The Mendacity of Winnie Hart

Chapter Thirteen

For two days I've gone without sleep. A complete forty-eight hours of wide-eyed restlessness. Two nights of consecutive tossing and turning and over-active brain activity.

It usually wasn't this bad.

Sometimes I would go a full night without sleeping, but to go two? That hadn't happened in a long time. Even when it did happen, it wasn't frequent at all.

On Sunday I'd tried to think of the reason why this was happening. The only curveball I'd been thrown recently was all of my interactions with Noah, specifically the one at lunch. He'd read me like a book, even if it was just for a minute thing. Telling others where I'd lived for fifteen years of my life wasn't going to kill anyone, but the fact that he knew I was nervous to reveal it made me wonder what else he could tell about me.

On the other hand, I could be paranoid sometimes and overreact to small situations. The solution was simple: to stay away from him.

But, with Wren's newfound interest in becoming friends with Ash, that may be tricky. I didn't have to be involved in their friendship, but Wren was my friend and Noah was his. It seemed impossible to completely avoid him. Even if I tried, I had a feeling he wouldn't let me. It was hard to know what his exact intentions were, but I knew they didn't involve ignoring me for the rest of his life. At the risk of sounding conceded, it almost seemed like I interested him in some weird way. Not exactly in a good way, but like I amused him.

I wish I'd never gone to detention that day. My brain wouldn't be consumed with these thoughts if I'd just skipped it like half of the students do.

There was always the option of dropping out and finishing high school digitally.

And lose the last shred of normalcy in your life?

My mind was right; I couldn't just give up like that. Who knows what my thoughts would succumb to by sitting alone for hours in my house and having no social interaction? School kept me distracted for the most part, which was a blessing these days.

So come Monday morning, I hauled my exhausted ass out of my bed and got ready for school. The weekend was empty, so despite my tiredness, I was somewhat looking forward to civilization (at least with Wren) besides my mother. The most interesting conversation we had was whether her new polyester shirt would shrink in the wash or not. As it would turn out, neither one of us knew the intricacies of laundry.

I decided against wearing anything that looked like I cared about school, people, or the world. Maybe people would take the hint to leave me alone if I looked unapproachable. Wren would talk to me regardless, but I wasn't in the mood for a bunch of socialization. I didn't even bother to brush my hair, and let it hang in it's slightly tangled mess.

While I was in the bathroom to brush my teeth, I caught a glimpse of my unfortunate state. The bags under my eyes looked like violet pits they were so prominent. The red tinge around my eyes and how pale my skin had become made them pop out all the more.

"I look like a corpse," I muttered to my reflection.

The familiar groan of Wren's car sounded through the small bathroom window, so I took my things and rushed out to meet it.

"What's good?" Wren asked with a grin, but it dropped when she took in my haggard appearance. "Apparently not much."

"Sleep. None," I said, clambering into the vehicle.

"Huh?"

I elaborated, "I didn't sleep much over the weekend. I'm fine though, just a little tired."

Wren hit the gas and wheeled out of my driveway. "How come?"