by Jordan Lynde
He nodded, now wrapping his arms around me and squeezing tightly. ‘Yeah.’
‘Do you want to talk about it?’
Shaking his head, he sighed into my shoulder. ‘No. I mean, I knew she was sick, and I knew it was coming, but I didn’t think she’d be gone this soon.’
I hugged him a little harder. ‘Arden, you can cry if you want to. Death is a hard thing.’
‘I don’t want to cry,’ Arden responded, his face pressed into my hair. ‘I don’t think people should cry when someone dies – they should celebrate that person’s life. If I died, I wouldn’t want anyone to cry over me. I think I’m just in shock.’
I smiled slightly. ‘I was in shock for a while too. But trust me, no matter what anyone says, crying helps.’
He pulled me away from him, a frown on his face. ‘What do you mean, you were in shock too?’
I blinked at him. ‘Uh . . .’
‘Did your grandma die too?’
My mouth suddenly felt dry, and I shook my head. ‘No, um—’
‘Your uncle?’ Arden asked, frowning slightly.
I shook my head again. ‘No. No one, forget it.’
‘You can tell me,’ Arden said, his grey eyes piercing into my blue ones.
‘I . . . well, this is in no comparison to your grandma, but my cat died,’ I lied quickly. I wanted to punch myself in the face. I was lying to Arden. Again. Why couldn’t I just say it? It wasn’t that hard – and it wasn’t like saying it would kill my parents again. I suddenly felt sick: a horrible, squeezing sensation in both my stomach and chest.
‘A death is still a death,’ Arden pointed out, breaking me out of my trance.
I smiled tightly. ‘Right.’
And a lie was still a lie.
Chapter Seventeen
Friday came quick. The school day came and passed just as fast, but unfortunately the time after didn’t. The sound of rain pounding on the school’s roof was the only noise in the room. Joey and Joel sat across from me, looking bored. I glanced at the clock, pursing my lips. It’d only been five minutes since their detention had started – that meant we still had forty-five minutes to sit through before we could all go home.
‘So,’ I started, folding my hands on my desk. ‘How are you two?’
‘Fine,’ Joey responded, making eraser drawings on his desk with his pencil.
‘Joel?’
‘Fine.’
I smiled, waiting for either of the twins before me to say more. They didn’t, and an awkward silence settled in, once again allowing the sound of rain to fill the room. ‘How was your school day?’ I tried.
‘Fine,’ the boys responded simultaneously.
I grimaced. How was I supposed to get them to get along when they wouldn’t even talk to me? ‘Joey, you really liked today’s chicken, huh? Good thing we learned how to avoid salmonella.’
‘It was good,’ Joey commented with a shrug.
Joel rolled his eyes. ‘It tasted like crap.’
‘Maybe you cooked it the wrong way,’ Joey suggested, smirking at his brother. ‘You’re too stupid to read instructions the right way.’
‘It makes your hands smell weird . . .’ Joel raised his hand to his face, wrinkling his nose. ‘Really bad.’
Curiously, Joey raised his hand to his face and sniffed cautiously. I knew what was coming before Joel even moved. Before I could warn Joey, Joel had already slammed his hand into Joey’s, making Joey slap himself in the face. Joey scowled, shoving Joel away from him. Joel shoved Joey back, and soon they were in a mini-shoving match. I sighed.
‘You guys, stop it,’ I ordered, pushing myself away from my desk and going over to them. ‘Do you know that if your hand is bigger than your head you’re stupid?’
Joel rolled his eyes. ‘I know that trick.’
‘Or are you just afraid you’re stupid?’ Joey asked, smiling smugly.
Joel scowled, raising his hand to his face.
I stared at him. Was he serious? As soon as Joel had his hand close enough to his face, Joey smacked his fist into it, making Joel slap himself in the face. Before I could stop myself, I burst out laughing. ‘Did you really just fall for that? You just did the same trick to him five seconds ago, Joel!’ Joel and Joey gave me surprised looks and I covered my mouth immediately. ‘I’m sorry,’ I apologized. ‘I shouldn’t laugh . . .’
The twins exchanged a look, and then shrugged at me. ‘It’s fine,’ they told me in unison.
I nodded, and once again an awkward silence filled the room. I stared at the floor for a few minutes, trying to think of something else to say. ‘Um, what did you guys do to get sent to this school?’ I finally asked, trying to be casual about it. I didn’t really expect them to answer.
There was silence for a moment, and I looked up to see Joel and Joey quickly looking away from each other. Puzzled, I gave them a questioning look, but they ignored it.
Joey grinned, his eyes flickering to me. ‘We robbed our old school.’
I blinked, surprised that he had actually answered such a private question, and surprised by his answer. ‘You robbed a school?’
‘It was easy,’ Joel told me, a small smirk tugging at his lips. ‘We would have gotten away with it too, but our mom found our goods. Thanks to Joey,’ he added with a scowl and a dirty look to his brother.
Joey glared at him. ‘It wasn’t my fault. You’re the one who tried bringing the desks through the house instead of going around the back!’
‘Desks?’
‘You’re the one who stole the chalkboard and put in our room!’
‘Chalkboard?’ I said in disbelief. How the heck . . .?
Joel snorted. ‘I’m not the one who stole the whole set of lacrosse sticks and tried to hide them in the attic.’
I stared at the boys in wonder. How much had they stolen? And how had they stolen so much without being caught?
‘Oh, like stealing the class fish and hiding them in the bathroom was a smarter idea?’ Joey retorted.
‘You guys had class fish in your bathroom?’ I asked. ‘What happened to them?’
‘They died,’ both boys said flatly.
I blinked, a bit taken aback. ‘Oh . . . OK . . .’
‘You really got us in trouble when you tried to steal the janitor’s keys,’ Joel pointed out. ‘As if he wouldn’t notice when you tackled him to the ground.’
‘How else was I supposed to stop him? Shooting him didn’t work either!’
‘You shot him?’ I cried incredulously. ‘What happened to him?’
‘He died,’ the twins responded with a shrug.
My eyes almost bulged out of my sockets. ‘Oh my God! Oh my God! You guys are murderers?’
‘We’re in here for a reason,’ Joel commented with a raised eyebrow.
I couldn’t speak. My mouth flapped dumbly as I tried to force words to come out, but nothing did. They murdered a janitor?
‘Come to think of it, we also killed that student that saw we killed the janitor,’ Joey added. ‘That was your fault, though, Joel.’
‘Hey,’ Joel protested, holding up his hand, ‘no one expected the janitor to scream so much or so loud.’
I gasped in horror. If they were murderers, why were they here? This was a school for delinquents, not serious criminals. Would they kill me if they wanted something from me? If they wanted to steal something from me? Would anyone hear me scream? Without realizing it, I took a step away from the boys.
Then Joel and Joey suddenly started laughing. And when I say laughing, I actually mean guffawing. What they found so funny about the situation, I didn’t know. Murder wasn’t exactly a topic of humor.
‘Get out your phone! Get out your phone!’ Joey cried, choking out the words through his laughter.
‘I’m already on it!’ Joel responded, pointing his phone at me.
There was a click, and I blinked at the pair. They stopped laughing for a moment, both leaning closer to look at Joel’s phone. After a moment of staring at the phone, they stared at
each other and then roared with laughter once again. Bewildered, I moved forward to look at what was on the phone, but Joel quickly pulled it away.
‘Your face is priceless,’ he told me, closing his phone.
‘What?’
‘You look so terrified!’ Joey pitched in, slapping his knee. ‘Especially with that last part!’
I stared at the pair in bemusement. ‘I’m confused . . .’
‘You totally bought our murder story!’ they cried together, slapping each other high-five.
‘You made that up?’ I gasped.
‘Yep,’ they responded with a grin.
Relief washed through me, and I felt my shoulders sag. ‘I can’t believe I actually believed you two . . .’
‘We’re pretty convincing,’ Joey told me. ‘You’re the first person to really fall for one of our tricks, though.’
Joel nodded. ‘And also the first to get angry at us for not getting along, especially because we’re twins.’
‘But . . . you two seem to be getting along now,’ I commented, furrowing my eyebrows. ‘You were just arguing earlier.’
Joey shrugged. ‘We’re brothers – we’re not supposed to get along all the time.’
I shook my head at them, sighing. ‘You guys take not getting along to a new extreme sometimes.’ There was silence again, and I crossed my arms. ‘You guys don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but why do you really go to this school?’
Joey gave me a sly smile. ‘We really did steal from our school.’
‘The desks?’
‘Yep.’
‘The chalkboard too?’
Joel barked out a laugh. ‘That was a feat. Especially getting it into our room.’
‘What about the fish?’
‘We lied about them,’ Joey told me. ‘They didn’t die. In fact, we still have them.’
‘You never returned them?’
‘The fish are the reason we got caught. Joey was caught smuggling them outside.’
Joey gave his brother a sheepish look. ‘You were supposed to be on guard.’
‘You were supposed to put them in bags. Not try to take the whole tank.’
Joey shrugged. ‘It was easier that way.’
‘But you got us caught.’
‘Well, if you were guarding properly—’
‘Guys,’ I interjected, frowning at them, ‘you don’t need to argue about the past. What’s done is done and it’s pointless to fret over it now.’
Joey pursed his lips at me. ‘Don’t ruin our fun.’
‘How is fighting fun?’ I demanded.
‘Don’t you have any siblings?’ Joel asked, giving me a confused look.
I nodded. ‘I have a little brother. I never fight with him.’
‘How old is he?’
‘Four.’
Joey laughed. ‘That’s why you don’t argue with him. Wait until he grows up a bit. Arguing can be fun.’
‘I don’t think so,’ I responded stubbornly. ‘I hate arguing with people. What if you are arguing with someone and say something really cruel, and then something happens to that person? Won’t you feel bad?’
Joel and Joey gave me confused expressions, and then shared another look between just the two of them. I frowned, pursing my lips at them.
‘You’re a pretty serious person, huh?’ Joey finally commented, raising an eyebrow.
‘I’m not that serious,’ I protested, crossing my arms. ‘I just hate things that involve being mean to other people.’
Joel smirked. ‘You’re like the complete opposite of Arden.’
‘Huh?’
‘He doesn’t even know the definition of serious,’ Joel told me, rolling his eyes. ‘He skips class to hang out with girls. Like he did on Wednesday.’
My eyes widened. ‘Wait, what? On Wednesday?’
Joel nodded. ‘He was here seventh period, but he missed half of the day to hang out with them.’
‘Didn’t he go to a funeral?’ I asked in surprise.
Joel cocked an eyebrow. ‘No?’
I turned to Joey. ‘Do you know if he went to a funeral?’
‘I don’t really talk to that guy,’ Joey told me, shaking his head. ‘How would I know?’
‘I talked to him Wednesday morning,’ Joel informed me. ‘That’s what he said he was doing. He didn’t mention anything about a funeral . . .’
I stared at Joel in shock. ‘Are you kidding me?’
‘No. Why?’
My chest constricted uncomfortably. Did Arden lie to me about his grandma dying? Why would he lie to me about that? I clenched my fists, biting my lip. Was Arden really just some lying playboy?
‘So his grandma didn’t die?’
Joel shook his head again. ‘Arden never said anything about that.’
‘Speak of the devil,’ Joey muttered, gazing at the door.
My head snapped in the direction Joey was looking, and my eyes landed on Arden, who was peering into the classroom. He waved once before leaving my field of vision. I quickly turned back to Joel and Joey.
‘Detentions over, you can go home,’ I told them, heading for the door.
‘Seriously?’ the boys said in unison, surprise in their voices.
I nodded, opening the classroom door. ‘I’ve got something to do!’ Without waiting for their reply, I rushed out of the room, heading down the hall after Arden. He was just entering the stairwell that led down to the science wing. ‘Arden!’ I called after him.
Arden either didn’t hear me or ignored me, because he shut the stairwell door behind him, not answering me. Grounding my teeth together, I sprinted the rest of the hallway, bursting into the stairwell. Arden’s head snapped in my direction, a surprised expression on his face.
‘Harley?’
I glared at him, hurrying down the first set of stairs to where he was. He returned my look with a confused expression. My mouth felt dry, so I had to swallow a few times in order to speak. ‘Why did you lie to me?’
Arden gave me a bewildered look. ‘What?’
‘Why did you lie?’ I repeated, my voice raising a notch.
‘I didn’t lie to you—’
I scowled at him. ‘Joel told me where you were on Wednesday.’
Arden’s expression fell. ‘Harley, I—’
‘Why would you lie about your grandma dying?’ I demanded, my stomach twisting uncomfortably again. ‘Why would you lie about death?’
‘Harley, let me explain—’
‘Death isn’t something you use to make excuses, Arden! Don’t use it so lightly!’
Arden held up his hands. ‘Harley—’
‘Is your grandma still alive?’ I asked, feeling a lump growing in my throat. Why did I feel so disappointed? Was it because I’d thought Arden had dealt with something like I had? Or was it because Arden wasn’t the perfect person I’d imagined him to be. But I guess no one could be as genuine and good-natured as I thought he was. And why did I even care so much? It wasn’t as if he was my boyfriend.
Obviously Arden was the type of person who would use any lie to get out of something. My hands formed fists.
‘Isn’t saying you went to her funeral a little insensitive?’ I continued, hurt. ‘Have you ever actually experienced someone close to you dying? You can’t lie about this stuff, Arden!’
‘Harley, shut up for a minute!’ he suddenly shouted, making me jump.
I stared at him in shock for a few moments. He gave me an exasperated look, running a hand through his hair. ‘Why are you so angry?’
‘Because, Arden, I have experienced someone close to me dying!’
‘Your cat,’ Arden stated, as if proud he remembered.
‘My parents!’ I shouted at him.
As soon as the words left my mouth, Arden paled and stared at me, surprise written across his face. ‘Harley . . .’
I held my breath, blinking back tears as best as I could. ‘That’s why I’m angry,’ I said, my voice cracking. ‘Death isn’t an excuse.’ A few
tears made their way down my cheeks, and I scrubbed at them angrily. I wasn’t going to cry.
Arden reached out a hand toward me, but before he could touch me, a dark shape entered my blurry vision, forcing Arden back. Arden let out a cry of surprise, his back hitting the wall.
‘What are you doing?’ an angry voice demanded.
I blinked rapidly to clear my vision, instantly sobering up. When I could see clearly, I realized who the new appearance was. ‘Oliver?’ I said, surprised. Where had he come from?
‘Get off me,’ Arden responded, shoving Oliver away from him.
Oliver sent Arden a harsh glare. ‘What were you doing?’
‘Talking,’ Arden responded, giving Oliver just as black a look.
‘Yeah, right,’ Oliver growled, grabbing the front of Arden’s shirt. ‘If you’re just talking, why is Harley crying?’
Arden quickly retaliated by seizing the front of Oliver’s jacket and twisting it. ‘That’s none of your business.’
Before I could protest, Oliver punched Arden in the chest. Arden let out a small gasp of surprise, letting go of Oliver, then he brought up his own fist, straight into Oliver’s face. Oliver fisted the front of Arden’s shirt, just as Arden grabbed Oliver’s, both young men glaring menacingly at each other.
‘Arden! Stop it!’ I cried, quickly pulling Arden’s hands off Oliver and stepping between them.
Oliver quickly dropped his hands, giving me an irritated look. He shot Arden another dirty look before grabbing my arm. ‘Let’s go, Harley.’
‘Wait,’ Arden demanded, grabbing my other arm. ‘Harley, I’m sorry about your parents. But I really wasn’t lying. I did have to go to my grandma’s funeral – I wouldn’t lie about that. I wouldn’t use death as an excuse.’
I hesitated. ‘But . . .’
‘Let’s go,’ Oliver said again, tugging me away from Arden. ‘Come on.’
Arden held on tighter. ‘Oliver, shut up for a minute.’
Oliver glared at Arden. ‘Let go of her.’
‘Let me explain,’ Arden begged, giving me a pleading look.
I stared back at him, biting my lip. Arden had never lied to me before. Why would he start now? Maybe I had been too hasty in accusing him of lying? Too caught up in the moment? But he was my friend; I should trust him more. Maybe Joel had just been confused. ‘Fine,’ I decided. ‘But not now.’