Chapter 2My Casanova Girlfriend

Serena laughed at my dramatic reaction.

"Of course you do. What’s the point of online dating if you never meet in real life?"

"But... how can I go?" My mind was spinning. "What am I supposed to say?"

"Just tell him you're Serena."

"But I'm not you!"

Serena rolled her eyes, flopping onto my beanbag chair with the lazy grace of a cat. "He doesn't know what I look like, and he’s never met you. The moment you show up, you are Serena."

She spoke with complete nonchalance, as if pretending to be someone else to go on a date was the most natural thing in the world.

"What if he asks about... my life? I don't know anything about what you told him."

"That’s why we’re having a crash course right now."

Serena pulled out her phone and began listing the various details of the persona she had built for Liam.

But I didn't hear a single word. My gaze was entirely fixed on the black profile picture on her screen.

Liam.

It was only after high school graduation that I had gathered the courage to add him on social media. But his profile had always been set to private, showing only three days of history, which consisted of nothing but generic landscape photos.

I had assumed we would remain strangers for the rest of our lives.

Yet now, his chat box was open right in front of me.

Can we meet tomorrow at seven in the evening?

Attached was a small sticker of a puppy scratching its head.

It was hard to reconcile this cute, sincere gesture with the brilliant student who used to deliver school speeches with a perfectly deadpan expression. The contrast was incredibly endearing.

"...so the key is to keep him hooked. Give him just enough attention to make him obsessed, and then pull back. Keep him wanting more."

Serena suddenly leaned in, catching me staring blankly at the screen. She furrowed her brow. "Are you even listening to me, Paige?"

Her voice snapped me back to reality. "Yes, I am."

She crossed her arms, demanding I repeat what she had just said.

I remained silent.

With a heavy sigh, she handed me her phone. "Forget it. Just read through the chat history from the very beginning. You have twenty-four hours before the date. My survival depends entirely on you, Paige."

She stood up to go start her skincare routine, leaving me alone with the phone.

I stared at the screen for a long time.

Tomorrow at seven. I was going to use another girl's name to meet the boy I had loved in secret for five years.

It was the cruelest joke fate had ever played on me.