Believe Me, I'm Lying

:Believe Me, I'm Lying: 29

Tick. Tick. Tick.

With each tick of the clock, I clicked my pen- a nervous habit I had picked up somewhere. In thirty seconds the homeroom bell would ring, and within the next few minutes, Arden would show up in my room. Or was supposed to show up. Who knew if he'd come today?

The bell sounded and I stopped in my motions, waiting anxiously. A minute passed, then two, then three, then five. My hopes dropped instantly, although I wasn't that surprised. Why wouldn't Arden avoid me? I was a promise-breaking liar after all. Maybe it'd be best if I just wore a shirt saying "believe me, I'm lying" around. It'd stop this from happening again.

The phone on my desk suddenly let out a shrill ring, making me jump in my seat. On the second ring I picked it up, placing it against my ear. "Hello?"

"Good morning Harley," a voice I recognized as my uncle's responded. "Could you come down to my office? We need to talk."

My heart stopped for about two seconds, then jumpstarted with a rate of 100 bps. My stomach clenched uncomfortably, and a feeling of nausea swept over me, sending my head reeling. I had to moisten my mouth before I could speak again.

"I'll be right down," I finally whispered, clutching the phone tightly in my hand.

"Okay."

The whole way to the principal's office, I resisted the urge to be sick. Hopefully my gut feeling was wrong, and I wasn't going down to the office for the reason I thought I was. As I turned the hall that led to my uncle's office, someone coming from the other direction ran straight into me.

"Sorry!" they apologized, grabbing my shoulders to keep me from failing. "Oh, good morning Ms. Allen."

I looked up to see Zak smiling at me. My heart skipped a beat and I took away from him, panic rising. "I... I've got to go," I said quickly, stepping around him, and hastening towards the office door.

"Wait, Ms. Allen!"

"Sorry!" I apologized, keeping my back to him.

My thoughts raced. Did he know? No, he couldn't- he was being too polite. What would happen when Zak found out? Would he be okay with it? Or would he get angry like Arden? What about Tucker? Or Joel? Joey? Luke?

My uncle was at his desk when I walked in, his phone at his ear. When he noticed me, he put a finger to his lips, and gestured for me to sit down. I did as he motioned, sitting tensely in the chair before him.

"I understand," he said to whoever was on the other side of the phone. "Yes, I'll see to it. Yes, I am. Yes. Yes. Okay. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, have a nice day." With an annoyed sigh, he nearly slammed the phone back down on the receiver. He gave me a weary expression. "Morning, Harley."

"Morning," I responded quietly.

"I'm going to guess that you know why you're down here."

"Well, I'm hoping I'm wrong..."

My uncle smiled solemnly. "I don't think you are, Harley. I specifically told you not to tell anyone your age-"

"But I didn't tell!"

"Then why have I gotten at least fifteen calls complaining about how I have a seventeen year old teacher hired here?" my uncle demanded. "Are you telling me Oliver spilled the beans?"

I shook my head immediately. "No! Oliver didn't do anything!"

"Then who did?"

"Technically, Anthony..."

My uncle's brows furrowed in confusion. "Anthony Fox? Oliver's dad?"

"Yeah. I guess Arden works there Wednesday nights. I was called in because they didn't have enough workers last night, and Arden was there too, but Anthony didn't know we knew each other, so Arden told Anthony that I was his teacher-"