The Lies He Spoke

TWELVE

OLIVIA

It was Logan's turn the next morning to make lunch. As Olivia passed the kitchen on her way to put on her shoes, he held out a brown bag to her. "Here," he said. "Don't leave it here like yesterday."

"Don't tell me what to do." Olivia snatched it from his hands and shoved it into her backpack.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Logan muttered, but he didn't stay to hear her answer and went down the hall to get his own things, leaving Olivia fuming.

The wrong side of the bed? What did he take her for, an idiot?

When they finally made it out of the house, Logan was balancing his lunch, a poster, his gym bag, and a water bottle in his arms. As they neared the bike, he nudged Olivia with his arm.

"Hey, can you hold this for a sec?"

He always had a ton of things to take to class, and Olivia always helped him carry his things to the bike because if she didn't, he inevitably dropped them along the way and it took even longer to pick them up, but today, she refused.

"No, I'm holding my own things."

"You're literally holding nothing," he retorted, scowling.

Olivia sighed. She couldn't come up with any better excuse. "Fine, whatever," she grumbled, and took a few things off his hands so he could get on and start the bike.

She had never been so grateful to see the school building come into view. As soon as Logan put his feet down, she quickly slid off the bike. She started walking away without a backward glance, but Logan's hand grasped her arm tight. She spun around to face him.

"What?" she demanded.

He opened his mouth, hesitated, then gritted his teeth. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she said shortly, trying to pull away again, but he didn't let go.

"Then why are you being like this?"

"Being like what?" she snapped.

Logan waved an impatient hand at her. "This- this attitude. Getting pissed at every fucking thing I say! What is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong!"

"You literally never even move a muscle from this bike unless I say goodbye to you, and now you're giving me the silent treatment and nothing is wrong?" he asked. He had a bewildered expression on his face, and suddenly, that made Olivia mad.

He really had no idea that she was hurt. He had no idea that the things he said, even if she wasn't supposed to hear them, were hurtful.

And so even though she hadn't been thinking about confronting him about it, she suddenly couldn't help herself.

"I know you don't want me to live with you. I know I'm just another problem!" she said, her voice rising with every word. "But if it's so bad, why don't you just grow some balls and tell Elijah to tell Blake to do it instead? Or just find a temporary home for me or something! I've lived with foster parents before, I can do it again! But I can't take living with you if you don't even want me here!"

Anger clouded her vision, pain squeezing her lungs. Her nails were biting into her palms, and her chest was heaving with shallow breaths. She could hardly register whatever expression was on Logan's face, and suddenly, she found that she could care less what he thought.

She turned on her heel, shouldered her backpack higher, and marched away.

*****

"Morning, sunshine!"