Free The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition by Alicia J. Chumney Page B

want anyone thinking that I’m blind to my boyfriend cheating on me.”
                  Confused, “Huh?” Hannah asked, staring at Savannah.
                  “The Prom.  You can come out of the proverbial closet as a couple after Prom.  If you don’t think that you make a good match, and that I’m wrong, then we,” pointing to Brady and herself, “can continue the charade until after Graduation and then claim that we would not last a long-distance relationship.  Either way, Kelly will be appeased.” 
                  Once again Brady and Hannah looked at each other, wondering just how right Savannah could be about the whole plan.  It was obvious that she had thought things through, even if she had taken things to a dramatic level that would rival Hannah’s friend Heather.
                  Carefully, Hannah responded, “I doubt anybody is going to care if you and Brady break up and still go to the prom together.”
                  Savannah stared at the other girl, resisting her urge to bounce up and down in her seat.  “Okay.  You might be right.”  Turning to Brady, she made a request, “Just don’t tell Kelly yet.  I don’t want to find out how she’ll react when she finds out that I broke up with you; she actually likes me.”
                  “Fair enough,” Brady conceded, “But I’m not going to hide that I’m talking to Hannah.”
                 

Chapter Eighteen
                  The next two weeks went by in a flurry of baseball games and practices where both Hannah and Savannah sat in the stands watching and strategizing.  When Kelly joined them, Savannah used the excuse that Hannah’s cousin was also on the team to explain Hannah’s sudden appearance.  They treated this as an opportunity to get Hannah on Kelly’s good side and it seemed to be working.  Kelly had even asked Hannah to sit with her at lunch one day.  Things were going exactly according to the plan. 
                  At night the new couple would message or text back and forth, depending on if they were both near a computer or not.  During lunch Hannah’s theatre friends would grin at themselves whenever she would get lost in the flurry of text message exchanges between Brady and their friend.  They were all aware of what was going on and were amused at the plan to get around the problem of Kelly and Aimee.  They often wondered if this strategy would work out in the long run or if it would fall in on itself and self-combust. 
                  The trio was walking a fine line between appearances and reality.  At Savannah’s paranoid insistence Brady still had to go out with her when both of them would rather be doing something else.  Savannah was dealing with the adoration coming from Kelly when all she was doing was counting down the day that she did not have to deal with Kelly’s best friend anymore. 
    Hannah had to deal with the knowledge that she couldn’t go public yet with her new relationship status.  She couldn’t go up to him and give him a hug or a kiss on the cheek like she wanted.  She couldn’t grin wildly whenever she passed him in the hallways.  It was more difficult to handle than she thought it would be when Savannah created her master plan. 
                  To complicate matters, she had to spend less time with her friends and more time pretending to be friends with Kelly and Aimee.  Kelly was perfectly fine on her own, but eighty-five percent of the time Aimee was nearby.  It was tiresome having to wear the mask required to deal with the mean girl and her unwitting lackey. 
                  There was one thing that she was certain about: Savannah was right; she did get along wonderfully with Brady.  Hannah just wished that they could spend more time alone, and the days on her calendar counting down to Prom were passing at a snail’s