The Mendacity of Winnie Hart

Chapter Fifteen

"Let me tell you, I had to endure Mr. Davey's recitation of The Raven without you all of first period today. Totally unprompted too! Who was I supposed to talk to and make fun of him with?" Wren wailed on the other end of the phone.

I held a hand against my head to try and soothe the pounding headache that was forming. "This is the last day I'm going to be gone, I promise."

I'd made the difficult choice of skipping school yesterday and today. Luckily, I managed to sleep a decent amount last night so I felt like I would be able to come back tomorrow. The thought that people could be talking about the library incident lingered in the back of my mind, but it wasn't worth missing work and potentially dropping a letter grade. If there was one thing I knew, it was that I had to get away from everything. Go to a college far away and try to make a new life for myself.

If people were talking about me, I'm not sure Wren would tell me. She was an honest person, and a loyal friend, but she didn't like hurting people, even when she wasn't the one at fault. If she'd heard any rumors, she might try to shut them down before my return rather than risk me wanting to hide away forever. I wasn't going to ask her about it, and figured she would tell me if she thought it was the right thing to do.

"It better be."

"You have other friends to talk to," I said, rolling my eyes at her melodrama.

A loud bang from the phone made me cringe. Wrens incessant chatting was already not good for my head. "But you're my best friend!"

Even though I knew she considered me her best friend, it still felt strange to hear.

"You have Ash!" I said cheerfully, but my words didn't brighten her mood any.

She groaned loudly. "He's driving me up the wall. Speaking of boys, Noah asked where you were. Should I be scared?"

I sat up in bed, forgetting for a moment about my throbbing temples. "He did?" I asked for confirmation, crossing my legs over each other.

"Yeah. I've been sitting with them at lunch, y'know? Although it's against my better judgement because Ash is getting more annoying day-by-day. I don't talk to Noah because he kind of  scares me still, Ivy is annoying as ever, Eli is a freak, and James barely talks. The only semi-fun one is Ash, imagine that," she sighed. "Shut up Ash, I'm talking to Winnie!" She yelled, causing me to pull the phone away from my ear due to the sheer volume of the reprimand.

"You're with them at lunch now?" I questioned, when the volume level felt safe enough.

"Sure am. The bell's going to ring soon though, so I have to go. Want me to come over after school and we can do something?"

I got up from my bed and shrugged on a sweatshirt. "No, I don't want to infect you with anything I might have."

"If you say so. Bye!"

"Bye," I said, waiting until I heard her hang up before tossing my phone onto my bed. I hadn't left my bed since I woke up this morning and I was starving.

I padded my way over to the stairs and jogged down then, jumping a foot in the air when I saw my mother at the bottom of them. She was clad in the same old uniform I always seemed to see her in nowadays, so I assumed she was about to leave for work. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow which I attempted to ignore. I started to walk past her to get to the kitchen but her voice stopped me.

"Are you going to be missing any more school Winnie?"

"No, today is the last day," I mumbled, feeling guilty somehow.

The clock ticked on the counter, the only noise in the otherwise silent room. The environment was cold, hostile, and unwelcoming. That was something I had grown used to at this point though.