Masquerade of Lies (2 page)

“Hey!” I called out.

She turned around and smiled. “Hey! Deerwood girl!” I smirked. “Hanna…right?”

I stood up and brushed some hair out of my face. “Yeah.”

She stepped towards me. “So…how was your first day at
Willowdale High
?”

“Different.” She nodded her head. “I can’t believe you said that to Claire in class today. In front of everybody!”

She pulled her car keys out of her pocket. “Well, somebody had to put Barbie in her place.”

As we both laughed, I saw my mom pull up to the curb.

“My mom’s here…I gotta go,” I said as I hoisted my back pack over my shoulder.

“Cool. Well, see you ‘round, Deerwood girl,” Brooke called after me.

I smiled and waved goodbye as I stepped towards my mom’s car. After I got in, I tossed my bag in the back seat.

My mom smiled at me. “How was school?” she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “It was okay.”

“
Just okay
?”

“Well…” I bit my lip. “I sorta met this guy…he’s really cute.” I smiled. She wrinkled her brow. “Don’t worry, Mom; it’s not like that.”

“I’m sorry…it’s just that the last time–”

“It’s not gonna be like last time!” I exclaimed.

She returned to the steering wheel and started driving. The ride home was quiet.

***

The next few weeks of school were a blur. I still had a ton of unpacking to do. Even though I still felt like an outcast at school, I managed to get through all my classes. Josh and I started talking a little more, but it was usually about our geometry homework. I didn’t have much of a social life, but my friendship with Brooke began to blossom. Claire and her BFFs walked around the school like they owned it. Every time Claire saw Brooke, vicious remarks spewed from her mouth. Brooke usually had a good comeback, and Claire would become enraged. She had a malicious look on her face, almost like Brooke better watch her back.

One morning after third period, my stomach began to grumble. It was lunch period, so I decided to hit the cafeteria for some food. As I pushed my way through the stream of students, I ran into Brooke.

“Hey! Where are you headed?” she asked.

“To the cafeteria.”

“I’m starving! Mind if I come with?”

“Sure.”

I admit, I was scared of Brooke at first, but after I got to know her a little bit more, I realized we actually had something in common: both of us lived in a single parent home. Her father died when she was little, so she lived with her mother. My parents split up because they couldn’t stand each other anymore, so I lived with my mother.

As we treaded through the hall, Claire, Jessica, and Katie headed in our direction. Katie reminded me of one of the girls in
Pretty Little Liars
. She was thin with long dark golden brown hair and hazel eyes. She had on black capris and a pink U-collar pleated lace up chiffon top. Her high heeled T-strap Guess sandals accentuated her long legs. Jessica was a mini-Claire, except she had long straight blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. She wore a short hot pink skirt, a black low cut halter top, and black Chanel shoes.

As they approached us, Claire scrunched up her face like something stank.

“Do you smell something, girls? Oh wait–I know what it is: it’s Brooke.” Katie and Jessica started to laugh, but they didn’t say anything to me. “So, tell me, Brooke,” Claire continued, “have you slept with any teachers lately?”

“Claire, you have a little something on your cheek...it looks like sperm, so you better clean it up before Josh finds out.”

Claire’s mouth opened wide. “As if! You’re so vile! It’s a good thing you like to wear black, Brooke, because you’ll be dressed for your own funeral!”

She spun on her heels and stormed away, and Katie and Jessica followed. Brooke and I stood in the hall as students and teachers walked back and forth around us.

“What’s the deal with her?” I asked.

Brooke lowered her eyes for a moment, then raised them again. “Before we started high school, things were different.
She
was different. We met in the second grade and became best friends. We used to live on the same street, so we were always at each other’s house.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Anyway, when we came to Willowdale High, we were so excited because we weren’t going to be in junior high anymore. I started crushing on my ninth grade math teacher, Mr. Parsons. He was really nice and a good teacher, and it was just a harmless schoolgirl crush. He really cared about his students, you know?” I nodded my head. “Math wasn’t my best subject, so I used to stay after school and get extra help from him. He used to praise me and make me feel smart.” She put her hands on her chest. “That was probably the reason I liked him so much.” She dropped her arms to her side. “Whatever. Claire was my best friend, so I told her about my crush in confidence, and she promised she wouldn’t say anything to anybody.” She began fiddling with one of her nails. “Well, the next day, people started blurting out perverse things about me and Mr. Parsons. Claire told everybody at school that I had a crush on him, and because we spent so much time together after school, people believed there was something going on between us. Rumors spread, and they got completely out of hand. Mr. Parsons was under investigation and fired for having an inappropriate relationship with a student, but it never happened! He doesn’t even teach anymore; he owns a café now.” She ran her hands down her cheeks. “I was so embarrassed. I had reporters constantly calling my house and ambushing me at school. I ended up dropping out for a while. It’s taken me a long time to get over what happened. Do you know that to this day, Claire still hasn’t apologized for the hurt and embarrassment she caused me? This was her way of becoming popular and being the center of attention, even if it cost us our friendship. I vowed never to trust her or be friends with her again,” Brooke finished fiercely, tears dotting her eyes.

Her looks deceived me, because behind that dark and tough persona was an emotionally wounded girl.

CHAPTER TWO—KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE AND YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER

I looked up, and there he was, standing across the cafeteria. My future husband. Josh Banks. He was wearing a burgundy and white football jersey with the number
23
on the front. My skin started to tingle. I bit my nails.

As the murmur of conversations carried on throughout the cafeteria, I looked up and spotted Claire. She was wearing a red and white cheerleading uniform with the word
Wolves
written across the front of her shirt. Katie and Jessica followed behind her, both wearing the same thing.

I shoved an overcooked French fry in my mouth when I saw Claire give Josh a kiss on the lips and he put his arms around her tiny waist. I groaned.

Brooke looked up from her Samsung. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m so sick of seeing Claire and Josh together! I think I’m gonna die.”

Brooke turned her head to look at them.

“Forget about Josh. Isn’t there anybody else at this school you might like?”

“No,” I said in a low voice.

Brooke went back to looking at her phone. I felt a rush of emotions, but I couldn’t let them get the better of me. Not again. Not after all the progress I’d made.

I stood up to go to class when I noticed a tall guy with a medium build staring at me. He had wavy dirty blond hair and beautiful emerald green eyes. He was a pretty boy. As our eyes met his pink lips formed a smile. He was wearing the same football jersey as Josh, only his had number
17
on it. I gave him one last glance and whirled around to walk away.

“Wait, what about your French fries?” Brooke asked.

“You can have them.”

***

After school, I went outside to meet my mother, and Brooke was there. She was sitting on the steps, doodling in a sketch book. I walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder.

“Hey, Hanna.”

“Hey.”

“Are you okay? You just took off at lunch.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m just a little bummed about Josh. I really like him.”

“Forget about Josh. Claire has him on a tight leash, and I don’t think she’s letting him go anytime soon. They always break up and get back together, so don’t waste your time. Besides, you can do a lot better than Josh Banks.”

“You’re kidding me, right? He’s gorgeous!”

“Trust me. You’re better off without him.”

I didn’t know if I should trust her judgement; she probably dated guys who resembled Marilyn Manson.

“So, what about you?” I asked her.

“What about me?"

“Are you into anybody at this school?” 

“I wouldn’t be caught dead with anybody at this school. Besides, I don’t date
high school boys anymore
.”

She lowered her head, and I noticed a yellow gold necklace dangling from her neck. It was a thin chain, and attached to it was half of a heart pendant.

“Nice necklace,” I said.

“Thanks. My dad gave it to me when I was three. I wear it all the time.” She ran her hands through her long black hair. “Hey, you wanna hang out tonight?”

“Sure.”

She smiled. “Cool. I’ll come over to your house.”

“Sounds good,” I replied as my mother’s Corolla pulled up.

My mother honked her horn. I shot her a look and lifted one finger to gesture one more minute as Brooke and I finished our discussion.

“Text me your address,” Brooke said.

“Okay, I will.”

“See ya later.”

“Bye,” I said, waving my hand. I stood by my mother’s car and stared incredulously as Brooke got into the driver’s side of her hearse.

A short time later, my mother and I pulled into our narrow driveway. We lived in a brown Craftsman style bungalow with a single car garage. It was a lot smaller than where we used to live, and it wasn’t as luxurious as the other houses I’d seen, but it was
ours
.

***

While my mother and I were eating dinner my phone chimed.

“Who’s that?” my mother asked as she put a fork full of mashed potatoes in her mouth.

“My friend Brooke; she’s coming over soon.”

“Oh,” my mother said surprised. “Well, I’m glad you’re making friends.”

After dinner, I dragged my full-bellied self to my room and shut the door behind me. I’d planned to study for a chemistry test, but I was looking forward to hanging out with Brooke. I noticed the number of boxes still sitting in my room. I really had to finish unpacking, but unfortunately I had more important things to do. I opened my laptop, logged on to Facebook, and began reading status updates when I came across Marisa’s. She was on her way with the gang to Finnigan’s, the coffee shop we used to hang out at. It was in the plaza next to our school. They had
the
best chocolate éclairs. Apparently, she was meeting another guy she’d met online. I was really glad she wasn’t going alone.

I left her a comment that said, ‘Have fun and be careful! I miss you!’, then decided to search for Josh. I typed
Josh Banks
in the search box, and quite a few profiles came up–but then I found him. I decided to add him as a friend, hoping he’d accept my friend request. I bit my lip like I always did when I was nervous. I requested Brooke as a friend, too.

I then opened another browser and logged on to Twitter. After I followed Josh and Brooke, I got caught up reading Brooke’s tweets. One in particular,
“I can’t believe this is happening to me!”
caught my attention. I was going to text her to ask what she was talking about, but I decided to wait until I saw her later. Josh didn’t tweet that much, but when he did it was usually sports related.

I went back to Facebook to find that Josh had accepted my friend request! Brooke accepted my request, too. Immediately afterward, I received a friend request from Claire. Even though I was hesitant, I decided to accept it. Then I received another one from somebody named Mark Edwards. I looked at his profile picture and realized it was pretty boy from the cafeteria. I clicked on
Confirm.
Just then, Brooke texted me to let me know she was outside.

I looked at the time at the bottom of my computer screen:
6:30 PM
. I logged off and closed my laptop, then opened my bedroom door and leaped down the stairs. I pulled open the front door as Brooke approached me. “Hey!”

“Hey, Deerwood girl!” She walked in and I closed the door behind her. She took off her shoes and we went into the living room, where my mother was watching television.

“Mom, this is my friend Brooke.”

My mother stood up. “Nice to meet you Brooke.”

“Nice to meet you too Mrs. Clark.”

“Please, call me Victoria.”

“Cool…Victoria.” My mother smiled.

“Okay, we’re gonna go up to my room.”

“Okay.” My mother grinned. I led Brooke up to my room and closed the door.

“What’s with all the boxes Deerwood girl?”

“Oh, I still have to unpack a few things.” She nodded and took a seat on my bed. I sat down beside her. She pulled a cigarette and lighter out of her pocket. She popped the cigarette in her mouth.

“What are you doing? You can’t smoke in here!” I gushed.

She yanked the cigarette out of her mouth. “Oh…sorry.” She stuffed the cigarette and lighter back in her pocket.

“No worries.”

“So…did you have a boyfriend back in Deerwood?”

“No, not really.”

“What do you mean
not really?
You either did or you didn’t.”

“Okay, I didn’t.” I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.

“Why not?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. Shy, I guess.” She stood up and walked towards my closet. She started looking through my clothes. “Are
you
dating anybody?”

She snapped her neck in my direction. “Not anymore.”

“Who were you dating?”

“What’s with all the questions?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, so it’s okay for you to ask
me
questions, but I can’t ask you anything?”

“Exactly.”
We both laughed. “No, I was dating this older guy, but it’s over now.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing…our relationship ran its course.”

“Oh.” Suddenly, I remembered that I wanted to ask her about that tweet. “Hey, I was on Twitter earlier, and I came across one of your tweets. It said:
I can’t believe this is happening to me!
What was that about?”

“Oh…I…uh…I realized I had a test that I forgot to study for.”

“Oh…bummer.”

“Yeah.” She walked back towards my bed and sat down. “Hey, wanna play a game?” She shifted her body towards me and crossed her legs on my bed. She pulled out her phone and started pressing buttons.

“What kind of game?” I asked.

“Truth or Dare.” I moved a little closer to her so I could see her smartphone screen.

“From your phone?”

“Yeah. We could do clean, easy dares or dirty dares.”

“Okay, sure! Let’s play!”

“Okay, we’ll start with clean dares,” said Brooke. I nodded my head. “I’ll go first.” She clicked on PLAY CLEAN DARES. The first dare was:
dance crazy for one minute
. Brooke jumped off the bed and looked at me. “Ready?”

I picked up my phone and set the timer. “Yeah, do your thing.” Brooke started convulsing her body and waving her arms in the air. She looked like she was having a seizure. I threw myself back on the bed and started laughing hysterically. Brooke began to giggle too, but she kept dancing. “Okay, times up!” I bellowed. Brooke stumbled to the bed and plopped herself on it. She was out of breath.

“Your turn! Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” I said. She read the next dare. “Exchange a piece of clothing with somebody in the room.” Brooke pulled off her shirt and handed it to me; I did the same.

“That was easy.”

“Yeah…too easy,” Brooke mocked.

“Your turn, but do truth this time,” I said.

“Okay…truth.”

“If you had to date one guy at our school, who would it be?” She rolled her eyes.

“Nobody.”

I shot her a look and raised my eyebrows. “Not
one
person?”

“No…sorry.” She fondled with her phone. “Let’s play dirty dares now,” Brooke said with a wicked smile.

“Okay. Bring it!” She clicked on DIRTY DARES and read out the dare.

“Call your crush and sing
I will always love you.

“What! I can’t do that!” The thought of calling Josh and saying those words had my stomach in knots. I bit my lip.

“Chicken?”

“Actually, yeah, I am.” We both giggled.

“Oh come on Hanna. Have a little fun.”

“I can’t call him. I don’t have his number.”

“Lucky for you, I do.” I furrowed my brow.

“Why do
you
have his number?”

“Oh, he scores weed off me sometimes.”

“Oh.”

“So, you gonna call him or not?”

I groaned.
“Fine.”
I reached for my phone. Brooke recited Josh’s number as I dialed. It started ringing. My heart was pounding in my chest. It rang again, but on the third ring Josh answered.

“Hello?” I froze. “Hello? Is anybody there?” Brooke was staring at me with wide eyes. I swallowed the lump in my throat and started singing.

“I will always love you.”

“Who is this?” I immediately ended the call and threw my phone on the bed.

“Nice Hanna!”

I smirked. “Yeah, yeah.” Then I realized I didn’t press
*67
to hide my number. I bit my lip. Suddenly, my phone rang. I slowly picked it up and glanced at the number. It was Josh calling back! “Ohmigod! It’s Josh!”

“So, answer it!” I tucked some hair behind my ear and pressed the
talk
button.

“Hello?”

“Did somebody just call me and sing?”

“Uh…yeah…hi Josh…it’s Hanna…from school.”

“Hanna?”

“Hey.”

“What’s with the singing?”

“Sorry…Brooke and I are playing truth or dare and I was dared to call my…I mean…I was dared to call you and sing.”

“Oh…okay, that’s cool.”

“Cool.” Butterflies twirled in my stomach.

“Alright, I’ll let you get back to your game. See ya.”

“Bye.”

“Dude! You are blushing something fierce!”

“Shut up!” I said in a joking manner as I slapped her on the arm. “Alright beeotch…it’s
your
turn!” She scrunched up her face and handed me her phone.