My Fake Boyfriend Is the School Bad Boy novel Chapter 40

Chapter 40 Walking Into School Wearing His Jacket

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The cab ride home last night had been a silent, shivering blur of rain-streaked windows and thumping windshield wipers. Ryder had paid the driver in cash, closed the door for me, and stepped back into the freezing downpour without asking for his jacket back.

Now, it was Wednesday morning. The storm had broken, leaving the sky a pale, bruised gray and the air incredibly sharp and cold.

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I stood in the center of my narrow bedroom, staring at my desk chair.

Ryder’s heavy leather jacket was draped over the wooden backrest. It looked massive in my small, cramped space. The scuffed black leather absorbed the weak morning light filtering through my blinds.

I was already dressed in my Crestview uniform. My white blouse was buttoned to the collarbone, the navy ribbon tied perfectly at my throat. My plaid skirt sat exactly two inches above my knees. I looked like the girl I had always been: the quiet, invisible scholarship student who lived and died by her GPA.

I reached out and picked up my standard-issue navy blazer from the edge of my mattress. The wool felt thin. Scratchy. Safe.

I looked back at the leather jacket.

Part of the deal, Petrova. His deleted text message echoed in my head, loud and chaotic. But the memory of his shaking fingers brushing my cheek at the locker yesterday completely contradicted it.

I dropped the navy blazer back onto the mattress.

I stepped toward the desk chair. I grabbed the thick collar of the leather jacket and lifted it. It was incredibly heavy, practically dragging my arms down. I slipped my right arm into the sleeve, then my left, pulling the material up over my shoulders.

The scent of him hit me instantly.

It was a deep, intoxicating rush of cedarwood, old paper, cold rain, and that sharp, clean trace of peppermint. It wrapped around my senses, settling deep into my lungs. My chest ached with a sudden, overwhelming pressure.

The jacket completely swallowed me. The hem fell past my hips, almost covering my pleated skirt. The shoulders slouched heavily down my arms, and the sleeves completely hid my hands. I had to roll the thick leather cuffs up three times just to free my fingers.

I turned and looked at myself in the narrow mirror hanging on my closet door.

The contrast was staggering. The pristine, starched collar of my blouse peeked out from beneath the battered, dangerous-looking leather. It didn’t look like I had borrowed a friend’s sweater because I was cold. In the complex, highly territorial ecosystem of high school, wearing a guy’s signature piece of clothing was a massive, undeniable declaration. It was a brand.

It screamed that I belonged to him.

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12:49 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 40 Walking Into School Wearing His Jacket

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My stomach twisted into a tight, nervous knot, but I didn’t take it off. I grabbed my heavy canvas backpack, slung it over one shoulder,

and walked out the door.

The city bus dropped me off three blocks from Crestview Prep. The damp morning air bit at my bare legs, but my upper body was

completely encased in a furnace of trapped heat.

I walked up the long, sweeping concrete steps toward the massive oak front doors. My loafers squeaked faintly against the wet pavement. Students were hurrying inside, clutching coffees and pulling their hoods up against the wind.

I reached out, my fingers trembling slightly, and pulled the heavy brass handle.

The door opened. The stifling heat of the main hallway rushed out to meet me, carrying the familiar scents of aerosol deodorant, floor

wax, and damp wool.

I stepped over the threshold and walked into the A-wing intersection.

I didn’t keep my head down. I kept my chin tipped up, my spine completely straight, letting the heavy weight of the jacket anchor my

shaking shoulders.

It took exactly five seconds for the first person to notice.

A senior guy from the track team walked past me, his eyes skimming over my face before dropping to my clothes. He stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw literally went slack.

He elbowed the guy standing next to him. The second guy turned, his eyes widening in absolute shock.

The ripple effect was faster and far more aggressive than Monday morning.

Conversations didn’t just fade; they snapped in half. The chaotic slamming of locker doors ceased in a wave of sudden, suffocating silence that rolled down the corridor. Hundreds of heads turned.

“Is that…”

“No way. There’s no way.”

‘She’s wearing his jacket.

‘Steinmann’s jacket. He actually gave it to her.”

The whispers ignited like dry brush catching fire. They weren’t whispering about Mr. Harrison. They weren’t whispering about extra-credit folders or manipulated grades. The cheating rumor was completely, permanently dead.

I walked down the center of the hallway. The crowd parted for me instinctively, pressing their backs against the metal lockers just like they had done for Ryder. But Ryder wasn’t holding my hand this time. I was walking alone, armed only with the smell of peppermint and

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12:49 Fri, Jul 10

Chapter 40 Walking Into School Wearing His Jacket

the heavy leather armor draped over my shoulders.

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The power of it was terrifying. For three years, I had made myself as small as possible to survive these hallways. Now, people were

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