young lies

chapter twenty - look at me

*this chapter is the thompson families point of view of the morning leading up to the meeting riley.

as landon approaches the school district, he feels himself slightly dragging his feet. the tight feeling in his shoulders and the dulling, but all to sharp, pain in his chest has resonated in him since he left bexley's room the previous night.

not only has he physically felt dispirited but his mind has been whirling, thinking of every moment he's spent with the girl. every time she easily raised her voice when they called her false name in attendance and every time she introduced her disguise to someone plays like a movie on repeat in the boys brain.

it's not that he doesn't trust the girl, but his mind spins questioning her.

however, no matter how much questions his mind creates, what he told her was true, he understands why she and nick felt the need to lie. although, something in him feels pained he had to mistake her birthday for her to admit it to him.

he lets out a deep sigh when the school's entrance ends up in front of him. however, he decides to take a detour as he sees a group of his friends, needing a distraction.

behind the boy follows molly and nick who halt their steps in the middle of the sidewalk, a few steps from the door.

"-factory farming is being protected by big argo." molly huffs.

"boom! double truth bomb." nick says with a laugh.

"right? the volunteer squad will have to vote for our cause." molly states, leaning forward.

nick nods her head. "we got this, roomie." she grins as she hold her fist up which is quickly knocked with molly's.

they both laugh, attention moving to their own things. molly focuses on getting something from her backpack as nick looks in the distance with a tense expression. as molly raises her head away from her bag, she brings a white paper to nicks vision, to which nick nods absentmindedly to.

not noticing nicks lack of attention, molly continues to present the information from the page. however, nicks voice cuts her off abruptly. "oh, i'm getting a call." she says as she pulls her phone out and looking at it quickly. "its dorothy. you go ahead." she lightly pushes molly away, causing her brows to furrow slightly.

she covers it with a smile and a nod. "oh, ok. see you in third period." after she receives a thumbs up from nick she spins around and briefly chats with a group of students before entering the building.

at this point, landon had also already gone inside the school and jeremy was the last remaining thompson child in the yard. he sits on a concrete bench as he watches his new roommate's interact with an unfamiliar girl. his suspicions raise as he looks at the trio, curious on what they were up too. when the group hurries out of the courtyard, he takes the opportunity to investigate the two girls as he wants answers to their behaviour and proof, for his family, that they, in fact, can not be trusted. he stands and throws his bag over his shoulder, following after them.

his receding figure is followed, but unnoticed, by his parents approaching the school's entrance.

the adults arrive to their destination quickly, sitting down in the two cushioned chairs across the desk from the guidance counselor.

"so, we were a little surprised to get your call." ed starts as he folds his fingers together in front of him.

his wife nods in agreement. "yeah, what's with all the secrecy? why couldn't we tell nick and bex we were meeting with you?" she questions.

"sorry for all the cloak and dagger." the counselor sighs before he continues. "i just didn't want the girls to think they were in trouble."