Believe Me, I'm Lying [New & Improved]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tick. Tick. Tick.

With each tick of the clock, I clicked my pen— a nervous habit I had picked up somewhere. Rain pounded at the windows, doing nothing to calm me down. Of course it would be raining against today, I thought bitterly. 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 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 the principal's responded. "Could you come down to my office? We need to talk."

My heart stopped for about two seconds, then jump-started with a rate of 100bps. 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 Collin'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 the principal'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 hastened toward 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?

Collin 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.

"Morning, Harley," he greeted me.

"Morning," I responded quietly.

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

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

The principal smiled solemnly. "I don't think you are, Harley. When exactly were you going to tell me you were only seventeen years old?"

My gut dropped into my stomach. No way. Immediately my eyes began to burn. "I'm so sorry. Really, I'm so, so sorry. I know I messed up. Oh, God." I was going to be sick. This wasn't happening. But of course it was. How in the world did I think I could manage to pull this off? My heart felt like it was going to explode.

The principal pushed a box of tissues toward me. "Harley, calm down."

"Charge me however you want. I'm really sorry about this. I can explain why— but of course, that won't really matter. I lied to you and everyone and I shouldn't have done this I'm so sorry," I rambled, looking everywhere but at the principal.