To Lie and To Love

Chapter Two

“Hey there Nova”, Yvonne, a petite brown-haired girl in a dark green sweater approached me with a proactive wave, forcing her way through the thick crowd of students that suddenly teemed the hallways in response to the morning bell.

“Hi Yvonne”, I respond while shoving the rest of the unwanted stuff in a messy clutter into my locker.

“For a moment there I thought you were going to call in sick or something.”, she said with a grin when she got to my side. “How ever did I get to school before you today, huh, early bird?”

“Well, let’s just say this little birdie ran into a bit of an ‘alarming’ situation.”, I replied with a smile as we made our way to our first class, moving as one with the dense mass of the other students in the hallway.

We were met with a rackety homeroom, complemented with disparate clusters of friend groups; obviously having emphatic discourses about the latest ear-tickling gossip or probably just catching up on whatever they happened to engage in over the weekend.

“So, what did you do this weekend, Nova? Apart from studying, that is.”, Yvonne wanted to know as I grabbed my chair, turning it around and leaning back and forth in bearing with her desk, which was right behind mine.

“Nothing else, as usual. You of all people should know better than that, Yvonne. You are aware of how uneventful my weekends are.”, I replied with an exaggerated show of melancholy.

It was at that very moment that a slightly weighty object I couldn’t quite identify collided with my head, causing me to jerk forward precariously; my glasses sliding off my face but, fortunately, landing safely on Yvonne’s desk.

“What the-? Seriously!”, I cursed under my breath, reaching blindly for my glasses.

I hear a shriek of laughter from someone alarmingly nearby, and seconds later a large hand romps my hair untidily.

“Come on, you guys”, I heard Yvonne say in my defence, placing the glasses in my probing palms. “That’s actually not funny. You could’ve broken her glasses.”

“Yeah, and we all know how badly she needs those”, a breathy gravelly but familiar voice said amidst more laughter again.

Putting on my glasses and finally coming into realism, I turned to find tall brawny Hunter grinning from ear to ear with Tasha right behind him, wearing an equally amused expression on her face.

“I don’t know where you two find the humour in this but…”, I began to say.

“This isn’t for fun you know, my dearest Nova”, his grin intensifies as I try yanking his hand from my hair.

“Yeah.”, Tasha adds, “Just a constant reminder that you have amazing people like us in your life”; dumping her books with a loud thump on her desk.

“Amazing my a- “

Before I have time to retort, Miss Searls arrives and I only have time to shoot them a look conveying the silent remainder of the words as they head back triumphantly to their seats; Hunter’s coincidentally on my left-hand side.

It took Miss Searls a minute or two to get the “hormone mechanised teenagers’, as she chose to refer to us settled and soon enough, the class got into full swing.

During the attendance check, I spaced out and didn’t hear her call out my name until Hunter shoved me hard in the ribs to get my attention.

“Toby, you- “I began loudly, but was cut off abruptly by Miss Searls.

“Nova Caddel, how many times do I have to call out your name to get a simple response from you, young lady? Your constant day dreaming is getting out of hand lately”, Miss Searls adjusts her glasses with a stern look aimed in my direction.

All around me snickers and muffled giggles erupted and I only sighed, glaring at Toby, who gave me a knowing smirk.

“Only trying to help, love”, he whispered.

“Yeah right! Like you’ve ever been of any help to me”, giving him an eye roll. I decided to take no notice of him for the rest of the period as he tried to distract me with random faces and later notes with very inappropriate diagrams and messages.

Though, for a fact, he was not the only one ignored because I barely made it through the first fifteen minutes of the lesson before I zoned out yet again.