Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Would I Lie To You?"

The next morning, I woke up with my arms folded on the edge of the bed, exactly as I had been sitting the night before. Well, I guess that was one way to do it... I remembered the rest of my weird night, and after rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I left my room. I could hear the others in the kitchen, but I headed out the front door and to the mailbox out front. The ID card was gone when I looked inside, and was replaced with a folded piece of paper.

I unfolded it and smoothed out the wrinkles before reading it. It was Arjun's handwriting, and all it said was "thanks". Good grief! That's all he had to say to me? Rolling my eyes, I folded it back up and stuck it in my front pocket before wheeling myself back inside. This was just getting more and more ridiculous...how did he expect me to act normal in front of his mom with all this going on?

"There you are," Ms. Harlow said when I got to the kitchen. She was setting down a plate of pancakes. "I invited your mother over for breakfast, like you mentioned."

I raised my eyebrows. Right...I'd forgotten I even said anything about that a few days ago.

"I hope that's not a problem," she continued, frowning slightly.

"Oh, no, it's fine." In fact, I sighed with relief. Maybe this would distract me from Arjun. But I couldn't be that lucky.

"Ajrun's staying with a friend for a few days," Ms. Harlow said as soon as I had the thought, like she could read my mind. Man...I hope she couldn't read my mind.

I didn't say anything. I didn't trust my voice not to give the lies away. Luckily, Keto and Veronica came to change the subject.

"Finally, you're awake, sleepyhead!" Veronica said.

Keto gave me an odd look, like he was trying to figure something out. I wondered if he thought last night's events were a dream, or if he remembered it clearly. I just hoped he didn't say anything about it.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I exchanged a look at the others, then sighed as I went to get it. Things had been much better between me and my mother, but it was still nerve wracking to see her sometimes. Especially since her illness was taking its toll. I opened the door, plastering a smile on my face. "Hey," I said a little shyly.

My mother, her hair cut short, smiled at me. "Good morning, Randall."

I let her in and led her to the kitchen, where we all gathered at the table. "Ah, Madison!" Ms. Harlow said, and the two hugged. I wasn't the only one learning to get along with my mother, and it made me smile. "Sit! Go ahead and get some food!" Ms. Harlow disappeared back into the kitchen to bring out a bowl of fruit, then we all sat down to eat.

Geez, if Arjun could just stop messing around, it could have been enjoyable. It was all I could do not to yell out the truth the entire time we ate, so I mostly stayed quiet. I just hoped they would trace my silence to the anxiety I'd been feeling lately. I was amazed Arjun trusted me with all this stuff considering my horrendous lying abilities.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for breakfast to end. I left with the excuse that I had to get some homework done, but as soon as I was in my room with the door shut, I tried calling Arjun. It went to voicemail three times before I finally hurled my phone at the bed. "Why are you doing this to me?!" I cried. I buried my face in my hands and tried to calm down, and a moment later, someone knocked on my door.

"Randall? Everything okay?" Keto's muffled voice came through the door. Great.

"Yeah, just peachy," I said, but I knew he heard the grumble in my voice.

Without asking for permission, he opened the door. "Can you tell me what happened last night, or did I really just dream up the floor board under Arjun's bed? What's going on?" He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me.

"It's not for me to tell," I blurted out before I could feign ignorance and agree that he just had a really weird dream.

"Then something is going on?"

I waved my hand at him to get out. "I just said it's not for me to tell! If you want answers, talk to Arjun." I rolled to the bed and reached to grab my phone. "Now I really need to do homework, so..."

He threw his hands up. "You can't just leave me hanging like that!"

Believe me, I thought. I'd tell you everything if I could.

"So?"

"So what?" I said. "I'm not talking."

Keto rolled his eyes. "You and Arjun are really annoying sometimes." Huffing in annoyance, he finally left me alone.

I stared at the door for a few minutes and wondered what I should do next. When nothing came to mind, I sent Arjun a text telling him to call me when he gets a chance, and left it at that.

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Thanks for reading!

Listen to "Would I Lie To You?" by the Eurythmics!

Peace✌️~ A.J.