And with that, I shut the door. I press my ear to the wood, listening to the sounds of footsteps. A lot of kids are leaving today, packing their belongings for their spring break trips, so there’s a lot of movement.

“What’s going on?” Wyatt asks from behind me.

“Shh!”

“Don’t shush me,” Wyatt says. “If you wanted my help packing, you should’ve let me help yesterday before you broke your suitcase.”

“Just shut up for a second. I need to think.”

“Don’t tell me to shut—”

I hold a finger to his mouth.

“Hush.” I can do this; this will work out, I just need to think.

If Wyatt is this boy who I’m supposedly in love with now, then that means he’ll need to come to California with me. I suppose it’s plausible to sell Josh on the lie without Fowler being there, but it would cast doubt. Besides, if Fowler is there with me, he can act as a buffer, both for Josh and my family, even if that does mean spending an entire week with him. All I have to do is act all lovey-dovey with Wyatt, convince Josh that we’re actually dating, then we’re sold. He’ll drop the feelings he has for me and move on to someone else who can give him what he’s clearly so desperate for.

Flawless.

My finger still on his lips, I look Wyatt in the eye and say, “I need you to do something for me.”

Wyatt finally bats my hand away. “What? You can’t have my suitcase; I need it.”

“Come to Beverly Hills with me for a week and pretend to be my boyfriend.”

Wyatt stares at me, looking as confused as I feel. Ordinarily I’d make a joke about how that’s the way his face always looks, but I want something from him now, so I probably shouldn’t do that.

“I’m sorry … please repeat that.”

“Come to Beverly Hills with me for spring break,” I say a little slower. “Pretend that we’re dating and in love so that I can prove to Josh that he and I are officially over and he needs to move on.”

“You’re not still drunk, are you?” he asks me before he puts the back of his hand to my forehead. “Or are you sick? Do you have a fever?”

“Stop it!” I slap his hand away.

“If you’re going to vomit again, at least let me take my socks off.”

“Just hear me out.” I start to pace between our two beds; Wyatt steps out of my way. “Josh is hung up on me, which I should’ve seen coming because the dude is clingy as fuck. But we had this clause in our arrangement. If I’m dating someone else, he has to drop his feelings, and it just so happens the person I’m dating is you.”