The Hockey Coach's Fake Girlfriend

Maya

I’ve always known what it feels like to be watched.

It used to feel good.

Not because I was vain. Well, maybe a little. But when you go from being the new girl, the immigrant’s daughter, to the girl everyone wants to know, you notice the change. People used to call out to me.

That was my normal.

“Maya!”

“Girl, your hair is giving today!”

“Are you coming to Cindy’s this weekend?”

I used to answer all of it with a laugh, like I had nowhere else to be but in their attention.

But today… no one was smiling. This morning was different.

I noticed it the moment I stepped into the school gates. The stares were still there—but they weren’t warm anymore.

People were still looking at me, yes—but not the same way. It wasn’t admiration anymore.

Whispers followed me down the hallway and I caught pieces of them as I walked.

“…that’s her, right?”

“…I swear it looks like her…”

“…Luke really chose her?”

My steps slowed without me meaning to and my fingers tightened around my bag strap.

No, that didn’t make sense. Luke and I were fine. Perfect, actually. I forced myself to breathe normally and lifted my head.

Okay, I thought. Maybe I’m imagining things.

Then I saw Rosie and Sally by the bike rack. My stomach loosened. Thank God.

“Hey guys!” I called, already smiling as I waved.

Rosie’s eyes flicked to mine for half a second, then she looked away. She grabbed Sally’s elbow and whispered something. They both turned and walked the other way.

They didn’t wave back or say anything. My smile died halfway.

“Rosie?” I turned slightly confused. “Sally?”

But they didn’t stop, they didn’t even slow down. I stood there with my hand still in the air, feeling like an idiot.

Fine. Maybe they didn’t see me.

Before I could figure it out, laughter came from behind me.

“Yo, Maya Sandoval!”

I turned.

Three boys from the hockey team peeled off from the wall near the gym doors. Jaxon Reese, the one with the snake tattoo on his neck and two of his friends whose names I never bothered to learn. Jaxon smirked like he had been waiting for this moment.

“Well, well,” he said, stepping into my path. “If it isn’t Maya Sandoval.”

I forced a tight smile. “Jaxon. Move.”

He didn’t move. Instead, he leaned in closer. “Hey, beautiful. How about you and me hit the locker room after school? I can show you some new positions to try out with your man.”

My blood went cold. Not because it was dirty, I’d heard worse. But because of the way he said it, like he knew something.

“Get away from me, you pervert,” I snapped, stepping back. “Wait till Luke hears about this.”

They laughed, all three of them. A nasty, knowing laugh that scraped down my spine.

“Luke?” Jaxon’s friend snorted. “You mean your boyfriend? Yeah, I’m sure he’d love to hear about it. Maybe he already knows.”

Jaxon pulled a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and held it out like a gift.

“Why were you fucking someone else, Maya? Luke not enough for you? Or do you just like them plenty?”

He let the paper drop. It fluttered once and landed facedown on the concrete between us. I stared at it. My heart was already pounding, but my hands were steady as I bent down and picked it up.

It’s nothing, I told myself. Just some stupid rumor, just a prank.

I turned it over and the world stopped.

It was a photograph. Printed on good paper and it was me. I was lying on a bed. A bed I recognized—Sarah’s bed, the pale blue duvet I’d slept on a hundred times during sleepovers.