Perfect Lies

I saw him again as I ran down the street with my brown pigtails failing behind me. He stood against the wall with imperious stance and wearing a permanent scowl on his mouth. His hand loosely held a cigarette. His trenchant eyes were hard as they regarded me cautiously as if I was time bomb ready to go off. It seemed as if he knew all my secrets, secrets I tried hard to keep silent. I took a moment to take in my surroundings knowing that even with the rundown houses and littered roads it was better than home. At home I was perfect. Perfectly silent and perfectly detached from the world.



“Hello,” he said carefully as if I might explode any minute.



“What’s up?” I replied nonchalantly or as close to it as I could get.



While I waited for an answer I examined him; from his tanned skin to low slung jeans and leather jacket he look one hundred percent bad ass. But I also knew, from rumors, that he was dirt poor and a player. I wasn’t someone who liked to be played.



“Whatcha running from?” he stated in a hard way.



“The world.”



“I know what you mean,” he replied intensely.



“No, you don’t,” I said simply and walked away.



I could not make friends and I didn’t want to. The world was too harsh for that, besides he wouldn’t even be allowed to step foot on my street. I started to walk home at a slow pace watching the leaves fall onto the sidewalk and make a collage of red, orange, and yellow. In this moment, I looked at the leaves transfixed at the peacefulness of it and the mess inside my head.



I feared my home. It wasn’t a safety zone but more like a bomb field. I was a single child living with my mom and stepdad. The house itself was picturesque with big white columns, a huge door, and a very modern interior. I had a huge room which was the only benefit of my mom remarrying. We were far from poor before this marriage but my mom was often paranoid about spending her own money, so we lived in an apartment. With each marriage she was exonerated from providing for me which may have been the reason she was on husband number four. We looked like the picture perfect family on the outside.



“I’m home,” I yelled.



“Honey, don’t yell,” said my mom from the kitchen, “You know how much John hates it.”



“Okay, mom,” I replied as I walked into the kitchen.



“Who’s talking about me?” said John as he walked into the room.



“No one, dear,” said my mom as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and left to work on one of her many charity events.



“So… Anna, I need you to come to my office tomorrow at nine o’clock pm,” he said as he touched my shoulder and gave me a soft smile. One that promised for worse things to come.



I shivered with the last word and nodded my head slowly. I didn’t know what to do and I couldn’t tell anyone. My mom wouldn’t understand and I didn’t have any friends to talk to. If I could come back to this moment I would change it all. I would dissuade myself to ever agreeing to anything John said. I stepped away slowly trying to clear my head from my jumbled thoughts and walked out of the kitchen into my bedroom.



I woke up the next morning feeling as if it was all just a dream and I didn’t have to meet my stepdad at nine o’clock, but knowing full well it was real. During my morning abulation, I made sure to scrub my shoulder as if I could erase him touching me from my mind. I threw on my clothes and tried to tame my contumacious hair before I went to school. I carefully picked out what I wore because I wanted to stay unnoticed. I wasn’t ugly but I wasn’t pretty; I was plain with brown eyes and brown hair. I stood at a whopping 5’6” and wasn’t overly skinny like many of the other girls in my school. As I ran downstairs I was stopped by John.



“Remember our meeting,” he said.



“I could never forget,” I replied weakly.



“Good,” he said throwing me another one of his soft smiles.



John was not an ugly man. He had light brown hair and was in his mid-forties. His personality, though, was another thing. Sometimes, I wondered if the devil himself imprecated him because my instincts never let me feel safe around him and my instincts were never wrong.







I quickly left him standing in the hallway and exited the house desperate to get away from the man inside. I half jogged to the bus stop and when the bus came I rushed on and found a nice empty seat in the back. The bus was like any other; loud, smelly and full of cliques that didn’t take kindly to outsiders. I took solace in the fact that these people knew nothing about me and wouldn’t even give me a chance, as I stared out the window.



“Is this seat taken?” asked a guy to my right, waking me up from my thoughts.



“Yes,” I replied even though it wasn’t. I didn’t want company and was surprised when he sat down anyway. I was even more surprised to see it was the guy from yesterday. I venerate him for sitting down with me because it was basically the best way to stay isolated. I didn’t always be alone. I used to have friends, until my story got out. Now no one wants to be seen with a freak.



“So, are you gonna tell me the truth?” he said.



“I did.”



“What were you really running from?”



“The f***** up world we live in and my goddam life,” I whispered. I was adamantine in my answer, unwilling to say the ignominious truth.



“You’ll tell me when you trust me” he stated as if he thought one day, I will trust him.



“Not a chance. Besides, what’s your deal?”



“Life is short and I intend to make the most of it,” he replied as if it were perspicuous.



We sat in silence for the rest of the bus ride. When the bus stopped I hurried out and into Packington High School, home of the panther and home to people who probably execrated me.



I capriciously walked to my first period class determined to avoid the people who could never understand me.



Walking into my English class I sat down in the farthest seat in the back next to Timothy. Timothy was blond haired and blue eyed. He looked completely normal except for the fact that he had a mental disability that left him socially inapt and mentally challenged in different areas. I didn’t know exactly what was wrong with him because I wasn’t one to pry.



“Gourmandizing,” he said out loud.



“What?”



“Gourmandizing means eating excessively,” he said in, what I assume, an attempt to be social, “It’s what my parents do.”



“Great, kid,” I replied. To me, he was just a kid because he hasn’t been able to see the real world through the haze of his perfect one.



“No really, I’m not a kid. I have erudition.”



“Erudition?” I said prompting him to elaborate.



“It means I’m book smart,” he declared as if I would give him an award for it.



“Okay”



We sat through the rest of the class in silence listening to Mrs. Lancer drone on about what the school year would be like. The rest of my classes were pretty much the same way except I had no one to talk to. I gave up trying when my life was displayed in full force to the public. Finally, lunch came and I dragged myself to the cafeteria so I could find a table to eat at. Once I found an empty one I sat down and hoped no one would bother me.



“Are you sitting here alone?” the guy from the bus asked. I immediately knew it was him because of his voice. It was deep, distinctive, and sagacious, as if he knew everything about me. I shuddered at the thought.



“Yes”



“Why?” he asked.



“Because,” I said exasperated, “The last time I tried to sit with someone they all got up and left so I gave up trying.”



“Okay,” he replied as if my outburst hadn’t even phased him, “I’m Noah.”



“Yeah, I’m Anna.”



“So Anna, Do you want to go somewhere after school?”



“With you, no thank you.”



“Why?” he asked.



“My parents.”



“Oh, I understand,” he said solemnly as if it was my lost.



“You don’t understand,” I said almost yelling.



“You never will,” I whispered softer.



“I understand more than you think.” he stated in a serious tone. “If you ever need help, come find me.”



“I will,” I said knowing full well I might have to take him up on his offer because if anything happened, I had nowhere to go.



The rest of lunch went quickly and quietly with Noah just staring at me as I pretended not to notice. I was grateful when it ended but my nerves were augmented as it became closer to nine o’clock. The rest of the day passed quickly without much excitement except for the usual comment about my life and whatever creative name they thought of. I knew they did it to fit in and make friends at my expense. Personally, I tried to believe their hearts were pilfered when they were children. It didn’t affect me as much this way.



When school ended I walked home trying to give myself time to think. I tried to ignore the warning signs in my mind that I now wish would have listened to. They were yelling at me to run the other way, saying I would regret this. They were in remonstrance with my actions.



As I entered the house all was quiet and I went upstairs. I think I would have cried if I had the energy to. I just slept.



I woke up with a start at ten pm and went downstairs. As I entered the kitchen I saw John sitting in a chair.



“I was waiting for you,” he stated as if it were the most obvious thing.



“I know,” I said holding my breath.



He drew up an angry look, came up and slap me hard across my face. My ears rung out and my eyes started to tear. I lifted my hand up to cradle my cheek.



“I shouldn’t have,” he stated with a clipped tone and left me standing there holding my cheek.

 

Please comment!

 

I just wanted to ask everyone who wants this updated if you want
A) shorter installments in quicker amounts of time
Or
B) longer chapters but not updated as frequently as they take a longer time to write

 

Since I write in chapters this is the first half of Chapter 2
I woke up the next day groggy and scared. I touched my cheek willing the memories of what occurred to disappear. I was terrified of what might happen and rushed to school avoiding everyone in the house and throwing on whatever clothes I could find realizing at the bus stop that it was severely missed matched.



I got on the bus and sat down in the back plugging in my earplugs to slowly drown out the people around me. Sadly, two girls next to me were frantically whispering loudly.



“Did you hear what happened to Noah?” girl number one said who I believe was named Kelly.



“No!” whispered girl number two hastily, “What happened?”



“OMG, he is so hot. He got an audition with the band Flip Off and they are so good.”



“Really!? I heard he was a singer and guitarist. I didn’t know it was serious” she said as if she actually knew him.



Once I heard this, I snorted out with laughter trying to imagine Noah singing. He just didn’t seem like the type.



“What are you laughing about?” said Kelly.



“Nothing” I replied quickly.



“Freak,” Kelly’s friend mumbled.



“Yeah, I mean, why would he even talk to her? He must have felt sorry for her pathetic life,” said Kelly loudly so that the whole bus would hear.



I just slumped deeper into my seat believing that she was probably just jealous that he never talked to her in her life. I made myself a deal not to converse with him again. I could do with less drama and attention.



I happily got off the bus ready to leave the yellow death trap. Walking into English I sat down next to Timothy who was carelessly playing on his phone.



“Hey,” I said cautiously since he was one of my only friends.



“Oh, hello,” he replied, “Consort”.



“What?”



“Consort,” he repeated “A friend or partner, you should meet my sister. She’s a freshman in college and went to catholic school.”



She was only one year older than me since I was senior in high school.



College, I thought, that would be nice to go to. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a total slacker, but I hadn’t applied anywhere and wasn’t planning to. I wanted to take my college fund and go make a name for myself somewhere far away from this town. My parents didn’t know this but it didn’t matter, I was getting the money regardless once I turned 18 in March which was 4 months away from the present day in November.



“No really,” he insisted, “you should meet her.”



“Excuse me, Anna,” said Mrs. Lancer, “Do you have something you care to share with the class?”



“No,” I replied exasperated.



“But Mrs. Lancer, it’s only fair if you make Anna tell everyone what she was discussing like you usually do,” said Kelly smiling evilly.



“Yeah, Mrs. Lancer, she shouldn’t get any special treatment,” interjected evil Kelly clone number one.



“They’re right Anna, you have say what you were discussing”



I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t like I was doing anything bad I just didn’t want them to drive away one of my only friends. Maybe once Timothy realized how much of a side attraction I was, he wouldn’t even talk to me. Then it would just be me, my mom, and John. I shuddered at the thought.



“She was just explaining to me what you were teaching. I couldn’t hear you over the vain and vapid comments coming over from that corner, said Timothy pointing toward Kelly and her friends, “I mean I’m a guy, I don’t need to hear who and who’s not on their period.”



I stared at awe at Timothy. I couldn’t believe he had just saved me from blurting out something random and stupid. It was then I realized that maybe Timothy is smarter than he let on and I wondered why he would hide it.



“Alright, that’s enough class,” said Mrs. Lancer, “Let’s get back to work reviewing Romeo and Juliet.”



When class ended I rushed off to Calculus determined to reach a back seat. Mr. Lock never had assigned seats so every day was fight for the back corner seat. Class was the same in the retrospect that we were learning complicated math that would probably never benefit me in my entire life. The following classes were the same as most days until finally lunch came.



I walked into the lunch room wary of those around me and grabbed a sandwich from the lunch line. I picked a random table and sat down, luckily no one was there.



“Hello” said a girl who I didn’t know as she was sitting down, “My name is Emily.”



“Hey,” a replied politely, “I’m not exactly the most popular person here.”



I figured I would give her a way out so I didn’t have to deal with her leaving later on.



“I know,” she replied knowingly, “But you’re different. And the most interesting people in the world are different.”



“Whatever,” I mumbled looking down at my food.



“So… I’m a senior and just moved here from Texas”



“Cool, that’s interesting,” I replied half-heartedly. I assumed once she realized that I wasn’t joking she would leave, but for now I liked not sitting alone.



“I take it you’re not a big talker”



“You guessed right”



“Why”



“Just, because,” I replied. I didn’t talk because I was always afraid I might say something about what happened in my past or what’s happening now.



“Okay,” she replied, “You don’t want to talk about it. But don’t mope around like you’re the only one with issues”



I looked at her with my mouth agape. I knew I was somewhat depressed but no one talked to me like that even though I knew it was the truth.



“Now that that’s settled,” she stated, “let’s talk about more important things like prom. I’m thinking of joining the prom committee.”



She talked amiably for the rest of lunch almost without letting me get in a word otherwise. Sooner rather than later lunch ended and I went to gym which was like to most people not fun. Throughout the period I was excited for the only class I ever wanted to take, creative writing.