Perfect Lies.

Chapter-10 "Resignation"

An awkward silence filled the place as I stared at him with widened eyes.

"Sir.." I tried to speak but failed to hear my voice.

"Look, I want to talk to you about something," he said, his face stern and his expression, unreadable. I nodded in return. He tilted his head to get a better view of the house, after he scanned the hall, he finally spoke.

"Where is your mom?" He whispered.

"She...is not home yet" I stuttered.

"Hmm," he was thoughtful.

"Come in Sir.."

"I don't have time for that--" he paused for a while.

"Nevermind, I just wanted to say...". I pursed my lips in a hard line, but he didn't continue.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" I finally spoke. My words snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked at me, his eyebrows, knitted together.

"Look..." He started "this place is not safe for you" I frowned at his words and waited for him to regret what he just said, but it never happened.

"Robbin will play tricks on you, he knows how to play and so her partner also" he spoke those words very carefully as if he was trying to not let slip any extra information.

I was too shocked to speak, he didn't say anything and before I could compose myself to bombard him with my questions, he disappeared out of sight.

I stood there, motionlessly, trying to make sense of what he just said but, my mind was too confused.

My gaze was fixed on the ground, I kept receiving questioning glances from the passers-by but, I was too shocked to even move.

"Shay?" I heard someone calling my name which snapped me out of my thoughts.

I saw mom.

"Why are you standing here?" She asked as she made her way through the doorstep, pushing me from the way.

"I--was waiting for you" I lied.

She looked at me in confusion, there was a glint in her eyes and an irritated expression on her face.....once again, I felt like a foe.

After staring at me for a while, she didn't get an answer and so, she shook her head and went into her room.

It started to rain outside, the cold water droplets of water hit me like a bucket of ice, I failed to make any sense of Mr. Phil's unexpected visit, so, I shook the thought away and went inside and closed the door.

---

The next morning, I woke up late as usual and readied myself for the day. 'Mr. Phil would meet me in the school and there would be no way, I will let him go'. I thought to myself as I walked on the street.

"Hey Shay!, Excited about the prom?" Kate asked me on the way.

"He would be because I chose his dress" Jeremy announced proudly. But I felt that the voices blurred as we walked.

I was too soaked in my thoughts. But, suddenly, I heard some people screaming my name.

I turned and saw Alex, Kate, Anna, Mike, and Jeremy almost running as they tried to keep pace with me.

Soon, I realized that I was standing in front of the school and how fast I was walking, the reason because of which their voices blurred.

"Damn it!! Shay! Too eager to go to school?" Alex said as he struggled to catch his breath.

Mr. Phil taught us math and luckily, I didn't have to wait much for it as it was the first class only.

But when I entered the class, surprisingly, I found that Mr. Phil was not there instead, there stood a tall, dark-haired man with black eyes and he was decently dressed.

I made my way to my chair and sat near Mike.

"Is this a substitute teacher?" I whispered.

"Yeah, I guess," he shrugged.

But our conversation was interrupted by a loud 'bang' of the table and the whole class went quiet, all those students who were wandering in the class suddenly rushed to their respective desks.

"Good morning students" the man spoke sternly.

"Good morninnnnggg sirrrr" the whole class sang in a lazy tone. He shook his head in disbelief and after a short pause, he spoke again.

"What a stupid class," he murmured, "Anyways, I'm Justin William, your new math teacher" I felt chills run down through my spine....what happened to Mr. Phil??

"But sir, what happened to Mr. Phil?" I asked with all the courage that was left in me, the reason for which I came to school, was a waste, I suddenly felt to ditch the whole day...

"I teach the top class--uh, who, that Phil guy? Well, he resigned" his eyes scrutinized me.

"And yeah, I don't like to be interrupted, especially when I'm speaking something" he spoke bitterly. "By the way, do you mind giving me an introduction?"

"Yes sir, I-- I'm Shay, Shay Collins"

"Whatever," he muttered. "I was saying that I teach the top class of this school, and now I have got the losers of this school to teach"

"Such an arrogant git!" Mike muttered. "Mr. Phil was better than him!"

"Yeah..."

I felt strange, this was not something to be overlooked, yesterday, he came to my house to warn me about Robbin and not to mention how they were friends and today, he resigned from the school!' what if, something happened to him?' I thought to myself but shook the thought away as it made me dizzy.

Later that day, when I intentionally ditched the last two classes and went home, I found that mom was early, it was evening only when I came home, but, I didn't bother to speak to her, instead, I wanted to meet Alex and vomit all my pain in front of him, but, he wasn't the one to miss the school. It was Friday and tomorrow was the date of prom, probably I shouldn't spoil his mood before an occasion by putting a load on him.

I shut the door of my room loudly and started studying for my next week's Biology test as it proved to be a good distraction from my trauma-giving thoughts. But, before I could proceed, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi Shay, Jeremy here"

"ooh, hi Jeremy, how are you?"

"I'm handsome as always, um... I wanted to ask something" he spoke, but, I ignored his first sentence.

"yes, go on"

"um...are you ok, is everything fine, do you need my help, you don't look very well lately"

"ooh Jeremy, I'm fine"

"no, you are not!"

"uh.."

"then why you ditched the last two classes?"

"I was tired" I lied for the sake of their safety, I felt guilty to tell Alex about this, all this is so dangerous.

"um....ok, but if you feel off or something, you have my number"

"sure, I will call, if something happens like this" he hung up.

As I finished my studies my mind wandered to Mr. Phil's words like when he said that Robbin has a partner he was trying to tell me that I knew her but he couldn't tell me because he was somewhat......scared? I think I need to meet Mr. Phil. At this final thought, I drifted to sleep.