|Jade|
"I don't understand." Lane, running his palm over the short, tight black curls on his head, stares between Beck and I with a disapproving look. "Weren't you two in love on Friday?"
I glance sidelong at Beck. He has a towel in his hands, damp with the pink juice I had poured on him not twenty minutes earlier. His long, black hair is still slick with it, his white shirt stained, and I can't help the smug smile that roots itself on my lips. I turn back to Lane, the poor guidance counselor of Hollywood Arts who has yet to guide me in the right direction (he's been trying since I was a freshman and never really succeeded) who crosses his arms and furrows his brow at us.
"We broke up." I pause, allowing the intensity of those words to sink and hook themselves inside of me somewhere before I take a breath and speak again. "Contrary to what he has been telling people, he broke up with me. Just so that's clear."
I hear Beck sigh beside me. I risk another look in his direction and he's pinching the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, like I'm some insolent child he can't tame. Anger bubbles under my skin, setting my blood to boil. I twist in my chair, half ready to launch myself at him with my nails at the ready, only for Lane's body to slip between us.
"Okay, cool it." His hands are raised, palms out. After he's assured I won't tackle Beck, he steps away again, sitting on the edge of the swing that dangles from the ceiling in his office. He studies us for a moment longer. "You didn't pour juice on Beck because he broke up with you."
"No. I poured juice on him because he lied about it."
Lane shifts his eyes to Beck. "You've been telling people that she broke up with you."
Lifting his head, Beck says, "Two people. Robbie and Andre. It's not a big deal."
"Saying it to one person is a big deal!" I snap, my fingers curling around the edges of my chair as if that would hold me back. "You're lying!"
"It's more believable!" He shoots back, his face contorted just as angrily. "They didn't even question me when I said you broke up with me because you have broken up with me before."
I throw up my hands. "A year ago, for two days!"
"Hey!" Lane interjects, but we continue to shout over him. We bicker back and forth for almost a minute before Lane grabs a whistle from his desk and blows into it ferociously, the high-pitched scream silencing both of us, hands clamping over our ears. He waits for a minute, glaring. Finally, he folds his hands over his stomach and turns to Beck, but keeps the whistle curled in his palm. "Why did you break up with her?"
Beck blinks, hands squeezing the towel. "Is that really any of your -"
"Yes. It is because you two are my students and this is obviously tough for both of you. I want to help you get through this."
I stare longingly at the door. I don't want to be here. I don't want to listen to this. I just want to go back outside in the hot sun and sit with Tori and eat a salad. I want to listen to her talk and forget about Beck because I only feel better when I'm with her. Which should freak me out, or at the least piss me off, but it doesn't, and I'm tired of feeling conflicted about it. I turn my head back to Beck, who once more pinching his nose, and my heart gives a hollow thump in my chest.
He lied. He lied. I can't think of one time I had ever seen him lie, even to his parents or his teachers. He's always been honest - it's one of those things I always loved about him. He's not afraid of the truth. My eyebrows crunch over my nose. If he can lie - about me, no less - then what else is he capable of that I never knew about? Is he even the boy I've thought him to be all this time?
