FACADE

Chapter 28: Saved By The Bell

 "OK fine. I'll tell you, I actually brought you here and waited for thirty minutes outside before entering." He stirred his cup before continuing Do you know why?" his question did not seem to make sense and no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't make a head or tail out of it.

"This used to be your favorite place of escape. Here is the same spot we would always sit back then. I had intentionally reserved this seat for you, to see if you were going to remember or not, and it seems I had guessed right, you might not remember for now, but I think some things are engraved in your memory, and I am happy it is something we both share".

..

   Since the last time at the café, Marcus became a fixed constant in my life as he would always appear and disappear as he pleases. His attitude made a turn from unpleasant to slightly pleasing to the eyes and since I had resigned to the fact that I would be seeing him every day for the next two weeks, life became much easier.

 The last time I saw Becca was that time at the party and since then there had been no trace of her like she had disappeared into thin air.

 I was sure there was no way she could skip school, since this was the exam period and except emergencies, students wouldn't be able to repeat the papers they missed.

After not seeing her for about a week, I figured she was intentionally avoiding us and I had no problem with it since I knew it was only normal that the incident was taking a toll on her. Furthermore, I believed she needed some alone time to herself and I would only be selfish to confront her about it.

Shayne naturally had no problems with that, and at first I had thought it was a good thing, till I started going through what Becca had been tolerating. Like I said earlier, Shayne and gossip are inseparable, and she had been hounding me so much that whenever the bell rang for recess, I would always feel a headache coming, but I had no other choice especially since Shayne always managed to find out wherever I was and would still sing the latest rumors in my ears.

Not only that, I thought that now that she had more friends that had the same habits as her, she would at least 'spare' me, but I was wrong. Those friends were also like her 'sticky and won't come off no matter how hard you brush them away' and just like that, I began to sit together with a bunch of weird 'gossip lovers' in the cafeteria.

 We started mingling together, at least I try my best not to ignore too outwardly and in no time, understood their characters slightly.

Frankly speaking, they were really cool people, except for their excessive love for gossip and did I mention they especially had glib tongues? Well aside that, they were better in other aspects.

 I liked them as they were not pretentious and would always say what was on their mind, the same thing I liked about shayne and their sense of fashion was also top-notch. However, I connected the most with Lisa, as she has been on an emotional roller-coaster since what Sheebah revealed about her and because all her other friends were talkative, (Her words not mine), she started confiding in me.

 The thing I sucked the most at was comforting, but I would try my best to listen and would occasionally nod when she made a point or to let her know I was listening.

 She had told me how her brother was a drug addict and how she had also been a victim of his abuse, but her dad and mom had always shielded him, and she had no other person to confide in, she could only suck it in and lick her wounds quietly.

Her mom was a renowned Hollywood actress and her dad was a businessman. Due to the fact that her mom never birthed a boy after her brother, her dad had been giving his attention only to him and multiple times would her father also get involved in relationships scandals with different female celebrities, his secretaries and whatnot and her brother had been carefully following his steps.

 Nevertheless, her father continued to indulge him even till now, all her fathers funds was poured into his case since the person her brother assaulted this time was a big fish and if matters were not taken seriously, he might really spend some time in jail. It would be a tarnish to her father's image and her brother too would never be able to rise up in the business world with such a past.

     She didn't mind that I was non responding and would still come to me every day to give me daily updates about the situation 'Your silence is the best Comfort I have ever gotten since I was born' She would always say, and I wasn't surprised since I had already marked her as a weirdo in my mind.

 I and Edward didn't interact much, except for the casual hi's during class that sometimes, he wouldn't even respond to. We maintained a tutor to student relationship with and I would still go over to his house regularly to tutor him. I knew I wouldn't have to tutor him again after today since we no longer had any use of each other.

 Winter break is in the corner and I had decided to use those few weeks to do some digging, no not a grave silly. Some secrets. Shh

....

 When I finished my last paper, I headed to the library to borrow some novels against next semester and since the librarian was familiar with me, I was able to borrow it with ease.

 We still had about twenty-seven minutes to closing hours and I decided to take a look at the stories I had just picked out. One of its cover captivated me and I immediately ignored the others, diving into the world of fiction.

 Suddenly, I was interrupted by the sound of a chair being pulled out and without even looking up I knew who it was, Marcus as he was the only one that would appear and leave without notice.

    "This is no longer fun, you're already used to it" He snorted as he picked a book from the others and opened it.

I had long since known that ignoring him was the key to freedom and since't about to annoy myself to death, so I buried my head in the book even though I was just getting adapted to the character and pretended like I had discovered a fairy tale world inside.

 "See you, ignoring me again. I thought we were way past this" He purred, which made him look adorable, and I was reminded of Junior, that sly boy.

 He must have noticed that I lost focus and immediately became happy, I frowned when I discovered that he had managed to get my attention and thus dropped the pretense. The truth is, I usually found it hard to concentrate whenever someone was watching. It can also be said that I was shy, Really.

   "What do you want this time?" I asked gently but in my head was busy cursing his hundred generations, was he born to bug me?

    "Am hungry and I don't want to eat alone, so would you come with me? I promise you don't have to eat if you don't want to".

 He spoke as if I was the one that would be benefiting from it so even If I wanted to go with him before, now all I wanted was to beat him up.

   "Oh yeah, we usually frequent that restaurant together in the past, don't you want to remember? You might get a clue when you visit familiar surroundings" I mulled over his words and knew it had some point to it. But I made up my mind that even if I were to go there, there was no way I was going with him of all people.

    "Please. I think I might die of hunger anytime soon, please, I won't leave this place until you agree to come with me" he resulted to whining and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

    I became flustered when he suddenly stood up and leaned in closely, in a very ambiguous manner and I dodged it before glaring at him. He eyed me with the same look he had the first time we met. It made me remember what he said then, and I blushed in embarrassment.

 "Do you really not remember" He stared at me with eyes that looked like they could probe deep within my soul and I shivered, did I really go out with him often in the past? How come I didn't hear anything about it?