Ava's POV:
When morning arrived, the investigation followed.
"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing, but the truth?" Trevon stated in a severe tone, as his hands crunched against the car wheel.
"For the last time," my voice raised even higher, "Seth is lying. He asked me to be his fake girlfriend for one damn dinner, and I agreed. I didn't know you and Mina were going to be there."
He rushed his hands all over his hair, "But, it doesn't make sense!"
"What doesn't make sense?"
"Why did you agree?" My mouth clamp shut. I didn't want to tell him that Seth was blackmailing me. He closes the distance between us. "Why did you agree? I know my twin, and she would never do favors for others...for free."
"Maybe I'm kindhearted now." Bullshitty shit shit Ava Makee. The day you turn kindhearted is when humanity decides to stop lying to themselves.
"Oh, bullshit."
"Can you start the car?" I whined. "I need to get together with the school committee for the dang after school rally." My body wiggled around, praying he would drop the subject.
Trevon backed away and started the car. "We are not finished," he hissed slowly, sounding more and more like our dad each day. He put the car in reverse and hit the trash can.
"My trash can!" Mom shouted, throwing the basket of laundry down.
Trevon rolled down the window, "My bad!"
She glared at him, "Trevon! Get out of the car and go upstairs to your piggy bank! You're paying for my trash can."
Trevon glared at me, and I backed away. "See what you did! If you didn't fake date Seth, I wouldn't have run over the trash can!" He turned off the engine and slammed the door.
I exhaled dramatically, pressing my fingers against my temples. Glancing upward, I jolted back, seeing mom resting her face against the edge of the door. "So, what were you two arguing about?" she batted her lashes.
"Nothing," I sang.
She smiled, "I'm so happy."
I copied her facial expression, "Why?" My mom is insane. It seems to run in the family, though.
"I love it when you two fight." She is the only mom who will ever say that. "It means you two are getting close."
"It does?"
She nodded, "When you two started high school, I hardly see you guys spoke a single word to each other. It was always hmm or uhh. Mommy is happy to see her babies bickering." She pinched my cheek, "Continue spatting over whatever it is," she cooed.
It's official; mom lost it.
My eyes skewed towards the house in front of us. When I got home yesterday, I was in a much better mood, and it's not because I used nearly all of Seth's gas by running his motorcycle around town. Lies. It was exactly that.
It felt good not to drive in traffic.
After I finished with his bike, I dropped it off in front of his house and walked towards mine. Yes, I am that generous. He should be grateful I didn't throw it in a dump.
This morning when I looked out the window, his motorcycle was gone. The only explanation is that he used it to go to work. I'm impressed by how stealth his family is; I hardly ever see them.
The school went on as usual, except for the death glare from Seth. Mina walks towards me hand in hand, still weird, with Trevon. "Don't worry. I talked to Auntie Whitney and Uncle Dario about what happened yesterday. Seth got an earful from all three of us," she said.
My brows crunch, "You call Seth's parents uncle and auntie?" You might as well be calling them daddy and mommy because that's the direction you are all heading down towards.
Maybe, it's weird for her to call them that because her own father calls them that.
I internally snicker at the thought.
She nodded, "Yeah. I've known them since I was young, so I've been calling them that for as long as I can remember."
I exhaled, straightening my hand over the skirt, "It's okay."
Mina exhaled and glanced at Trevon as if silently pleading with him. Trevon stepped up and put his big boy pants on. "It's not okay. I refuse to allow others to talk bad about my younger sister."
Mina smiles, and he returns it. I want to puke. I threw my backpack inside the locker. "Yeah. You can cut the big brother act." I look at Mina, "He still sleeps with the night light on."
"It gets very dark in our house!" He said defensively.
The footsteps of others fade as they make their way towards the gymnasium for the prep rally. The school wants to rile up everyone's spirit for the big football game this Saturday.
"I'll see you inside?" Trevon said, and I nodded, giving Mina a wave goodbye. She tried hugging me once, but I wasn't ready for the next step in our relationship.
"Hey, there pretty lady," Eli whispered into my ear, causing me to drop my gym bag.
"Eli!" I hissed slowly, twisting my neck around. I place a hand on my ear, still feeling his hot breath against my flesh.
He smiles, "Allow me, my lady," he said, going down and grabbing the gym bag. Eli looks up, and his smile drops.
I dropped my head, realizing he was looking underneath my cheer skirt. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" I took a step back and placed a hand over my skirt.
He cleared his throat, "Umm. Here." He hands me my book. I threw the bag over my shoulder.
Eli leans beside me, "So, uh...the sky is...nice."
"I know what you want to ask. Just ask it," I close my locker, leaning beside him.
"Why...Why is it red?"
"You mean my thong?"
His mouth gap opened, but nothing came out, and he nodded slowly.
"Well, I forgot my spandex at home, and my spare is in my gym locker. I was going to grab it before the rally."
He nodded slowly, "Oh."
I raised a brow as his face grew redder than my thong.
"It...It looks nice," he grumbled, scratching his extremely hot ear.
"I'm not going to let you see it again," I teased him.
"I didn't ask that." He crosses his arms, "I don't... I'm not like that...It was just...I didn't expect-" He was at a complete loss for words.
"I'll see you at the rally," I said, throwing myself off the lockers.
"Oh, umm...Well...I-I...uh...bye!" I turned around to see him banging his head against the lockers, and I couldn't help but smile at that moment.
One step after another, I made my way into the locker room. I threw my bag inside the locker and grabbed the spare spandex. After I curved it over my butt, I realized it was tighter than I remember. It must be all the food I've been consuming.
Making my way down the hallway, I tied my hair up into a ponytail. The girls were waiting in another room connected to the gymnasium until we were called.
It's weird; walking through school with barely anyone passing by. Everyone should be in the gymnasium by now. I greeted the hall monitor or our school police officer as he passed me along with his colleague.
"I told you, Emily. I need time to think about this-" a voice caught my attention, and I turned to my right. The gymnasium can wait. I made one more turn, but halted when I saw Mr.Nocella at the school's corner on his phone. "You cannot call my mom and demand to see Miles and Zach."