Echoes of Deception

ii. week 2

A week had passed since Matthew's first day. It was Monday again.
His sleep was disturbed by the vibrations his phone was emitting. His alarm. He didn't use a sound for his alarm since the vibrations were loud enough for him to stir and awaken. 
Bzz.. Bzz.. Bzz..
Matthew's first reaction was to bring his hands up, covering his ears. As he awoke, he was reintroduced to the various amalgamations of noise coming around him. He heard water running from his neighbor's houses, chirping of birds around the neighborhood, and the slight rush of wind hitting the side of the house and rustling through the tree leaves. Sleeping was so much more peaceful, though getting to sleep was a different story entirely.
A car starts, a woman who is jogging's music is heard for a few moments. This was Matthew's introduction back into the world of being awake every morning. Then, his phone dropped onto the floor, the vibrations having pushed it off of his nightstand. He sighed, reluctantly pushing himself up a bit and reaching down to pick up his phone, clicking 'Stop'. He couldn't stop his morning rather unfortunately even if he could stop his alarm. 
Matthew got up, took a shower, put in his small musician's earbuds, and head off to walk his way to the school. The closer he got, the more noise he could hear from it. The more cars he heard. The more irritated he felt.

He'd gotten familiar with the layout of the school, which item for lunch was the best one, and even was starting to form a routine.
He'd found his locker during this week even. As if he was being pushed closer to Max and Evalyna he'd gotten one just a few lockers down from the two of them. 8-6-2. In Matthew's previous school, there weren't lockers. It was an interesting change of pace, made him feel like he was in one of those tv-shows where everything about the high school experience was dramatized, where it actually looks fun. That starts with the locker, does it not?

Unfortunately, the lockers weren't where the dramatization ended. Normally, Matthew's inability to communicate with other people, or really his reluctance to, made people take a hint and let him keep to himself. However, Matthew seemed to have stumbled into a large coincidence. The two most stubborn people he think he'd ever encountered.

Max saw right through Matthew on the first day. Instead of detecting hostility, a bitterness, a reason to stay away from Matthew, Max encountered someone who just didn't like speaking. Who had high walls. Evalyna, originally reluctant to agree with Max, had ended up discovering through her research that Max was bitterly correct.
"I have a good radar for these things." Max shrugged, "It's his aura. I swear! He'll open up to us."
"What even is an aura?" Evalyna laughed in response, the two making their way over to their lockers. "Okay, okay, what's my aura?" Evalyna then smiled, changing the subject so that the two were not communicating at Matthew when he was, in their eyes, in earshot. She stood next to her locker as Max sighed and leaned against the lockers that were in between Evalyna's and Matthew's.
"Bitch.." Max then nodded after a second, looking over to Matthew, who looked blankly at the two of them. "Right?"
"I am not a bitch!" Evalyna countered, rolling her eyes. Matthew looked back into his locker, quiet.
Truthfully, Matthew was not looking at the two with a negative feeling, either. Maybe Max's aura-reading skills were transferring onto him. He'd overheard a lot of the two's communications, however. Just like the one about Matthew's aura. But throughout this past week, a lot more.
He learned that Evalyna did volleyball, which at times explained some of the bruises she had. She enjoyed volleyball, and got along well with her team, but seemed to host a facade at times. He learned this because his last period, Gym, had two sports teams in it so that they could utilize the time as practice and then a mix of other students who weren't in sports. The rivalry between the athletics and the non-athletics was interesting. It was girl's volleyball, and men's soccer. 
"That new kid is kind of cute, huh?!" He'd overheard one of the volleyball girls say, their conversation continuing.
"Matthew, right! I know! He's got such a mysterious vibe to him, too.."
"I think it's weird. I mean, it's only mysterious because he's attractive. If he were ugly, it'd be creepy."
"Ugh, who cares about all of that, seriously? Stop making everything a weird attractive privilege thing.. I think he's hot. Evaaaa, you spend so much time with him! Surely you know some deets."
"Nah," Evalyna had replied, "He's just quiet. Really smart, though."

The tides had changed, miraculously. Matthew wasn't weird for being quiet. He just was... It's a contrast to his old school, who'd known him since he was a kid. Who'd known him before he became so quiet.. Unfortunately, his old trick wasn't working anymore here. 
"Okay, if I were a bitch, then..!" Evalyna smirked, "Matthew, what'd you do this weekend?"
Matthew shrugged, setting the books he didn't need until after lunch into his locker. What did he do this weekend, actually? He thought for a moment. He laid in bed. He felt like he was rotting. His mom took him driving a little, for his permit. Then he rotted more.. He was on his phone.. TV? Homework.. Damn.. He really didn't do much, did he..?
Matthew frowned a bit, bringing a hand up to scratch his cheek a bit nervously. He should have more a life, he thought. Maybe he should read a book? 
Evalyna was silent for a bit, looking at Matthew. 
"See, that confirms you're a bitch." Max then said, "You just asked him a question and then made him nervous." 
"What?!" Evalyna frowned, "I was just trying to be nice, you douche.."
"Well," Max grinned, "I happily oblige to inform you both of my weekend. On Friday night, I went out with my family for dinner. Then on Saturday, I slept in and then went to my job as a waiter. Then on Sunday, I also waited some more tables, and then I crunched really hard to get all my assignments done. But oh my god, Sunday, this fucking huge bitch Karen lady demanded my manager after I told her I can't take a meal she ate already off of her bill.." He rolled his eyes.
"I don't know how you do it." Evalyna confessed, "I'd just stare at them like they were from a different planet. How have they even lived that long? Well, let's see.. On Friday, I got my assignments done. I then cleaned my room a bit, laundry day and stuff, and I read my books and stuff. On Saturday, I took my little brother to the tennis court and we played nitroball."
"Wait, what's nitroball?" Max frowned.
"Seriously? I've told you before.." Evalyna sighed, "It's like volleyball, but the net is lower and the ball has to touch the ground once."
"Like volleyball tennis?"
"Kind of, actually." Eva frowned, before then smiling. "Wait! I've got an idea. You guys should play nitroball with me! It'll be me versus you two."
Max groaned, "Exercise?!"
Eva giggled, "Listen, your road test is today, right? If you pass, you have to pick both of us up, and then we will go play nitroball to celebrate! And bring money. We can go get ice cream from the shop, I think they just opened since the weather is warming up a bit!"
Max smiled, "Okay. I do actually like this plan." He looked over at Matthew, "You free tonight?"

Matthew paused, thinking to himself. Then he frowned, looking to the two of them.
"I'm sorry." He said, "Tonight doesn't work for me.."

Evalyna sighed, "Well, that's okay. Some other time. But we should still celebrate, Max." She smiled.

Matthew shut his locker door, secluding once more to his thoughts. He thought it would be fun to go with them. In fact, a part of him did want to go. Logically, though, he knew it just wasn't a good idea.. He shouldn't. They're good people, but it was only a matter of time.
"See you in English." Matthew said, looking at the two before waving, walking off.
"Oh.. Bye!" Max said, "See you there."

Matthew retreated to the cafeteria. Good, breakfast was still being served. His mom had given him his allowance this morning for the food here, since his first week was free but no breakfast. However, now, he was able to spend his money how he wished, and he'd heard a few times that there was a specific thing they offered for breakfast.
Yes. A strawberry shortcake muffin. He smiled, picking it up and heading to the lunch lady, giving her a dollar as requested before making his way promptly to English.

He sat down, setting the muffin down on the desk. Just a few seconds after he sat the late bell rang. Just on time. 

Max, along with Eva, looked over at the desk and the muffin, thinking to themselves. They weaponized this information, glanced at each other, and formulated a plan.

"Good morning!" Mrs. Cohen said, yawning a bit as she leaned against the blank whiteboard and took a sip of her coffee. 
"What're we on.. Chapter.. six, today. The Cape. Excuse me, class, I am just.. exhausted today." She said, laughing a bit. She then made her way back to the computer. She played a song, initiated their five minute writing time that they did every Monday, and then assigned groups to share. 
"Let's see.. We'll do it in rows today. First row is group one, second row group two, so on and so forth. Have fun sharing!" She smiled.

The class stood up, making their way into their groups. Matthew walked over to Evalyna and Max, who managed to be in the same row, as well as three other classmates.
"Okayyyy.." A girl in their group spoke up. "I'll go first." She smiled.
"I wrote about my sister. She just turned one this weekend, annnd the song kind of reminded me of her." She said before reading off what she wrote. 
Mrs. Cohen, conveniently, walked over to their group to spy. She tried to do so in a non-conspicuous way.
Eva spoke next, Max after, and the two other classmates who hadn't shared went next. Then, they all looked at Matthew.
Matthew looked at them, then down at his notebook, quiet. If the teacher weren't there spying on him, he'd be okay, but.. Well, this was his first Monday. He didn't realize they were going to share. He was just going to write about anything, since he figured no one else would hear it..
"I wrote.." Matthew frowned, looking down at what he wrote. "I just wrote that I didn't like the song.. It was repetitive." He spoke, covering up what he really wrote about with something light-hearted.
Max gasped, "What! That song is a classic. How do you not like it?"
"I don't like it either," One of the classmates said, laughing a bit. "It's so feel-good."
Max sighed, shaking his head. "Nah.. I won't take this disrespect.." He smiled, looking at Evalyna, who shrugged.
"Well, it's not exactly my cup of tea, either..." She admitted.

Ms. Cohen returned to the desk, calling everyone back to sit down to discuss the sixth chapter of the book. During the discussion, Matthew took the final bite of his muffin and stood to head over to the classroom's trash can and put the wrapper into the trash and sit back down.

At Lunch that day, Matthew had  gotten his favorite item served by the cafeteria- a wrap with ham, cheese, and vegetables. He set his backpack down on the floor next to his chair, taking a seat as Max and Evalyna followed, sitting down as well. They were a bit behind Matthew, but due to their plan.
"Hey, Matthew. Look." Max then smirked as he picked up a strawberry ice cream cone, prepackaged in all of its glory, holding it up. As Matthew looked up, his eyes first glanced at Max, before it then quickly darted over to one of the most godly sights known to man- the ice cream cone. 
"For you." Max said, which resulted in a small light swirling around Matthew's eyes before he then held up a singular finger. "Only if you come with us tonight."
A devilish grin rolled over Evalyna's face as she added the final cherry on top, "And we will buy ice cream for you after the nitroball."
Matthew paused, analyzing, processing, and compartmentalizing all of the new information that was brought before him. Then, in a move showing both defeat and acceptance, he reached forward and took the ice cream cone.
"Yes!" Max then grinned, looking to Evalyna and giving her a high five. Evalyna giggled, "I knew it would work."

Unfortunately, Matthew had seen this coming already. While he didn't notice the glance they'd given each other in their first class, he did hear them discussing it when they presumed he wouldn't hear. Their slight whispers to each other in Chemistry, the further deliberation in History.. Matthew'd already thought through his options during these classes, weighed the pros and cons, and then applied the proper weight onto his list. It looked something like this..

Pros:
Free Ice Cream x50

Cons:
Socialization x4
Might say something awkward x6
Sunlight x2
Awkward (in general) x7
Noise x10

Simple Math- 50 outweighs 29. By a lot. So, taking that into account, he was beat. He tore the packaging and unveiled the ice cream cone, eating it prior to delving into his wrap. As the flavors wrapped around his tongue with his first lick, he was nothing but satisfied. Pure bliss. He sunk into his chair, his gaze focused solely on the cone as Max and Evalyna carried on with their conversation. 

Come 5pm, Matthew was already deeply regretting his decision, but then reconsidering his pros and cons list and trusting the scientific data. It would be worth it. During lunch, the three of them exchanged their phone numbers and Evalyna made a group chat for them. 

max
I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!! OMGGGGGGG

eva
yooo congrats!!!! im so proud of you!!!

eva
see you in 30 then ?!?!

max
yesss omgggg. matthew sent me his address so ill be at his soon aftr. be ready!!!! matthew n i r gonna CRUSH u