Toxic: A Sociopath Novel

Chapter 8

That Saturday, Pa drove Christopherand I over to his parents' house. Pa wantedto confront Christopher's obesity issueswith his parents, and I saw this as anopportunity to win Lyn over.When we arrived, Pa gatheredChristopher's parents and the four of themdisappeared to the stone table on the frontporch. I waited for them all to be outsidebefore knocking quietly on Lyn's door. I waited a little while before knocking again,this time slightly louder. I heard herfootsteps on the hardwood floor andwatched the doorknob turn. Lyn stoodbefore me, rubbing her eyes. I had wokenher."May I come in?" I asked beforerealizing I had already invited myself in. Itwas the first time I had seen her room, and Iwas actually amazed. It was spacious andspotless, but very far from being dull. Thewalls were covered in band posters; she hadwicker furniture, a shelf piled with novels,two mirrors, and a cheetah print rug thatmatched her comforter perfectly. Not tomention she had softball trophies ondisplay."You played softball?" I asked,obviously knowing it was a rhetoricalquestion."I did, for three years.""Do you miss it?""Everyday." "Why don't you play for Lincoln?" Iglanced over at her and she was rubbingher foot against the rug, her cheeks red."They rejected me." I smiled, tryingnot to chuckle. I found it rather amusingthat in a small town, she can't make asports team. It wasn't even that, really. Itwas more funny that not a single coach forany Lincoln sports team has ever rejected astudent, that's how small the school is.I avoided answering her and walkedaround her room some more. I came acrossa bulletin board containing selfies, picturesof her family, and pictures of who Iassumed were her friends from Atlanta. Isquealed when I saw a photo of her andChristopher as infants."He's so cute!" I pulled out my phoneand snapped a picture, adjusting the focusof my camera so that Lyn was cropped outand I had just an image of three year oldChristopher. I posted the picture to mysocial media, and could tell that Lyn wasn't too pleased with not being included. I didn'treally pay much attention to herunpleasantness though, because she saidnothing to me."Not that I don't love having you,"Lyn started. "But, why are you here?" Herquery took me by surprise. Nobody has everquestioned my existence before. I thoughtabout it for a second before respondingwith a sarcastic answer."Well, you see, sixteen years ago myparents decided to have some fun." Lynmade an annoyed grin at me."Thanks, Captain Obvious.""Oh, you didn't mean what was Idoing on Earth?" I tried my best at actinglike in generally didn't understand."I meant, why are you in my house,invading my room?""Did you just call me an alien?" Lyngave me a perplexed look."What? What part of anything I justsaid imply that you were an alien?" "I'm invading your room. Aliensinvade things." I put heavy emphasis on theword 'invade.'"Shut up LeighAnn." Lyn was laughingnow. She has an infectious laugh, becausenot long afterwards, I found myself joiningher. Making her laugh was just the start toher liking me, even if I'm just pretending.After our laughing fit, I revealed toher the actual reason why I was here, andshe made a half-smile-half-frown, but saidnothing.I walked across the room to sit on hermessy bed. I cringed as the bed squeakedwhen my body came in contact with it. Ilooked at Lyn who just shrugged hershoulders, as if to say that her noisy boxspring didn't bother her at all.I glanced over to her roundnightstand, where a package of birthcontrol pills captured my attention. I didn'task her about them. Instead, I smiled to myself, knowing I had some dirt on her ifshe ever tried to pull a stunt on me.Lyn eventually joined me on the bed,and I engaged her in a conversation aboutboys I thought were cute or that I used tohave a heavy crush on. After I talked aboutprobably all of the boys in Lincoln, Iconvinced her to spill the beans about whatboys she thought were cute, hoping shewould give me some insight about herprescription, and hoping she had moved onfrom the whole incident with Cody.Listening to her, I learned a lot aboutthis boy from Atlanta. His name is Lawrence,and she had read to me a lengthy messagehe sent her after she moved. From thesounds of it, they seemed pretty smittenwith one another. Lyn then told me abouthow they'd never be a couple because along distance relationship was somethingLawrence admitted to not being able tohandle. For a second, I wondered why shewas still chasing Atlanta boys. Had Codyruined Lincoln boys for her? I brushed thatthought off, realizing she had gotten overhim pretty quick. Perhaps she just isn'tgood enough for these Lincoln boys. Hell,she wasn't even good enough for herAtlanta boy.