A Proscriptive Relationship

:A Proscriptive Relationship: 22

"Holly, what happened to you?"

I winced at Casey's loud outburst. "Why are you shouting so early in the morning?"

"You're face," Casey commented, touching her own cheek to show me what she meant.

"I fell down the stairs," I mumbled, avoiding her gaze.

Casey laughed. "You're so clumsy."

I forced out a laugh too, even though guilt was washing through me. I was lying to my best friend. And she easily believed me- proof of how much she trusted me.

My shoulder's sagged. I was an awful person.

Casey must have noticed my bad mood. She jabbed me in the side. "Well let's get to school! I'm sure whatever reason you are upset about won't matter when you see Mr. Heywood!"

I grimaced. Casey didn't know he was part of the reason of my bad attitude.

It had only been one day since the fight had gone down between Mr. Heywood and Lance. I hadn't gone to school yesterday, hoping to have my injuries heal a little more before returning, and apparently Lance had the same idea.

I was still angry with him, there was no doubt about that. He had punched Mr. Heywood in the face for no reason! That wasn't acceptable at all.

But Lance was just worried about you, another part of me told myself.

I held in a sigh. I was right. Lance was just worried. It's not like he punched Mr. Heywood for no reason. But still...

"Holly, Holly, space to Holly!" Casey said, waving her hand in front of me. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

I snapped my attention onto her, smiling sheepishly. "No, sorry. What did you say?"

"I said it was weird how you, Lance, and Mr. Heywood were all absent yesterday," she told me.

"Mr. Heywood was out?" I repeated.

Casey nodded. "Yeah, we had a substitute."

I frowned slightly. Did Mr. Heywood skip? Or did he suddenly get sick over night? Did something happen?

I suddenly felt sick with worry. I tried to shake it away. I was just being paranoid. Mr. Heywood was fine.

When we arrived at the school, Lance was waiting by the gates, his arms crossed. When he noticed Casey and me, he pushed himself off the wall and came towards us. Casey let out a little gasp and hurried forwards.

"What happened to you?" she cried, her eyes wide. "That's a horrible bruise!"

Lance raised a hand to his face and shrugged. "I fell down the stairs."

Casey whipped her head towards me, and I quickly threw on a shocked expression.

"Holly did too!"

Lance raised his eyebrows at me, an amused smirk appearing on his face. "Is that so?"

I nodded, giving him a quick smile, then looking away. Casey looked suspiciously between us.

"Huh."

I gave Casey a questioningly look. She returned it.

"Did you two have a fight?"

My heart skipped a beat. How could Casey have figured that out already?

"No," I said quickly, waving my hand. "Why would we-"

"We did have a fight," Lance cut in with a sigh.