Secrets And Lies

Chapter 13: Crepe Suzette

Ryan

        Thanks to another nightmare plagued night, I am exhausted. I hadn't been able to go to sleep for hours. Every time I closed my eyes, I knew I would be back in that suffocating room with a faceless shadow. When I lost the fight with my drooping eyelids, I ended up sleeping through my alarm. By the time I got out of bed, I only had fifteen minutes until my first class. I skipped my usual morning shower, threw on my grey joggers, t-shirt and hoodie. I only had time to pull my hair into a messy bun on top of my head. I shoved a protein bar in my mouth while tying my black Nikes. I ran outside.

      Quade, who already left, leaving me no choice but to drive. Thankfully I stayed on the right side of the road this time.

The day passed by at a sluggish pace, marching how I felt.

        I couldn't wait until I could go to sleep. I had fought the urge to fall asleep in all of my classes. Just as I would get to the point where my eyes closed, I'd have that dream where I fell off a cliff and startle awake. During lunch, I opted out of eating in favor of curling up in the back seat of my jeep.

       In study hall, I took another nap. I fell asleep with my head on the edge of the table, a book in my lap pretending to read. Quade saw this as an opportunity to give me a curly mustache in blue ink. I don't even know how he managed that since my face was down. I walked around like that until Foster enlightened me on my brother's artwork on the way to sixth period. Having kissed and made up, he and Axel were sent to the principal's office five minutes into study hall for throwing a football up and down the non-fiction aisle.

     It took so long to scrub the ink off my face that I was ten minutes late. I don't even know why I bothered. I just replaced the thin blue lines with two thick red ones.

I covered another yawn as I flipped through yet another book on French cuisine.

       "What about this one?" Axel handed me a piece of paper, still warm from the copier. "What happened to your face?" He asked, trying not to laugh. I know I said I wanted civility, but this was more than a little weird.

       "Quade." I scowled, looking over the recipe. "Crepe Suzette?"

       "Yeah. Our housekeeper used to make it all the time." I'll have her make some when you and Bre come over."

      I glanced up at him, confused. He was under the impression that I was going to his house? "What are you talking about?"

       "You and Bre are going to be coming to my house after school."

       "Since when?"

      "Did you not get my text during lunch? I texted you to see if you were cool with it since we have to work on it on our own time. I figured it was a logical step."

       I glanced at my phone and saw that I did have a text from an unknown number. "I was sleeping..." I explained. I opened the text.

       *unknown number*

WRK ON PRJT AT MY HOUSE AFTER SCHOOL?

      "How did you even get my number?" I asked, adding his number to my contacts.

       He shrugged. "You weren't at lunch to talk about it, so Foster helped me out."

       "Fine." I didn't want to be anywhere other than my bed, but putting it off would just leave it for another day.

       I wasn't exactly thrilled to be spending even more time with Bre, who was God knows where. I didn't want her in my house, so Axel's was the better choice.