Page 40 of Lines

“I know why you are here, but I’m telling you, we are not going,” Brook yells from the foyer giving me a short list of people who could be waiting for me downstairs.

“Oh my god.”

The need to jump out of the window and end this day is really big. Why do things have to be so complicated lately? Why can’t everything be like it was before? Then I at least had a little bit of peace and quiet in my own house. But now everybody is around all the time giving my mom false expectations and pissing off Brook, and it’s just all too much.

I want to scream in frustration and pull my hair, but I have to be content with a loud sigh.

“I think it’s the twins from the other day.” She looks at her nails, suddenly finding them fascinating. “You know, the cute boy that…”

“I know who you are talking about, Mom.” I roll my eyes. “There are not many twins in our town.”

“Just sayin'.”

I follow my best friend down and look at the scene that awaits me. “What the hell is going on here?” I ask loudly, looking around. This is so not what I was expecting.

Everybody shuts up and looks in my direction.

I usually don’t raise my voice, and I don’t like to curse, so I guess I left them all stunned by doing both of it in the same sentence, but seriously, this is crazy.

Brook is standing in the middle of them all, poking her finger at Max’s chest and yelling at everybody around who would listen. But nobody listens, because Max and Derek are too concentrated on getting into each other’s faces, all while Andrew is standing by the door with his hands crossed over his chest watching the drama unfolding in front of him. Jeanette is standing there like a statue, looking down at Lola, who wants to play with her, with a scowl on her face.

“What are you all doing here?” I put hands on my hips, trying to look scary and demanding. “Did this house become an airport or what?”

“Lia.” Max smiles widely at me, completely ignoring my tough stance. “We came to see if you need a ride to the school sleepover.”

From the corner of my eyes, I catch Jeanette roll her eyes and squat down. Makes me wonder if it’s at her brother or my silly dog. Probably both. They are equally crazy, after all.

“And like I explained to you when you got inside, we arenotgoing,” Brook snaps before I can even open my mouth.

I still don’t understand why, out of all people cramped in my lobby, she hates him the most. It doesn’t make much sense. Andrew or Derek? Yeah, completely makes sense. But Max? The guy we’ve only known for a few weeks, and who in reality didn’t do anything to her? No, I don’t get that part.

“Yeah, we aren’t going,” I confirm, hoping it’ll calm my friend and convince everybody else it’s time for them to go on their merry way.

“Yes, you are,” Max and Derek say in unison.

Their outburst is followed by an uncomfortable silence filling the room. Both of them look grossed out with their telepathic connection, and I want to laugh at how silly they are acting. They are both tall and bulky, but underneath all that bravado are hidden minds of two ten-year-old boys who can’t seem to grow up.

“I said we…”

“We have a lot of company today.” This is exact moment my mom decides to appear, of course. Her nose could probably find a group of cute boys in the radius of a few miles.

“Mom!” I look over my shoulder at her, sending her warning glances not to do or say anything embarrassing. “Our… friends came by to see if we were going to the sleepover, but now when they heard we are not going, they’ll go on their way. We wouldn’t want them to be late.”

“You’re such a party pooper, Lia,” Max sighs loudly. He crosses his arms over his chest covered in simple black shirt and stares at me.

“We should go. They obviously don’t want to go.” Jeanette shrugs, turns on the balls of her feet, and mutters to herself as she walks away: “I don’t know why we are going in the first place.”

“You can’t not go,” Andrew states matter-of-factly, drawing our attention. He is so quiet I almost forgot he’s in the room in the first place, which is really strange when you think about it. That guy can’t keep his mouth shut if his life depended on it. “Why are you looking at me that way? Everybody knows it’s mandatory for all senior students to attend.”

“You are lying,” Brook says without missing a beat. “If it’s mandatory why don’t we know about it?”

“Emm… because you are not the part of the in crowd?”

“Ohh, please.”

“Seriously, Brook. Everybody’s been talking about this thing from the day school started. It’s on the list of obligations all seniors have to do before they graduate.”

We all fall in another silence. I’m not sure if he is telling the truth, or if he’s bluffing. “I don’t believe you.”

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