WHITE LIAR

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

After last nights self-imposed pity party, Chloe decided that the best thing she could do was just stay away from everyone.  If Erica wanted to keep doing her stupid pranks, fine- she could do them by herself.  Now that she knew John was going to be okay she washed her hands of the whole ordeal. Chloe was done.

And with just a little over a month left of school, all she really wanted to do now was graduate and get the hell out of here.  She didn't think that was too much to ask for, was it?

She snorted. With her track record she should have known better than to ask herself that question.  Nothing in life could ever be that simple.  Experience alone, taught her that much.

    The lunch bell rang and the last place that she wanted to go right now was the cafeteria where everyone else was.  All day long, she had done her best to avoid two people in particular - Justin and Erica.  And up to this point, she had managed that task pretty well.  No Justin and no Erica confrontations to deal with at all.

    She ate pop tarts for breakfast this morning and had hoped that they would hold her through the day but when the lunch bell rang, Chloe's stomach betrayed her with a loud growl that refused to be ignored.  So much for hoping.

    The next thing that she knew, she found myself standing in the hall just outside the cafeteria having one of those one sided conversations with herself.

    What would it hurt to run through the a la carte line and grab a bag of chips?  She didn’t have to actually stay in the cafeteria and eat them.  It would take ten minutes at most, and afterwards she could go outside to enjoy the snack- alone.

    In theory, it sounded like a good plan.  But theories are just that- theories.  You never know what's really going to happen until it happens and then it's too late.

    The chances of running into either of the people that she had been trying to avoid would be slim to none if she moved fast enough.  And in all likelihood, she ran Justin off yesterday with her tearful emotional breakdown.  Her stomach growled out loud again, finally making the decision for her.

    Steeling her resolve, Chloe put her big girl panties on and turned to walk in the cafeteria.  It was now or never.

    Any other time, she would have been thinking straight.  She would have been alert and she would have seen it coming but this time, she was so inebriated with her thoughts of staying out of Justin’s path and avoiding Erica that she had let her guard down for just a minute- a minute too long.

    And that one mistake ended up costing her big time.

    She had taken no more than three steps into the cafeteria when she ran into them, literally.

    “Well, well, well.  Look what the cat dragged in today.”

    Turning to the very feminine voice that had spoken, Chloe instantly realized that it was one of Justin’s bimbos.  She wasn’t just any bimbo either, she was a cheerleader- head cheerleader at that.  She thought that the two of them together seemed so fitting- so cliché that she almost started to laugh right there in front of her face.