Free The Trouble with Faking by Rachel Morgan Page B

with a wonky wing.”
    I roll my eyes. “Thanks. That’s helpful.”
    The next thing I know, he’s standing right behind me, his right hand covering mine on the cue stick and his left arm right beside mine on the table. His chest presses against my back, and I forget to breathe.
    “In case you haven’t realised,” he whispers in my ear, sending a shiver along my neck, “you’re asking for trouble. If you’re not interested in Mike at all, don’t lead him on. And if you really like Damien, just tell him.” His steady hand moves the cue stick back and forth. “Okay,” he says loudly. “You got it now?”
    “Uh huh.”
    His warmth vanishes as he steps away from me. I suck air into my lungs, slide the cue stick back, and shoot. The white ball skids left instead of forwards, whacks the edge of the table, rebounds several more times, and comes to rest having connected with a grand total of zero balls.
    And I don’t give two hoots because my mind is still stuck in time about five seconds ago with Noah’s arms around me and his breath tingling on my neck.
    Trouble. I’m definitely asking for trouble.

 
    “Hey, everyone,” I say brightly, waving at the camera set up on its tripod beside my desk. “Today I’m talking about Allison Charmer’s new novel, Circle of Willows .” I hold up the book so my camera can see the cover. “As you know, this book had a lot to live up to after Allison’s debut series, The Broken Cities Trilogy , was spectacularly well received. So is she as good at writing time travel fantasy as she is at writing dystopian? In two words—” I pause for dramatic effect “—HELL YES.”
    I spend two to three minutes talking about exactly why Circle of Willows —the book I missed four lectures in a row for because I made the mistake of starting it early one morning before breakfast and couldn’t stop reading until I’d reached the last page—is so incredible. I urge my subscribers to get their hands on a copy as soon as they possibly can, and add that I loved the book so much I’ll be giving away a copy to one lucky person who comments on this video within the next three days.
    “And one last thing,” I say before I stop recording. “If you didn’t see my announcement last week, I’ve begun a new series of videos titled Cape Town Coffee Shops. Those videos will be posted every Thursday, and each will feature a fabulous new coffee shop I’ve visited. The first one went up last week, so if you want to know more about Olympia Café in Kalk Bay, you should definitely check it out.
    “That’s all for now. Happy reading!” I wave goodbye, then stop recording. I remove the camera from the tripod and plug it into my computer. I need to get this video posted quickly because I’ve still got a tutorial to finish for tomorrow, and it’s already 9 pm.
    After about half an hour of editing, I upload and publish the video. Then I stand and stretch. I unwind my scarf—made from fabric with ‘book freak’ written all over it; I like to wear at least one of my Etsy products in each video—and remove my jacket to reveal my pyjamas hiding underneath. The YouTube universe didn’t need to see those.
    As I settle back into my desk chair and open the relevant textbook, I hear Carmen’s loud, contagious laughter out on the landing. I jump up and rush to my door, wondering if today will be the day she stops ignoring me. It’s been over two weeks since Damien and I officially ‘got together’ and Carmen decided I wasn’t worth being her friend—or something like that. I keep trying to catch her so we can at least talk about this, but she seems skilled at avoiding me. I pull my door open just as she unlocks hers. “Carmen!” I call. She looks over her shoulder, ushers her cousin into her room, and shuts the door behind both of them.
    Fine. If she insists on believing Charlotte’s rumours rather than listening to the truth from me, then perhaps I shouldn’t bother trying to restore our