Thank you, Meiuwee , for reading my book. You were the first one to vote on the last chapter, so there you go, a chapter dedicated to you. I hope you'll find this book interesting and entertaining as I keep on traveling through the world of writing.

Song of the chapter: Bad Liar by Selena Gomez

After snooping out of his sight at lunchtime, my day had been going particularly well. I was a 'good student with no boyfriend' in every class. And I nailed the physics pop quiz.

But don't get your hopes high. I never said the day 'went' well, I said, 'it had been going well.'

Yeah...

I got out of work half an hour earlier than I was supposed to. Apparently, no one takes their dates to an Italian restaurant on a Tuesday. I realized I hadn't taken my bike to work and when I got outside, there were no cabs to hire. I also somehow knew that he wasn't going to pick me up today.

Well, I always hated the idea of walking two kilometers at night, and August nights can be cold.

It got colder with every second that passed as I kept walking and thought about what I had done earlier. Maybe leaving him like that wasn't a great thing to do. After all, it was his second day there. Was I being... selfish? Maybe I was.

The walk home was undoubtedly cold and super-long. And, guess what? When I finally got to the apartment building, I noticed that the elevator was under maintenance.

Universe, hon, YOU ARE SICK OF ME, AREN'T YOU?

And then...

I had to walk two kilometers first. That wasn't enough for the universe, so I climbed up those endless stairs and stopped at the 6th level of the apartment building.

I took a huge gulp of air and went ahead to unlock the door that had once been labeled '604'. As I worked on the lock, a deep male voice called out my name, "Hey, Ashley."

I squeaked out of surprise and looked behind.

Guess who it was.

Yep, Brian Adler, it was.

"Stop haunting me!" I said and gave him an incredulous look.

Seriously, who does that?

I went back to unlock the door, but my face had become a little sweaty from all the exercises and my spectacles were slipping down my nose.

Life does throw curves at you. Tiny, irritating curves.

"Oh, God!" I exclaim, "Here, hold these stupid specs!" I hold them out for him to take.

As soon as I got to my bedroom, I jumped on my bed and let out a long sigh of relief and satisfaction.

"Hm... guess I'm not getting a lesson today," Brian leaned against the wardrobe and chuckled.

"Shut up and sit down. Take out your book," I commanded.

As he did that, I went to the other room to get changed.

Before starting the lesson, he said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"So, you kinda disappeared today at lunchtime. What happened?"

Oh shit! How did I not see that coming?

"Well..." I began, but what was I supposed to say? If I told him the truth, he would be hurt. But... I had learned that lying only made things worse.

Hm...

"I hate you, so I ran away!" – no, that sounds HILARIOUS, but no.

"I got kidnapped!" – ... Are you out of your mind, Ashy?

"I fell asleep in the bathroom...?" – WHAT?!

Maybe, I should tell him the truth. Then again, he will feel bad about it, after all, I'm the only 'friend' he's got. Gosh, when did I even start thinking about his feelings?

Shut up, Ashley! Stop thinking about him! He doesn't deserve your good side, none of them do! Don't you dare give him a chance to sweep you off your feet... you know it's gonna be easy for him to do that, I mean, look at him! He is CHARMING, honey!

Still, lying is never a good idea, right?

"Hiya, I'm still alive, you know? You gonna say something, or should I just go home and finish writing my song?" he suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"I... I got sick," I blurted out, "yeah, I got all nauseous all of a sudden, so I came back home, and then later went to work..."

Oh yeah, well done, Ashley! I told you not to lie, and you lied! HATS OFF!!!

"Oh, are you feeling good now?" he asked, his eyebrows creased in concern.

"Yeah, I'm all good now," I smiled.

We were studying some graphs from physics when I realized that I didn't have my specs on.

Hopefully, he won't notice that. I continued studying.

But, you should know that the damn universe hates me.

We were almost done with studying (and my sneakiness) and he HAD to go ahead and ask me, "Hey, what's the power on your glasses?"

"Um... -6.5," I replied, hesitantly, "on both eyes."

You see, I knew absolutely nothing about how eyesight powers worked.

"Oh really? Well, how did you read the book from about 50 centimeters away?" he asked suspiciously.

Honestly, I was sitting pretty far from him. He was sitting on the chair with the study table, and I was on the bed.

Game over!

"Um..." I trailed off.

"Yeah, I've noticed that there is no power on your glasses. Do you even need them?"

"Not really," I replied like a child who was getting scolded.

"Then why do you wear it?" he queried.

"Because I look bad when I wear them."

"First off, you look beautiful in everything," he said.

Let's hope he meant it because my heart is jumping right now!!!

"Second," he continued, "isn't that a con?"

"Not for me... I mean, I want people to be far away from me," I scoffed.

Oh no... NO! No, no, no! Did I just tell him the main goal of my life?! YOU STUPID IDIOT!!!

"You-You should mind your own businesses," I told him and gave him a cold look, "Leave."

"Bye," he muttered and left.

I turned off all the lights and went to bed. When people close their eyes, they usually see darkness, but I saw him. I shook him off my mind, and waited to fall asleep. Soon, it was 12:30AM and I was still wide awake.

I could only think about how easily I lied to him. I felt like I could've told him the truth and he wouldn't have taken it as bad as I thought he would. It was just the second day of us being 'friends' but something about him had already started to pick at the plasterboard of my walls.

I shouldn't have lied to him. He deserves the truth...

QOTD: What was the most ridiculous lie you made up?

Fun Fact:

Last year, I had this place to go to with my mom, but she was already there. So, she told me to take a shower and go there. One thing you should know, I have this tiny top earring that I love wearing. Anyway, I had it on that day. I took a shower, dried my hair, got ready. I took one finally look at the mirror, and I realized that I was missing one of them. I got so scared. I knew that if I told my mom about it, she would bury me alive. So, I thought that I would look for it once I come back home, and put on another pair of earrings similar to the one I had lost. I went there, met my mom, and the first thing that she said was, "Hey, did you change your earrings? Where is the other one?"

*sigh*

I told her, "Oh, I kept them in a safe place, don't worry."

We came back home, and she went to the washroom to freshen up. She came back and said, "How come your earring is on the bathroom floor? I thought you kept it on a 'safe place'? I didn't know earrings could walk... DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EXPENSIVE THIS IS?!?!"

Yep, I'm a bad liar.