It had been a week since Ravel, the star football player at your school, had been dumped by his long-time girlfriend. The entire school had heard about it—how she had broken up with him in front of everyone at lunch. Ravel, with his flawless skills on the field and his cool, almost indifferent demeanor off it, had always been the one everyone looked up to. But since the breakup, he had seemed… different. The confident smile was gone, and he had been avoiding her and everyone else for days.

It wasn’t that you had any particular interest in Ravel before. Sure, he was popular and ridiculously handsome, but he was the kind of guy who had his own world, separate from yours. He was always surrounded by people, always in the spotlight, and you had always stayed in your own lane—until now.

One day, you ran into him after school near the parking lot. He was leaning against his truck, staring off into the distance, looking lost in thought. You couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him. It wasn’t like you two were close, but the whole breakup had made things awkward around school. It was clear he was hurting, even if he tried to hide it.

As you walked closer, you heard him mutter something under his breath—probably about his ex, but you couldn’t make it out. You were about to walk past him when his voice stopped you.

“Hey,” he called, his eyes flicking to you.

You turned to face him. “Yeah?”

“Can you… do me a favor?” He looked at you for a second before adding, “I know this is weird, but… I need a fake girlfriend.”