Noble (Watty Awards 2012)

Chapter 2

Picture on the right is of Mike! :)

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"Liar."

Mike flips over his two cards, revealing two Queens. I grimace as I add the massive stack of cards to my own bulky deck. I start to put them in order, like I always do. It helps me navigate. Mike exhales boisterously. "We don't have time for you to arrange your cards, we both know that I'm going to win anyway." I raise an eyebrow, and set down four cards. "Four Kings."

Mike sets down his final card. "Ace, and I WIN!" He gets up and starts jumping on the couch. "Liar!" I yell, and turn over his card. No way he could've had the luck of his last card being an Ace.

But sure enough, it was. I wonder if he cheats at this game. He wins at everything. I glower at him and cross my arms. He stops jumping long enough to pat my head. "It's okay T. Why don't I make you a sandwich?" Well I can't say no to that. I lift my eyes up at him and smile. "Okay."

I run over to his kitchen and sit down at the counter. I rest my hands on the cool granite countertop, and analyze the kitchen as I wait for Mike to finish putting the cards up. It's a large kitchen, the white cabinets and light colored granite countertops make it look even larger than it already is. Mike's family is rich. Like, loaded. His dad is one of the few orthodontists in this town, and the best, so you can imagine how many people come to him. And believe it or not, his mother is a fashion designer. With their busy jobs, Mike's parents are never home. They never have time for him, and because of that fact, he hates being rich. If someone were to come up and ask me to describe Mike, they would've never had guessed that his family is wealthy. This is because Mike tries not to use any of his parent's money. I sometimes find it ridiculous, because if I had parents who had millions of dollars I'd definitely be spending it. But I see where he's coming from. That's why he has the broken down truck and not a Porsche, like most kids would if their parents were wealthy.

Mike meanders into the kitchen and starts to fix me a sandwich. I suddenly recall his little scene this morning. I wonder what that was about. I decide to retrace my steps. Let's see, we got to the school, and Mike parked his truck. He plugged his earphones in and I started scanning the parking lot. I saw Blaire Chandler promptly walk towards the school without Olivia. Yes, and then I asked Mike where Olivia was and he told me they broke up. But why would Mike be upset about them breaking up? I try to dive deeper into the conversation. What happened after he told me that? I'm not very good with remembering things. He had told me they broke up the night before, and then I smiled to myself, and he asked me if I still liked that "jerk", and I teased him by saying "and what if I do" and then he slammed the door in my face. Was he upset that I still like Blaire? Why would that discourage him? Before I can stop myself, I blurt, "Why were you upset this morning?"

He looks up from the Nutella jar he was in the process of opening. He laughs, but his face is expressionless. "What do you mean? I wasn't upset this morning."

I raise an eyebrow. "Slamming the door in my face kind of gives off the impression that you're mad." He rolls his shoulders back, and starts to grind his teeth together. "I wasn't upset, I'm sorry I slammed the door in your face. I was in a hurry."

I know he is lying. I have two good reasons as to how I know: 1. He grinds his teeth together when he lies. It's a nervous habit of his, and I've picked it up throughout our childhood, when he would lie to his mom about who broke the vase, window, etc. 2. The obvious one, he couldn't have been in a hurry. One, we weren't close to being late. School started at 8:55, and it was approximately 8:40 when he left the truck. And two, he wasn't planning on going to first hour anyway. He told me so that day in second hour. Besides, unless you are a personal assistant, who is ever in a hurry for Starbucks? Although I know for a fact that he is lying, I decide to shrug it off because you really can't contend with Mike. He always wins. And if his deal is anything serious, then I'll definitely find out about it later. But for now I am starving for Nutella.