When Love Lies

Chapter 4

At lunch, things got even weirder. Kris-Chris weren't no where to be found, but that probably means that she went out to eat instead. But the even weirder thing was that Mark was at our usual table, instead of with his friends. Talking to Joanna.

"Yeah, I get it, life can be hard. Just don't give up before it's time." Mark is saying when I get there. Then he sees me. "Hey, what's up." He says, trying to look, what I think is his way of looking casual.

"I could be asking the same thing. Then I glare at Joanna. Was she trying to make a move?

"Sorry, I'll go. I just wanted to cheer Joanna up. I can't believe my little cousin doesn't want to go to my birthday party." he says, then shrugs and walks away. I blush red, and get hot, noticing what I just did.

"Sorry..." I say. She looks down.

"There's something I want to tell you, but I'm not sure how." She says.

"Go ahead, I'm listening." I encourage.

"I'm depressed, and I started cutting myself, just to feel something." She says, and pulls her sleeves down again. Now that makes sense.

"Is everything okay?" I ask. she shakes her head. "Would you like to talk about it?" I ask. "It doesn't have to be now. If you want we could hang out with each other after school, so we could try and get your mind off things." I say, not wanting to overwhelm her. She nods.

"Yeah, thanks. Sorry I never told you about Mark being my cousin. I don't know why I never did, to be honest." She says, and finally looks up at me. Now that I'm actually seeing her, I can see the hurt, and the pain in her eyes. The tiredness, as though she hasn't slept good in a few weeks. I start to feel bad, but I try not to show it. I've never dealt with this kind of situation before, but i know i wouldn't want someone to look at me with pity.

"You're fine. Some things don't get brought up, and that's okay. I'm sorry that I thought the worst of you. I should have guessed you two were cousins." I say, and try to laugh it off. She nods, but seems to be in another place. Then Kris-Chris walks up.

"Hey, guys. What're doing?" Chris says clearly drunk. Kristina doesn't seem to happy.

"Chris, sit before you get caught." She says, glaring at him. Se won't make eye contact with me. Somethings up, but what?

"Chris, why are you drinking?" Joanna whispers. He just shrugs. and then laughs.

"I'm going to need you to answer us, because this doesn't make any sense." I say. "Especially with you dating my sister. I will not allow you to disrupt her life again with your idiotic drama." I say.

"Naomi, Stop! You don't even know what happened." She says, tears in her eyes. what is up with this girl defending him all the time. For all we know he's lying anyways. "His mom just died okay, give him a break." She says, then goes back to tending to Chris. I would feel bad for him... if he wasn't a jerk.

"Wait, what?" Joanna says, she no longer looks mad. "When how?"

"Murder...." He says, voice sounding all kinds of bubbly, and he starts fuming from the mouth. Joanna and Kris both get up, and take him to the nurse. I just stay where I am. Once again, Kris is mad at me, Chris is going through more drama, and now Joanna is going through pain. This day could not get any worse.