Free The Fake Boyfriend Experiment by Stephanie Rowe Page A

“Yes, I’m up.” I hugged my arms to my chest as my mom and dad walked in the room. When I saw there was no piano teacher lurking behind them, I sighed with relief.
    “You okay, Lil?” my dad asked.
    “Fine.” I eyed them as they sat down on my bed, one on each side of me, like they were trying to block my path to the exit. “What’s up?”
    My mom folded her arms over her chest and pursed her lips at my dad. “Hank? You tell her.”
    Oh, I knew that look. My mom so wasn’t happy with the decision. Please let it mean I’m free.
    But I could tell by the grim smile my dad gave me that I wasn’t getting my way. “We’ll make a deal with you,” he said.
    A deal? That had potential. That was further than I’d ever gotten before. “What kind of deal?”
    “You can stop taking lessons with Miss Jespersen.”
    My eyes immediately filled up with tears and I felt like a thousand pounds had just fallen off my shoulders. “Really? You promise?”
    “Is she really that bad?” My mom sounded so sad that I couldn’t tell her the truth.
    So I said nothing. I mean, I wasn’t going to lie either. I had to stop the lies somewhere, right? It was getting difficult to keep track of all the untruths I’d been uttering lately.
    “But,” my dad continued. “We all agree your talent is too much to give up on.”
    I gritted my teeth and felt all the pressure crush back down on my shoulders.
    “We also realize that you’ve lost your passion for music.”
    Amen to that.
    “Miss Jespersen said she saw the old you when you were playing with her nephew’s band,” my dad said. “She said you were really dynamic when you were playing the keyboard.”
    I jerked my gaze to his face. “So?”
    “For one month, you can skip your piano lessons and regular practice, as long as you practice with Rafe’s band. Apparently, it’s a bunch of kids from his high school who get together and occasionally do concerts for free. No pressure. Just fun music.”
    My mom leaned forward. “Miss Jespersen believes it will help you find your passion again.”
    “But...” Sentenced to playing with Mass Attack? That was great news, not punishment. I swear, sometimes parents were completely insane, not that I was complaining. I stopped hugging my knees so tightly and sat cross-legged on the bed. “But they already have a keyboard player.” A very pretty one who was dating their drummer, one of my fake boyfriends.
    “Miss Jespersen assures us it won’t be a problem. Rafe’s going to call you tonight with the practice schedule.” My dad tapped my foot with his finger. “If you skip out on the band even once, it’s back to piano with Crusty again. Got it?” My mom cleared her throat meaningfully and my dad grimaced. “I meant, Miss Jespersen. You shouldn’t call her Crusty. It’s disrespectful.”
    I grinned, suddenly unable to contain myself. I was going to get to play with Mass Attack! I’d impress Rafe with my amazing keyboard talents, he’d fall in love with me, everyone would think I was cool because I was in a band and dating a hot drummer, and my life would be perfect. “I agree to the deal.”
    “There’s one more thing,” my dad added.
    “Anything!”
    He smiled at my energy. “It’s good to see you happy about music again, hon.” He patted my mom’s hand. “Isn’t it?”
    She nodded, but her mouth was tight. It was her guilt look, but I wasn’t going to feel bad about it.
    “The rest of the deal is that as long as you keep playing with Rafe’s band, we’ll let you postpone the audition to next semester, so you’d start with NESM for the summer term.”
    Relief swept over me. “Really?” Summer wouldn’t be so bad. I could study at NESM for part of the day and still have free time for my friends, unlike if I did it during the school year. And I couldn’t go on tour with Crusty if I was at NESM, could I? “That would be awesome.”
    My mom sighed. “You really don’t want to go to NESM?”
    “I can’t