The Imposter

The Imposter | Chapter Seven [Tenacious]

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[Chapter Seven]

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tenacious \tuh-NEY-shuhs\

(adj.) not easily dispelled or discouraged; persisting in a course of action

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A week had gone by since I had talked to my parents about my stalker. Surprisingly enough, things had started to die down. Sure, I took extra precautions now, like hiding my car keys and letting my parents know where I was going and what I was doing, but it didn't matter because my clone had pretty much disappeared. I wasn't sure where she was, or what she was doing, and that scared me more than I wanted to think about because I knew that this reprieve was too good to be true. There was no way this peace would last. Eventually something would happen. And whatever it was...it wouldn't be good.

For example, Prom was coming up next weekend. My clone was bound to show up to that event and wreak havoc and I wasn't sure if I was ready for that cluster just yet. Plus, I still didn't have a date. Secretly, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to go, regardless of what Olivia thought.

Reese had already asked me. Twice. But I said no both times, eventually convincing him to ask Hannah since she really wanted to go with him. The jerk didn't even thank me. Whatever. Connor and Mark had both asked me too. Connor with red roses and Mark with that chalk stuff you can put on car windows. A couple days after that James tried his luck and asked me to Prom in the middle of class with a white rose and a teddy bear. I turned him down as gently as humanly possible, ignoring the heated glares from Olivia.

"You can't keep saying no to people who ask you to Prom," she protested at Andrew's locker the next morning, "pretty soon there will be no one left!"

"I didn't want to go with any of them," I argued, "Besides, they only wanted to go with me because I allegedly made out with them."

"You didn't make out with James," she pointed out quickly.

I frowned and crossed my arms, "His friends did. He would never have known I existed if not for his friends. I'm not looking for a quick hook up date to Prom, okay?"

Olivia looked to Andrew for help, but he was pretending to be completely engrossed in his locker contents at the moment. "Ugh," she growled. "You're being so stubborn. The next person that asks you, you have to say yes to, okay?" She stared intently at me, waiting for my reply. I knew if I didn't agree with her she would continue to bother me.

"Fine," I sighed. "Next person that asks me I'll go with." Olivia clapped her hands excitedly and linked her arm with Andrew's. I shook my head in disbelief and walked away to my locker, praying that whoever it was wouldn't make me want to kill myself.

Grabbing my books from my locker I made my way to class, secretly hoping everyone would avoid me. I was so afraid that someone would open their mouth and ask me to Prom. Actually, if Olivia wasn't around, I didn't necessarily have to say yes. But I knew that I'd feel so damn guilty for lying to her about it later. Ugh, stupid high school drama.

"Hey Dayna!" Connor called when I entered class. I waved at him and quickly sat down in my seat, ignoring him. He came over to my desk and sat down on the table, grinning at me. "What's up?"

"Oh nothing," I said casually, "I'm just a little sick. I think I might have mono." I coughed weakly and smiled at him.

"Oh," he said awkwardly, slowly removing himself from my desk, "that really sucks...uh, well hope you get better soon!" With that, he was turning around and heading back to his seat. I gave an inward sigh of relief and rested my head in my hands. That was a close call. All I had to do was make up excuses before anyone asked me, and then I'd be free from crappy Prom dates.