“Are you sure about this?” I asked as we walked toward the café near campus. I couldn’t tell if I was nervous because people would see us together, or because I was with Cole—who looked perfectly relaxed even though it was obvious eyes were following us.

“Relax,” he said with a grin, his sunglasses in place. “We just need to show up. So people don’t think our relationship is just drama.”

I sighed. “Yeah, but… the pictures keep spreading. Even when we just leave class together, it turns into a headline on the school site.”

He looked at me for a moment, as if reading something on my face, then...