Rich lies & poor truths

Chapter 13 - Hot Police

Me and Lisa walk in the school halls together and I try to ignore the stares.  I decided to wear a navy skinny jean and a black top with long sleeves, of course.  My mind keeps going back to Stephen.  Me waking up without his tightness that I felt the whole night, because of my single bed.  Thinking that he was gone, I found him in the kitchen, making me breakfast.  Eggs and bacon on toast with fruits I didn’t even know we owned.  I close my eyes and smile when someone creeps up behind me and touches my hips, making me jump.

“Wow, you look different.” Chase. I give him a toothy grin and he smiles back at me, his eyes glowing.

“Hey Chase.” I say and he nods back at me.

“Heard of your dad.”  he says and I gas.  How did I forget? I was supposed to go to the police today.  I swallow and take hold of my forehead, trying to think of a solution.

“I’m going to the police after school.” I say and make the decision. I suck my lips and fumble with my cast.  What is going on with me.  Why do I keep forgetting things? Things that matter.

“Good luck.” Chase says and I with a tight smile. give him a tight smile. I look at Lisa, biting her nails and seeming nervous.

“What’s wrong?”  I ask. I’m the one that should look stressed, not her.

“Nothing.” she shrugs it off again and we start to walk towards our lockers, which is next to each other.

“Riley!” I hear Tina’s voice call, through the loud voices.  I turn and try to see her through the scattered halls.

“You look pretty.” she appears next to me, her eyes roaming my body.  

“Thank you.”  I say.

“I’m sorry about your wrist and everything.” she says politely and I shake my head at her.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Wow, the best player is off the team.” she says dramatically, “Our team is going to catch a heavy dip.” she looks down, making her curls woosh forward like honey.

“No man.” I say and swallow, already feeling blue again.

“Priya is out too.” she says trying to comfort me.  I frown.  Priya is a great player aswell and I didn’t think that she would be the second player kicked.

Trench appears in front of me and I see Lisa getting uncomfortable,standing on her toes and looking down. Trench’s eyes travel up and down my body and I scratch the back of my neck.

“Hi Trench.” I say in a loud and stern voice.

“Hey,” his voice is soft, “You look good.”

I swallow, feeling awkward.  I want to say something to include Lisa but I don’t want to make it obvious.

“Thanks.” I utter and glance at Lisa’s sad eyes, “I need to go.”  I say and escape, leaving them alone.  I don’t want to hurt Lisa more than she already is.  I sigh, getting irritated at the people looking at me as if I’m a new piece of meat.  I look down at my outfit.  Is this me?  I kind of miss my usual baggy outfits where I just blended in the background.  How is it possible to change so much in the course of two days.  What is going on with me? I stand in front of my locker trying to remember the code I have on the lock.

“What the?” I fumble with my fingers on the lock and try to think but it’s as if my mind is in a dark empty hall.

“Come on.”  I mumble to myself.

“What’s up?” Lisa appears next to me and she opens her locker with no hassle.  I bite my lips feeling like an i***t.  

“I forgot my code.”  Lisa looks at me suspiciously and takes hold of my lock.

“It’s 1234.”  she puts it in and the lock opens.  I feel so stupid under her worried stare.

“You sure you didn’t hit your head.” she asks, making a joke out of it.  I chuckle but don’t say a word.  Maybe I did hit my head and got a concussion and that’s why I keep forgetting.  I take out a few books and put in others.  My stomach churns, thinking about the biology test.  I probably already forgot everything that I learned yesterday. With Stephen.  I feel myself blush and I look around hoping no one can see through my mind’s thoughts.  I bell rings and I start to walk towards english literature.  I keep my head down, feeling vulnerable. Why must life be so difficult?  I sigh and enter the classroom.

“Hey.” I say casually, sitting in my usual seat next to Carlos.

“Hey Riley, how are you doing?” he adjusts his glasses on his face and gives me a polite smile.

“I’m great thanks and yourself.” I say wishing that I’m actually really great.

“I’m alright.” he nervously looks down and I see Abigail moving past him, with a nervous glint in her eyes.  I want to ask Carlos what is going on but keeping quiet feeling that it’s not my place to ask questions.  I sit back with my feet stretched out forward and I eye the people walking and talking, bright smiles on their faces, probably indicating their bright futures,  Unlike me. I swallow and sigh and think of everything miserable during the class, wishing I’m with Stephen who makes me feel so much better since I met him.  He actually makes me think about stuff that matter.  And it actually scares me.  It feels as if there’s missing pieces in my life and somehow I’m starting to collect them.  The bell rings making me realize how much I zoned out. I go to my next class and then the next until it’s lunch.  I feel like a zombie. Until Stephen appears before me holding another Burger King paper bag.

“Hi?” I say, an unwanted smile creeping up my face.

“Brought you food.” he bites his lips and looks at me with care.  I open my mouth but nothing comes out, so I take the bag and turn red.  I look around at the staring faces and nervously tug my hair behind my ear.

“You ready for your test?” he asks.  I frown at him wanting to tell him definitely not but instead I ‘of course’ comes out.  The atmosphere doesn’t feel nice and I escape the cafeteria.  Stephen follows me and I lead him towards the library, containing less people.

“Thank you.” I say, holding the Burger King bag up and I take out a burger when a thought rushes to me, “You want to feed me fat?”

He laughs, “Not at all.”

I sit on one of the small wooden tables, and take a bite out of the burger.  I smile at him with my mouth full as he sits next to me.  We sit in silence every now and then and someone walks in looking at us questiongly or ogling at Stephen. 

“What are we?” I ask, thinking aloud wondering what we are?  Are we dating? I play with my lips.  We don’t even know each other.  

“What do you mean?” he asks and I can see that he is also searching for an answer in his mind.

“Like,”  I try to think of the correct words to say, “are we going into a relationship or?”

He scratches the stubbles on his chin and smiles at me.

“Well do you want us to be in a relationship?”

I shake my head and lift my shoulders, “Uhm.”

He chuckles and once again I feel my cheeks turning red.  He gives me a nice feeling of excitedness and calmness at the same time. This moment, where we sit, looking at each other, with shy smiles.

“We are whatever you want us to be.” I gently swipes with his finger on the side of my mouth and looks at me with big eyes.  His beautiful big eyes.  I breathe hard as butterflies invade my stomach.  My eyes fall to his lips but I quickly look away when a figure walks in.  I purse my lips and look at the table. I wish that were alone and before my thoughts can get more heated the bell rings.

“What a short break.” I say and pull myself up from the chair.

“When are you going to write the test?” he asks.

“Last period.” I say and sigh.

“You’ve got this.” he encourages me.

“Listen Stephen, can you please take me to the police station after school?” I ask, getting it off my back.

He gives a stern nod before walking away, making me frown after him.  I walk towards physics, my next class.  I try to go through my biology work in my head bumping into people making me irritated.  I go through the classes with a busy mind, making small talk with a few classmates. “Good luck with biology.” Trench says along the halls with a big grin and I just nod at him in thanks.

When I’m in the biology class, my nervousness takes over when the teacher gives out the test.

I forgot everything.  I stare at the papers and bite my nails.  I take a deep breath and write all the answers I can remember and some just what I think.  I know I have few answers right, but I do my best.

I feel thankful for the bell and eagerly jump up.  I lay the tests on the teachers desk and march out of the class trying to ignore bumping into anyone. I feel better when the smell of fresh air hits my nose as I step out of the school halls.  Without any hesitation I run towards Stephen’s car in the parking lot, without even looking back.  I just want to go home.

“You ready to go to the police?” Stephen’s voice appears behind me and I close my eyes. My dad.  Just when I thought that the worst of the day is over.

I nod and he opens the car door for me. 

“And how was your test?” he asks before closing the door.

“Fine.” I lie. He frowns at me, before closing the door.  I sigh and lay my head back on the seat. He enters and we drive off in silence.

---

I open a fresh door and enter the police station. I politely asked Stephen to wait in the car,not wanting to deal with anything more than I already need to deal with.  An eldery woman with a high greyish bun on top of her head sits behind a cluttered desk.  I take a deep breath, inhaling the smell of old books and sweat.

“Hi.” I say firmly and the woman looks up with a surprised expression.

“Good day.” she replies with no emotion in her voice.  I finger comb my hair and quickly run the words I have to say through my head.

“I think my dad is missing.”  I say and this time she doesn’t look remotely surprised.  She takes out a book and pen.

“Name?”  I give her my  and my dad’s name as well as various other questions.  When she asked me when last did I see him, I struggled to answer and even remember when last I saw him.  After a while a man appears wearing a police uniform.  He is younger than other police officers I have seen.  He looks at me with strong eyes and a small smile but doesn’t say anything.  He takes hold of the book the woman has written in  and looks at it, screwing his eyes.  I frown staring at his eyes, wondering if I have ever seen yellow eyes like his. He looks at me and I quickly look down trying hard not to let my cheeks turn red.

“Has anything strange recently happened that you’re aware of?” he asks in a low voice and I shake my head.  He keeps a fierce stare on me and it feels as if he knows something that I don’t.  He swipes his tongue over his teeth, mouth closed.  He rests his arm on the desk, making his muscles bulge.  My eyes flutter when I think of Stephen’s leaner built.

“We’ll come inspect your house tomorrow morning, so make sure you leave everything the way it is.” I frown at his words.  Why do they have to inspect our house? I swallow and just nod.

I look at him for him to raise his eyebrows at me.

“You can go now.” he says with an attitude and a fake smile. I turn, feeling defeated.  I open the door to exit before I turn to see the police officer staring after me, playing with a fire match through his teeth.  He doesn’t falter when I see him looking at me.  I clench my teeth and close the door behind me harder than intended. I climb into Stephen’s car and look at him with big eyes before I let my lips crash into his warm one’s.  He makes everything feel better.