--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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- Friday, May 27th, 2016 -
– 4 months after the disappearance –
I'm not fully woken up yet when I'm stuffing books in my locker the next day. One more day of school and weekend starts. Three more weeks until final exams. Not that I'm graduating, but I'm taking the exams anyway and after that I'll know what I still have to catch up on during summer school.
Right before I get the chance to shut the locker on my own, it's slammed shut rather forcefully.
A fuming Emma appears in my peripheral vision.
"You broke his nose." She hisses, snatching my backpack from my hold, throwing it on the flour. "Andhis jaw."
"I'm sorry, who are we talking about?" I look at her, taking in her latest change in clothes. She is in her cheerleading outfit, a ponytail reaching halfway down her back, some strains over her shoulder.
"My boyfriend," she spits out. "You broke Mike's nose and jaw."
"No Emma, I did not." I sigh deeply. "But he had it coming, you know." I'm already angry right now.
"Why did you hit him anyway? Why can't you just accept I'm popular now and you're not?"
I can't help but laugh – rather sarcastically – at her words. "You think I beat up your boyfriend because I can't stand the fact you're dense and became one of Janet's minions?" I shake my head in disbelieve. "First of all, Emma, how do you even know if it was me?"
"Because he went looking for you because he wanted to talk to you."
"Seriously Emma, are you really that stupid? I don't even know the guy. Why would he want to talk to me?"
"He said you were at his birthday party. He said you nearly fucked things up because you got drunk again because you can't handle your alcohol. You do know him."
"I don't. My boyfriend does though." I chuckle. "That's the funny thing here, Emma. You hate Stan, telling me you don't trust him. Then you go ahead and date Godzilla, who's middle name is probably "shady". Mike Shady Godzilla."
"Shut it. Why'd you hit him?"
"Emma, I didn't," I groan. "Someone else beat him up, because Mike wanted to beat me up."
"So, it was Stan?" Now she's seething, her eyes darting around the hallway, probably trying to see if Stan is around. He isn't, leaving me alone at school right now, while I'm scared shitless for any retaliation. Let's hope Jaimie's support wasn't a one-time thing.
"It wasn't Stan," I snap in annoyance. "Now, leave me alone. Your boyfriend had it coming and you really should overthink your choice for a boyfriend anyway. He's not even close to looking like Finn, you know. Jacob, I understood, because he had some similarities with Finn. But Mike isn't even close to..."
