"We can't go to the college today," Rose announced early in the morning as she dashed into my room

"What?" I asked taken aback

"Uh. I mean, I can't go the college today," she said taking a breath

"Why not?" I questioned

"I'm not feeling well," she replied sitting on my bed

"Rose. You know we can't afford missing classes anymore," I said, sensing her perjure

"What? Why not? I stayed in with you when you didn't want to go," she replied

"Are you actually sick?" I questioned, concerned and doubtful

"Of course I am," she replied, "but if you really wanna go you can. I won't hold you back,"

Something about this whole situation seemed a little weird to me. I mean, she didn't look sick but more worried.

"Alright. Cut the drama. I'll stay with you. So what do you want to do?" I asked sitting next to her on my bed

"Maybe Netflix?" she suggested

"Sure," I replied handing her the remote as I went to switch on the TV

"You have something to eat?" she questioned

"Lemme see," I said and exited the room

I went downstairs to grab some popcorn and other snacks. When I entered the room I heard her say, "Yeah we are not coming today,"

After she hung up the call I asked, "Jake?"

"Yup. Just thought I'd let them know," she replied resuming her attention at selecting a movie for us to watch

"I'll be right back," I said as I left the room again with my phone

I thought I'd let Austin know as well that I was not coming today. I knew Jake would eventually tell him but I thought I'd do it myself

"But why?" he asked over the other end of the phone

"Rose isn't feeling well. She wants me to stay back with her," I replied

"What am I going to do all day now," he said, "you could've informed me earlier. I would have skipped college as well,"

"Austin. I can't just leave her and come. I'll come tomorrow if she gets better," I replied

"What do you mean by 'if' ?" he questioned

"Austin. My best friend is sick and I need to be with her okay? Now I'm hanging up on the call because Rose is waiting for me. So bye," I tried to explain

"Yeah, whatever. Rose is evil anyways," he said like a 5-year-old

"Hey. Don't you dare say that about my best friend," I protested, "anyways, I have to go. Bye,"

"OK, bye. Take care," he said and hung up the call

I went back into my room and saw Rose had selected the film and was waiting for me to come. Even now I had a very weird feeling about all of this. She didn't look like she is sick. How did she get sick in the first place? I thought.

*******

It's been almost an hour since we started the movie. Rose had fallen asleep just a few minutes back. I closed the movie midway and began cleaning up the mess this girl made. Which, trust me, was a lot. I tugged her in my blanket and went downstairs to wash some dishes my mom had left in the sink.

I also cleaned the house a little bit. Just putting stuff at their place. It took me roughly 10 minutes and I went back to my room. Rose was still asleep. I place my hand on her forehead to see if she had a fever but her temperature felt normal. I still couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Was she really sick?

But why else would she ask me to stay back with her? Maybe she wasn't feeling good from the inside, I thought. Just then my phone rang and I went out of my room to attend to it.

"Hey, why did you not come today to college? I thought we were going to start working on our project today" said a voice from the other side of the screen

"Oh Stacy, I'm really sorry. I forgot to inform you. Rose is sick so I stayed back with her. I'll come tomorrow and then we can start working on the project," I replied

I was paired with Stacy, my social science classmate, for a group project which we were going to start working on today. It had completely slipped my mind.

After I hung up the call, I immediately went into my room and began gathering all the stuff I would need for the project. Grabbing my laptop, I sat on my bed to search for some information on my project topic.

*******
It was late in the afternoon when Rose woke up. She headed straight to the kitchen to cook herself some meal when she was greeted by my mom who had come for her lunch break.

"Can I stay at your house tonight Mrs. Cortez?" she asked my mom, "I'm too lazy to drive back,"

"Do you have your parents permission?" my mom asked

"I'll let them know," she answered

"Well. If they don't have a problem neither do I," she said sipping her coffee

"Thanks. You're the best. Love you," Rose said climbing up the stairs.

She threw herself on my bed and grabbed her phone

"How are you feeling?" I asked

"I'm great. Why would you ask?" she questioned

I looked at her doubtfully

"Weren't you sick?" I questioned

"Uh. Yeah. I am. Uh, just feeling a little better," she replied hesitantly

"You sure?" I asked

"Yeah. Of course," she answered and resumed her attention to her phone

"I had to miss my project work today," I said to her mentioning Stacy's call.

"I'm sure you still have time to work on it, don't you?" she asked

"I mean yeah. But it's a lengthy one. We had planned on starting it today," I said looking in my notebook

"Well, I can help you if you want," she offered

"Nah. I'll do it on my own," I refused

I didn't need Rose's help in my project. My main intention of mentioning it to her was that I had this strong feeling that Rose lied about being sick.

So in case, she did lie, I wanted her to confess it before I get to know about it from anywhere else.

But since she didn't say anything different from what she told me in the morning I finally believed that she wasn't lying.

********

A/N
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Toodles.