To Lie and To Love

Chapter Six

By the time school finally came to an end, my mind was so jam packed with thoughts that it took me a full minute after the final bell to get myself together.

Not wanting Yvonne and the others to detect my mood, I made a flimsy excuse about having to get some stuff from my locker and agreed to meet them in the parking lot afterwards. Tasha gave me a skeptical look before leaving with Yvonne and I was hoping that by the time I made it out of the building, I would be clearheaded.

I don’t know how long I had been sitting at my desk, but before I knew it, I was all alone in the empty classroom. Jerking up suddenly as the realization of being by myself sent shivers down my spine, I looked down mechanically at the watch on my wrist. I was shocked to discover that I had wasted nearly twenty minutes and, almost immediately, I recalled that the others were waiting for me in the parking lot.

Dashing from the class after gathering all my stuff in one big messy stack propped in my arms, I ran all the way downstairs, taking the stairs two at a time.

On my fourth leap, however, I lost my footing and found myself falling heavily, face forward; my arms thrashing about, books and sheets fluttering all around me. I closed my eyes and braced for a very nasty impact in any second, but oddly enough, I didn't feel any pain. In fact, for a brief moment there, I felt nothing at all.

'Do people just randomly die from slipping on stairs', I couldn't help but wonder at myself.

That was when I felt the firm muscly arm around my waist, my head hovering only a few meters from the end of the stairs. I gasped, dumbstruck, as the arm lifted me gently to my feet.

“Oh come on, you again? Seriously!”, I heard the all too familiar voice say.

Looking up apprehensively, there he was, looming menacingly over me, this time an annoyed expression on his face.

At that moment, I wished the ground would just open up and swallow me body and soul because I was ready to pass out, if I hadn't already.

“Are you just that clumsy or is this all just for attention?”, he said again, his voice getting more edgy word after word.

“No!”, I wanted to say. " Absolutely not! What are you even saying? Why would I ever do that? I'm not some stupid stalker or anything like that.."

Before I could speak though, a voice behind me said in a sneer:

“Oh hey now, isn't that cute? It's the chick that crashed into you earlier.”, and adding with a laugh: “ What a delightful coincidence.”

“ Now, I'm really beginning to doubt that.”, Levi said gruffly, looking me up and down like I was some piece of cheese. Mouldy old cheese, to be exact.

Inwardly, I was in feud with a series of emotions – extreme embarrassment, anger.. but at what? That I couldn't comprehend all that had happened today and that there was no way I could defend myself. What was I going to say, that this was some random coincidence? Ivan, Levi's best friend, and the one who had spoken subsequently, picked up my books and handed them over to me with an amused smile.

Swallowing hard, and asking myself if I should even bother trying to explain (not that I knew why all this was transpiring anyways.), I just mumbled an apology before I hurried away.

Walking stiffly and trying to ignore the fact that they were staring at me from behind, I began sprinting the moment I rounded a corner, all the way to the parking lot where I met a befuddled Yvonne and an irritated Tasha.

“I'm.. I'm sorry ..sorry for taking so long", I coughed, out of breath and bending over my knees for support.

“Why did you run?” Yvonne asked, concerned, looking behind me in puzzlement.

“Took your sweet little time, didn't you Nova?”, Tasha said curtly, sprawled on the back seat.

“I had to do something real quick”, I smiled apologerically.

“What exactly? " Tasha asked in an annoyed tone that startled me for a bit. "What? Tell us, Nova. Oh wait, you can't; because you've been particularly preoccupied with yourself today. haven't you?!"

"Give her a break, Tasha.", Yvonne came to my defense.

"We've waited for like hours, Yvonne. Unlike Nova here, some of us actually have stuff to deal with rather than waste precious time doing nothing at all, all day.", she spat out.

"Quit getting worked up over nothing, Tasha. Now", Yvonne turned to me. "Nova, are you sure you're okay? You know you can always tell us, right?"

“I'm... I'm fine. Honestly, I'm just.. you know, tired. But I'm here now, so let's not waste any more time.”

Yvonne studied me for a moment, signed and started the car.

I only continued smiling and to avoid Tasha's glares, I looked down at my phone. I opened a text from Lilith, saying that she had cheer leading practice. That was about 30 minutes ago. My mind quickly went back to the confrontation that only happened a few minutes back. Not that I can call it a confrontation even.

When Yvonne dropped me off at my house, I tried to ease the tension that had emanated from the silence of the ride home.

"Hey.. you guys. I'm sorry, okay."

Tasha looked me in the eye and said, "Something happened back there, didn’t it?”

Sighing, I only nodded.

"You could have just said that from the beginning, you know. ", she replied, rolling her eyes at me.

"How about I tell you tomorrow at school?", I offered.

"Sure if you say so. If you don't bail out, that is."

"I won't, don't worry about that."

I looked on as the car zoomed away until it slowly faded out of sight.

Taking a deep breath again, I truged to the house slolwy and went staright to my room.

"Are you okay, Nova?", Jolene said to me hours later, her head peeping from the slightly opened door; arms piled with laundry.

"Yeah, I'm fine.", I gave her a quick smile and she gave me a look, as if she didn't believe me, before returning the smile and quietly shutting the door.

Throwing myself wearingly on the bed with a sigh, I closed my eyes and let a hundred different thoughts and images play catch back in my mind; one distinct image swaying more sharply than the rest.

The image... of Levi West.