The week went by in a blur.

I ran from class to class always just barely on time, pulling out my notebooks and pens to write down stuff for later. Midterms were coming up soon. I found myself staying awake until three A.M. on most nights scribbling down problems and preparing for the worst.

Cassidy seemed to be doing a bit better, too. After our conversation, she felt more comfortable talking openly about the organization and her problems with Leo. She'd even met a new guy just that week who she was excited about. His name was Peter and he was apparently the sweetest guy she had ever met.

She deserved someone nice. I knew her high school ex had been an absolute dick to her and I just didn't want her to go through that again.

Dating sucked.

There was no right way to do it. Dating apps would work sometimes  but every now and then you'd run into someone super creepy that would make you doubt ever using them in the first place. Meeting people in real life was great,  except then if things went south, you would have to see them all the time. And if you fell for someone you had a lot of mutual friends with, the fallout would tear people apart. It almost felt like it wasn't worth it at all.

Maybe that was one benefit of Phoebe - I didn't have to worry about dating anymore. It wasn't exactly on the forefront of my mind anyway with the way things were going with David.

Phoebe and I hadn't really been on many dates since the restaurant. It'd gotten a bit quiet with her. Disappointment had started to nag at me, but I tried to ignore it. I knew she was probably just busy with midterms, too. Thankfully, Cassidy had yet to ask me about my dates with Phoebe and our clearly public relationship. She would sometimes side eye me or open her mouth like she was going to say something, but never follow through. I knew she felt weird about it.

I should just tell her. Come clean. I'm sure she wouldn't care.

But the moment never came and I wasn't going to force it.

As I walked out of my last class of the week, I thought about texting Phoebe to see whether she wanted to plan something for the weekend. I remembered Cassidy briefly mentioning that Phoebe was free. Cassidy had canceled plans with her and Jen for dinner Saturday night.

Would it be weird, though? I mean, our dates had been pretty innocent. Just regular chats about whatever was on our mind. I talked a lot about my home. I liked that I could say anything to her and she would just listen.

I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. After all, this was fake. It wasn't real. I didn't want her to worry that I had, I don't know, become super into her or anything.

I shut my phone off, the screen clicking to black, before nearly getting knocked over by a guy much taller than me.

"Hey! Watch out," I snapped, only to immediately realize that it was Calvin. He'd stumbled into me while facing the other direction.

"Shit, sorry," he replied. "Oh, it's you."

His hair was sticking out from underneath a blue baseball cap and there were heavy bags under his eyes. Still, his muscles bulged beneath the gray long-sleeved shirt he wore.

"You seem excited to see me," I retorted, sarcastically.

He shrugged. "Just forgot you were in my class."

"Thanks." I turned to leave, still a bit irritated that I'd nearly been knocked to the ground.

"Wait," Calvin suddenly said. "I actually have been meaning to text you."

Weird. The last we'd talked was at his football practice when I'd learned that David was being even more of a dick than I'd thought humanly possible. "About what? If it's for the homework, I think Francis started a group chat or something." I'd already been asked like ten times just before class if I had the homework answers. I didn't, even though it was due that night at midnight.

"Nah, it's something else. I was talking to Anna."

I shifted my backpack on my shoulders as the pain of carrying its weight started to stab at my back. There was an Anna in this class but she hadn't showed up today. "And?"

"You might want to talk to her. She, uh, she had an experience with David, too."

___________________________________________________

I finally had something.

Maybe it was hopeless, but if I wasn't alone, I had something.

As soon as I'd left Calvin at the door to class, I'd immediately looked up Anna's name on Instagram. At first, I had trouble finding her. Then, after searching through Calvin's contacts, I was able to pin down her username.

I recognized her from a few of my classes and I remembered her being on the class board.  Her face looked familiar from the many posters that had peppered the hallways. I'd only spoken with her a few times about school-related things, but she'd seemed friendly enough.

I quickly hit the follow button and waited impatiently for her to accept my request.

I wondered what David had done to her. Had he also pretended to be her in order to harass her 24/7? Or had he done something even worse?

Alone, I didn't have as much of a chance against him. But with somebody else...

As I walked out the doors of the lecture hall, I suddenly heard my name called by none other than Phoebe Thatcher.

Immediately, I perked up, looking around until I saw her, storming toward me from the sunny lawn, a smile on her face.

She waved ecstatically. "Hey! Long time no see." She quickly matched my stride.

"Hey, how are you?" I replied, trying to act a bit less taken off guard than I felt.

"I'm good. Just got out of a midterm. It was meh."

"I can't imagine that it would be any fun. What class?"

"Math. Something about differenital equations. I don't know." She shook her head, her eyes glinting in the sunlight. "What about you?"

I didn't know how much to share. We were still in public. I couldn't mention Anna yet. "I just saw Calvin."

"Oh, really? Did you get to see his phone again?"

"No. That was only a one time thing." I let out a short laugh. "He actually almost mowed me down. It wasn't exactly a pleasant meeting."

Phoebe laughed, a high-pitched musical burst. "Nice. I can see that. Football players have no sense of personal space. That's why they're always running each other over."

I smiled and hugged my backpack straps to my shoulders. "I know right."

"Anyway, is Cassidy okay? She said she was feeling sick."

I'd been trying to stay away from her but when sharing a bathroom, it was difficult. I'd heard her blowing her nose for nearly a half hour just that morning. "I think so. Just a cold."

"That's really a relief," Phoebe commented, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she walked. She seemed so much more upbeat than normal. Or perhaps I'd only known her when she'd been bogged down with dealing with Eve. Perhaps she was finally getting away from her.

I hadn't asked whether Eve was still messaging her. I'd hoped that it had all gone away.  Thankfully, I hadn't gotten any other messages from her, but I was scared she hadn't just given up. Somebody who brings another girl to a party out of spite doesn't just give up like that.

"Anywayyy," Phoebe started as we neared the sidewalk leading back to our apartment. "I was actually going to ask if you are busy tomorrow night."

I knew where she was going before she even asked. My heart fluttered in my chest as I thought about where we would go. There were still a handful of restaurants I'd been meaning to try out. A few coffeeshops, too. And arts and crafts nights. I didn't want to overwhelm Phoebe and if she also wanted to go...

Plus, at the end of the day, this was all just for social media. We needed the photos. We needed to keep being a couple until the Eve and David stuff rolled over. I didn't know if it would happen any time soon, but eventually. Eventually, we woud stop doing this and not have to go on dates to prove we were together. Eventually.

But for now, I was going to make the most of it. I was going to live my life and have fun and not let David and his horrible personality get to me. And then, after tomorrow, I could talk to Anna and try to actually come up with a solid plan to make something happen. And maybe, I could even try to help Phoebe with dealing with Eve.

Things sucked a bit right now, but they were getting better. And I could enjoy the little pockets of happiness that existed within the mess that my life had slowly started to become. Even if it was just a night out where I didn't have to think about the drama and the relationships and everything that awaited me every single time I went to class or to a party.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked.