Love and Lies

10

"How long has it been now?" I shift in my chair to look at the teacher. He sighs at me, drops the stupid book back on the shelf where it belongs, and starts to walk over to his seat.

He sits down and without checking the time, he answers me, "Six minutes."

I groan and shift uncomfortably in my chair. I bring my phone out of my backpack and switch it on. I look at him expecting a disapproving remark.

"No phones allowed in detention, Miss Willow." he tells me. I roll my eyes at him but I don't put my phone back.

"Chill. I'm trying to text my mom and tell her I'll be freaking home late." I pause and he looks at me warily. I raise an eyebrow at him and sigh.

"Dude. My doctor would be waiting for me, at least I have to let them know that some asshole teach put me in school jail." I snap at him and proceed to texting my mom.

"Doctor?" he raises an eyebrow back at me, ignoring my rude remark. "Why do you need a doctor?"

"I get sick a lot so the b***h has to be around to give me..." I start to say but suddenly trail off. "Hey, not your business. Just because you keep me stuck in class with you doesn't mean I have to answer your questions." I tell him and roll my eyes.

He shrugs but doesn't say anything. He places his head on his desk in a sleeping position and I choose to ignore him as well. After texting my mom, I text Eric and tell him that I have detention.

*You always get in detention* The text from him reads. He sends two eyes rolling emojis and I chuckle at his text. The teacher lifts his head up to look at me and I flash him a wink and a mocking grin.

"Hey teach." I call to him when he's halfway at placing his head back on the table. He pauses and lifts his head back up. He raises his eyebrows in a way that says, 'Carry on with whatever s**t you have to say.'

"What's your name again? It got deleted from my brain's files." I tell him nonchalantly and he shakes his head and smiles at me.

"Steve Harper." he says and resumes his previous sleeping position.

"Hey, would you look at that? Steven can smile." I laugh loud. He snaps his head up to meet my gaze with a death glare. I got to admit, I feel pretty intimated. I stop laughing and ask in a low voice, "What?"

"Never, ever call me Steven. It's Steve, or Mr Harper." he tells me and folds his hands across his chest still glowering at me. I place my phone on the desk of the chair I'm on.

"Why not? What is with people and hating their names these days? Well sadly, I'm not one to listen to people, Steven." I smirk at him and he sighs in defeat.

"Put your phone away Miss Willow." he says in a sharp tone and eyes my phone lying innocently on the desk. I frown and then something pops in my head.

"Hey, Steven." I call, emphasizing his name. "Let's make a deal. If you stop calling me Miss Willow and Janice instead, then I'll stop calling you Steven."

"You've only called Steven twice." he shakes his head with a smirk. "But okay. Deal Janice."

I put my phone in my school bag and zip my bag closed. "You're easier to tame than I thought." I comment and he doesn't say anything.

"You're a different student, Janice." he tells me after a minute has passed and I chuckle at him.

*

Troy's POV

I walk out of Spanish class,my last class for the day and immediately start to regret selecting Spanish over Computer science. I just thought it'd be fun to do something other than English and maybe take a break from technology knowledge.

I guess I didn't think the teacher would communicate in nothing but Spanish all through the class. I start to walk to my locker so my locker can retrieve my notebooks and textbooks for today.

After placing each book in a neat order, I jam my locker shut and start to head out

of the school premises. I bring out my phone to dial Rachel to know if she's still in school.

I dial Rachel's phone number and the phone beeps lenghtily indicating it's ringing. Just as she answers on the fourth beep, my phone falls to the floor as a force exerted subject knocks into me.

I reach out to help the lady maintain balance on her feet. She holds me even tighter and her eyes are squeezed close, probably because she expected to be on the floor. I study her face and she's breathing slowly.

"You can open your eyes now." I tell her in a low voice. She obliges partially as she slowly opens one eye,and then the other. I offer a smile and ask her calmly, "Are you okay?"

She gulps and gently frees herself from my grip. She nods nervously and I stare at her in confusion. I adjust my glasses and reach down to pick my phone up from the floor. By the time I look up, she's dashing out of my presence.

Did I say something wrong?

My eyes warily watch as she speeds out of the school premises. I shake my head confusedly. I stare at my phone and widen my eyes when I see that Rachel's call is still on. I ignore the little dent on the phone's screen thanks to its fall,and put the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?!" Rachel screams into the phone and sighs. I wince and move it a few inches away before bringing it back to my ear.

"Troy are you there?" She calls again and I nod like she can see me.

"Yes Rachel,I'm here." I say and resume walking out of the school. My foot slightly nudges a small book on the floor and I carefully study it before bending to pick it up.

The word 'Diary' is printed in a bright, colourful pink on the book and I groan. It must have fallen out of the mysterous girl's open school bag.