--Six time award winning novel by June D. Silver-
"Hidden truths are unspoken lies"
As a straight A student, Finnley never got himself into trouble. He goes to school, runs track, hangs out with his two best friends Cristian and Emma and studies; a...
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- Sunday, April 17th, 2016 -
– 2,5 months after the disappearance –
It's a little over two weeks since the fight with Jaimie, who got suspended after Evan and Felix explained the events in the locker room. I've been at home ever since, recovering from the concussion. The first week with just bedrest and boring days while I sleep a lot due to the pain and the painkillers. After one week, my head was still too fuzzy to concentrate on school and the doctors told me to go out, but not do too much.
The exercise of going out and walking around town with Stan and sometimes Emma, Felix of Julia would help me to regain some strength. It's annoying to be exhausted after walking around the block, but after a couple of days I was strong enough to head out a little longer and watch the soccer match from Julia's team.
I haven't been near my own teammates since Felix told me Jaimie was spewing shit around about me being gay. As it turns out, Felix supports me and he is in a fight with Jaimie and Tom for throwing shit around about me. So, I have now three real friends, and a doubtful fourth in Emma, left. My reputation is nowhere to be found and Nathan is back to following me around ever since I ran into him when I was walking around the block with Felix last Tuesday.
In the timespan of two months my life tumbled down and crashed to the ground. First because my best friend went missing, then because Emma started bugging me about Stan, the fight with Stan and the bullying coming from my old friends like Jaimie and Tom. It's a mess, but since I can now solely rely on a little less than a hand-full of people I do know who my true friends are, and who aren't. Maybe I don't mind not being popular, having to keep up my reputation and pretend to be someone I'm not. It's less exhausting to just focus on three or four people instead of wondering about what kids in school think of my actions.
But I'm not doing great, to be honest. Instead of receiving one or two notes from Finnley every week, he went silent after the note that came in the day after the fight. And while I'm trying to accept all the changes in life, that very fact puts me on edge, because I keep wondering if he is still doing okay.
"Cris?" Stan sounds annoyed. "You fucking killed me, dude." Stan nudges me in my side, waking me up from my stupor. We're at my home, playing a stupid game he wanted to play and apparently, I just killed him in the game. "Is your head hurting again? Should we stop playing?"
"I'm a bit tired." I lie, not feeling tired at all. My head feels fine right now.
"Babe..."
"No."
"Cutie."
"Yes?" I grin slyly, causing him to laugh softly, pulling me in his arms.
"You should get some rest." He whispers, nuzzling his nose in my hair. "In your condition, you shouldn't play videogames for too long."
