Here Lies Jane Doe

Fake Real Relationships

I knew Henry was going to have a go at me about the whole Seb situation that I had gotten myself into. Henry had always been the brainy, sensible one out of the three of us whereas me and Seb were rebellious risk takers.

As I stood at the top of the steps to my house, I looked up and down the street for Henry's car. It was quieter than normal this morning, with a crisp autumnal breeze and bright sun peeping through the gaps between the tightly packed houses.

Then the feeling of an impending lecture washed over me as I saw the sleek black car that belonged to the Bass family turn onto our road.

"Here we go," I mumbled to myself as I almost stomped down the steps in a huff. "Hey Zander, not used to seeing you around these parts!" I laughed awkwardly in an attempt to show that nothing was wrong.

In my mind, Jane Doe's warning was all I could think off - if you tell Henry the truth, then you have failed. But surely Jane Doe wouldn't know if I told him the truth, would she? How could she anyway? I wondered whether Jane Doe had it in her to expose the identity of my fake boy friend's real girlfriend. But when it wasn't my secret to share, I knew I shouldn't take the risk.

"Morning Miss," Zander said, politely tipping his hat down to me.

I heaved a deep sigh as I braved myself for the looming lecture after I climbed in. "Hey HB- how are you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't H-B me, Vick. Start talking, what's going on with you and Sebastian? The real deal."

"You know how it is- one thing leads to another and before you know it, you get this," I rambled and tried to be as precarious as I could. "You of all people know how I feel about Seb... everyone said it would only be a matter of time, right? His mom accidentally did that one time."

"Vick- come on," Henry said, wincing somewhat. "I am only saying this because I know that you would do the same for me. You know exactly what Seb's like around girls. He doesn't do the whole romance thing, and you're only going to get hurt. If you two really are going out now, be careful because-"

"Stop it!" I snapped, glad that Henry's sister wasn't in the car and Zander wouldn't hear. "Henry, it just happened, I can't explain it. Just like you 'happened' to kiss both Harper and that Violet girl on the same day- have you any idea how much of a dick you look like now? You're messing with Harper's head and you don't even know who Violet is."

"I didn't mean to kiss them, Vick." Henry remained incredibly calm and seemed unphased by my argument. He craned his head to look down the street to see a string of blocked cars that were crammed together like a game of Rush Hour. "It's not moving, we should walk from here."

Walking along the pavement, I kept a quick pace to walk alongside Henry and his long legged strides. I was in the mood to argue and couldn't resist stirring some trouble.

"What are you going to do about Harper and Violet?" I asked pointedly, pushing myself further into the theoretical mess. "Because the last time we spoke properly about this sort of thing, you were going to focus on your studies. Keep your grades up and all that."

"Well I know I'm going to have to face the music soon, and the opportunity of a relationship presents itself, then I might just take it. I want to talk with both Harper and Violet to see how they're feeling."

I wrinkled my nose in protest. "Henry! Are you serious saying you're going to play these girls off of one another in an attempt to get a girlfriend? This isn't some egg and spoon race where the prize is you."

He turned on me just before the gates to school. "Are you seriously judging me? That is not what I'm doing Victoria ad you know it. I need to know what they are thinking because I don't want to pursue something that's not there and-" Henry stopped mid sentence and his eyes grew wide as he watched someone coming up behind me. "Oh boy... she does not look happy."