7. Liar, Liar
7
Liar, Liar
“Where the hell were you?”
Two seconds. That’s how long it took for the first question to come bursting out of her mouth. Sitting at the kitchen table in her nightgown, she was waiting to pounce on whoever would walk through the door. She’s the definition of angry. The dark circles under her eyes tell me that she’s exhausted. She came back from her shift at the hospital at eight. She’s probably been sitting there and calling us for hours. I would’ve sent her a text before but didn’t have my phone until now.
“Out,” I say, well aware that she’s not going to let it go.
“I’m not going to ask again. Where were you?”
“I was at a friend’s.”
“It’s past midnight. You can’t seriously expect me to believe that?”
“We were studying. We have a big test on Monday. I didn’t realize how late it was. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
Her face softens although she is still upset. “And about last night? What happened to coming back before midnight?”
“One of my friends wasn’t feeling well, so I took her home. I ended up falling asleep there. I would’ve called, but my phone was dead. By the time I woke up, it was way too late to walk alone, and I didn’t want to wake you.” I hate that I have to lie to her. But she can’t know the truth. She can’t be in danger, too.
The anger slowly dissipates from her stern face. She lets out a long and discouraged sigh. “You never do that again, you hear me? I’m supposed to be watching over you while your mother’s gone. When you move out, you’ll be free to do what you want, but for now, you live with me. If anything happens to you, it’s on me.”
“I know. I’m so sorry. I won’t do it again. I promise.”
She nods and opens her arms in my direction. I walk into her welcoming embrace, relieved that she bought it. At least, for now. Maria has always been like a second mother to me. Lying to her breaks my heart.
“Whose jacket is this?” She pulls away.
“Kendrick’s. I was in a hurry, so I grabbed whatever I could find.”
She nods, but I can tell she’s not a hundred percent convinced. She did his laundry for so long, something tells me she knows every piece of clothing he owns.
Karma is going to hit me really hard for this.
“I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed.” I smile and attempt to walk around her. I can’t believe I avoided the Kendrick questi—
“Do you happen to know where Kendrick is?”
Dang it.
I turn around, my mind racing. “Yeah. He asked me to tell you…”
Think, Winter, think.
“His friend’s parents got divorced. He’s staying with her to help her cope with it. She’s very sad.”
Maria’s face lights up.
“You mean…” She pauses. “My little boy has a girlfriend?”
Shit.
Why did I use the term “her”?
Of course she would think they’re more than friends if he’s staying with her because she’s depressed.
“Yeah.” I force a smile.
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell me. This is great. I think a girlfriend might be really good for him. Might set him straight. I’ll call him tomorrow morning.” The excitement in her voice is unmissable. “Good night, sweetheart.”
She smiles warmly and exits the kitchen. I drag my feet toward the stairs and curse under my breath.
Life hates me—the return.
For the past hour, I have been doing two things I am proud to say I excel at: lying in bed and procrastinating. I can’t bring myself to call Kendrick to tell him that I messed up again. Maria’s going to want to meet his girlfriend, but there’s just one slight problem—she doesn’t exist. I keep on reaching for my phone to call him but end up talking myself out of it every time.
As soon as I walked into my room, I saw I had ten messages from Will and Alex. I texted them that I was fine. They completely freaked out when Haze lost them. All they could do was trust that he wouldn’t hurt me. A notification pops up on my screen, interrupting my thoughts.
I have a new message.
Haze: Just realized I forgot to give you your pencil back
Speaking of Haze.
I find myself smiling, I forgot about the pencil I handed him in English class. I’m surprised he remembered.
Winter: You know what else you forgot?
Haze: What
Winter: To take a hint.
Haze: Ouch. And I thought tonight went well.
Winter: Sorry. Had to. It was too easy.
Haze: How’d it go. You still alive.
Winter: Barely. She bought it for now. Thanks for the jacket.
Haze: No problem, gorgeous.
He might be a decent person after all.
Haze: When can I give you your pencil back? How about tomorrow night ;) Your place
And… he’s back.
Winter: Sure. Come over at 9 ;)
Haze: Really?
Winter: No.
Haze: Why you gotta be so cruel
Winter: I already see you in my nightmares, Adams. Don’t need you in my house, too.
Haze: You know I’ll never stop trying
Winter: Why are you texting me?
Haze: Why are you replying
Winter: You’re not answering my question.
Haze: Neither are you.
Winter: -.-
Haze: :D
I click out of the text conversation and push all Haze-related thoughts out of my head. Focus, Winter . I have to call Kendrick. If I don’t, he’ll find out about my mistake tomorrow when his mother calls him, and something tells me he’ll be even more angry.
I dial his number with a shaky hand. It rings a couple of times before he picks up.
“You owe me big-time. I think I’ve lied more in one night than I have in my entire life.”
A dreadfully long silence follows.
“Who is this?”
The voice is deep, masculine. But it’s not Kendrick’s.
I immediately know something is wrong.
I hang up as fast as humanly possible, my fingers automatically selecting Blake’s number in my contact list. There’s no way the boys are asleep. It’s 1:10 a.m.; they’re not anywhere near going to bed. They’re either training or playing video games and being sore losers.
One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Pick up, damn it!
“Hello?” Blake says on the other end.
“Does Kendrick have his phone?” I blurt.
“Well, hello to you, too, Winter,” he chuckles.
“Blake, I’m serious. Answer the question.”
“Of course not. He lost it during the fight with Tanner. We’re confident a gang has it by now.”
I freeze.
“You can’t be serious. Tell me you’re kidding.”
“Why? What happened?” Blake says. “Winter, what did you do? You didn’t call him, did you?”
Crap.
“Some guy answered. But I didn’t tell him anything and hung up right away. How the hell was I supposed to know? No one told me.”
“What?” Blake brings the phone away from his mouth. “You didn’t tell her about Kendrick’s phone?” he says to Alex and Will, I assume.
I hear Will’s voice in the background. “Of course we did. Alex told her, right?”
“What? I thought you did it,” Alex answers.
“You dumbasses, she called him. Listen carefully, Winter. You’re going to tell me exactly what happened.”
“I told you. I called him and some stranger picked up. But it’s not a big deal, right? It was just a phone call—right?”
“Winter…” He pauses. “We have no idea who has it by now. It could be anyone that’s an ally to Tanner. Chances are they’re not Kendrick’s biggest fans. If they try to locate the call, you could be in danger.”
Panic takes over me. “But why would they do that? Try and locate some random girl calling Kendrick?”
“Because that’s what they do. Any chance they get to hurt us, they’ll take. Not to mention the attack at the party got people talking. There’s rumors of an ‘East Side girl’—a girl that Kendrick cares for. We have enemies. A lot of enemies. What Tanner did to you is the mere example of that. You have to get rid of your phone. They can’t find you if there’s nothing to locate.”
“What?” I exclaim, mortified. “Y-You can’t ask me to do that. Isn’t there another way?”
He raises his voice. “Do you want to go to sleep tonight wondering if someone’s on his way to your house? No? Then stop arguing and do it.”
Blake tells me to write down his number and to call him with the house phone as soon as it’s done. I do as I’m told. Then, like I’m no longer in control of my body, I run toward the bathroom that’s directly linked to my bedroom and slam the door open, my breathing shallow and irregular.
“Forgive me,” I say to my brand-new phone before throwing it in the toilet and watching it sink to the bottom.
The screen glitches and turns pitch-black. Poor baby. I run to the house phone, frantically dialing Blake’s number.
“Did you do it?” he asks as soon as he picks up.
“It’s done. Can they still find me?” I pant, out of breath. All this running is making me realize how out of shape I am.
“We can’t know for sure. But thank God you called us right after.”
Realization hits me when I instinctively reach for my phone in my pocket but can’t find it.
“What the heck am I going to do without a phone? My entire life was in there.”
“We’ll take care of that tomorrow, I promise. Why were you calling Kendrick by the way?”
“Promise you won’t get mad.” I pause, overwhelmed. “I might have told Maria that Kendrick is staying with his depressed girlfriend whose parents just got divorced. Okay, bye.” Then, before he can get a word in, I hang up, not emotionally able to deal with their criticism right now.
The words poured out of me so fast, I’m assuming he could barely keep up. I collapse onto my bed and stare at the ceiling, a feeling of shame weighing on my conscience.
Not so long ago, my biggest worries were not making friends and getting lost in my new school.
Now, I’m afraid my simple mistake will hurt not only me but my entire family.
When you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse, life looks at you with a smile and says, “Challenge accepted.”
Waking up to the sound of the idiots my cousin calls friends rushing into the house and screaming my name isn’t exactly how I wanted my Sunday to start. Way to do it, guys. Fortunately, the lack of complaints from Maria and Kass tells me that they left for work already.
“Canada, where you at?” Will screams. I roll my eyes at the stupid nickname.
“Upstairs,” I shout.
Last night was probably the worst I’ve had in a while. After I canceled my phone via internet, I kept on tossing and turning, alerted by every single noise. Like not having a phone anymore isn’t bad enough, I also couldn’t call for help if someone did track me down and showed up at the house.
No one did. Thank God.
“Good morning, sunshine!” Will walks into my room without knocking. I consider yelling at him but decide against it. This is Will we’re talking about—it’d go through one ear and right out the other. Alex follows not so far behind him.
“You still in bed? What’s wrong with you, woman?” Will says and walks to my window, opening the curtains. I wince, covering my eyes with my hands.
“Well, excuse me. It’s not like I spent the entire night afraid someone was going to track me down and murder me or anything.” I rub my heavy eyelids. “What time is it?”
“Eleven,” Alex replies. “We got you a gift.”
He drops something on the bed. I blink a couple of times, my sight struggling to adapt to the light. As soon as I can see clearly, the first thing that comes to my mind is, are they serious?
“An alarm clock. Gee, thanks.”
Because buying me a new phone isn’t the least they could do after not telling me that Kendrick lost his.
“Would you rather have no way to wake up for school tomorrow?” Will mocks. “We canceled Kendrick’s phone. Kass’s old phone still works if you want it. Now come on, get dressed. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.” He turns away, heading for the door. When did Will have time to talk to Kass?
No, scratch that.
When did I-hate-the-East-Side Kass find time to talk to Will?
“What? Why? Where are we going?” I yawn, running a hand through my knotted morning hair. Thanks, Mother Nature, for the “she’ll look like a troll every morning” curse.
“Fake girlfriend hunting. Kendrick called his mom this morning, and guess what? She’s dying to meet her. Thanks for putting us in even more trouble than we thought possible, by the way.”
“Thanks for not telling me calling him was dangerous and forcing me to throw my new phone in the toilet.” I smile slyly. “We’re even, don’t you think?”
Alex apologizes like the overly nice guy he is while Will completely ignores me and comments on the posters hung up on my wall.
“Okay, out. Both of you.” I get up and push them out of my bedroom, into the hall. I slam the door in their faces.
“You have fifteen minutes,” Will says from the other side.
Yesterday, I was on a “date” to seduce a guy into doing me a favor, and today I’m casting a fake girlfriend for my cousin who got beat up because of me.
Another regular day in my life.
“Thank you.” Alex smiles politely and shows the redhead the door. She smiles back, her eyes full of hope, and leaves like the ten other girls we’ve seen today. Alex’s living room has been operating as a casting room for hours now, and we’re not anywhere near close to finding a girl that’s right for the job.
“How many other girls do we have?” I ask, leaning back into my seat.
“Four,” Alex says. “The next one just texted me that she’s on her way.”
When the boys called up a bunch of girls they know and got repeatedly turned down, they had no choice but to opt for the last resort: the wonderful world of Craigslist. Unfortunately, they weren’t very specific, and the girls are either too old, too young, or terrible actresses.
“I need a break,” I tell them. They nod. I get up and step out onto Alex’s impressively big balcony that overlooks the pool, basketball hoop, garden, and waterfall. The billion family pictures scattered all around his house make it clear: Alex has it all.
Kind of makes you wonder what on earth pushed a kid who grew up in the definition of a “good family” to take part in illegal street fights. According to Kendrick, Alex’s entire life has been mapped out for him. He’s to be a lawyer like his father was before him and his grandfather was before that. I think back to what my stepfather always says: The more you try to lock your kids into a cage, the harder they’ll try to get out. The more lines you draw, the more they’ll want to cross them.
I lean forward and rest my arms on the railing surrounding the wood-built balcony. I let my mind wander to the complete madness I’ve been thrown in during these past few weeks.
Kassidy’s prehistoric phone is officially registered to my number. It is as basic as it gets. It’s also very old. And not the “didn’t come out this year” kind of old—it’s the “you can’t even downloads apps on it because it can’t take the server updates anymore” kind of old.
It serves the main purpose of a phone, which is to call and text, but that’s all it does. Realizing I haven’t checked it all day, I turn it on and unlock it. I have seven unread messages.
Haze: Is this your way of telling me you don’t want to be friends anymore
Haze: But it was going so well
Haze: Hi
Haze: Bonjour
Haze: Hola
Haze: Aloha
Haze: I’m running out of languages to say hi which means you should probably answer soon.
I mentally curse when I realize I’m smiling. He’s still texting me? He’s right though. I never answered him. If he only knew why.
Winter: How obnoxious can you possibly be?
It only takes a couple of minutes for my phone to light up with a response.
Haze: 1. Very. 2. You answered ;)
Winter: 7 texts seriously? Can you please stop blowing up my phone? I’m busy ignoring you.
Haze: And live without your heartwarming messages. How will I ever survive
Winter: I’ll block your number, I swear.
Haze: You’d miss me too much.
Winter: What do you want? Don’t you have STDs to catch?
Haze: That stung.
Winter: STDs tend to do that.
Haze: Look at you trying to convince yourself that you’d never sleep with me
Winter: Don’t you have better things to do?
Haze: Better than annoying my favorite Canadian. Nah.
Winter: Lucky me.
Haze: Speaking of. I have a question for you.
Winter: Consider me afraid.
Haze: Are you a virgin.
Winter: No, I’m a Scorpio.
Haze: Virgin. Not Virgo.
Winter: What about you? I bet you’re a Sagittarius.
Haze: God, you’re annoying.
Winter: That’s something a Sagittarius would say.
Haze: How long can you dodge questions like that
Winter: I can go all day. My turn to ask questions. What do you have against question marks?
Haze: Nothing, I’m just lazy
Winter: Right but you’re not too lazy to text me seven times.
He stops replying. I put the phone down, a feeling of guilt burdening me. What’s happening to me? I feel bad for texting him. But mostly, I feel bad for kind of liking it. I shake my head as if it’ll somehow restore much-needed order to my obviously disturbed mind. Then, after a good ten minutes, my phone lights up with a reply.
Haze: I’m never too lazy when it comes to you.
He probably says things like that to a thousand different girls, but I’m not completely unaffected by it and I hate it. He can’t expect me to fall for his lines. I won’t.
Acting on impulse, I do something I shouldn’t. But what’s new? I stare at the message I just sent and regret it immediately. This probably seems like an invite into my life.
Maybe it is.
Winter: All talk. No action.
I stare at the conversation intently, afraid of his answer. To say I don’t hold my breath when he replies would be a lie.
Haze: Is that a challenge, Kingston
“Winter?”
I jump, my heart suddenly on a mission to be heard by the entire world. I turn around, bringing my hand to my chest. Blake is staring at me. How long has he been standing there?
“Blake, you scared me.”
“Sorry. You seemed so focused. What are you doing out here?” He walks toward me.
I instinctively shove my phone deep into my pocket like I’ve been caught doing something wrong.
I guess, in a way, I have.
I shouldn’t be answering his texts at all. This needs to stop.
“Nothing. Just texting some friends.” I feed him a lie which he’s happy to swallow.
“Two of the girls bailed, and the other two weren’t great. No luck today. Come on, I’ll drive you home.”
“Thanks.”
I say my goodbyes and follow Blake to the driveway where his car is patiently waiting for us. We both get inside. The entire car ride feels heavy, awkward even. Blake is trying his best to create small talk, but it feels forced. I can tell he’s flirting with me again.
I didn’t want to get involved with him before I knew he’d dated my cousin and lied to his best friend for months. I’m not sure what makes him think I’m interested now.
“Do you mind if I drop you off here?” he asks, stopping the car a couple of houses before mine. He explains that he has an appointment he completely forgot about.
“Of course not. Thanks for the ride,” I say gratefully and reach for the car handle, but he stops me.
“Winter, hold on.”
Please don’t ask me out.
“I was wondering if you wanted to do something next weekend.”
Dang it.
I play dumb. “Like with the boys?”
“No. Just you and me.”
I hate that moment. I hate having to turn someone down. It’s honestly so uncomfortable and painful for both people.
“Blake, listen…You’re a great guy and I like spending time with you, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea for me to get involved with one of Kendrick’s friends and fighters. I mean, I’m already way more involved in this mess than I ever wanted to be.”
His smile fades.
“Oh. Of course. Don’t worry about it. I get it.” I can tell that it stung even though he’s trying to be nice.
“It has nothing to do with you, I promise.”
That’s a bit of a lie. The fact that he’s a liar who dumped Kassidy without a solid reason doesn’t especially help his case.
He nods faintly, and I don’t see what’s left to do except get out of the car. I watch him take off.
It’s almost five o’clock, and I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do for the rest of the day. Maria’s coming home at ten, and Kass works at the pet store until eight. I look down at my phone at the text conversation with Haze and then look up. That’s when I see it.
A motorcycle. Parked in my driveway.
But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is the annoyingly charming guy that comes along with it.
Casually leaning against his bike with his arms crossed, he’s staring right at me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter under my breath, walking toward him. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, someone told me that I was all talk and no action, so I had to come and prove that someone wrong.”
“That someone never told you to show up at her house, and that someone is thinking you’re running out of excuses to stalk her.”
“Fine.” He steps closer. “I wanted to see you.”
“Well, you saw me. Goodbye now.”
“I liked our date yesterday,” he whispers.
“It wasn’t a date,” I retort.
“Sure it wasn’t.”
One step closer from him.
One step back from me.
I jump when my back comes in contact with something—his motorcycle. Great. Haze fills the remaining distance between us, and I find myself at a loss for words when his pale eyes capture mine. It’s like I can’t think when he’s too close.
“Stop it,” I let out.
“Stop what?” He smiles.
“Trying to seduce me.”
I push him off and step back until we’re at a bearable distance.
“Can’t you just act normally? The flirty looks, the cocky attitude, and overconfidence. It’s getting old.”
He half-smiles. “Oh, so you want to see the real me?”
“That’s not what I said. But if you’re going to show up at my house, I’d rather not have to deal with your player attitude.”
He seems a bit taken aback but quickly gathers himself.
“As you wish, Kingston.”
He does the one thing I did not expect.
He hands me a spare helmet and starts his motorcycle.
“Where in my sentence did I say I wanted to go somewhere with you?”
He grins.
“Where in my sentence did I say I was giving you a choice?”
I shake my head. Definitely not getting on that thing again.
“Come on, take a chance.”
His insistent gaze refuses to leave me. I feel his eyes piercing through my skull. I can’t go. It would be wrong. This is Haze Adams, the guy who started this whole mess by making the deal. My mind screams no.
But my body isn’t listening.
“Give me that,” I sigh, and he smiles victoriously when I put on the helmet.
There’s something about him that makes it hard to say no.
That could be the title of a movie about teenage pregnancy .
I mentally laugh at my own joke and realize if people could read my mind, they’d probably think I’m crazy.
For the first time, I’m not following him by obligation. I have no excuse. But I tell myself that maybe I’ll get him to cancel the fight. That if I get closer, we might avoid all of this. In that moment, as much as I hate to admit it, I want to follow him.
It’s all me.
“You want to get to know me? Fine.”
I don’t reply and hold on to him.
“Just remember you asked for it.”