Lie To Me

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

First and second period go by pretty fast and before I know it, I'm sitting in math class.

"Clear everything off of your desk except a pencil and your calculator." Says Mrs. Miller as she grabs the test packets from her desk.

For the first time since last year, I'm not nervous about a math test. Aiden has helped prepare me for it and I feel confident that I'm going to do good. I remember the equation so as long as I plug in the proper numbers, I'll do good.

Mrs. Miller hands me a test packet and I quickly put my name on it, "Okay class, tests are out so I should hear nothing but silence."

How do you hear silence?

Focus Audrey!

I read the first problem and set up the equation, smiling to myself at my new knowledge of math.

I'm one of the first few people to finish, Aiden was the first but I'm only a few behind him. Not that it matters.

When I hand my paper to Mrs. Miller she begins to speak, "How do you think you did?"

"Good." I reply, "Aiden has been a lot of help."

Aiden may not always be pleasant to be around but he's a great tutor, maybe even better than the teacher. He has patience when working with me and he doesn't make me feel dumb if I don't know, he'll just simply correct it and walk me through the next problem. I can say honestly that I'd still be failing math if it weren't for him.

"That's good. I hope to see some improvements on your grade then." She says with a smile and I nod and go back to my seat to take a nap while everyone finishes their test.

It seems like naps are always my go to but what can I say? They're just simply amazing.

The bell rings and I raise my head, startled awake. I stretch in my seat for a moment before standing up and grabbing my bag.

I yawn as I walk out of the room but the smell of pizza gets me wide awake. Even though I just took a math test and a really good nap, all I can focus on is the thought of delicious pepperoni pizza to soon be in my tummy.

I set my stuff down at the cafeteria table next to Emery and Molly and go get in the lunch line.

"How do you think you did?" Aiden asks as I walk up beside him. I know he's referring to the math test so I decide to play it off like I did terrible.

I look down, and do a nervous laugh, "Well uh," my eyes meet his and he speaks, "Bad? Audrey how did you do bad you knew all the material. Do I need to start coming over more? I'm sorry, I really thought you had it!" He huffs and looks a little surprised.

He would be surprised if I do bad? He actually has confidence in me knowing that stuff?

For some reason knowing Aiden believes in me makes me smile and I can no longer hide the fact I just aced that math test.

He see's me smiling and he starts to smile, "You didn't fail did you?" He asks and I shake my head.

"Oh you little jerk!" He says with a smile.

I laugh at his third grade insult, "I passed easily thanks to you."

"You weren't exactly easy to teach so I'll allow you to repay me with a big gesture of gratitude like announcing how I'm your favorite person and being around me gives you a great pleasure."

I laugh at his words, "Oh whatever Cage. I'm too good of a person to lie to your face like that." I joke.

"Ouch."

I just shake my head, "I can give you a hug?" I ask knowing I'm not gonna ruin my pride by telling him what he wants to hear.

"Hmmm..." He thinks, "I guess I'll take a hug."

I laugh but give him a small hug regardless.

It only lasts a few seconds but for a small, simple hug in the cafeteria lunch line it's really special. Aiden isn't the kind of person who would greet you with a hug or hand shake, he's more of a punch you in the arm type of guy so I appreciate the small gesture.

As I pull out of the hug and turn around, I see Chelsea grin right before I'm covered in pepperoni pizza.

"I am so sorry! That shirt made me think you were the trash can." She laughs and the cafeteria gets silent.

"Seems like you'd be used to seeing trash as often as you look in the mirror." I reply while I scrape some of the spaghetti sauce off of my shirt. I look up at Emery, James and Molly and they're all laughing at my remark to Chelsea.

The entire cafeteria is silently watching the entertaining show in front of them but I'm not concerned about being embarrassed I just want to get the spaghetti sauce off of my shirt.

She scoffs, "Who do you think you're talking--" I'm assuming she said 'to' after that but I wouldn't know because I walked away before she was finished talking.

I make my way to the bathroom and I hear footsteps behind me, "Seriously, Chelsea? Don't you have a cauldron to stir or something?"

Turning around I see James and Aiden standing there, "Oh sorry guys." I say and walk into the bathroom.

"Hey Audrey you know we can't go... well what the hell!" James says and walks into the girls bathroom with Aiden following.

I look in the mirror at my shirt and then turn to face James and Aiden, "It's not that bad is it? Do you think it'll come out?"

They both mutter a simple 'sure' and look at each other.

I roll my eyes and grab a paper towel, getting it damp with water, I begin to scrub.

I keep scrubbing in hopes it won't leave a stain but James grabs my hand forcing me to stop, "Hey, its okay it's just a shirt I can buy you a new one."

It's only then that I realize I'm crying. I look in the mirror and my shirt is a red wet mess causing another tear to fall.

"No you can't." I say and start scrubbing again.

Aiden takes the paper towel from my hand and tosses it into the garbage can. "You can wear my jacket for the rest of the day so nobody will see your shirt then after school we can go get you a new one."

They probably think I'm silly for crying over a dumb shirt you could buy anywhere for ten dollars but they don't know the meaning behind this 'dumb shirt'. It's a shirt I got for my mom two birthdays before the fire and she smiled so big when she opened it.

At the time I thought it was the prettiest shirt ever but now that I'm older I realize just how ugly it really is. She wore it all the time just because I got it for her and she knew how much I loved seeing her wear it so she'd wear this monstrosity all over town if it meant making me happy.

I'll take his jacket so nobody can see the tomato sauce all over me but I won't go buy a new one.

"Thanks and no thanks."

"Yes to the jacket and no to going to buy a new shirt?" He asks and I nod. "Why?"

I shrug, "I guess it's just not the same."

I take his jacket and throw it on. It drowns me but smells like mint so I don't care.

Emery walks in with my lunch tray and I grab the slice of pizza and sit on the bathroom counter to eat it.

"Thanks so much guys." I say and take a big bite of pepperoni goodness. "Are we still on for later?" I ask.

Emery nods, Aiden says 'yea', and James says 'wouldn't miss it for the world'.

I just smile and take into appreciation the awesome people in front of me while I take another bite of pizza.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait! It's been a busy couple of weeks but I should be going back to updating every few days again. And I promise that next chapter they'll finally have the sleepover! Thanks so much for reading!