Taken (editing)

Chapter 11

The familiar curly haired boy freezes In his tracks on seeing us. Seconds pass as the awkward tensed air fills the room, and before I know it, I hear him curse "shit" while running his hands through his hair, and turning back, and walking out the door in the same hurried way that he walked in.

Liam clenches his fists and for the second time today, I see the livid rush of anger on his face. Why did he come back? And why did he look like he wanted to say something? Maybe if he had stayed and tried to apologize, I would've given him a piece of my mind.

But wait who am I kidding? The Harry styles and apologizing to me? Apologizing for the bullying? That heartless bastard?

No way, my subconscious mocks me.

I immediately grab Liam's wrists as he moves forward, for I clearly know he would end up following him. Despite everything that had happened, I didn't want Liam to get into this.

"Liam no" I say, hoping he'll remember what I said, a while back. "Not today"

"I'm not listening to you the next time" he sighs, and I quietly agree. We walk downstairs, well, I limped, thanks to my knee, neither of us talking or acknowledging any event that had happened and I was glad that it was a peaceful silence and not an awkward one. As we cross the school gates, I see a black Volkswagen parked at a distance from us.

"That's our ride" Liam casually says, before telling me that he might be getting a new car for his eighteenth, and also earning a "lucky bastard" from me. As we near the car, the air filling with our nonsensical talk, a woman with light blonde hair walks out from the driver's seat and a grin immediately spreads on my face as I recognize her.

"Jessica? My lord look at you" she says, a wide smile on her face, her chocolate brown eyes filled with warmth. "You've grown so much, dear, you look lovely" She says, a small crease forming between her eyebrows as she questions about my knee and me and Liam both dismiss it, blaming it on my apparent "clumsiness"

"Well, get in the car both of you, you must've had a long day" she says and we get in, me and Liam still teasing and talking about stuff. Liam's mum attempted at small talk, asking Liam how his first day was and everything, amidst our chatter. The radio turns on, and I become silent for a while, slowly humming along to my favourite song, also noticing the fact that Liam's mum was humming along as well. After a few typical pop songs, and Liam's feeble attempts at changing the radio station because he thought "pop was shit", we had reached my place.

"Thank you so much for the ride" I say as I get out of the car, before realizing how rude it would be if I didn't invite them in. "Say, come in for tea"

"Oh honey I'd love to, but-"

"Uh no excuses" I interrupt, and they accept the offer and Liam's mum gets out the car, Liam following her, but staying by my side, an arm slung across my shoulder, offering me help. The three of us walk towards the door, and Liam's mum rings the doorbell. There is no response from the other side and I knock once more, only to find the same thing happen. "Maybe mum's not home" I mumble to myself and begin fumbling my bag for keys but almost immediately the door opens and we are greeted with the sight of my mum in a cooking apron, bits of flour in her hair, a wooden spoon in one hand and a cookbook in another, a confused expression on her face.

"Kathryn?"

"Juliana" Liam's mum says, before stepping in and hugging her friend. I smile and so does Liam as we watch our mum's bond over their years of friendship.

"How many years has it been Juliana?" Liam's mum says, her tone full of remembrance. "You haven't changed at all"

"Neither have you" My mum's reply was curt, making me frown a little but she instantly puts on a small smile before saying "well, come In everyone"

Liam and I walk towards the coach, comfortably seating ourselves in, and already turning on the tv and chatting, like the lazy arse teenagers we were.

"Your house looks beautiful" Liam's mum says "What happened to the old house, Juliana?"

"Um, we sold that" My mum replies and despite being occupied watching the tv, I still recognize the sadness in her tone. It was quite weird, really. Isn't she happy on seeing her friend?

"Oh" Liam's mum manages to say.

"Well you guys stay here, I'll get you some tea and onion rings" she says and Liam's mum offers to help, but my mum is quick to decline, before walking towards the kitchen.

"Is everything okay in the house Jess?" Liam's mum asks and I nod, just as confused as her over my mum's behavior. Liam and his mum make small talk as I offer to bring in some snacks from the fridge. I limp to the kitchen and I'm about to open the fridge as I hear a sobbing noise. My head turns to the side to face mum, who's back is towards me.

"Mum?"

"What?" she says, without facing me.

"Mum are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?" she still doesn't turn back.

"Mum look at me" I force her into turning back, only to see tear stained cheeks and red eyes, earning a gasp from me.

"Oh, it's just the onions" she dismisses, and I scoff. "Honey, it's the onions" she says, and It seemed as if she was convincing herself of that, rather than me. "Anyway what in the world happened to your knee?"

I roll my eyes at the amount of times ive been asked this question today "Uh I fell down the stairs" I quickly reply after grabbing a packed of Doritos and a bottle of orange juice as she comments on me being clumsy before returning back to her previous activity. And as I limp towards the hall, there is only one question prodding my mind.

Why was she lying?