The Lying Serpent

Chapter Seventeen: Dubbed a Bitch

Night had fallen, I could see the stars through my window. It looked so beautiful, all of them glimmering together. Maybe that's what made me do it. I don't know what it was exactly, but despite the emptiness inside of me, I felt the need to breathe in the charged night air.

After putting on my coat and boots, I crept down the stairs, careful not to make a noise. Tommy was in his room, already asleep. I snatched my keys off the hook in the kitchen, then made my way to the wooden front door. I quietly swung it open, and was greeted with a burst of cold air. The nights were getting colder, as we delved into the middle of fall.

I sat cross-legged on the grass, craning my head up to watch the stars as they shimmered in the sky. And as my eyes watered and the stars blurred to bright spots, my shoulders shook with silent tears.

Soon enough my eyes squeezed shut with pain and I lost myself in my messed-up mind.

~~~

Dim sunlight hit my face, the light waning in the fall weather. "Thought we'd find you here."

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice still groggy, my tired mind only registering seven hazy forms surrounding me. Slowly, my vision cleared, and the hazy figures sharpened into the figures of Nita, Lissie, Ley, Tommy, Jacko, Sam and Taylor.

"We could ask you the same thing! You didn't reply to any of our texts regarding the post. Tommy called me up wondering whether you were with me! He said he was at a late night study group because he forgot about some stupid assignment, but you didn't answer his calls! And then, I called up everyone else, I even called Ryan! No one knew where you were, and you weren't answering your phone. Tommy's been calling me all night, worrying about you!!" Nita rambled on.

Oops.

"I'm sorry for worrying you all, really. I left my phone in my room and I just needed to clear my head. Anyway, why'd you all have to come? Wouldn't one of you guys have been enough?"

"Well, this is my home," Tommy smirked. His expression sobered as he said, "You didn't think we wouldn't be worried about you, did you? None of these guys would be happy to sit at home twiddling their thumbs."

"Thanks guys, but what took you all so long to find me? I was literally right here." I mean, they're smart enough to know to check my house first, right?

"Ummm....I might have fallen asleep straight after calling you? I called you at 10pm, then fell asleep. At 4am I woke up again and saw that you hadn't replied so I freaked out and asked all your friends if they knew where you were." I rolled my eyes at Tommy. Did he even get any work done?

"Linda, you wanna come over for a movie marathon? Might help take your mind off things," Lissie suggested, steering the subject away from my brother's stupidity.

"Can I change first?"

"Of course you can! Do you really think we wanna sit with you for hours when you're smelling like that?"

"Oh shut up," I grumbled, getting up and hitting her playfully on the shoulder.

~~~

My eyes were glued to the TV screen as I reached over and whacked Taylor on the shoulder.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?" he exclaimed, rubbing his arm. I rolled my eyes. As if I hit him that hard.

"I'm trying to watch the movie, but you're talking over it!" I hissed.

"I'm only talking cause it's a dumb movie. Who even agreed to watching this?"

"I'll have you know that Love, Actually is an amazing movie! And I got to pick the movie because this whole thing is to cheer me up. Geez, Taylor."

"Yeah, whatever. We get to vote on the next movie though, ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, just shut up, I'm trying to watch."

After only five minutes of watching, my phone rung.

"Are you serious? Why doesn't the universe understand I'm trying to watch one of the best movies of all time?" I groaned.

I unplugged my phone from the charger Lissie lent me, and stood up.

"Hurry up and answer the fucking phone Linda! It's drowning out the TV," Taylor yelled.

"I thought you didn't like the movie," I smirked.

"It's better than listening to your phone. Fucking answer it, don't just stand there!"

"Ok, ok, I'm going!" Rushing out of the lounge, I pressed the answer button and held the phone to my ear. I entered the grey schemed kitchen, resting my elbows on the marble countertop while sitting on a black stool.

"What is it?" I grumbled.

"I just wanted to know if you were ok, you know that you weren't kidnapped or anything," Ryan replied, sounding unusual. He sounded annoyed and mad, maybe even disappointed. I couldn't understand why he would be feeling all these things.

"Are you ok, Ryan? I'm fine, by the way, but you seem...mad. What happened?"

"Nothing. I gotta go Melinda, bye."

"Wait, wha-"

Before I could finish my question, he hung up, leaving me confounded. What on Earth had just happened?

I sat on the stool, staring at the phone in my hand. I re-dialled his number, but it went straight to voicemail. I tried again, but still, no such luck.

Before I could embarrass myself further, and act like a clingy girlfriend, Nita burst through the kitchen door. "What are you doing, Linda? We're all waiting for you."

"What do you mean, you're waiting for me?" I asked, staring at my phone.

Nita snapped her fingers in my face, making me flinch. "Hey, what was that for?"

"To get your attention, now hurry up! We paused Love, Actually, and have been waiting forever!" she replied. "Wait, what's wrong Linda?"

"Nothing."

"Linda, I'm not dumb. I'm your best friend, I can see something's got you down. What happened? Is it your Dad?"

"No, it's nothing to do with him or the Instagram post...oh, no," I groaned as the truth crashed into me like a wave.

"What, what is it?" Nita pressed.

"Ryan called to check up on me, but he sounded pissed. I don't know why he would be though, it's not like we're besties or anything. I can't believe he'd believe all those rumours."

"Well, Linda, look at it this way. You both aren't super close yet, so he probably doesn't know what to believe. Just explain to him at school tomorrow, yeah?"

"I guess. Thanks Nita, you're the best."

"I know. Now, time for some Love, Actually."

I followed her out the kitchen, towards the lounge, trying to push Ryan to the far corners of my brain.

+++

A/N: Wow, long time no update! I'm so sorry, I had heaps of school stuff on and when I did have time, I had no motivation/inspiration :( So, this might not match up with the rest of the story, I edited it and don't remember all the nit-picky details from what I already posted. I plan to edit the whole story soon because I just realised how cringe this story is. Also anyone wanna PM me if they can make awesome covers? I'm in dire need of one or two :))) Please vote and comment, I don't know how many of you still wanna read this story but yeah. Many thanks and heaps of love!