Miss Make-Believe

Chapter 10

The week after my eye opening conversation with May was a drag because even though constant fear of my lies getting uncloaked was always settled in chest, I didn’t really talk to anyone. Suzanne tried speaking with me a couple of times. She approached me during some of our joint classes and apologised for her irrational accusations. She even promised not to repeat the mistake again. But I lent a deaf ear to all of it and rather asked of her to give me some time to process everything. Yes, I did want to process certain subjects in my head, but certainly not my friendship with her.  The excuse was just to suppress the guilt augmenting within my system day by day.

Talking about guilt, most of it made an appearance with the illuminating emergence of Manuel in front of my eyes. Also, his innocent smile, lustrous eyes and eloquence didn’t help me at all. Therefore, I avoided him as well. He invited me to his house more than a couple times but I declined politely each time saying that either my mother or my father needed me with something at home. Understanding wasn’t what I expected from him since I was his girlfriend. I wasn’t supposed to avoid him, rather spend as much as romantic moments with him as possible. But the boy showed me different levels of astonishment, each time I refuted his humble offer.

Speaking of offer; I hadn’t spoken to Noel also since the kiss. The collision of our gazes and paths was not less than awkward, to say the least. He put an effort to initiate a conversation with me but I always sprinted off or made an embarrassing excuse to use the restroom.

May and I have never been on talking terms as the history suggests. In fact, the first day of senior year was the very first time we spoke to each other. Or rather, exchanged insults with each other. So the certain piece of information that we didn’t speak and instead glared at each other everywhere and anywhere wasn’t a big shocker.

So wrapping the past week up, I guess it explains why high school was such a source of boredom for me with no person to talk with.

On the next Monday, I was officially tired of ignoring the world and holing up in a ground to get lost in oblivion. So I took a deep breath and walked up to Suzanne, who was sitting alone on one of the benches located outside the school building. She was going through some fashion magazine when I halted beside the edge of the bench and cleared my throat so as to hog some attention.

Sizing me up, Suzanne’s big eyes shone like diamonds and she immediately snapped the magazine close. “Hey!” Her greeting was timid. She was probably afraid that I was going to hurl an insult toward her and stroll away.

Unlike her weird imaginations, I smiled sweetly at her. “Hey, Suz!”

Suzanne slid her butt over the bench so as to provide me some space to sit on it. I complied with her silent proposition and decided to lay my cards right ahead, without any further delay. “I’m sorry, Suzanne!”

My best friend was astounded. “No, Tiny! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have doubted your feelings for Manuel. That was pretty rude of me and I want you to know that I’m totally convinced about your feelings for him now.” She placed her hand over mine which was placed on my lap and smiled reassuringly.

Relief flooded me. “You are?” The girl holding the outdated fashion magazine nodded.

I was maudlin in that second. Even after my lack of candour, she was willing to be my friend. Not that she knew about any of my dishonest tactics. I hugged Suzanne tightly and after a minute or two, pulled back. But the smile on my face died when my eyes witnessed a frown on hers. “What’s up?” I interrogated.

She shook her head, lost in thought. “I…Manuel told me that you’ve been avoiding him too.” I bit my lip and cursed Manuel silently. “He asked me to look into the matter.”