What It Means to be a Liar

chapter one: jade

Jade was up early for once in her life. Memories of the late night party, and champagne from the previous night made her ponder.

She enjoys how they make her feel. How the spotlight makes her feel. Being the center of attention felt amazing to her, and she greatly appreciated it. During the previous party, she did something unforgivable, however. She collided with the person her best friend was infatuated with. This was all before the champagne, of course. She would never make a drunk mistake, but she would make a sober one. The simple betrayal was enough for the entire school to hate her, so she had decided no one was to know. She knew she should tell her friend, but it would be social suicide because, at the end of the day, everyone cares about your wrongdoings. Even if it was none of their fucking business. No one at this school was nice enough to simply ignore a disturbance such as this.

After contemplating her options, she decided it was best to just get around, and move on with her semi-wonderful life. She would not commit such a mistake again, so what was the point in being upset about it, besides betraying a person you genuinely love because you were simply feeling a bit of lust.

Her straight, pale blonde hair falls a little under her shoulders. She made sure to use her special spray for her hair. It smelled like lavender, one of her favorite scents. Her hair had always been something important to her. Even though it was a surface level thing to care about, she enjoyed being pretty. This is due to the way her mother had raised her. Delicate and gentle. Yet, she only now cares about her appearance because she enjoys being pretty.

Every morning, she would go through her routine. Using products to make sure she had the glass skin she loved. After her normal routine was done, she would make sure to carefully put on her heart locket, which always seemed to complete her outfits.

Since she attended a boarding school, she never had to worry about driving. Sure, the walk was quite annoying, however, there were worse things to complain about. She was fortunate enough to attend such a school, in the first place.

They were currently attending a private school for the rich and privileged, promptly located in Northern Washington. Surrounded in beautiful gardens, as well as an entire golf course, football field, tennis court, and an outdoor swimming pool.

As she roams the halls, tote bag and all, a boy stops her in her path, a boy with tan skin and messy black hair. This boy was most definitely not random. "We need to talk, Jade," he starts. She had just thought about never thinking about this ever again. It was not good.

As the boy rambles, people start staring. It was an uncomfortable stare. She hurriedly looked around to see if her friend was near. This occurrence was definitely going to spark rumors. The two were already established as pretty close friends, however, it was weird that he was speaking so awkwardly. She grabs the boys hand, and drags him to an empty hallway.

Jade wonders how to begin, yet she cannot quite think of what to say. It was obvious that they could never do what they did again, however, she didn't want to say it meant nothing to her. It would simply be rude.

"Listen, Indra. It cannot happen again," Jade states firmly.

"I know, I just wanted to clear the air... I don't know what to tell Avery. I fucked up. We fucked up," He continues to ramble.

"Indra, let's just leave it. We will never do it again, and never talk about it again. It never happened, okay? I don't want to hurt Avery, so let's just never talk about this again. She is my best friend, and I betrayed her because I was simply feeling a bit of lust. I think I am more than fucked up," 

"I am fucked up, too. I am gonna break up with her, like I should have done before we had sex last night," 

Jade's mouth drops, she realizes that he wanted right then and there that maybe he had been planning to try and be with her before they had sex. It was never going to happen.

"No, Indra. Stay with her. It didn't happen, and it is never happening again. I shouldn't have risked it in the first place. I have AP Art, I've got to go,"

Jade grabs her tote bag, and runs off to class before Indra could even try to stop her. 

As the day goes on, Jade grows more and more weary. She worries that Indra will tell Avery about everything. She knows she should come clean, as it is better for her to say something, rather than someone else doing it, but that was unlikely to happen. The anxiety was seriously starting to get to her. It was not great.

A girl with a short black bob walked up to Jade, her smile was filled with eagerness, "Hey, Jade!"

Jade gave her a confused look, "Hi?"

The girl grew more nervous after the indifferent response, "Uhm, is there anyway you could sign this petition. It's, uh, to advocate against climate change!" 

A boy from the distance yells at her, "Mia, doesn't your dad own a line of car dealerships?" He laughed as he said the statement, and even Jade couldn't hold a chuckle back.

Mia's face grew extremely red, "I am not my father!" she reluctantly says.

A voice interrupts the conversation, "I'll sign it," 

Jade was unhappy to see Indra. The boy she really didn't want to see. 

Mia was happy to see that someone cared about the issues with the environment. 

Jade started to walk off, and Indra grabbed her wrist. He quickly let go, "Sorry, I shouldn't have grabbed you just like that, but why would you laugh at that girl. It wasn't right,"

"Indra, don't act like a saint," Jade says quickly.

"Yeah, I fucked you while I have a girlfriend, but I am at least decent enough to not laugh at others, and embarrass them,"

Jade rolls her eyes, "Indra, shut the hell up. We both are awful, accept it. Stop trying to make me out to be worse than you, when we are both shitty," 

A girl with long black hair and tan skin quickly entered the picture, everything got awkward very quickly.

"Hey, Avery," Jade laughs sheepishly. 

Avery walks over to Jade and gives her a long hug. Jade couldn't help feeling guilty, I mean, who wouldn't after sleeping with the boyfriend of the girl your hugging. Most people would feel pretty fucking bad.

After she released Jade from the hug, she went over to Indra and kissed him on the cheek. He was staring at Jade the entire time.

Jade quickly comes up with an excuse and says, "I have to get to class, wanna come over after last period for wine? Last time I went out, I snuck it out,"

"Of course!" Avery starts, "Indra and I will be there," she winks. Indra awkwardly looks at me. Maybe we would be okay.

As soon as Jade makes it to her mailbox, she realizes that there is a note inside, and as soon as she reads it, she realizes that she is fucked. At least Avery was a cheater, it brought a bit of solidarity.