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Chapter 25 –Lies

“Is something wrong?” Leon asked me one weekend morning.

The rest of the week could have made it to the top ten weeks of my life. Of course, I haven’t had much of a life before Leon, besides chess club and school and homework and chores… He’s my little piece of heaven on earth. I might just begin to be religious.

In the morning, my eyes would be dazzled routinely by him of course and I’d get to stare at him for a full six minutes and thirty two seconds more or less, every day as he drove me to school. Err… Not that I was counting. Oh, okay. You caught me there.

Well, Leigh and I had done a lot of catching up and I would’ve absolutely taken pleasure in her company if not for her almost constantly petulant and ever so nasty-mannered boyfriend. No single clue what Leigh saw in him, if truth be told, but I couldn’t dare telling her that, could I?

No one seemed to give a fuss over Becky and Matt or the two of us anymore. Hurray! The populars were not so bad as I had imagined after all. Charrie Bolton and co still snubbed their way right at us as with the blond-dyed cheerleaders, but Drake and Reed were the most hilarious creatures I had ever met on earth! No wonder the popular table had always been so boisterous.

Larson and Chuck weren’t bad at all too. Once Leon mentioned the words comic books they were practically as good as best buddies. And I thought I was the geek in that table.

They must’ve gotten over the slim probability that geeks like us possess some kind of bizarre appeal for utterly good-looking boys (Who am I kidding?). Not that I considered Matt good-looking for a single second… Over my dead body!

But wait! There’s more! Yes. And I’m aware that I sounded like the voiceover in some T.V. shopping program, but I couldn’t help it! It’s the Matt-shut-up-inator! It was really effective that I could’ve sworn I had forgotten he existed for the rest of the week. Or perhaps that was because I was so engrossed with gaping at Leon for most of the days. I must have looked like an idiot.

So let us get back to the subject about Matt’s awe-inspiring, astounding and sudden withdrawal from the irksome department. He didn’t taunt Leon or me even once. No stares, no meaningful looks, no desperate, disturbing moves. At least not that I knew of. Well, that was before he made Becky made me promise to tutor him Biology for the weekend. That was downright crooked! So Matt, indeed.

Ugh. Well, yeah. Maybe he is cute. But he was pure evil! And that nullified whatever amiable trait he might’ve been hiding under his sleeves. Positive one plus negative one equals zero! Ha!

He should really learn some Math.

I wasn’t all sure how Becky managed to convince or in a more specific term, begged me to do it. But notwithstanding the fact that Matt won this round, I was pretty single-minded into making the time worthwhile — in other words, make him suffer; give him a taste of hell if possible. Like quiz him every minute or so with things I was sure to make his big head explode. I rehearsed to pop a questions like, who invented penicillin or the telephone or who was the first Russian astronaut in space? Wrong! Not Neil Armstrong! Ha!

“I’m fine,” I replied eyeing at Leon while he tweaked his blue guitar.

His eyes trailed on me from behind his lashes. Thud-thud-thud. My mind went blank as the thumping grew louder inside my chest. The way his blue eyes gazed at me had the same effect as it did in day one.

I wondered if I should tell him about Matt coming over tonight. Or about Matt’s scheme to ruin my entire life. Honestly, I had no idea what would be the worse between the two.

Leon’s forehead creased as he flung the expensive looking lead guitar on Arthur’s couch with an exasperated grunt.

“The damned thing won’t cooperate at all.” He sagged beside me, looping his arm on my shoulder almost reflexively.

It made me jump out off my seat but I tried my best to keep the unnerved feeling from my face. I had no clue why I was being panicky all morning.

“Why? I thought it looked cool,” I mumbled to keep the trembling in my voice veiled.

“You think so? Well I’ve never been much of a guitar person, really.” His musical laughter chimed in my ears like I was being entranced. “So I was thinking we could go out tonight. Maybe see a movie or something?”

My jaw fell off its hinges. Great timing. Now I had better give him a whiff of what impending doom should befall me tonight. Lying to Leon just never failed to make me deem myself the more undeserving of him.

“I’d love to but I… have plans for tonight,” I stuttered. Just tell him already! The words were gnawing itself out of my head but I couldn’t seem to find the appropriate way to say them.

The gap between his perfectly arched brows furrowed infinitesimally then smoothed out almost instantaneously. “Oh, okay. Maybe some other time.”

I waited for the questions to pour on. It would be much easier if he interrogated me for any plausible explanation at some point, but he didn’t. My stomach cringed.

“Mom wants me to help her clean the hous,.” I blurted almost impulsively. Why on earth did I have to lie?! I could’ve just left it hanging like that and let him rummage his brains off in an attempt to make out whatever it was that I planned to do, but me and my stupid mouth just had to lie! I hate myself.

I am a bad liar but I desperately hoped he couldn’t see through my pretense. Another part of me wanted so dreadfully to let him know.

“Hmm…” He nodded, as his eyes discreetly studied my face.

I spent the rest of the day pacing back and forth in my room since Leon suddenly had to attend to some business with Arthur. It was probably favorable to me since I did not have to worry about Leon’s suspicious glances, but it did not necessarily imply that I was feeling any better.

The worst had transpired when Becky called to affably inform me that she couldn’t come with Matt.

“No freaking way, Becky!” I shrieked indignantly before she could but explain herself. “The only reason why I agreed to this was because you promised you’d be there to keep your boyfriend in the leash. And I don’t care whatever it is that you have to do. Just get your butt in here, or else…” I threatened with the most ominous tone I could manage.

“Sarah…” She whined my three-syllable name again.

“That’s not going to work anymore, you know,” I muttered irately. “Look Becky, I love you. I do. You’re the best friend there ever was but you really know how to be so irritating.” My voice softened a bit and that tipped her.

There was a short pause.

“If you don’t do this, then I’m not talking to you ever again!” There was not the slightest hint of mockery in her tiny voice. I could just imagine her pouting and making a sad face.

I grunted exasperatedly. “Yeah. Really mature there, Becky. That’s way under the belt.”

“I swear, I’m not kidding,” she threatened back.

I huffed as I weighed down the consequences. Becky could be a colossal pain in the butt but she is and will always be my best friend. But that didn’t mean I could give her the all-expense-paid-guilt-free-pass to ruin my life.

“Fine!” I growled.

“Fine!” she hissed back, followed by a long silence.

“You owe me big time—“

“Yay!” She exulted too soon and I had half a mind to turn back on my word. “Thanks Sarah! I owe you one!”

Becky hung up before I could even haul her over the coals. Ugh. So Becky!

I looked up at Mom during dinner to inform her about Matt coming over, overemphasizing that he’s Becky’s boyfriend and extremely dense so I had to tutor him, not forgetting to interject Becky’s alibi for not coming. She didn’t throw a big fuss over it but I knew that Mom could sense that I was being too uneasy and restless.

“You better bring your books down the sitting room then,” she replied flatly.

“I was intending to. But I thought I should ask first.” I gulped nervously.

“Did Leonard know about this?” She raised an eyebrow which made me flinch a bit. Emma shook her head as if she read the answer right on my face. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I wished she told me more because I had no idea whatsoever. Yes. And I wished I had a light saber to. Just in case.

The doorbell rang. I was thankful Mom was a step ahead of me and got the door. My heart was frantic as I swallowed the lump that hacked on my breathing. Lying is very bad for the health.

I swore that once I got through this smoothly, I am never to lie ever again.

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It was a hard week... but at least I got to post something *sighs* So there... please do me a favor by leaving a comment and or voting. It'd really make my day... :J