Little White Lies

Chapter 1

Why is it that time never movers slower than when you are at school? For some reason when I'm stuck here time insists on moving at half speed, at best. The hands don't even seem to be moving on the square clock over the classroom board as I scan down the list of proposed yearbook themes. I can't believe I accepted the position of editor; this is going to consume my already busy life.

When the bell that signals the end of fourth block finally decides to ring at 3:10, I leap out of my seat, not even bothering to throw my pen or notebook in my bag, as I head to my locker.

"Hey, Sawyer! Shit, that French test really was a killer!" Ali, my best friend since third grade, calls to me as she jogs to catch up with me. Ali has a tendency to jog after people since she's only 5'2.

"I tried to warn you about it," I sigh. I bite on my pen as I dial in my locker combination, 10-03-07. "Jessica was complaining about it for the first ten minutes of English this morning. It made me glad I switched out of French and into American Sign Language after freshman year," I laugh as I grab my ASL book from my locker before slamming the door and spinning the dial.

"No kidding, Mrs. Lehman is such a witch. What kind of person thinks it's okay to give a pop quiz this early in the year? But, you know, Jessica isn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box, so I just figured it was her not the test," Ali laughs, her brown eyes dancing as she giggles.

"She might not be smart, but she DOES study," I reply with a roll of my eyes. "Plus, you realize it's actually the end of the third week of classes. It's not like we just started back."

"Whatever," Ali say with a slam of her locker door. "Do you want to run to town and grab some coffee? I've got that AP Bio project to put off a little longer," she smiles as she tosses her long curly brown hair over her shoulder.

"Why not, I've got to run to the store anyway. I completely forgot about Mom's stupid date night and now there's no food in the house," I grown. "I'm thinking about chicken parmesan with pasta."

Ali catches my arm and stares at me for a second dumbfounded. "You have got to be kidding me."

"What? Why?" I'm so confused.

"That's so good!" Ali giggles, "Does this guy really deserve some of your best cooking?"

"No probably not, but it is time consuming and should keep me too busy to talk to the guy once he shows up," I say as we start walking again. "Look, I'll meet you there though, I have to pick up the twins," I tell her as we pass the last set of lockers and the handful of students still hanging around.

"I'll just grab them from the middle school then head that way," I call over as I unlock my silver Jeep.

Ali nods as she climbs in her Camry, "Sounds good. See you in a few."

I pop open the trunk of my Jeep and toss in my old beat up backpack before I drive across the parking lot to the middle school to pick up the twins. After a couple of minutes I see Jacey and Grant jogging over.

"Hey guys. How was your day? Wanna go to the coffee shop?" I say in one breath as the two of them climb in the backseat.

"Great idea. We'll need the caffeine to survive tonight without hurting this loser," Jacey says with a giggle and a little roll of her eyes. The way her brown eyes sparkle when she laughs makes me smile. Her brown eyes are one of the only real differences in our appearances. People always joke that with her light brown hair, freckles across her nose, and similar bone structure she looks more like my twin than Grant's.

Grant is the odd one out in our family in so many ways, the only guy in the family and the only one of us who looks anything like Dad. His bright blue eyes match mine but that's where the similarities end, he has blond hair and at twelve years old he's already taller than everyone else in our house.