Pretend To Be His Bestie For Her! Fine, I Dumped My Boyfriend And Childhood Buddies! Chapter 02

Pretend To Be His Bestie For Her! Fine, I Dumped My Boyfriend And Childhood Buddies! Chapter 02

Someone commented beneath it.

[Blake finally got the girl?]

Chloe replied: [Stop.]

The other person wrote:

[Please. With your charm? It’s only a matter of time.]

My phone buzzed. It was Ethan.

Ethan: [We’re grabbing a late-night bite. Chloe said you should come too.]

Ethan: [Noah’s paying.]

I locked my phone without replying.

Whenever I ate too late, my stomach always acted up the next morning.

Ethan knew that.

But when it came to the guys and Chloe, he always seemed to forget.

The next morning, frantic knocking woke me up.

I thought something was wrong, so I opened the door without even fixing my clothes first.

All five of them stood outside.

Ethan’s expression was grim.

“Why didn’t you answer? We were worried about you all night.”

Mason sounded annoyed.

“Chloe was really worried about you. We came over first thing to check on you.”

Chloe looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mia. Did we bother you?”

Logan spoke up.

“What was with you yesterday? You’ve never acted like some sulky little girl before.”

Noah held out a container of ice-cold grilled skewers.

“We packed these for you. Here, eat.”

I didn’t take them.

It was six in the morning.

All five of them reeked of grease and grilled food. One look at them told me they’d been out all night.

And now they were saying they’d remembered me.

Somehow, that only made me feel even more like an afterthought.

“No thanks.”

“I’m tired. I just want to be alone.”

“Mia.” Chloe hesitated. “Is it because I’m here? Am I making you uncomfortable?”

Then she lowered her head, looking wounded and vulnerable.

Mason’s face immediately hardened.

“Aren’t you supposed to be one of us? Then you should be helping us take care of Chloe too.”

Chloe looked at me.

“You’re not one of those girls online who pretends to be ‘one of the guys,’ are you?”

Logan hurried to reassure her.

“You’ve got it wrong, Chloe. We treat Mia worse than we treat any of the guys.”

Noah laughed it off too.

“Exactly. How could any of us possibly like her?”

A tear slid from the corner of Chloe’s eye.

“What about you, Ethan?”

Ethan paused, then said, “Mia? I didn’t even see her as a girl until we were eighteen.”

But that wasn’t what he’d said on his eighteenth birthday.

That day was supposed to be about him, yet he’d bought me eighteen gifts.

“Mia, these eighteen gifts are for every year I’ve had so far. They’re all yours.”

“I only hope you’re there for every birthday after this one.”

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

“I need more sleep.”

“If that’s all, you can go now.”

Mason muttered under his breath.

“There’s no getting through to you.”

The four guys turned and left, clearly frustrated.

Chloe glanced at my rumpled collar and lowered her voice.

“Drop the innocent act.”

“You really think you can compete with me?”

Then she followed the others down the hall, as composed as ever.

That afternoon, Logan invited everyone to his room to play games.

When I walked in, the five of them were already sitting in a circle, controllers clicking nonstop.

Chloe grinned at me.

“Come on, Mia.”

“This game only lets five people play. You’ll get a turn soon.”

Noah laughed.

“Whoever loses has to sit out and let Mia take their spot.”

As if playing with me was a punishment for the loser.

Chloe lost the first round.

She was obviously irritated as she reluctantly handed me her controller, then moved aside to sulk.

The whole room went quiet.

Mason cleared his throat.

“It’s fine, Chloe.”

“Mia’s terrible at this. This round will be over in no time.”

The match started.

It was supposed to be a free-for-all, but somehow it turned into all four of them ganging up on me.

GAME OVER flashed across my screen almost immediately.

Logan cheered.

“Come back, Chloe!”

“We’ll make sure you win this one!”

Noah took another shot at me.

“We shouldn’t have bothered letting you play.”

“All you did was waste Chloe’s time.”