CHAPTER 10

BAD LIAR

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I shut the door to my room, trying to keep my mind blank. I sat looking out the window, going boketto. I had to go tell my mom about the phone. I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath, picturing what it would be like if this plan went well. Picturing like that sometimes could make it work. Well, whatever happened, it would not be worse than getting those calls every day. I went to her room.

"Mom," I called out. There was no answer. "Mom..." I called out a little louder because she almost never answered me the first time I called her.

She called out from her room. "What?" Impatience and interrogation. Not good.

I walked into the room. She was lying on her bed. "I just came to bed to take a nap." She sighed impatiently. "What is it?" she asked. A slight shiver began in my fingers and reverberated through my back.

Okay. I'd say it fast enough that she wouldn't hear much of it, but I'll make sure she understands that my SIM card broke. "I dropped my phone today at school that it shattered to pieces. I found every other part of my phone except my SIM card. I found it but it isn't working."

"What?" she asked again. This time more impatient.

"My SIM card broke. It isn't working. I need a new one." I repeated.

"How dare you be careless and drop your phone like that? You have some nerve to come and tell me that you need a new one." She raised her voice.

I left her room quietly. There was no winning in an argument with her. I went upstairs and freshened up. I sat on my bed and watched one of the last streaks of the sun's rays fall on the floor through my window, and I penned my thoughts in my notebook.

That beautiful last streak

With its yellow so mellow

With a tinge of orange

Passing through the window

The part of the ray that couldn't pass the bars

Lit the bars and it shined

Leaving a tiny spot that sparkled

That beautiful last streak

Carrying millions of dusts and specks

Floating and transient

Do they have their own life in their world of sunrays?

Will I disrupt their life if I blow them away?

Or are they the planets with funny orbits

In their Cosmo of sunray?

Life comes with both sunrays and dust

I either can look at it as the last streak of sunray

Or just the dust

It's is impossible for someone like me

To just look at one thing and ignore the other

The imaginative type I am

I look at the melancholic last streak of ray

And how its shade is disrupted

By something so menial like dust

Yet, the sun shines its rays

So proud - every time...

Not letting the dust

Change its true shade...!

I knew I would cringe when I read it a few days later, but the point was I'd remember why I wrote the poem -the exact thought that got me writing. To me, that's what mattered. I wanted to see the difference in every little thing that was going on around me. I think it was my coping mechanism.

It was half past six when I started my English assignment. I channeled all the thoughts that I had and converted them into energy to type the essay for the clichéd Romeo and Juliet. The assignment was to write an essay on any play by Shakespeare, but with a twist of how the characters would be if they belonged to this era. Only Mrs. Moncy Moore could give these kinds of assignments. She was my favorite teacher. She always had the ideas to bring out the best in us. I wanted to make Romeo and Juliet realistic and funny and tragic as well.

There was a knock on my door. It was Elec. She wore a pretty burgundy dress. The one that Miles brought her a few months ago. "I heard we have an English assignment." She strolled in.

"Yeah... and we have to work in pairs," I replied.

"Who is going to be your pair?" She stood beside my chair with one hand on her hip and leaned down to read the hints that I had typed in to develop them into the essay later.

"I was thinking I'll finish it with Irsia and you with Aiden." I had to irritate her.

She gave me a stare. "You can pair up with him or I would pair up with you or Irsia. But not with him."

"I was just kidding. Why do you hate the guy so much?" I asked her while she walked to the mirror.

"I don't know. I just feel like he could separate you from me." She sighed and preened.

"He wouldn't," I scoffed at the silly thought of her.

"Actually, I wouldn't." She paused. "I wouldn't let him." She turned around, crossing her arms. "Whatever. It's just an intuition." She shrugged.

"I would usually believe in your intuition but just leave this one at that. Let's talk about you and Miles." Well, obviously she wasn't gonna tell me what happened. "You are wearing the dress he brought you... so....," I dragged.

"He is good. He seemed fine. He said he wanted the entire day with me. We went for a ride in his bike till the Rochdale Park." She paused as she saw me cover my mouth with my palm. "Shut up...," she scolded. Maybe she blushed a little. "Enough talking about him. What happened to your phone? Did the plan go as assumed?"

"Yeah... the plan went well. It's just my mom who didn't go well with the plan."

"Did you lie to her in a very convincing tone?" she whispered as she leaned on her right shoulder against the wall.

"Oh...! She's convinced alright. Too convinced that she yelled at me for carelessly dropping my phone." I shook my head, rubbing my itchy nose. I was going to catch a cold.

"Well, anyway. It was worth the shot. You are now free from those calls," she declared enthusiastically.

That thought really put a smile on my face. "Yeah...," I muttered with relief.

She sat on the tub chair near the window and looked out. She seemed sad. She missed him, but she was ready to break her heart before he went around, found another girl in college and lied to her and cheated on her over the long-distance relationship. This was her way of controlling her life. She chose to break her heart by herself and didn't give the control over to him. I must say, it would take so much courage to do it. I must say, I've seen her brave even when her dad left her and her mom. I've always admired her for this trait. She chose what should happen to her.

"It's going rain," she said, looking at the sky.

"Uhhh... my nose is going to run," I said, blowing my nose in a Kleenex.

"Walker, I am so sorry. I think it's the lemonade popsicle I gave you."

"Maybe," I lied. Still with my head down and my nose in another Kleenex. It was the ice cream that I had when walking in the cold wind with Aiden. I was debating whether to tell her or not.

"Should we start the essay? I'll go get changed." She stood up.

"Take your time. I'll wait," I said, with my voice already getting coarse.

Elec left, and I was training my brain to tell her the truth. If I didn't tell her, I would feel guilty. I blocked the thoughts that started building inside of me. I blocked every one of them that had happened from morning, specifically, evening. I was writing down the hints to include in the essay. I need to make it good. I needed to get good grades to prove myself that I was not useless. That had to be my goal before I could prove to everyone else that I was good enough. Elec opened her window and called me.

"What is it?" I asked, louder, but not moving to the window.

"Can you come over a minute?" she yelled, panicking.

I went to the window and asked, "is it a roach? Should I bring an insect repellent spray?"

"No... just come over." Her het-up gestures were making me frantic.

I ran downstairs. I saw my mom kneading flour in the kitchen.

"I am going to Elec's home. We need to finish an essay," I said.

My mom didn't reply. She had already started the silent treatment. I just didn't understand when she would realize that I had gotten used to her silent treatment so much that I didn't even care if she didn't talk to me anymore. After all, the only conversations that I had with my parents were when I left home and when my mom called me to eat.

I walked out the door and the air was heavy with cold. Oh! No. This was going to make my cold worse. I opened the gate and walked in thinking that I should have worn some full-sleeved top and probably something with a hoodie. As I reached the porch, I called out, "Elec."

She came downstairs in the same burgundy dress. Why didn't she change her dress yet? "Aiden... Aiden called," she stammered. Now, she wouldn't stutter like that unless something was very serious and she had no time to explain.

"What happened?" I urged.

"It's Miles," she uttered through her gasping breaths. "Aiden saw Miles go inside Auroville Villa."

"What? There is some lunatic in there." I snatched her phone and called Aiden. He picked up in the first ring.

"Electra, the door is locked from the inside. I couldn't get in." His breath heaved.

"This is Margo. Are you sure you saw him go in there?" I tried to be as calm as possible but my voice gave away. There was some psychopath who had taken up residence in a house that had been abandoned after a sorocide of a pregnant woman and one of my friends decided to walk into a post-murder-abandoned house.

"I am pretty sure, Margo. I think I heard him scream. I tried to stop him but he didn't listen." He took a second to catch his breath.

Elec interrupted, "today is the day to prove me that men can be useful. Aiden, today is the day. Could you for once in the history of men I know be instrumental?"

"Elec, shut up," I screamed and pressed end.

As we rushed outside, she tied up her hair and I noticed that she was still panicked. She was all shaky. If I'd let her drive, the chances of ending up in the ER would be outstanding.

"Hand me the key. I'll drive."

"The tortoise did win the race but on foot. Not on wheels, Walker. No offense."

"Come on, Elec. You are all shaky. I can drive fast," I stood firm. "Toss the key."

Of course, it hit my gut and I almost toppled over trying to catch it before it landed on the pavement. "Got it," I announced, totally ignoring her flared-up stare.

I drove a little faster than usual. I didn't drive how Elec would have driven, but I had a good pace. She pivoted with an admonishing stare. "We need to be there today." she growled. "Now step on it."

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