A New Direction

Chapter Three: Little White Lies

Ruth sat at her kitchen table with her Math textbooks, calculator, and pencils spread out in front of her. Her first week of school had been quite a challenge. The kids were so different than anyone in her old town... especially the boys. She thought of the boy in the cafeteria with the bandana and his charming smile and wink. She had learned that they shared the same block of cooking class, and she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since.

Ruth snapped out of her daydreaming of the boy's beautiful golden eyes when she was interrupted by her mother, who had just pulled up a chair beside her.

"Honey, you look stressed," she said. She took a rollerball of lavender essential oil and rubbed it on Ruth's wrist.

"Oh, just doing Math homework," Ruth replied, trying to push away the thoughts. She knew her parents wanted her to put her time and thought into her relationship with God, not with boys. "It's not exactly my strong suit."

"So, how was the first week of school?" her mom asked.

Ruth wished that she had chosen a different time to talk to her, and not when she was in the middle of trying to solve her questions on graphing parabolas, but she knew her Mom was concerned for her.

"It was... different," she replied. "I think it'll be good, but it will take some time to adjust."

"Do you have any friends yet?" her mom asked. "Anyone you'd want to invite along to church on Sunday?"

Ruth tried to cover her face, which was feeling flushed. "Uh... no, not yet. But there are some nice kids in my English class," she lied. She immediately felt guilty for lying. She wasn't quite sure why she did it. It was wrong to lie, especially when her mom was so well-meaning.

"Well," her mom put her hand on Ruth's shoulder. "I know you'll make friends in no time. Pray about it. I'll sure be praying for you."

"Thanks Mom," she said.

"Can you and your siblings start setting the table? Dinner will be ready soon," Mom stood up and returned to the kitchen.

Ruth obediently began to clean up her homework. She was sure to be up late at night completing it. As she went to her siblings' rooms to get them to help, she couldn't ignore the feeling of guilt that persisted because of the little white lie she told.

***

Alfred picked Emelia up from school in the family's Range Rover. As they drove towards their house, he asked her about how her art class was going. Emelia knew that she could confide in him and appreciated that he really cared about what she was interested in.

When they arrived home, Emelia walked into the luxurious and lavishly decorated entrance of her home, she heard her dad in the media room (as usual) screaming at what she presumed was the XBox live Halo tournament that he had every week with his gaming buddies.

She made sure to avoid that room and walked up the staircase that mirrored the one across from, joining at the second floor. When she got into her room, she saw a small silver tray of snacks on her desk that Laque, the family's personal chef, had prepared for her.

Emelia put her backpack on her king sized four poster bed, and then brought her snacks up the stairs to her loft. She only enjoyed a few moments to herself before her mom's personal assistant, Georgia Rose, entered the room. She wore a bluetooth headset on her head, like her mom, classic work attire and nearly always had a clipboard in hand with everything she needed to manage Mrs. Evan's every need.

"Emelia?" she called from the doorway.

"I'm up here," Emelia poked her head out from the loft.

"You are needed in the common room," she said, writing something down on the clipboard at the same time.

Emelia sighed and came down, dreading what questions her mom was going to grill her with. Georgia Rose answered a call, her voice echoing through the large house as Emelia went down into the common room.

"Hi Mom," she said hesitantly.

Her mom didn't look up from her computer and just said "Hm," in reply. There was silence for a few moments as she typed away on her computer, and then she finally looked up at Emelia. "Emelia. I just wanted to check in after the first week to see if you're keeping up with your math and science classes? Have you done any tests or assignments yet?"

"Yes, of course I have," Emelia replied. "I'm aiming for 100% and nothing less, as you always require me to do." She dwelled on the lie for a moment, thinking about the extra time that she was planning to put into art class this year. Math and science were low on her priority list right now.

"Good," Mom replied, not catching on to the sarcasm in Emelia's tone. "Alfred will drive you to flute lessons in 10 minutes. Be ready to go."

"Okay," Emelia replied. "What's for dinner tonight?"

Her mom sighed exasperatedly. "Emelia, I only have so much time on my hands. You'll have to ask Luque."

Emelia left the room, shaking her head, knowing that there was no use putting effort in the conversation. She returned to her room to get her flute.

***

Athena Rae arrived back at her house after school, dreading walking through the front door. She took off her messenger bag and dropped it in the entrance, taking off her combat boots and army jacket, leaving her in just a flannel, white tank top, and ripped black skinny jeans.

She went up the stairs to Silas's room to ask how his first week of school was. He returned the question and she sat next to him on his bed.

"It was great," she replied. "I'm uh, making lots of new friends." Athena Rae knew that was a lie but she didn't want to make Silas worry. They already had enough to worry about between the two of them.

They heard the front door open and then slam shut.

"Lock your door," Athena Rae said to Silas. She left and went down the hall to her bedroom, closing and locking the door behind her. From under the bed, she pulled out her acoustic guitar and opened the case. As the sounds of her dad stumbling around downstairs continued, she gently played a song she had been writing that week.