Friday came quickly. All week the school had been bombarded with homecoming festivities and pep rallies. Today the cheerleaders marched through the halls of each building, shouting out cheers and announcing the start of yet another pep rally.

There was a football game tonight, followed by a carnival on school grounds. It would be the only homecoming events Nolan and I would be able to attend.

With my new work schedule and Nolan's aversion to humans, we hadn't been able to execute our plan as we wanted. Tonight that all changed. We were going on our first official fake date.

The ultimate goal was for both of us to step out of our comfort zones and make friends with the students that didn't follow school drama or hated us. My personal goal was to show my mom that I was living the care free life she wanted me to.

Mom would be home early from her new office job to watch Taylor while I was out making the memories she asked for. My only hang up was what to tell her about Nolan. Did I introduce him as a friend or a boyfriend?

Whatever. I'd figure that out when the time came. For now, all that was important was raising our approval rating.

That seemed like an easy task compared to getting Nolan to ruin his all black aesthetic with a red Grizzlies shirt I bought from the student store. We met up in his parent's minivan to go over the plan for the night. So far the only thing we discussed was his distaste for school spirit.

"I let you paint this shit on my face," he grumbled. "Isn't that enough?"

I was actually surprised when he let me paint "Go Grizzlies" on his cheek. I definitely though that would be more difficult than getting him in a freaking shirt.

"Nolan, if you put the shirt on I'll—" I glanced around the minivan we sat in, trying to think of something. "Oh! I'll do your French homework."

"Aren't you failing French?"

I scoffed, falling back against the seat. "I have a C. Mrs. Dunn would give you a Z if she could."

He was stubborn as ever, reminding me of Taylor when she'd pout if she didn't get what she wanted. "This shirt gets you one step closer to Europe."

He snatched the shirt from me, dropping in his lap. Then he pulled the black shirt he wore over his head. The respectful thing would've been to turn around, give him some privacy. But I couldn't.

I practically lived at the beach that summer. I've seen a lot of my male classmates shirtless. Unless they played a sport their bodies weren't all the impressive. Nolan didn't play any sports, none that I knew of anyway. But what was underneath his shirt was definitely impressive.

He didn't spend his summer lazily playing video games and scarfing down pizza. Who knew the loner had a gym membership?

Aside from his apparent six there was the necklace I always wondered about. At the end of the leather rope was a ring. It looked too small to fit his finger. It looked like something a girl would wear.

My hypnotic trance was broken when the red fabric of the Grizzlies shirt covered his muscles and abs from my view.

"Are you happy?"

My face burned as I plummeted back down to earth. My eyes shifted to his face, meeting his bored gaze. That's when I noticed the paint on his cheek.

I leaned over, wiping it with my thumb. "It's smudged."

"Then it's smudged." He pushed my hand away, then hopped out of the car.

He was extra annoying that day. It wasn't his usual bad attitude which he had for no particular reason. Something was off. I climbed out of the car after him, jogging to catch up. We followed the rest of the football game attendees to bleachers. Easily blending into to the sea of red and black Grizzly jerseys.

Instinctively, I reached out for Nolan's hand, afraid I'd lose him in the crowd. Especially since he didn't seem to care that I was falling behind. There was definitely something wrong. Was it my place to ask what?

We went over the details of our fake relationship. It was basically a long list of what not to do. The most important rule, one Nolan insisted on, was not getting involved in each other's personal lives.

I didn't hesitate to agree because talking about my dad, our money struggles, was the last thing I want to do. We were supposed to keep everything surface level. Small talk and going over ways to gain popularity.

Now, agreeing to that seemed stupid. How could you spend time with a person for months and not get to know them on a personal level. I'd only been talking to Nolan for a month and already I could tell when he was in a bad mood. Was I just supposed to ignore it?

We found a spot on the bleachers. It just started to get dark, the blue of the sky slowly darkening. The two teams hadn't made it to the field yet. The bleacher were still being filled with people. The intensity in Nolan's eyes as he stared straight ahead worried me.

I reached over, lightly touching his arm. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I get to watch live sports." His sarcasm was noted. "You want anything from the food stand?" he asked, already standing.

"Uh, yeah. Popcorn. Extra butter."

He nodded before stalking off. I placed my purse in his spot so no one would take it.

Something was clearly bothering him. It felt wrong to just pretend everything was fine. It was what he wanted, though. He wanted to leave Bellcreek with no connections, no strings that would hold him to this place. Sharing personal details, getting invested in each other's lives would make that difficult. I wondered if that included his parents?

No. I needed to stop wondering. Stop worrying about what was going on in his life. Who was I kidding? Worrying was in my blood. He made it look so easy, though. Not caring.

A tap on my shoulder pulled me out of my thoughts. I turned around, meeting the perfect grin of Nick Grice. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

I wasn't sure what to make of him, not after what Nolan said all that time ago. He'd came into the store once while I was working that week, helping me with inventory one night. He didn't seem like he was just being nice to fool me into bed with him, but how could I really tell? For now, I was cautiously civil.

"Your mom gave me the night off since it was going to be a slow night with everyone here," I told him. Bellcreek really loved their football.

He whistled, seeming impressed. "What kind of magic are you using on her? I had to bargain with her to get here tonight."

"Why wouldn't she let come?"

"No, idea." He shrugged, amusement in his chocolate eyes as he focused on the field. "I mean, it might've had something to do with me giving her new boyfriend a black eye."

My mouth fell open. "Yeah, that might be the reason."

"It was self defense. Honest." He held up his hands in mock surrender. The smirk on his face told me, self defense or not, he enjoyed it.

I was about to push for more information when Nolan caught my eye, edging his way back to me. Nick noticed him too. Probably remembering their last encounter, he sat back on the bench like our conversation never happened.

I moved my purse and Nolan reclaimed his seat. He had a tray of nachos, popcorn and two drinks. He handed me a large popcorn and one of the drinks.

"Thanks."

"Yeah." He popped a cheese covered chip in his mouth, chewing and swallowing before asking, "You know anything about football?"

I took a sip of my drink before replying, "I used to watch with my dad when I was little." There was a small sting at the mention of my father. Nolan must've caught that too, his eyes watched me carefully.

I shoved some popcorn in my mouth, shaking it off. "The only thing I learned was that I'm very much attracted to men. Especially in uniform."

His brow knitted together, a smile tried forcing it's way on his face. "That's good to know."

I giggled at his reaction. He tried to fight it, but he laughed as well. Laughter was truly the best medicine.

* * *

The Grizzlies won their first game of the season, sending the Dessen High Tigers home with a big fat zero.

Nolan and I knew nothing about football, but you wouldn't tell by the way we acted. We really committed to the role of football fans. We took our cue from everyone around us. Cheering when they cheered, booing when they booed.

I'm pretty sure most of what Nolan was doing was just to mock the guys who sat in front of us. Three of the biggest Grizzly fans, who painted their faces red and black and yelled the loudest whenever...Well, I'm not sure what they were yelling for, but Nolan and I yelled right along with them.

Nolan surprised me when he joined in singing the school song after the victory. I was slightly impressed before realizing he was completely butchering the lyrics. He even let me take a picture of us, smiling and everything.

Now, we roamed the fair. It was loud. Music played from speakers, kids screamed as they ran around, the sounds of various carnival games rang in my ears.

Nolan and I walked around, taking everything thing in as we shared a bag of blue cotton candy. He seemed to be in a better mood than before. I'm pretty sure he hadn't stopped smiling since the game ended.

Seeing him like that, so happy, filled my chest with...something.

"How's your aim?" he asked, stopping in front of ring toss game.

"Excellent." He didn't look like he believed me. I crossed my arms over my chest, staring up at him through narrowed eyes. "You care to make a wager?"

"Okay, Harris," he said, matching my stance. He thought for a moment, then pointed at me. "What are the terms of this bet?"

"If I win, you have to...give me piggyback rides to my locker every morning."

He chuckled. "Really?

"Yup." I nodded.

"Okay." He chewed the corner if his lip as he thought about what he wanted. "If I win, I want cookies. Homemade. With M&M's. But, only the blue ones."

"That's very specific," I pointed out. "But I won't be baking any cookies."

"We'll see about that." He reached for his wallet, but I stopped him. It wasn't fair for him to pay for everything.

"I can't let you pay for own defeat," I teased, buying the tickets. "I hope you have a strong back."