White Liar

by T. J. Sin

  Tyler leaned in closer to him and lowered his voice. “Well don’t look now my friend, but Chicka with the bad attitude has her sights on you. And man.” he smacked at Justin's shoulder and laughed. "I'm glad it's you and not me because she is one vindictive.... you get where I'm going, right?"

  Justin closed his eyes. Yup, I knew exactly where he was going alright. She wasn't typically known to be all sugar and spice, Chloe was more along the lines of salt and vinegar.

  Right then, at that very moment, there was a small part of him that wanted to turn around and see her. But then there was the rest of him, which was a much larger part, that wanted to stay right where he was and completely ignore the hell out of her.

  What had been so frustrating was that in the time since Friday, if Justin had not been thinking about John, his thoughts revolved around Chloe. It was because of the way that she looked at him at the hospital. She looked so torn up and upset. When she walked away from him, he almost, the key word there being almost, went after her. Luckily he thought better of it and got in his car and drove home. Justin knew that she felt remorse for what she had done but it was just too little, too late.

  "Oh.... shit! Dude, she's coming this way." Tyler snickered behind Justin. "What do you think she's up to now? Isn't it her turn to get you?"

  Slowly, he turned around and sure enough, there she was, heading in their direction. "Uh... yeah," Justin replied distractedly. Watching her come towards him, he couldn't help but to notice how tired she looked. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, her hair was flat and half-heartedly pulled back, even the clothing that she wore was not 'Chloe' like. Her choice of attire was more suited for a pajama party than a day at school with her sweats and baggy tee-shirt.

  "Look, you're on your own man," Don said from behind him. "You want to play with fire, that's your prerogative. I, on the other hand, have a reputation to uphold. So, with all that being said- I'll see you at lunch?" He raised an angled brow and asked.

  Throwing up his hand, Justin jerked his head back and replied. "Yeah, I'll see you guys at lunch." His eyes though were still focused on the girl that was now standing in front of him. She hugged her notebook to her chest and her gaze was downcast. Justin heard the murmurs of the guys saying their good byes from behind him and the shuffling of their feet as they dispersed in different directions.

  When they were finally alone, Justin let out a loud, exasperated sigh. "What do you want Chloe?" He asked her in a deadpan voice.

  He watched her blink her eyes and saw her visibly gulp as she brought her face up to meet his steely gaze. "Have..." she started and stopped before clearing her throat and starting again. "Have you heard anything about John? I mean, is he going to be okay?"

  Scratching at his stubbled chin, Justin considered her for a moment. She was a slight thing, pretty.... but definitely understated. Usually, she would dress up in clothes that would make a guy's mouth water, her face would be painted with make-up and her hair would look like she spent hours getting every last strand in place.

  But today- today she was different. It's like he was seeing a new Chloe, maybe even the real Chloe for the first time. It wasn't like before, where she hid herself behind her make-up, her clothing and even her outlandish attitude. The real question though, was why? Why hide who you really are? Why try and be the bad ass, making enemies of people that you don't even know? Namely, why me?

  "No," he finally told her, shaking his head. "He is in the same condition as he was on Friday."

  She dropped her gaze back to the floor. For a long minute, neither of the two of them spoke a word. Justin felt the need to say something, the words even sat there on the tip of his tongue, but nothing would come out.

  "Look-" both of them started at the same time. Justin gestured for her to go first.

  He could see that she was nervous as she ran her petite hand through her hair. Her fingers tangled in the messy bun that she had secured at the back of her head and she mumbled a soft curse, causing Justin's lips to curl up slightly at the corners.

  She dropped her hands to her sides, looked up at him and for the briefest of seconds he saw that spark in her eyes that he had in such a short time come to know as an elemental part of her. But then, just as quickly, it was gone.

  "I wanted to ask you if you would take me to see his parents. I wanted to apologize for what has happened and see if there was anything that I could maybe do for them." The sadness in her eyes was almost his final undoing but Justin thought about how bad off John's parents were right now and all the strain they were under. Then there was Alana to think about. Now was not the time for Chloe to confront them, not when they weren't even sure if he would pull through.

  "No," he told her gently. "I can't do that to them."

  Her eyes welled up and he could see the fine sheen of tears threatening to fall. "Please," she begged. "I have to do something. I can't stand this waiting."

  Something in him suddenly snapped. "Waiting!" he said loud enough that it drew attention from several passers by to them. "You can't stand the waiting." He slapped his hands against his legs in frustration and guffawed. "Well how in the hell do you think they feel.... waiting to see if John is going to ever wake up again...huh?!"

  He knew he should have stopped right then and turned to walk away, but everything over the last week had stewed inside of him and now he was on the verge of exploding. So instead of doing the right thing, he stepped closer to Chloe and pointed his finger in her chest. "How do you think they are gong to react when you waltz that pretty little butt of yours in the hospital and announce to them that you were the one that put that powder in his strap, all for a load of laughs? Oh- and by the way, I'm sorry. Do you think they are going to forgive you and pat you on the head?"

  She started to step backwards but by now Justin was on a roll. He wasn't going to let her go so easily this time. He had to get this off of his chest. "I don't know," she said to him, her voice barely audible. "I just thought-"

  "Don't think!" Justin snapped. "Since the first day that you walked into this school, you have had a stick up your butt. I don't know what your problem is and I rightly don't care. All I know is that because of something that you did, my friend's future is now hanging in the balance. Jokes aside, that's the truth of the matter. So to answer your question, no, I will not take you to see them. The best thing you can do is to stay away from them and stay away from me. Comprende?"

  His chest was heaving with the exertion he just spent, his face was hot. Tears rolled down her cheeks but like Justin had just told her, he just didn't care anymore.

  "Fine," she whispered and sniffled. "I won't bother you anymore."

  Justin watched her as she turned; shoulders slumped down, and walked away. Standing there, he now felt like scum. The more she tried to help or make amends, the more he pushed her away and the hell of it was- he didn't know if he was pushing her away from himself or if he was pushing her away because of what happened to John.

  Finally turning around, he started to head towards his Chemistry class. He had taken no more than three steps when he heard a feminine screech and a loud bang. Whirling around to see what in the world was going on, Justin's eyes bugged out of his head.

  "Damn it!" He swore and dropped his book bag, hitting the ground running. If it wasn't one thing, then it was another. "Alana," he screamed out, pulling her thrashing body off of a very still Chloe. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his chest. "Stop! You have to stop this right now!"

  Chapter 13

  Chloe got it. She heard all the words that came out of his mouth and she understood where he was coming from, but that didn’t mean that she had to like it. All she wanted to do was tell someone that she was sorry, make them see that she didn‘t mean for something like this to happen. She wanted the chance to be able to explain herself but as Justin had mentioned, what she wanted really didn’t matter anymore.

  Feeling dejected, Chloe turned around and started to head off in the other dire
ction. There was no reason for her to stay here any longer and she refused to look back at him. She refused to beg. She wasn’t stupid enough to not realize that the blame for this particular incident was all on her. She was the one that actually went through with the act, so she knew that it was her fault. Knowing that though and accepting it, well, that was just something that she would have to learn how to live with on her own.

  Between worrying about John and dealing with Erica, Chloe's nerves were frayed…shot all to hell really. She hadn't even begun to think about how she was going to deal with her cousin yet. She sure as hell wasn’t about to go along with her newest plan but she didn’t want her running her mouth about her secret past either. That was her past and Erica had promised her a year ago that her secret would always be safe.

  When she first moved here, Chloe had understood all too well what Erica was going through. She'd been there herself, but enough was enough. She thought they had made their point, more than once. Now John, a totally innocent person was needlessly suffering because he got caught up in the middle, all because of who he hung around.

  “You stupid bitch!”

  Chloe heard the words from behind her and before she could turn around, her body was being thrown sideways. Her head snapped backwards, banging hard up against the metal lockers and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open while she sagged to the floor. Pain exploded in the back of her head and while her vision blurred, she struggled to make sense out of what was happening to her.

  It all happened too fast. One moment she was walking along the hall, the next moment she found herself on the floor with a blond haired avenging angel straddling her body, using Chloe as her own personal punching bag.

  It only took Chloe about two seconds to catch up with her. Reaching out, she grabbed a hold of the furious blonds wrists, determined to restrain her. “What in the world?” she hollered at her, the words suddenly getting caught up in Chloe's throat when she noticed the stream of tears trailing down the girl’s cheeks. The longer that she stared at her, something in her memory began to click and the more familiar this blond girl became.

  It was the eyes. Those sparkling blue eyes that clued Chloe into who she really was. Even through the tears and the rage, it was John’s eyes that she saw staring so hard back at her. With the sudden realization, Chloe released the girl's wrists and all she could do was lay there while the girl continued to rain down blow after blow after blow.

  Chloe could see the pain etched so deeply in the girls face. She was there, but yet she wasn’t. It was like she was watching the entire scene from inside a fish bowl. Her curses, her flying fists, her anger. Chloe was seeing it all but she felt nothing, she was just numb. Maybe, she thought, it was what she had deserved, maybe she just froze up, either way, she couldn't move.

  Chloe wasn't exactly sure what all happened in those few seconds of maddening fury. She could hear the small voice in the back of her head demanding that she move, fight back or just do something, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t force herself to move a single muscle.

  And then just as fast as the storm started, it suddenly came to a grinding halt. The blond girl was gone and Chloe just lay there, staring up into nothingness.

  “Chloe? Chloe? Are you okay?”

  Chloe moved her head to the left. Ms. Hanson was there, kneeling down beside of her. She held up two fingers with one hand and grabbed a hold of her chin with the other. “How many fingers am I holding up Chloe?”

  She stared at the older woman's fingers, blinked at then looked back up at her face. The back of her head was pulsing with pain. She tried to bring her hand up to her face but the teacher pulled it away. “No,” she warned, “Don’t touch until we can have the nurse look at you.” She held up three fingers this time with her free hand and lowered her head so that her eyes were level with a dazed Chloe's. “Come now Chloe, this is important. I need you to speak to me. Can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?”

  It felt like spikes were being drilled into the back of Chloe's head and now her eye was practically swelling shut. Knowing how many fingers she was holding up really didn’t seem to be all that high on her priority list at the moment.

  “Chloe?” She barked out again. She was being stubbornly insistent about this and Chloe had a bad feeling that she wouldn’t leave her alone until she answered her question. Drawing in a ragged breath, she hoarsely mumbled, “Three, three fingers.”

  Ms. Hanson nodded and then yelled for someone to get Mr. Able, the Principal. When she yelled, the sound echoed in Chloe's head, tripling the agony that she was already in. Chloe tried to cover up her ears, but the teacher held tight to her hands. “Chloe, just sit still for a minute,” she instructed, her voice gentling anxious.

  Chloe glanced up with her one good eye, and spotted Justin across the hall. He was holding the blond girl that had just attacked her but it was the expression on his face that took her by surprise. Was that concern? Was he concerned about me?

  Chloe didn’t get a chance to think about it too much because Mr. Able finally made an appearance. Her head was still throbbing and because of the awkward position that she was in on the floor, her back was now starting to ache. Mr. Able bent down and spoke with Ms. Hanson, looked briefly in Chloe's direction and frowned. His exaggerated expel of breath was loud enough for even her to hear. “Take her down to the nurse’s office, I’ll deal with Alana.”

  “Yes sir,” Ms. Hanson replied. Chloe watched Mr. Able stand and motion towards Justin. “Let’s go,” he clipped.

  Ms. Hanson stood and was already trying to help Chloe to her feet. She felt a little off balance and when she stood she had to use the locker for balance. The pain in the back of her head continued to beat in time with every thud of her heart. Wincing, she watched as Justin walked the other girl, that she had now deduced to be John’s sister, down the hall.

  At that very moment, he glanced back over his shoulder and their eyes met. Something indescribable passed between them. Chloe couldn’t put what she was feeling into words but it was like an understanding of sorts, a meeting of the minds. Before she could read anything into it, Ms. Hanson was pulling on her arm and leading her off in the opposite direction.

  “Come on Chloe,” she urged with an astounding gentleness. Justin turned back around and all Chloe could see was his retreating back as he and the girl followed Mr. Able. She was left feeling confused and was so tired of warring with herself. For just a little while, Chloe didn‘t want to think anymore. All she wanted was for all of her damn problems to disappear.

  When Chloe's feet wouldn’t move, Ms. Hanson continued to tug at her arm. “Chloe?“

  Chloe lifted her head, and looked up, reading the worry in Ms. Hanson's face too. She was too weakened to fight her, so she just gave in for now and let the teacher lead her away to the nurse’s office.

  **************************************

  Three hours. It was three hours later when they finally let Chloe out of that damn nurse’s office. For a while there, she thought that they were going to send her to the hospital. But with some fast talking she was able to convince them to let her stay there as long as she promised to stay in the nurse’s office so they could watch over her and make sure that she didn’t have a concussion.

  Her head still hurt like a bitch, but with three hours to just sit there and think, Chloe had at least been able to get a better hold of her out of control emotions. She now knew what she had to do, No what she was going to do, she told herself and decided that the second they let her out of this place, she was going to do it.

  She needed talk to John's parents. If they wanted to press charges against her, so be it. Chloe felt that It was time for her to take some responsibility for her own actions. What Erica did, what Justin did… was their choice. But what she did, that was her choice and she chose to stand up for herself. This time, she was doing what was right for Chloe.

  Chloe didn’t do that a year ago and look what happened. Her life, her reputation
, was ruined all because she thought that she was in love. Ha! she snorted to herself, love was such a ridiculous notion. Real people don’t fall in love. They pretend to get what they want and once they have it, to hell with everyone else. Love was nothing more than a fairy tale for those that live in a fantasy world. In the real world, love was virtually non-existent.

  Getting into her car, Chloe slammed the door behind her and cringed as the loud sound jarred her head. It hurt, man did it hurt but she wasn’t about to let that deter her from what she wanted to do. Determined, she slowly strapped the seat belt over her shoulders and started the car. Most of the swelling had thankfully gone down around her eye and her vision had returned to normal but her face didn’t look all that pretty. She glanced up in the rear view mirror and winced. There was no denying it. Her face was effed-up.

  Pulling out of the school parking lot, Chloe's thoughts stayed on the speech that she had been practicing to give John’s parents. Her plan was to go in, tell them about what she had done before the game, apologize, and let the chips fall where they may. She would then leave her fate up to them.