Eccedentesiast

|5|

Yonderly- mentally or emotionally distant; absent- minded.

•••

V A Y D A

I've had a lot of people in my life tell me lies. My mom was the first one, she told me that she would always be there for me, whenever I needed her, and that naive nine year old girl believed her. Now here I am eight years later, and she won't even pick up the phone.

Friends have told me lies throughout my life, that I could trust them, that I could talk to them and they would listen. That's probably the biggest lie I've ever heard. It's better to stay silent, no one cares what you have to say or what you feel and no one needs to know.

At the age of fifteen I was stupid enough to actually believe one of them, actually telling them how I really felt. I was happy to have someone to talk to, only to realize weeks later that they don't care. So that's why I barricade my feelings away, but that's a subject for a different time.

The newest lie that I've been told has been by Kashton. A couple days ago he told me that he was there for me as a friend. Again to talk to if I wanted to. Maybe he just said that because he felt bad about what b.b. did, but it's clear both parts of that was a lie as he now hates my guts.

Three hours ago...

I didn't go to school on Tuesday but when I do go back, school is how I expected. People get quiet when I pass by, their eyes on me as they whisper to their friends. When Im at my locker I get distracted by a loud noise. I jump startled, and turn my head towards the sound. To my surprise, I see Kashton pushing a kid up against the lockers. He looks mad, I've never seen him like that and honestly it's kind of scary. The dude against the lockers smirks and says something to Kashton only infuriating him even more.

I walk up to them, curious about what's going on. "Kash?" I speak cautiously.

They both look at me and he scowls, "what do you want."

I'm taken aback by his rude manner, "wow, calm down."

"Yeah Kashton," the dude, I think his name is Aden, smirks. "Why don't you listen to your little bitch and calm down."

My eyes widen, Kashton snarls at him, pushing him against the lockers once more before letting go of him and walking away. Aden moves away from the lockers with a scoff, giving me a quick glance before walking away with his friends. I stand there frozen for a minute until I go after Kashton.

"Kashton," I called out after him. I follow him into an empty classroom, he turns to me, the same hard scowl on his face. "What the hell is going on?"

"I should be the one asking you that," he gives a humorless laugh. "Spreading rumors about me? Really?"

"I-I don't understand..."

"Telling everyone I'm a drug addict just like my father was and deserves to die just like he did?" My eyes widen. I didn't say that, I never would. Why would I? I don't have a reason to despise him and even if I did I would never do that. "Really mature of you Vayda."

"Kashton I didn't do that, I swear."

"You're the only here I've told about my dad Vayda," he raises his voice causing me to flinch. "How else would they know?"

"I don't know!" I throw up my hands. "It wouldn't be that hard though Kash. They probably just searched it and some stupid kid started saying things."

"You really think that I'm that stupid?"

"No! But I didn't do this." I'm offended and a little hurt but I try to not show it. He scoffs, "come on Kash you're acting childish, you've got to know I didn't do this." Why am I even trying to get him to believe me? I was the one that didn't want to be his friend in the first place. He's just acting like a child and it's showing he's really like I thought he was at first. "You know what? Whatever. When you decide to stop being an ass come talk to me and I'll help you figure out who did this."

Yes, I know, also not very mature but I don't care at the moment. I don't need to add Kashton to my problems. I slip out of the classroom frustrated.

At lunch Everly is silent, she's usually a chatty person, but not even a sound comes out of her. Porter is late and so is Hegan, when they do arrive, its with Kashton. He doesn't spare me a glance. I just roll my eyes and don't make a big deal out of it, if he wants to act like that then he can be my guest.

•••

I get taken out of class early and sent to the counseling office. I asked Casey why since we already had a session after school but he just said that he wanted longer time to talk. Yippee.

"I heard about what happened at your locker," he begins. "How are you holding up?"

"Great."

He frowns, "you can tell me how you really feel, I'm not going to judge you. You can't bottle it all up."

How do I feel? Scared. Humiliated. Ashamed. Worried. Disgusted. Disgraceful. But what do I tell him? "Okay fine I'm angry I guess."

He looks hopeful that I said something, "okay and why is that?"

"Because Bailey is a bi-" I stop mid sentence when he gives me a warning look. I clear my throat "Bad person."

"Nice save," he types something in his computer. "Tell me what Bailey has to do with this."

I scoff, "it's obvious she did it."

He nods and continues talking, "what's your relationship with Bailey?" What's my relationship? I don't even think we could say we have one rather than a hateful one. "Vayda? You listening to me?"

"I think we've done enough questioning for the day," I give a sarcastic smile.

"We're just trying to find out who did this and make sure you are okay."

"I'm fine, and can't they like, check the cameras or something?" I question. "But don't waste your time, I'm telling you that Baliey did it."