Lies Don't Die

Chapter Seven

        Birds are chirping and light shines through my thin window curtains. I look at my phone and it says 10:40. Oh my gosh! I was late for school! Quickly, I run over to my closet and pick out a random shirt and pair of pants. When I’m done I run down stairs and brush past my mom.

        “Honey! You're late for school! Let me drive you! We can say we had an appointment so you don’t get in trouble!” Mom chugs down the rest of her coffee and throws on her shoes while I brush out the knots in my auburn hair and brush my teeth. Frantically, we both run to her maroon van and I plop down in the front seat and let out a huge sigh of relief.

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        When I get to school, it’s halfway through French so when I walk in, all eyes are on me. I just walk to my usual seat and sit down like nothing’s going on. “Where were you? Are you okay?” Nicole whispers from the seat behind me. I don’t answer her and I just look down at my desk. It takes all my willpower not to turn and yell at her now but I control myself and wait for instructions from my teacher.

        At the end of class, my teacher passes out our homework and then we are dismissed. I walk out of the room and head for my locker which is at the other end of the long hallway. There is no doubt that Nicole will come running to me to beg me to tell her what is wrong. When I reach my locker, I can hear the frantic clip-clop of her heels coming down the hallway to where I stand placing my books into my small, top locker.

        “What’s wrong Kate? Did I do something? Please tell me I didn’t do anything to you?” Nicole puts her lips in a way that makes her look like she is pouting and she has a concerning look in her eyes. “Please tell me?”

        “Why did you start rumors about Michael? Why did you lie to me? Why did you USE Michael? Why would you lie to your best friend?” I say not realizing how loud my voice was getting and a few classmates walking by looked over for a second but then quickly moved on. “Why?”

        Nicole’s eyes look down at the ground and I can hear her voice getting sad. “I was a bad person before you met me. I made bad decisions that I shouldn’t have done and I regret it. The reason I didn’t tell you was that I didn’t want to make you hate me. Everyone else hated me and you didn’t know my past self and I saw you as a second chance.” A tear rolls down her cheek but I don’t believe a word she is saying.

        “I don’t believe you.” It came more harshly than I meant it to and her face becomes as frozen as a stone. “I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you just keep lying.” I look straight into her eyes so she knows how serious I am.

        Her face hardens and a mean, awful expression spreads across her face and my heart sinks. “Well, well, well. You finally found out the truth and you’re standing up to me. Wow, this is a huge step up from the other Kaitlyn who barely talked to me. You consider me a best friend but you only talk to me when Calum and Luke aren’t here. Maybe you’re not that good of a friend. You’ll regret this.” With that, Nicole spins around and storms off. I should feel awful, but I just feel triumphant. But what was that remark about not being a good friend. Is that true? I’ve considered her a friend for three years but I barely like talking to her. Am I really this bad? I abandon the thought and walk toward my next class. I won the battle and today is my Independence day.

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        When I get home, I ponder the thought of me not being a good friend and decide to skype Calum. I will also need to catch him up on all the events going on in life. What time is it in Australia? Would I be waking him up? I decide to skype him anyway and grab my phone off my bedside table.

        The phone rings once, then twice then a few more times until his face pops up on my screen. “Calum!” I basically scream into the phone. Calum widens his eyes and pulls his head away from the screen joking that I made him deaf. He does this a lot when I yell.

        “Well hello, Kaitlyn. I feel like there is something you need to tell me.” He smiles and my soul lightens up a little bit.

        “Calum, I’ve had the worst last few days.” I only realize now that I have a small stream of tears dripping down from my eyes. “I broke up with Nicole. She is the one who is spreading the rumors about Michael and she has been lying to me for a few years apparently.”

        “Oh Kate, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry I’m not there for you, I’m the worst friend!” Calum blinks a few times and I think he is about to cry.

        “She also told me that I was an awful friend these past three years. Do you think I’ve been a bad friend? I do only talk to her and Bree when you're not there and I barely like her. I’m an awful friend, aren't I?” This time, tears are streaming down my face like a rushing waterfall.

        “No Kaitlyn, you're not. Nicole was probably only saying that to get on your bad side. To annoy you and make you break. You’re the bestest friend anyone could possibly ask for.” A sweet and reassuring smile spreads across his tan face. “Don’t worry about.”

        “Thanks, I really needed to talk to you. You’re the best friend anyone could ask for.” I tilt my head and smile. “So how is 20 Years Of Friday?” I make my question as sassy as I could by flinging my hand in the air and adding some fancy accent to ‘20 Years Of Friday’. I must have looked ridiculous because Calum starts to laugh uncontrollably and falls off the bed he was sitting on. His laptop that he is skyping me from shakes a little bit as he hits the ground. All I could hear was laughing and I couldn’t help but laugh along with him. We talked for hours after that.