Don't Believe Everything You Hear

“Selena, wake up,” Jonathan said.

“No, I don’t want to,” I mumbled.

“Come on, it’s time for school!” he said in a voice that made me want to throw my pillow at him.

“I don’t want to go,” I mumbled to him.

“Come on, you can see lover boy,” I sat up and glared at him. “You still haven’t figured that out yet?” he asked incredulously.

“No, I haven’t, so I don’t get why everybody keeps saying that,” I said, annoyed.

“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said.

“Wait here for a sec,” he said and made me sit down on the bed. I sighed and lay back down.

“Jonathan said you needed me,” Mrs. Cook said, coming into the room.

“He’s convinced I’m sick,” I mumbled, sitting back up.

“Well let’s see,” she put her hand to my forehead and gasped, “He’s right, you’re burning up, get back in bed and stay there,” she said, rushing out of the room. I sighed and thought about getting back up anyways, but decided that I wouldn’t mind staying home for the day.

“Here, eat this,” Mrs. Cook, coming back in a few minutes later, holding a bowl of something that was steaming. “It’s soup,” she said when she saw my questioning look. I nodded, not really wanting to eat soup at seven in the morning.

“Can I just eat crackers or something, I don’t feel like soup,” I mumbled.

“Eat the soup,” she said warningly. I sighed and ate it anyways, gagging every now and then at it.

********************

“Selena, dear wake up,” somebody nudged me slightly.

“What?” I looked around the room to see Mrs. Cook there, she smiled a bit, “Just checking up on you, how are you feeling?” she asked.

“I feel a lot better,” I said to her, even though I never felt that bad in the first place.

“That’s nice, well you have a visitor,” she said. “Caleb came by earlier, but you were out cold and I couldn’t get you up,” she said. I nodded and stretched a little bit.

“You can go on in,” she said to somebody as she left the room. Much to my surprise, Austin walked into the room, holding a pile of books.

“Hello?” I said.

“Hi, how are you feeling?” he asked as he stood awkwardly in the door way.

“Pretty good, how about you?” I asked him.

“I’m not the one who was out of school today,” he told me, “But I’m fine.”

“Well I’m not the one who was in school today, which makes it that much better,” I laughed. Austin just smiled deviously. “What?” I asked him.

“Well, you have homework,” he said holding up the books. “Some of your teachers said that they don’t care if your sick,” he said, placing the books on my bed. I sighed and glared at the textbooks.

“Austin, you’re a traitor,” I groaned loudly.

“What I do?” He asked, laughing slightly.

“You’re not supposed to bring me homework,” I sighed.

“Jonathan asked me to,” He said. “I figured why not?” he said.

“Fine, just leave it there, I’ll do it later,” I sighed, laying back down, he just laughed again. “Yes?” I asked.

“It’s 8:00, you might want to get started,” he said.

”Sure, wait until eight,” I sighed and sat back up.

“Sorry,” he smiled innocently.

“Okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow.” I told him. “Assuming this homework doesn’t kill me first,” I sighed.

“I wish you the best of luck,” he told me and left the room with nothing else but a small goodbye. I sighed and pulled open the first book.

********************

“Oh my god! She lives,” Caleb cheered when I walked into the classroom the next day.

“Oh my, what will you ever do,” I said, laughing.

“Feel better?” he asked me.

“Yeah, I feel a lot better actually, I’m not even sure what that was about yesterday,” I mumbled.

“I don’t know, but as long as you feel better, Kyle was worried about you,” Caleb laughed.

“Really now,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, and he said that he’s planning his revenge because you left him alone in Mr. Johansson’s class,” he laughed.

“Oh no, what will I ever do?” I laughed.

“I don’t know, but I’d get prepared,” he laughed.

“Wait, why weren’t you there?” I asked.

“I had to sit outside of the classroom because I was talking too much,” he laughed. I nodded.

“Everybody take your seats now,” Mr. Marks said, looking specifically at me. I nodded and went over and took my seat next to the empty chair that was Austin’s chair. Of course, he walked in about five minutes late and walked over to his seat, with the teacher’s angry eyes glaring at him the whole way there.

“Hey Austin,” I said quietly to him as he sat down. I was drumming on my desk with two of my pencils, “How are you?” I asked.

Of course, there was no answer.

“Figured as much,” I sighed and continued on with staring at the wall

The rest of the class dragged on, as well as the rest of the day. Kyle’s revenge in health was that he wasn’t going to show up today, making me deal with Mr. Johansson alone. Believe me, it isn’t easy, nor is it fun.

“Selena, hurry up!” Jonathan whined as he walked down the hall with me to my locker.

“Quit whining,” I laughed, and elbowed him lightly in the arm.

“Well you walk so slow,” he said.

“Since when are you in such a hurry to get home normally you complain that I walk too fast and then you don’t want to spend more time at home then possible,” I told him.

“Well today is different,” he mumbled.

“Why?” I stopped in my tracks.

“Oh no, you’re not getting me with that,” he said and kept walking, leaving me there. For a moment I thought about staying there, because I knew he would come back, but I didn’t really enjoy being in the hallways alone anymore, so I ran to catch up with him.

“Fine, but I will find out eventually,” I told him.

“You’re meant to find out eventually, just not yet,” he said slyly. I looked at him oddly and we finally got to my locker.

“You’re locker is on like the outskirts of this school,” Jonathan commented.

“Yeah, but oh well,” I sighed. I got everything I needed out of my locker, but double checked a couple times, just to make sure. I closed my locker and started to walk away.

“Selena, you dropped something,” I turned around and saw Jonathan standing there, holding a folded piece of paper in his hands. It didn’t look familiar to me, but I took it either way.

“Can you hold this for a moment?” I asked Jonathan, holding out my books. He nodded and took them, handing me the little piece o f paper. I opened it up and read it.

Meet me at Chestnut Park at 8:30 tonight

“What’s it say?” Jonathan asked, handing me my books back. I handed it to him, completely numb about what to think about it. His eyes skimmed over the tiny writing and he shrugged.