Read The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney for Free Online

song.

    “Katie,” I say sweetly. “Don’t you want to play Skee-Ball or something?”
    We’ve reached the arcade now, and Jared, Kim, and Luke are at the cash machine a few feet away, changing dollars into quarters.
    Katie nods. I pull a bunch of bills out of my pocket and hand them to her. This trip is going to be expensive. With the babysitting money I’m getting tonight, I’ll probably just about break even. Katie scampers off into the arcade.
    “Come on, Jared,” Kim says. “You have to DDR with me.” She grabs his arm.
    Lexi shoots me a “Why is she hitting on your boyfriend?” look.
    “Maybe later,” Jared says. “I want to check out the new Modcon game.”
    “Luke?” Kim asks, giving him a smile and a coy look. “You wanna DDR with me?” She leans toward him. I shoot Lexi a look as if to say, “See! She wasn’t hitting on my boyfriend, she’s just a flirt.”
    “Maybe later,” Luke says, taking off after Jared.
    This is going beautifully! Not only is the A-list not making a big deal about me being here, but now the boys are going to be in a completely different sectionof the arcade, and Katie will be busy playing Skee-Ball! I am so good at this! Seriously, if I had known it would be this easy to pull off a fake relationship, I wouldn’t have been stressing so much earlier.
    For the next hour, Lexi, Kim, and I play DDR while the boys check out Modcon Five. Luckily, the Skee-Ball game is right next to us, so I’m able to keep an eye on Katie. Kim turns out to be surprisingly cool, and the arcade is so loud that it’s almost impossible to talk, so I don’t have to worry about dodging any conversation bullets.
    When it’s time to leave, I have four quarters left over and I put them in the DDR machine on our way out.
    “Sweet,” Jared says, jumping up onto the game next to me. The music starts playing, and I’m so thrown off by the fact that I’m actually DDR’ing with Jared Bentley that I mix up some of the steps.
    “Come on, Devi,” Jared says. “You gotta clear this level.”
    This almost messes me up more, but I force myself to concentrate, and when Jared and I both clear the level, he hugs me, which makes Lexi smirk like she’s in on some kind of secret. And it makes my face feel so hot that I’m afraid Lexi will notice how red I am.

    By the time we walk out of the mall, I’m starting to think that maybe I can pull this off. All I have to do is mooch off of Lexi’s newfound popularity for the next week or two, and then I can stage a breakup and forget this whole thing ever happened.
    “Hey,” Jared says to me, when we’re all standing on the curb, waiting for our respective rides. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” He grabs the sleeve of my sweater, and I almost faint.
    “Um, sure,” I say, praying Katie doesn’t chose this moment to break into another round of K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Thankfully, she’s silent, holding Lexi’s hand and playing with a small blue plastic pony she got by turning in her Skee-Ball tickets.
    “Listen,” Jared says, once we’re a safe distance from the group. I can see Lexi over his shoulder, trying to see what’s going on. “I have to ask you something.”
    “Sure,” I say, trying not to become mesmerized by his blue eyes. Is it possible that Jared is in love with me already? That it took one night of hanging out for him to realize we’re supposed to be together? This means I totally won’t have to even make up any more lies! Because Jared and I will ACTUALLY BE TOGETHER.
    Jared leans in close to me, and for a second, I thinkhe’s going to kiss me. “Do you think Lexi likes me?” he whispers.
    “What?” I ask, taking a step back.
    “Lexi,” he says. “Could you talk to her for me, find out if she likes me?”
    “Why?” This is not happening.
    Imagined Conversation:
    Jared: Lexi, will you go out with me?
    Lexi: Aren’t you going out with Devi?
    Jared: No, why would you think that?
    Lexi: Because that’s what she told