Daemons in the Mist

Chapter 24 - Hiding Lies with a Smile

24

Hiding Lies with a Smile

Wednesday, February 8th

NUALLA

                        

Over the next two weeks we fell into an easy routine as if it had always been that way. We spent all the time we could together at school and all eight of us had lunch together mostly without incident—mostly. Jenny still looked like she wished I’d just fall off the face of the Earth, and Beatrice still hadn’t gotten the message that Shawn was so taken already.

Michael, true to his word, was now completely ignoring me as if there had never been anything between us in the first place—like someone had flipped a switch in his brain. Maybe Penelope really had been his One, and he had been too arrogant to see it until I was taken out of the equation. Whatever the reason, it was nice to not have to worry about him suddenly pushing me up against lockers, but it was also very weird.

And Patrick was…Patrick; warm and kind and funny and self-deprecating at times. But I could also tell that something was really bothering him. I could see it there in his eyes; he was hiding something, or more likely not telling me something. I could see it eating at him, but I didn’t know how to pry the truth out of him. And I didn’t know his friends well enough to get it out of them either—if he had even told them in the first place.

Originally, I had decided I needed to be patient and wait for him to just tell me. However, “patience” was not something I did well, so instead I devised a plan. I was going to take Patrick somewhere he would think was beyond awesome; somewhere humans really didn’t get to go. But to pull it off I needed Travis’ help, which meant a trip to The Embassy.

Sixth period had let out, and we had all converged in the main floor entry hall.

“Hey Patrick, I need to go somewhere after school so…” I said in a voice I hoped sounded nonchalant.

“No problem, it’s a Wednesday anyways,” he said with a huge grin, or at least as big as they got lately.

“Wednesday?” I asked a little confused, and then I remembered. “Oh right, you and Connor’s thing.” Some boys hung out and played video games or watched football. These two hung out at a Japanese mall and watched anime on Saturday nights. “Okay, well, see you tomorrow,” I said before I gave him a kiss.

I started to walk away, but he called out, taking a few steps toward me. “Hey wait, what about the pictures? They came in today.”

“Can you just pick them up and give me mine tomorrow?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Sure,” he answered with a small dazed smile, the kind he usually had after I kissed him.

And then I left him there and went off to work on my devious plan. Okay, it really wasn’t that devious. No, wait, it totally was.

PATRICK

                        

After Nualla left, Connor and I headed over to the student office to pick up our Winter Ball photos. The crowd was huge since they had just arrived, but it didn’t take us too long to get to the front.

“Name?” the student behind the counter asked without looking up at me.

“Patrick Connolly.”

The guy flipped though the photo packs until he pulled out one. He looked at it briefly before his eyebrows shot up. He looked at me. “Oh you’re that dude.”

“What dude?” I asked, getting a little concerned.

“The one who’s with Nualla Galathea.”

“Yeah, I’m her boyfriend,” I said a little defensively.

“Lucky you,” he said as he handed me the photos.

You have no idea how lucky I feel dude, trust me.

I moved away from the line and looked down at the photos. I stopped dead in the middle of the hall and just stared at the us in the pictures. For some reason, that fact that I was with Nualla hadn’t felt as real as it did now. Like it was a dream I was going to someday wake up from, but the pictures made it fact. I looked okay in the pictures, but Nualla looked like a silver screen goddess. These were so going up on Facebook when I got home.

“I still can’t believe you actually ended up with her,” Connor said, looking over my shoulder. “I know you’ve been infatuated with her since Freshman year, but I never thought in a million years that you would actually end up with her.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Thanks Connor, your confidence in me is overwhelming,” I said sarcastically.

“Hey man, you can’t tell me you honestly thought it would ever happen.”

I looked back at the packet of photos. “No, you’re right, I didn’t.”

“So you want to see mine and Sara’s?”

I turned to look at him. “You went with Sara?”

“Yeah, what planet were you on? We even saw you guys there.” He looked upset for a second before his expression turned to a mischievous grin. “Oh, I know what planet you were on; Planet Nualla,” he said in a teasing voice.

“I am not on Planet Nualla,” I said flatly.

“No dude, you totally are,” he said, laughing.

“Am not.”

“So how is it on Planet Nualla?”

“Don’t make me hurt you Connor,” I threatened, glaring at him.

“Dude please, you would have to catch me first.”

“You don’t think I can?” I said, folding my arms.

“Are you going to even try?” Connor asked, raising an eyebrow and preparing to run.

I looked at him for a while before I gave up. “Naw, let’s just go to the mall.”

“Will we be going there in your spaceship, Explorer Connolly?”

“Seriously Connor, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to punch you.”