Page 56 of Becoming Cinderella

Carter: Please call me.

I send Liam a text. My hand is shaking and my nausea isn’t going away. Liam is going to see these articles and know I’ve been lying to him, except he’s going to think the lie is much bigger than it actually is. Surely he can’t believe I really hid in a garbage can to try to meet him.

I stare at my message to Liam, praying for the dots to appear that he’s writing something back.

They don’t.

I ignore the notifications I start getting about the articles and keep staring at the message for his reply. Is this what slowly falling into insanity looks like?

Carter: Please Liam, I can explain

I rub my hands over my eyes before slowly bringing myself to look at Penn. “I should probably go to class now, huh?”

Penn gives me an unsure smile. “Yeah. Otherwise you’ll go home and go crazy thinking about it.”

My chin quivers and I’m unsure how I’m going to make it through the day. I stare down at the phone in my hand wishing Liam would just send me a message to put me out of this misery.

“Just take today a minute at a time, and you’ll get through it. Let’s go,” Penn pulls me to my feet. “Let’s go to the office. My friend Andrew from the drama club is an office assistant this period and will get us an excused tardy slip.”

After a stop to the office to get a paper for excusing why I’m late, I feel all eyes on me as I walk into class. I take my seat, but I know everyone is watching me not because I’m late, but because of the articles on the internet. I start to bounce my knee and I hope whatever the teacher is droning on about isn’t going to be on a test. I’m not even pretending to listen to the words he is saying right now.

Why can’t I remember if Liam mentioned if he was going to be on set today? Is he filming right now and that’s why he isn’t responding? Filming does wrap soon, so he must be on set. Right?

“Psst, Carter. Hey, Carter?” Amy Reynolds says from the desk next to mine. “Carter!” She leans over and kicks my chair to get my attention.

I look up at her annoyed.

“Is it true you’re dating Liam Taylor?”

I don’t say anything, turning back to the open notebook on my desk.

Amy leans over her own desk to get closer to mine.

“And that you’re dating him just to boost your own celebrity gossip blog?”

“What?” This catches my attention. A blog? Is this where the rumor that I run Liam’s gossip site is coming from?

Amy looks around the class and lowers her voice even more. “Yeah, they’re saying you’re using him to start your own career in journalism.” She’s whispering, but it’s a stage whisper so those sitting in the desks nearby can still hear every word.

I wish I could laugh at how ridiculous that is, but all I can think about is Liam hearing—and possibly believing—more lies and I want to cry.

“Who is saying that?” My whisper is a lot quieter than Amy’s.

She waves a hand, “I don’t know, the news people.”

“It’s not true.”

The look on her face tells me she doesn’t believe me.

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad.

There are too many lies going around and I’m terrified that Liam’s radio silence means he believes them too.

I spend the rest of the class period staring at my phone. Each small notification buzz I get makes my heart jump, but none of the notifications are from Liam. When the bell finally rings, I head to lunch to find Penn already waiting for me in the hall.

“Hey.” She looks at me unsure, as she falls into step next to me. “How are you holding up?”

“I really messed up.” The words almost get drowned out by the hallway noise of all the conversations and lockers slamming shut.

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