everything I didn't say

fifteen

The girl's head jerks around and her face lights up.

"Leah!" She squeals and jumps up. I realize who it is and smile. Ali.

She walks to me, arms open. I hug her and she keeps her hands on my shoulders when we release. "I was wondering when I'd see you again." She smiles and we direct our attention to Niall, who has moved his laptop off his lap. He stands up and walks over. He isn't wearing a shirt, and he has light grey sweatpants hanging lowly off his waist. His hair is down and he looks so much younger. He looks really good.

"Are you okay?" He asks me and I give him a questionable look but nod. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

He shrugs. "I don't know, you just dropped by unexpectedly so I thought something happened." 

"Oh, I thought it would be okay, I should have called." I turn and head for the door. 

"If you don't tell her to stay, I will." I hear Ali snap.

"I was going to." He quips and I feel the air hit me and his arm touch mine gently. "It's fine, I'm glad you're here." He looks down at me and I smile.

"I wanted to talk to you." I say softly and quietly so Ali doesn't hear. I don't want to have to get her involved in this, just in case like the entry said, he never told any of his friends.

"Of course. Privately?" I nod and he turns to Ali. "Give us a minute?" She smiles devilishly and winks at me as she walks out the door right beside me. I laugh and bury my face in my hands, embarrassed.

"She's something else." He remarks before sitting back on his bed, patting the spot next to him. "Okay, what's up?"

I sigh. Which do I bring up first? Should I tell him about the notebook?

"How long have you been going here, to Garden Grove?" I ask. Please don't lie to me, Niall. He isn't even slightly thrown off by the question.

"It's my third year." He shrugs, he didn't lie.

"Third full year?" I raise my eyebrows, suspiciously pressing. He stalls. "Leah, what's going on?" He retorts. "Answer me." I plead. He sighs. 

"No, I came halfway through my freshman year." He admits. I'm getting somewhere.

"Did you skip your first half of your freshman year, then?" He is obviously thrown off by my sudden false curiosity to his education in the past couple years so I'll give in after this.

"You know something that I don't know, don't you?" He laughs to himself and shakes his head. "No." I say way too quickly, way too high pitched.

He looks me directly in the eyes and I panic under the pressure of his glare.

"You went to ucla." I finally burst. "And you never told me. Why not?" I cool down.

He bites the inside of his lip. "How'd you find out, did Julie tell you that?" He rolls his eyes.

"What? No, she didn't." He grunts. "That's obviously how you found out, I was waiting for her to rat me out to you." 

"She told me she didn't even know." I look to the ground. I'm so sick of everyone lying to me.

His eyes widen. "How did you find out?"

"You do know I'm taking the same writing class you took, right?"

"So it was Mr. Small that told you?" He nods.

"Nobody told me, god damn!" I shout, irritated. "I found out."

"How?"

"Your stupid fucking class notebook." I state.

"My what?"