Stand by Me

Nineteen

"Yes, Mom. I'm really here this time", I convince my Mom for the billionth time.

"Okay. And don't stay up too late."

"Noted. Now, I really gotta go, Mom. Goodnight", I say as I end the call.

As an enormous weight lifts over its heaviness off my shoulders, I let out a sigh of relief. I mentally punish myself for having to lie to her. My thoughts wail and wince in sickness as a sudden image of the damaged car flashes across my mind.

"Everything okay?", Edith asks, reading the expression on my face whilst sitting across me.

We were at her house, hanging out in her bedroom as we sat, facing each other on the bed. My eyes wander over the My Chemical Romance posters stuck on the walls. That is so Edith.

"I feel bad for lying to her", I sadly admit.

"Hey, don't take the blame. You and I both know that it's not your fault. And look on the bright side, we get to spend some quality time together!", she tries to cheer me. I chuckle.

"So, what do you wanna do?", she asks, excited.

"Well, I want to change first. Do you have something that I could fit into?"

"I need a time machine for that. I gave away all my kid's size clothes", she mocked at me. I rolled my eyes. I've already had enough of this that I'm completely used to all those sardonic comments. To be fair, I looked like a little child, whenever she stood next to me. It's not my fault that she is blessed with a model's physique.

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally got a pair of jammies that loosely fit me. It was the best she could find and I didn't complain.

"Spit it out",she said out of the blue.

"Excuse me!", I asked, offended and confused at the same time.

"Ugh...You complacent overly sensitive emotional drama queen! The other time, you told me that you needed to tell me something about Cody."

"Hey, I'm not-"

"That's exactly what I said. And you're just proving my statement by being overly offended!"

"Whatever. Yeah. About that. Do you still have the picture? You know, the one we..."

"Yeah. It's in my hidden albums. I don't know what I should be doing with that, though. But how's that related to Cody? They're like poles apart!"

"I don't know why. Today, before you showed up at lunch he asked me about the picture. And then Jay Rollins courts me and asks me to get some computer code shit. I still don't understand why or how or anything for that matter. But, one thing is sure as hell. Something is going on that Cody is very well aware of and trying to hide from us."

It took her a minute to carefully assess and to decide to speak the right words after I was done talking .

"But how do we get to know what's going on?"

"That's where I wanted your suggestion. Jay told me that if I get him that stupid code, he'll tell me what's really going on. I don't know if I can trust him. And now I'm confused. What do I do?"

She thought for a while, thinking of a solution, I presume. It was hard to judge.

"You know what? Even I, honestly don't know if we can trust Jay. But what I find the most skeptic is Cody's sudden hatred towards Jay. I mean, he's always had a thing for all the jocks. Especially Jay. He never really complained about any of them, until now."

"Oh", I swallow the information. "What do you think I should do then?"

"I think we should give it a shot. Cody's our friend. We should protect him. He'll  probably kill us if he knows  about this. We can tell him once we find out, I guess. But I still don't understand about the code thing.", she admits frankly.