How Not to Fall In Love

Chapter 35

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Since we were already going to be late for school, I got us coffee at a cafe nearby. Deep down, I knew I was stalling on getting to school. As soon as I parked the car, I flipped down the visor and checked my lip and right eye. The right side of my mouth wasn't as swollen, but enough you could tell something had happened, and my eye was starting to swell now. I flipped it back up and took a drink of my iced latte. I looked toward the school, knowing I had to go in because I couldn't sit out here all day. Jules squeezed my hand, grabbed her stuff, and exited the car, leaving her empty cup in the cupholder so we wouldn't get in trouble. I took one last drink of my latte and exited the car. I dreaded entering the office, hoping no one would notice my lip and eye. I asked Jules what would be a convincing lie if, by some chance, they did ask what happened. She grabbed my arm, stopping me right before we reached the school doors. 

"Let me take a look at your lip and eye." She said, turning my chin toward her. "Well, they are both on the right side of your face, so we could say you got hit by a door." She shrugged. 

"A door..." I turned my head, looking at the school, wondering who in there would be dumb enough to believe that lie, and then looked back over at her. 

"What?" She raised an eyebrow. "You got a better idea?" She tugged on my arm. 

I sighed as I followed close behind her, keeping my head down so my hair would fall ever so slightly over my face, hiding my eye and mouth. Of course, I knew it wouldn't hide them all the way, but maybe enough people wouldn't notice them immediately. Jules walked into the office first, went up to the front counter, and started speaking to the nosiest secretary in the office, Mrs. Frazier. She had to pry her nose into everything, then blab it to the principal. I peeked over Jules's shoulder and saw Mrs. Frazier's brown hair, and her brown eyes quickly flashed over to mine before I could duck back behind Jules. I sighed, knowing that the questions would start at any minute. 

"Rylee, why are you hiding behind your sister?" Mrs. Frazier asked, peeking over Jules's shoulder. 

"I'm not hiding behind her," I said, raising my head enough to see Mrs. Frazier's eyes staring at me. 

"Rylee, I need you to step out from behind your sister. Now. Do I need to get Mr. Deering?" I could hear her tap her fingernails on the counter. 

I sighed and stepped to the right, keeping the right side of my face away from her. "Mrs. Frazier, we really need to get to our classes, seeing we're already late this morning." I hurried up and threw that out before she could say anything else. She glanced at us, reached for a pen, and started scribbling on the pink late pass pad. She handed each a pass with a raised eyebrow. 

"I don't know what you two are hiding, but I'm going to find out what it is and let Mr. Deering know." She pressed her lips together. 

I ripped the pass out of her long, skinny fingers and glared at her, thinking she would never find out. I turned and started to follow Jules out of the office. Just as I was about to close the door behind me, Mrs. Frazier said again she'd find out what I was hiding. 

"No, you won't." I closed the door behind me. 

As I headed to my locker, the bell rang, the classroom doors flew open, and hallways flooded with kids running to their lockers or the next class. When I rounded the last corner, I could see Cole leaning against my locker, with one hand in the pocket of his jeans and the other holding his phone. He glanced at his phone in between watching the kids pass by. I stood there, staring at him, knowing I'd have to tell him the truth about my lip and eye. The longer I stood there, the faster my heart raced just thinking about it. Then, before I could give myself a quick pep talk, he saw me, shoved his phone into his pocket, and hurried over to me. 

"Rylee! What..." He stared at my lip. 

"Don't ask." I sighed, walking past him to my locker. 

"Let me guess; your dad came home unexpectedly?" He moved the hair away from the right side of my face as I tried opening my locker. "Rylee, you've got to tell someone before he puts you in the hospital." He lowered my hair back down, fixing it so it would cover my face somewhat. He wrapped his arm around me, hugging me, letting me know he was there for me. All I wanted to do was turn and bury my head in his chest and cry, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stop crying once I started. "We need to get going to class. When we get in there, just keep your head down part way so it doesn't look suspicious." Cole closed my locker door and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked down the hall toward English class. 

"Is my lip that noticeable?" I asked, raising my hand to my lip. 

Cole lowered his head. "Well..." His drifted down to my fat lip. 

I winced when I barely patted my lip. "It's swelling more, and I can't go to the nurse and ask for ice because she'll want to know what happened. What am I going to do?" 

"You just have to try and make it until lunch, and I'll get you some ice then. I still say you need to get away from your dad, Rylee, before he puts you in the hospital. I'm going to go into the room first, and you follow in close behind me. Remember, don't put your head down all the way." He let go of me and started to walk into the classroom. I did what Cole said and stayed close behind him, walking into the classroom and peeking around him to see if anyone was paying attention to me. Everyone was in their seats, talking to the person next to them or behind, not really paying attention to what was happening. The real test was making it through class, not having Mrs. Hart ask me what had happened to my lip. Mrs. Hart was one of my favorite teachers, and I knew I couldn't lie to her. I sat down in my seat and kept my hair down to where it covered most of my eye. 

"Morning. Everyone take out your books and turn to page eighty-four," Mrs. Hart said, walking to her desk as her flats clicked across the tile floor. She took off her cardigan and draped it over her chair. She grabbed the dry-erase marker and started writing notes on the board, talking about the lesson for the day. I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, knowing that I'd be able to relax and not worry about having to lie to her about my eye or lip. 

"Are you doing okay?" Cole whispered, leaning over his desk, keeping his eyes toward the front of the class. 

"Yeah..." I whispered, touching the right side of my face. I glanced at the clock and noticed the bell would ring within eight minutes. And I started to gather up my things so I could be one of the first ones out the door. 

"We'll do the same thing as we did walking into class, okay?" Cole said, putting his book in his backpack. 

The bell rang, and I jumped out of my seat and followed Cole out of the classroom. Now, I just hoped the rest of the day would be that easy.