Standstill

Chapter 9- EXCUSE...

The bell rang .

"Well it feels much better that everything is sorted out now." , Dylen says while getting up and picking up his bag .

"Yeah "

" I'll walk you till the corridor. Come on." he says while picking up my bag also.

"Aye, that's not needed ", I say

"Now that we are friends, MAYBE give me a chance to serve the QUEEN ." He says sarcastically.

I roll my eyes and get up .

He looks at me and smiles.

We walked together towards the common corridor .

"By the way, do you have my number?" , he asks while looking at me.

"No" , I say, " You were literally the reincarnation of Satan to me, until today. So ...obviously not."

"Ohh", he says while tilting his head in embarrassment.

"I will save it later", I say while giving out a small laugh.

We reach the corridor...

"Thanks for hearing me out ! see ya later. Also don't forget to save my number".

He gives a huge smile and runs towards his class

I take my phone from the locker to check the timetable.

And....

It is English class. Thank god !

English period has always been like free time for me.

After getting hit in the face with so much info , I don't think I would have been able to bear a math or history period to be honest .

...

The rest of the day at school was a blur. I was just trying to analyze the bulk information that had been forcefully fed to my poor mind.

When the last bell of the day rang. I was probably the most relieved person in the whole school because now I could go home , kick my overthinking brain into the trash and sleep.

While walking home I was joined by Anne who had been out of station all these days .

"Hey Lexi!! " , she screamed when she found me outside waiting for her

"How are you? and how was the trip?", I ask , feeling a little guilty that i had to hide a lot from my best friend..at least for now.

"It was great!", she said and continued telling all the stories from the trip .

After that, out of the blue, she asked the question that I didnt wanna hear in a million years.

"Ok now that was about me... now your turn " , she asked while looking suspiciously at me , "So did anything unusual or crazy happen when I wasn't here." She looked at me expecting to gossip.

"Hmm nothing much ." I say while still making plans about getting out of the foreseeing interrogation.

She clears her throat loudly and says, "Yeah thought so, when I saw my best friend eating lunch with a person she hates the most."

Ahhhh.....knew it .

Suddenly the tiny pool of guilt I was feeling grew into the size of an ocean .

I started walking faster so that I could avoid the million questions I knew she was going to ask , or to at least find an excuse by the time she catches up to me.

But she caught up faster than I thought and blocked my way.

"Honey", she says while giving a big sarcastic smile ,"I am not letting you leave without answering my questions"

Darn it!

And then I got dragged to the nearby charlie's cafe for interrogation.

Think of some excuse Lexi!!!!!!, I scream in my head , while trying to look innocent as a puppy from outside.

"So ,what have you been up to? Is that guy bullying you? Or did you guys become friends? Or is he blackmailing you into becoming friends? Also I heard that 2 robbers attacked your house. Are you ok? How did you trap then? How is Alex?"

"Omg calm down anne ..Who am I supposed to answer all the questions at once?" I say while giving a nervous smile .

if I start giving her any details, she will catch up and smell something funny . I feel bad but I can't let her know anything.

At this point my mind is working at a lighting speed, trying to find excuses to get out of this place.

Should I say that I have a headache? She wouldn't buy it

What about ... I sprained my ankle? ...Nope ...Tried that last time and she caught up fast.

what IF i act like i fainted?...nah

What else can I say .......

That's when a brilliant idea flashed and showed me the end of the dark tunnel.

"Dylen..yes ", I mumble, a little too loud than intended.

"Huh? Did u say something?" Anne asks , while looking up from the menu, "why are you so silent?"

I got up suddenly ...startling Anne.

"Hmm nothing...I will quickly go to the washroom and answer all your questions. ok??"  I ask while doing my best acting to show that I was in a hurry.

"Fast, by then I will give the order by then ", she says while walking upto the counter.

After ensuring that my phone is in my pocket, I ran towards the washroom to make sure that it was completely free of any eavesdropper and locked the washroom from inside.

Called Dylen

He picked up my call in a second as if he already knew that I was going to call.

"Hey, sup?", he says cheerfully, "Looks like you saved my number."

"Hey!..aren't you still in school for some sports practice.... don't ask me any details as of now, but then I need your help." I spoke in a hurry , COMPLETELY ignoring his cheesy question.

"Hmmm ....Yea sure. Are you fine? You seem to be in a tensed ." he said, sounding worried.

"Aah I told you don't ask my questions. just listen.", I think I sounded a little rude because he was completely silent.

"Yeah so.. i'm Charlie's cafe, the one near the park as soon as possible, I am with Anne. I need you to get me out of here. yeah also.. come prepared with a good excuse with which you can get me out of here."

"Ok wait wait, so you are with Anne and you wanted me to get you out of there right?", he asks

" Yes . I will explain everything later.. but how long will it take for you to reach here?" I ask while looking at the clock on the wall.

"Five minutes", he says

It seems that he has already started from school.

"Thanks, come fast"

to be continued....

Authors note: Thank you @shelly_thewriter, for supporting me in continuing this story, after i took such a long break.