To Lie and To Love

Chapter Eight

Most Saturdays come like whirlwinds, the conventional but not fully accustomed nature that accompanies weekends and makes you wake up on a Monday morning wondering if we actually have 5 days in a week and not 7 as drilled into us from preschool. Unlike the rest of the school population who had one event or the other planned out every weekend, I had no such plan of action. Usually, I spent my weekends at the Hair Salon my mum owned near the outskirts of the town but sometimes, even that became boring sometimes. The rest of the school population however which included my siblings who have numerous a time tried to involve me in their weekend pursuits but since third wheeling doesn’t sound any more fun than doing assignments, I choose to spend it with little Maeve instead. But what much could a 7-year-old do to keep a high schooler entertained?

However, this particular Saturday hinted something divergent.

“Heyya sis,” Lilith nudged me as soon as she came through the Salon door, probably stopping to pick up something for this Saturday’s cruise.

I size her up suspiciously while handing mum a pair of scissors as she worked on a client’s hair.

“What exactly do you want, Lilith?”, I ask her with folded arms.

“Will you chill?”, she responded with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m chill, am I not? Where were you this time?”, I sneered.

I guess spending over four hours watching different shades of hair fall to the floor had made me a bit grumpy.

“I went to the mall with Sarah and the others. And why are you being so bitter for no reason. I asked if you wanted to tag along but you declined, remember?”

“Tag along, yeah right. Hope you had fun”

“Just window shopping and stuff”, she replied quietly, twirling her hair with her index finger.

“Okay. Now what do you want?!”

“Do you ever relax? Sheesh!”, Lilith exclaimed, throwing her arms up into the air.

“One, you’re acting awfully suspicious. I barely see you on Saturdays. And why are you whispering so much?”

“s**t! Okay so you’ve caught on to me. Anyways I need a favor. Let’s talk outside.”

By then, my skepticism level had shot up by several hundred thousands.

“What is it you want that you can’t tell me here”

“Oh, come on, Nova. You’re being difficult for no reason today.”, she said as she dragged me out the door.

“Difficult! -…”

“Where are you two off to all of a sudden?”, mum looked over her client’s head at us, scissor midair.

Lilith smiled innocently. “Just hanging out outside for a bit. Its hot in here, right Nova?”

My mum gave us both a look and shook her head.

“Make sure you hang around somewhere I can reach you. We night be needing some groceries for tonight.”

She barley finished before Lilith dashed out the door.

“So, now what?”, I asked, once we were beyond my mum’s earshot which I guessed was what she had wanted. The suspense was killing me.

“So….”, she begun with a nervous tuck of her hair behind her ear.

“The thing is… there’s this party going on today…”, she begun before I did a facepalm.

“Seriously, Lilith? A party? That was the big info you just had to tell me?”

“Will you just let me finish please?”, she rolled her eyes again.

“Go on then. A party today, and lemme guess you are definitely going to be there.”

“So, yeah its tonight-”

“And??”, I interrupt impatiently.

“And…. Yes, I want to go. But the thing is… you know… mum?”

“Yeah, she’ll talk a little. But she’ll let you go. She almost always does. I mean she even let you stay overnight at that party at Julia’s place the last time.”

“That’s the thing,”, she added nervously. “She knows Julia’s mum.”

“So, you still go for those other parties?”

“Which are usually during the day and with people Mum knows personally.”

“And what’s so different about this one?”, I asked.

“This one is not so innocent, okay?”, She blurted out.

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”, I ask suspiciously.

“You know what I mean, Nova”

“No, I don’t, Lilith. So, why don’t you spell it out for me”

At this she gave me the ‘seriously’? look before continuing.

“Well, there’s going to be alcohol and stuff like that.”

“Mmm, you know how mum feels about drinking too much. But I’m sure if you exclude that bit, she’ll let you go. You could even mention some people who are going too like Julia and Sarah. I don’t know what I’m even doing here because this has nothing to do with me”, I said and begun walking away.

“And drugs.”, she said abruptly.

“Huh?”, I asked, spinning round.

“You heard me, Nova”, Lilith said with a tired look.

“I mean the usual smoke and vape and stuff. Exclude that in your presentation as well and it should be easy to get her approval.”, I shrugged.

“Wait up, Nova. Its not that simple. There’s going to be some hard stuff there, some even illegal enough to land anyone caught with it in a couple of months or years in jail. So, no parent is supposed to know about the party at all. They haven’t even told us the location yet. That’s how top notch secretive this all is. You get it?”

“Well just don’t go. Why risk it at all?”

“I didn’t even say I was...”

“No, Lilith. You’re definitely not going to such a party. I see what you’re trying to pull here. You want me to cover for you so mum allows you to go, huh?”

“I just…”

“I’m not doing it”, I snapped.

“Nova please. Everyone is going, its going to be big.”

“Yeah, because there’s free drugs around. Just like it’s going to be big with mum when you get caught and put in jail!”, I replied.

“We won’t get caught, Nova. Those guys are smart. They’ve outsmarted the police a lot of times.”

“We?”, I blink twice.

“I was hoping that you would go with me”, Lilith said in a low tone.

“Yeah right, because Nova is the goody two shoes and so mum will not suspect a thing if she were also going, isn’t that, right?”, I add, sarcasm spewing from my voice.

“Please Nova, just this once.”, she pleaded.

“Won’t she even be more suspicious then? You know nothing gets past her. I mean, Nova going for a party, now that’s definitely going to have her sniffing around.”

“That’s the thing, she’s not going to know that there’s even a party going on; not to talk of us going.”, Lilith said.

“And how are ‘you’ going to manage that?”

“By sneaking out, having fun and just sneaking right back in. No one’s going to suspect a thing because no word of the party gets out. Besides, today is a Saturday, mum is usually dead tired after work. So, she’ll barely hear a thing.”

“What about our seven other siblings, miss master plan?”, I pointed out.

“Ethan’s girlfriend is coming over so he’ll want us rats clear off his path as always. Jolene and Juliette are having some friends over as well so they’ll be occupied as well. Jane sleeps like a log, geez. And those little babies, asleep right after dinner. See,”, she let out a long breath. “Everything is going to be fine.”

I stood there my mouth agape for like 5 seconds and then the realization hit me.

“Lilith”, I say with squinted eyes.” This isn’t the first time you’ve ‘snuck out’ of the house, is it? And this isn’t the first time you’ve gone to such a party, right?”

“If I tell you the truth, will you at least agree to come with me?”

“Lilith!”

“Yes, yes, I’ve snuck out a couple of times before and yes I’ve been to just two of these parties. Its not really a big deal”

“It’s not a big deal??”, I literally scream at her, earning us the attention of a stray dog and a woman with a baby stroller walking past.

“Nova, keep it down, okay? I don’t know why you’re making such a fuss.”

“Oh, so now I’m making a fuss, huh. We’ll see about that when mum finally catches up to your little sneak outs.”

“Look, if I have done all these before why would I ask you to accompany me?”

“Yeah, come to think of it, why are you asking me to tag along with you? Won’t it be safer if you went alone. More company means more slip ups.”

“Well, the thing is I’m having a bad feeling about this one. Lately, the police have been sniffing around and stuff like that and it doesn’t feel so secured anymore. But I really really really want to go for this party”

One thing about Lilith is that her intuitions are mostly accurate and so I’m forced to believe her when she says this.

“Hmm. Then why don’t you just ditch the whole idea of going?”

“Nova please. Just come with me. I’ll feel safer that way.”

“Honestly, I don’t have a good feeling about this either.”

“I promise, when you feel like something isn’t right, well leave there asap.”

“You sure?”

“yes”, she replied eagerly.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, I hope you’ll say yessss”

“Don’t keep your hopes up.”, I say as we walk back to the salon.

“I won’t”, Lilith replied with a smirk.