The Lies We Share ✔

Chapter 5

Laura entered the classroom seconds before class was to begin, she plopped down at her seat in the back and stared out the conveniently placed window to her left.

The sun was out now, the athletic fields in full view, the green grass streaking across the massive field, and tufts of trees sat proudly in the far corners of the school grounds. Nature was a good distraction from the last few moments jarring conversation. Laura's thoughts were rudely interrupted with a math quiz being placed on her desk.

Her mouth opened to form a shocked expression, but she quickly realized it why she was given the deadly sheet of paper. The signs were all there; the difficult homework, the silence of the classroom, and the pretty sky had to be ruined by something, Laura was sensing a disturbing pattern.

After Ms. Samson let out the class, Laura had to get through one more class before lunch, after that awful quiz Laura knew she would have half the amount of thinking power for her next class, English.

This didn't strain Laura's prospects too much as English was her favorite class, currently, they were reading a British mystery novel about a girl who was shot in a park, the plot had begun to uncoil, and this unconventional story was turning out to be a real page-turner.

If Laura could even turn the pages, last week she spilled some Coke on the edges of the book, the pages were still stuck together. The concepts of the book were overanalyzed to death, and it was fraught with foreshadowing; however, the plot seemed to carry over well to the real world.

Math on the other hand was the opposite for Laura the concepts of the subject were hard to grasp and often convoluted. And it was hard place two children having thirty-four apples and twenty-four watermelons in the same vicinity.

After English Laura put her books away in her locker and grabbed her lunch bag. She brought her lunch to school daily, because if she was offered the option, she would take it. After grabbing her lunch, she made a detour to the bathroom, making her late to lunch with Ryan and Marie. She weaved her way to the back of the lunchroom, the open space allowed for booming echoes throughout the common area. Laura saw the two at the table reclusive in appearance. Ryan was wearing an oversized dark jean jacket, with a very red t-shirt underneath, a variety of his usual get up. Marie, like always was wearing a shade of purple, this time it was a bright periwinkle sweater. It paired great with her blue-grey eyes. The colors made her look friendly, which didn't truly match her personality.

"Hi!" Laura said they had gone through the lunch line, Marie got some tater tots and pizza, whereas Ryan got a salad with an apple. They both were in the same Art class, so they always walked together to lunch. Laura sat directly across from Marie, who was engrossed in whatever was on her phone.

"Hey Laura," replied Ryan, she wanted to blush whenever he looked at her, it was probably because she was awkward and had a crush on him. She broke her eyes away from him and looked at Marie.

"Hey Marie." Marie looked up with a short smile.

"Hey, Laura," Marie's tone is quiet, but she seemed content, she returned her eyes down to her phone letting her dyed black hair cover her face. Yep, same Marie.

Laura looked at Ryan raising her eyebrows, and he smiled in return.

Ryan and Laura had a comfortable friendship, if frustrating to Laura. Ryan had a way of looking at Laura that she couldn't stop thinking about. Since Laura had known Ryan it was that look that she had adored. His dark brown eyes had always mystified her, the friendly boy next door type of look.

Ryan was an unconventional guy, he had wavy brown hair, arching eyebrows, a sharp jawline. But Laura wasn't his type.

"Well, how was your day, guys?" he asked looking toward Marie, who just limply shrugs.

"It was okay, I guess," Marie said indifferent toward the conversation.

Marie was a laid-back person, Laura on the other hand felt with all her heart she was the one to make things awkward, how she solved this conversational void, to make more conversation. And how she chose to fill the void most of the time, complaining. Which came naturally to the teenager.

Laura often felt like a monster when she complained, her complaining was not cute. Not that she had a chance of impressing either of the two before her, but the silence killed her and so she did what she would do every day at lunch, start into another story about her day went.

"Well, let me tell you, I nearly fell asleep on the bus, and I had this pop quiz in math, which I probably failed," Laura frowned before continuing, "and since I'm a procrastinator, I had to do my math homework before school this morning." Ryan just shook his head, while Laura stared at him clearly miffed.

"Yep, same you, and same Marie," he smiled at both of them, "my day was alright, though I wish you guys could've seen me in Band this morning, I nailed my solo audition on my trumpet," he said.

Ryan was a music fanatic, he played piano and guitar also.

Though Laura hadn't heard him play, she naturally assumed he was great because of his track record with constantly getting solos. Laura thought that was cool, because she unlike Ryan, was very unskilled at playing instruments. Laura was a beginner in reading notes and playing scales.

Though Laura had always had a knack for singing. She had joined the school's choir as a Freshman, as dorky as being in the choir sounded to most of her classmates, she found singing to be quite brave, you had to have a lot of confidence to sing on stage even if it was in a large group.

"Awesome!" Laura said a bit too enthusiastically, he raised an eyebrow at her, and Marie looked up as well.

"Was that sarcasm or are you just having mood swings? Because I can relate either way," Ryan said jokingly, Marie covered her mouth to hide the growing smile. Laura rolled her eyes, not funny. Laura was a bit loopy today if that was the excuse she was looking for, but no, she was just being her usual annoying self, she could be nervous as to what was happening with the Todd situation? Though she was in trouble on the home front too, what would she do about Aunt Rachel. But she certainly wasn't going to drag her friends into all of that drama.

"Hey, no, and not a mood swing! I'm just excited to see you perform, even though I can't play an instrument for the life of me, I can appreciate the art," Laura exudes a moody air in her response, "And I may be a bit tired today, I was up so late last night," She said before grabbing a bite of her sandwich.

"Okay, I respect your enthusiasm for the arts, also everyone is tired," Ryan said, Marie nodded keeping up with the conversation aptly.

"So, Marie," Laura changed the subject, Maire's eyes look tired, but naturally this is how they have come to look, she plastered a tight smile across her lips. The face of someone hiding their true feelings.

"Would you like to go to my neighborhood Christmas party? It's at my house on Friday," Marie appears a bit hesitant to answer, given the question out the blue, her reaction was understandable, Ryan added.

"Oh yeah, you should go. I'm going to be there, and they'll be loads of food, right, Laura?" Laura nodded.

"Well, maybe," Marie said clearly intrigued, but probably a bit shy of the fact that it was going to be a party, with a lot of people she wouldn't know. Frankly, Laura was certain Marie would be the one to turn down going to a party of any sort.

"Yeah, I'd really appreciate you guys coming to it, I usually don't have people to invite," Laura said candidly, they nod as if they understand what she was saying.

Of course, they get it, Ryan didn't as much, as he had friends in Band and some other random friends from classes, though they probably were more like acquaintances since he sat with us.

But Laura was pretty sure Ryan and herself were Marie's only friends, which Laura didn't think was a bad thing at all, considering she only had a couple of random people she talked to now and then besides Marie and Ryan.

Though their circle was small, something about the quaintness of the group had drawn them together, they were an honest bunch. Possibly becoming closer in the future, there was always the idea that after a while they would become each other's best friends. Even if Laura had other ideas about Ryan.