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“You’re a nice kid. Academically sound, obviously a gentleman … unlike some students.” He glared at Chuck and then looked back at me. “But why should I believe you?”
    I looked at Chuck. He looked blank.
    I looked at Becky. She looked devastated.
    I realized what I had to do.
    I stood next to Becky. “I know for a fact that Becky is through dating Chuck because”—I gave Becky an intense look, hoping she knew where I was going with this—“your daughter is now dating me!”
    I turned toward her and immediately pulled her into our stage kiss. We held it for ten seconds and disengaged. Becky grabbed my hand and turned toward her father.
    He was smiling.

RIGHT AFTER I “KISSED” BECKY , I said a quick goodbye to her and excused myself to her dad by saying that I had a big bio exam to study for. I called my mom and told her I didn’t need a lift, and sprinted home. I had to make an emergency escape before her dad could question me. What if he asked me if I was serious about Becky? Or if we were going to the Spring Fling together? I didn’t want to give the wrong answer, so I skedaddled. I assumed her dad would very quickly see through our charade, but hopefully I had impressed Chuck with my quick thinking so that he’d feel he owed me something … something like a night on the town or a severe make-out session.
    I stayed in my room for hours waiting for the phone to ring, my thoughts alternating between fear of Dr. Phillips yelling at me for lying and hope that Chuck would want to thank me. Finally I decided to go to bed and fell asleep replaying everything that had happened in front of the school,sometimes substituting Chuck’s face for Becky’s in the final embrace. And by “sometimes” I mean “every time.”
    Walking to school the next morning, I saw Becky waiting in front of the Roasted Bean.
    “Here,” she said with a big grin while holding out a large to-go cup.
    I took a sip and smiled. “How’d you know I love vanilla lattes?”
    “How would I
not
know what my boyfriend drinks?” she asked.
    Ha ha. I thought it was sweet that she wanted to thank me for yesterday.
    I took another sip. Wow! She even put in six packets of Sugar in the Raw, just the way I like it. “OK, spill. How long did it take your father to figure it out?”
    She laughed-snorted. “Are you kidding me? He’s so desperate for me to be with a future doctor, he’d believe I was dating Dr. Phil.”
    She clutched my hand.
    Wait a minute. Did
she
think we were dating?
    She looked apologetic. “I know you usually like a double shot in the latte, but I ran out of money.”
    What was happening? How did she know so much about me? Was I starring in an M. Night Shyamalan flick? And is that how you spell his last name? And does the
M
. stand for “Mid”?
    She laughed. “Don’t look so scared. Chuck and I went to your Facebook page last night, and he quizzed me until Imemorized everything.” She started counting off things on her fingers. “Favorite drink: vanilla latte. Favorite all-time comedienne: Lucille Ball. Favorite all-time Broadway star: Patti LuPone.”
    Not quite …
    “… tied with Betty Buckley.”
    Wow! She was good. “I’m impressed!” I said. “And confused.”
    She grabbed my hand again. “Listen, Justin,” she said as we started walking, “I know it’s a big imposition, but if you and I could pretend that we’re dating, even for just a little while, it would really help me out.” Her pleading face looked so beautiful in the early-morning sunlight, I could see why Chuck loved her. “If my dad thinks we’re dating, he won’t keep checking up on me.”
    The latte started to make sense. “I get it now. You were memorizing my Facebook profile so if your dad asks you questions about me, you’ll know how to answer.”
    Her eyes lit up—that is, they went from shining to sparkling. “Exactly!”
    We passed by the park where Spencer and I first revealed to each other that we were gay. There