Hidden and Silent (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 22: Part Six

When did he become so bad at lying? Demetrius was usually so good at it.

"Um. . ." Robert interjected to his right with a look on his face that screamed awkward concern. "Are you sure?"

Demetrius scoffed. "Of course I am. Why do you keep asking me that?"

Fallon answered for Robert where she sat on Violet's right. "Demetrius." Her voice lowered as she leaned just a tiny bit his way. "Your hand is shaking."

His gaze snapped to his hand, immediately and reflexively dropping the utensil and hiding the hand under the table before they realized it was more than his tight grip that caused it. This was obviously the wrong move as they shared another glance.

"And you've kinda been making the whole bench vibrate all through lunch." Robert added quietly with a glance to Demetrius' jumpy leg which stopped the moment it was pointed out.

Well, crap.

Demetrius couldn't have them knowing he was stressed out. That led to a whole can of worms that he was pretty sure would bite them and him if it was opened. No. Not worms. Snakes. Snakes with fangs and venom and a tail that would wrap around his neck and kill him after he was paralyzed by said venom and strangled to death when he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

He took a breath.

It was fine. Itwasfineitwasfineitwasfineitwasfine. Just because they knew something was off, didn't mean they would ever figure out why. They wouldn't ever think to go prying into things beyond asking Demetrius about it and it's not like he would say anything. They wouldn't—they couldn't—know, there was no reason they'd alert Donovan that Demetrius was being weird and make things worse and have him pulled out of school and never see the light of day again until who-knew-when before he ruined the family's perfect image and he'd lose his chance to rescue himself and the kids before he even got to do anything!.

It was fine.

Itwasfineitwasfineitwasfineitwasfineitwasfineitwasfineitwasfine.

"Just a little hyped up on coffee, I guess." He said with another laugh. Another one. Demetrius doesn't laugh this much. Ever. Or at least around them. He just doesn't.

The worry deepened further in the others' minds.

Oh, just freakin' fantastic!

"You don't like coffee." Kira—the short brunette on his left—said with quiet surety.

Since when did she know that?! Sure, they had known each other for years, but he doesn't talk about himself all that much!

Demetrius shrugged. "I was tired."

"You were. . .smiling." Killian frowned at the weird sentence.

"And laughing." Violet added slowly, a similar expression as Killian's on her face.

"You've been weird all day." Fallon summed up. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Demetrius didn't like this.

"So, C'mon. What's going on?" Violet insisted. "Did something happen?"

Demetrius gave an exasperated sigh. "No." He was just glad he wasn't laughing it off again.

That just felt weird.

"Well, what is it then?" Killian said on Violet's left. "It's not school-related." He said it so decidedly and Demetrius had to admit that if he'd tried to use that as an excuse, it really just wouldn't be believable. He excelled at school, the teachers loved him, and nothing in school ever stressed him out like this. It just. Didn't. Happen.

"There's is nothing." Demetrius emphasized even if they didn't seem to be listening.

Fallon glanced around vigilantly before asking, "Is. . .everything okay at home?" Fallon spoke uncertainly in a near whisper and Demetrius called up every bit of self-control he had to stop himself from reacting.

"What?" He laughed again and cursed himself. So much for self-control. "No. Everything's fine."

This did not seem to make any of them feel better.

"Wait, what?!" Robert hissed quietly, making Demetrius' heart jump. "But I thought your family all got along?!"

No, no, no, no. This was not going how Demetrius wanted! What was wrong with him?! He could lie better than this! Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap! Screw trying to keep up appearances! He shoulda just avoided them all no matter what! This was going to ruin everything!

It seemed all they heard from Demetrius' reaction was: 'LIE! THIS IS A LIE! I AM LYING TO YOU!', because everyone's brows raised. Demetrius instinctively leaned back off the table as Killian leaned forward to speak softly. "Really?! It's not anything serious is it?!"

Demetrius huffed in annoyance and hated the little waver at the end. Maybe no one noticed. "Everything's fine. Seriously. You're making something out of nothing."

Demetrius was getting very irritated with all the looks and glances his group kept exchanging when they did it again, except now they were all loaded with deep, urgent worry.

Demetrius' stomach was in his throat again.

No. No. This was bad. Very, very bad. The agents were watching him. And the people around him looked so obviously and terribly concerned.

His father would know he was failing.