could say. But that's the thing…I promised myself that I wouldn't be that girl. The one that kicked out people she didn't like or cut out their face and tape it into a Burn Book. I've always been the kind of girl that wanted everyone to get along. I was hoping we could make some peace treaty or stand on neutral ground." I had always hated causing trouble, so these reasons were true. I just wanted us all to get along.

"You really like analogies, don't you?"

"Just a bit. Words are powerful."

He tilted his head slightly, as if impressed or intrigued by that answer. "But, I still don't get it. If they've seen pictures of you and him, how come they didn't believe you?"

I laughed humorously. "Because there's hardly any of them. Considering how we barely had time to spend together, we didn't exactly have the capability to start a scrapbook. We have-had-a long distance relationship. So Kira thinks that I pulled some random guy off of the street to pose for a few pictures with me."

This time, he laughed. "I'm pretty sure she would never think of that as a solution."

My face flushed, turning my cheeks pinker than the blush that was already on them. I looked at the ground sheepishly. "Yeah. Yeah." It was pathetic that I had to bring in a fake date tonight. One that I wouldn't have had to bring if my actual boyfriend hadn't broken up with me.

"You okay? Are you upset about the whole Superman thing?"

I took a deep breath through my nose, making sure that my voice wouldn't come out shakey. "Nope. I'm fine. It wasn't that serious, anyway. It was only a two month, long-distance relationship. Nothing big." I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince him or myself.

He had gone quiet for so long that I looked up at him to see if he was still listening. I wouldn't have blamed him if he stopped. But my eyes met his. They were searching for something that I wasn't sure I had. The ballad had ended and a much faster one began. "So. Your name is?"

"Nope. Can't have any slipups tonight. As far as you know, my real name is Gavin." He finally looked at me and I felt myself breathe again. He extended his hand and spun me around when I took it then pulled me back in to his chest, swaying to the beat.

"You're not half bad at this," I smiled.

"Dancing or acting?"

"Well, both, but I was talking about dancing."

"Luckily for you, you happen to be the fifth girl that has asked me to be her date to the prom. I had some practice."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Shut up."

"So, Ally Dawson?"

"Yes, nameless boy?"

He gave a breathy laugh. "I don't believe you offered me money for this. Do you just go around offering money in return for a random favor?"

"No, usually a smile works just fine," It amazed me at how hard I thought it was to talk to him in the parking lot.

"What kind of favors have you gotten so far?"

"Besides you in a suit?"

He glanced down at his clothes as if me saying it reminded him that he was actually wearing it. "Actually, this wasn't your smile's doing."

"Then why?" I was suddenly very curious. He had gone from attempting to roll up his window to agreeing to be my date in a blink of an eye.

"Ally!" I turned to where my name echoed from to see a girl with long brown hair waving at me. "I voted for you!" She motioned towards the stage to where a sparkly tiara stood on a pillow on a stool. I smiled at her and mouthed a simple thank you. I turned back to my date to find that his eyes were sparkling with amusement.

"What?" I asked, cautiously.

"I didn't realize that I was dancing with royalty."

"That's because you aren't," I giggled. "No one has been crowned yet, so that statement is completely false."

"Guess we should get back to your friends," He took my arm in his.

The others had moved from the standing table to an open one with chairs and were sitting around talking about leaving early and doing something more exciting. It was the 'more exciting' part they were trying to agree on. I glanced back at the stage, knowing that I couldn't leave until crowning was over. Kira didn't care, though. Which is why she wanted to leave so soon. Most likely because she was still bitter about not being nominated. Though she never admitted it out loud, it was pretty obvious. Her lips would curl every time it was mentioned.

"Sorry," Piper whispered when I reached her side. I wasn't exactly sure what she was saying sorry about…maybe the weeks of not believing me about Gavin? I slid around the backside of the table, never letting go of my date's hand. We were facing the dance floor.

Kira held up her phone. "Everyone huddle closer, I want to take a picture." We did, and when she got to three, I felt my fake date shift behind me more, probably using my head to block his face. Kira studied the picture but didn't bother asking for a retake. After she sat back down, she turned her attention to fill-in Gavin. "So, what do college guys do for fun? I mean, besides picking up little high school girls, of course."

Not a flinch. Probably because it didn't really apply to him. "Well, Ally and I are going to a party after this, but unfortunately, it's invite only so that's not very helpful to the group's plans. Is there an arcade or something you could all go to?" He made his tone the nicest one possible so it almost seemed like he was trying to be polite. But he placed his hand on my knee, squeezed it under the table, and I bit my lip to refrain from laughing. I could've hugged him for saying that to her. "I don't live around here, so I'm not sure what you guys would do for fun."

I swear Kira was like a bloodhound, her five senses activating at the first drop of blood. If she could be given a job when she's older, it would be as a detective. She picked up on every slight inconsistency of a story. "But you said you didn't live around here. How did you get invited to a party here?"

Fill-in Gavin was quick with his own response. "Never said that the party was around here." It was like watching a battle of the wits and wills because they both stared at each other. Kira was the first to look away and I took in a small sip of air in relief. I just needed to get through this night in one piece. If she was already sniffing around, looking for trouble, it was only a matter of time before she discovered that the guy sitting beside me with his arm around my chair wasn't who I was claiming he was.

My date must've seen the worry expression on my face because he leaned in with his I'm-so-in-love look we talked about earlier and brushed his lips softly against my cheek. I felt my throat tighten. Damn. He was a really good actor.

"Stop looking so worried," he whispered. "You'll blow our cover." He tucked a piece of loose hair behind my ear. "Now giggle like I said something funny."

Which I did. It wasn't hard to do, but that was when I saw something on the dance floor that put a halt to my giddy laugh right in the middle of my throat. His sister. Staring straight at us.

Oooooh, snap crackle pop! They're in troubleeeeee.

Holy fudge cakes this chapter was long! But I'm hoping you guys enjoyed it!

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