I Can Not Tell a Lie But I Kind Of Have To

The Little Boy

“I can’t believe I got out of there,” I said the next day at school, putting my books in my locker.

“Frankly I’m surprised your mom didn’t send a paramedic to watch over you today,” Daniel said.

“Thank God for that,” I said, shutting my locker. “It felt like she was suffocating me.”

“Well, at least I had a good night last night,” he said.

“What? Did you and Charlotte make out?” I asked mockingly.

“No!” he shouted quickly. I laughed.

“You know, you look a little flushed,” he said, analyzing me. “I think I should call your mom and tell her.” He started pulling out his cell phone.

“No!” I shouted, grabbing the phone from him right as the old secretary in the office walked by.

“Ah, Mr. Laxton,” said Ms. Culloughsky slowly. They say that the reason she talks so slowly and drags out every syllable is because she’s trying to stretch out time so she can live longer. “I’ll be taking that.” I handed her Daniel’s phone.

“You know that the use of cell phones during school hours is against school rules,” she said slowly, pointing her finger at me. “You may come and retrieve tomorrow morning with your parents.”

“Actually ma’am,” I said. “That’s Daniel’s phone.” She slowly turned her head to him.

“You may come and retrieve tomorrow morning with your parents,” she repeated to him. Daniel nodded and she slowly turned her little body in the other direction and gradually made her way down the hall. When she we had turned around the corner, Daniel turned to me.

“I hate you,” he said, slamming his locker.

“Well, you’re the one who tried to make money off of my misery,” I said pointedly. “So Kyle won?” He nodded.

“Why is he always right?” I asked.

“Don’t know,” he said, leaning up against his locker. “So what are our plans for the Sadie Hawkins?”

“Um, well I’m planning on going,” I said.

“I know that,” he said. “Are we supposed to organize everything?”

“Like what?”

“Well, the driving arrangements, dinner reservations,” he said. “That kind of stuff.”

“Well, why wouldn’t we?” I asked.

“It is a Sadie Hawkins dance,” he said. “You know, everything’s reversed. The girls ask the guys.”

“I’m totally freaking out!” I said in a suddenly girly voice. “What color dress should I get!” Daniel laughed.

“I’m serious,” he said. “I don’t want to screw this up for Charlotte.” I burst out in laughter.

“You actually care about Charlotte?” I asked in astonishment.

“I just want her to be happy,” he said. I laughed even harder as Eric walked over.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked me. I pointed to Daniel.

“Say it,” I said between laughs.

“I want Charlotte to be happy at the Sadie Hawkins Dance,” he said mystified. Eric joined me in laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Daniel shouted but we were laughing too hard to respond. We calmed down after awhile. I looked at Daniel and took a few deep breathes.

“We weren’t laughing because it’s funny,” I said, holding back more laughter. “We were laughing because it’s so ludicrous.”

“What the heck does that mean?” Daniel asked. Kyle appeared behind him.

“Ludicrous,” he said. “Meaning crazy, nonsensical, comical, foolish, absurd, ridiculous, preposterous.” Daniel stared at him, and Kyle rolled his eyes.

“Stupid!” he shouted. Daniel turned to Eric and me, obviously offended.

“Why is it stupid that I want Charlotte to have a good time?” he asked. We burst out into laughter once more, this time with Kyle.

“That’s definitely ludicrous,” he shouted out. Daniel hit Kyle on the head and we stopped laughing.

“Sorry dude,” Kyle shrugged. “But you’ve never ever thought of anyone other than you.”

“I have too!” he shouted. “I care about Charlotte.”

“No you don’t,” Kyle said. “You were just afraid if you said no, she’d whoop your ass.”

“She can not whip my ass,” Daniel said obstinately.

“Yes she can, and you know it,” I said, pointing my finger at him.

“Maybe she could,” Daniel said avoiding eye contact with me. “But she wouldn’t. All I’m saying is that she’ll want the Sadie Hawkins Dance to be special and I should help make that night all that she wants it to be.” We stared at him for a minute.

“You’re afraid she’s gonna kick your ass if you screw Friday up, huh?” Kyle eventually said.

“No!” Daniel shouted like a little kid. He looked all around us and up and down the hallway before turning back to us.

“Okay, so what if I am?” he asked anxiously. We burst out into laughter again.

“Okay, now that is not ludi- ludicr- ludi-” he stuttered on the word. “That is not stupid!”

“No,” I said, my sides aching. “Now we’re laughing because it’s funny!” Daniel stormed off as the bell rang. We stopped laughing and looked at each other.

“He’ll get over it,” we all said at the same time before walking off in opposite directions.
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As it turned out, Daniel was right after all. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with him. Were we supposed to make the plans or the girls? For the first time ever, Daniel ended up being right.

“I don’t believe it,” he said to Eric, Kyle, and me as we stood around my car in the parking lot after school.

“Me neither,” Kyle said. “Daniel was right. Since when does that happen?”

“So what should we do?” I asked.

“Hang on,” Daniel said. “I want to bask in this for a little bit longer. I was right. Wow. I’m never going to get used to hearing that.”

“Don’t,” Eric said. “Because the chances of it happening again are very small. Less than winning the lottery.”

“I guess we could just ask a girl,” Kyle said. “They’ll know.”

“Okay, go ask Ashley,” I said. Kyle widened his eyes.

“Are you kidding!” he shouted. “She’ll be so excited that I’m talking to her she won’t even answer the question!”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said. “Eric, go ask Mary Stuart. She’ll definitely know.”

“Neil, I’m lucky enough that she even asked me in the first place,” he said. “I’d be pushing it by talking to her.”

“Daniel?” I asked hopefully.

“You do realize you’re asking the guy who’s afraid of his own date,” Kyle said pointedly.

“Well, there’s no way I’m asking Leah,” I said. “That’d be way too embarrassing.”

“We need girl friends,” Eric said. “Not a girlfriend but friends who are girls.” As he said this, I saw Millie walking past us.

“Perfect timing, Millie,” Kyle said, grabbing her arm and pulling her into our small circle. “Do we make the plans for the Sadie Hawkins dance or the girls?” She raised her eye brows.

“You guys are so stupid,” she scoffed. “Of course you make the plans. Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because it’s the Sadie Hawkins dance,” I said. “Where it’s the opposite and the girls ask the guys.”

“Nope, you guys definitely make the plans,” she said, nodding her head. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m sure I have somewhere better to be than here.” And with that said, she walked away.

“Wow is she head strong or what?” Daniel said, watching her walk away.

“I hear that!” Millie shouted, not even turning around.

“Okay, how about Little Leo’s?” I proposed. “I can make reservations for all of us at 6:30. We can go there for dinner and then hit the dance.”

“Sounds good to me,” Eric shrugged. We said good-bye to each other and went our separate ways. I drove home and got out of the car. I froze, my hand on the doorknob, when I heard a crash from inside and a scream.

Mom.

I dropped my bag to the ground and pressed my ear to the door. I heard a deep, raspy voice that definitely did not belong to my father. My heart rate quickened, and I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. My stomach dropped; it was dead. I spun around and figured I would just run to the nearest neighbor and tell them that someone had broken into our house. But I stopped dead in my tracks as I heard my mother scream again and then a loud thud.

She’s gonna get hurt before the police can even get here. I sighed heavily and opened my backpack, digging around for the black mask I had at the bottom. I heard something else break inside and dumped my bag upside down and scrambled through its contents, finally picking up the mask and putting it on. I ran to the door and kicked it with all my might. It didn’t budge.

“Honestly, why can’t I be strong?” I asked no one in particular. Then the door opened. I was staring at the burglar’s chest and looked up until I found his face. The guy was well over six feet tall and was very muscular. He growled at me from behind his ski mask.

“Vut do you vant?” he barked in an accent that I did not recognize. I jumped at his voice and took a few steps back. “Get avawy from here.” He turned to close the door but I stopped it with my hand.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “I know for a fact this isn’t your house.” He laughed maniacally.

“And how could you guess that?” he asked me. His eyes narrowed at me in the eyes slits. I stepped back again.

“Well, you’re wearing a ski mask,” I said, crossing my arms and pointing to it. “If this really were your house, you wouldn’t have to hide anything.”

“It isn’t very polite to point,” he said, grasping my right hand so hard I heard a few bones crack. I winced at the immense pain and yanked my hand out of his grip. He laughed again.

“Hurt’s, doesn’t it?” he asked evilly. “Vhy are you veering that mask, silly little boy?”

“I’m The Wonder you moron!” I yelled. His eyes widened as he lurched towards me. I leaped into the air out of his reach.

“And I’m not a little boy!” I shouted, landing on our roof. I grasped my broken hand and looked at it. It looked as though I had stuck it under the tire of a moving car. My pinky finger was pointing in the opposite direction that it should be. This was going to take some major lying to Mom and Dad for them to believe it. Mom! I suddenly remembered and flew off the roof and around to my window.

I always kept it unlocked. Why? I don’t really know, but I had a feeling I would need it to be unlocked one day, whether I would be sneaking through it way past curfew (which I haven’t really done) or flying through it to help someone in the house (which I had done three or four times before). I pried it open, flew through it, and touched down on my floor. I bolted out of my room, jumped down the entire flight of stairs, and burst into the kitchen where I heard Mom scream.

She was curled up against a cabinet, sitting on the floor, with something tied around her hands. She looked up and gasped.

“You’re The- The-” she stuttered. I can’t begin to describe how strange it was to be staring face to face at your mom, and she doesn’t even recognize you.

“Yeah, I’m The Wonder. Thank you for noticing,” I said, bending down and untying the rope from her wrists. “Stay here. Did you see where he went?”

“Vell, I’m right behind you, little boy,” I heard the burglar say. I whipped around and ducked just in time to escape the hard punch he had just thrown at me. Mom screamed as I pushed him into the kitchen door, which broke off its hinges. We left my frantic mother in the kitchen and ran, throwing punches and kicks, into the living room.

I lifted my foot to kick him but he was too fast for me and caught it. He grasped my shoulder and leaned into my face, laughing.

“You are really quite stupid, aren’t you little boy?” he asked. “If you are truly The Vunder, then vhy don’t you use your magic?”

“I’m not a wizard, moron!” I shouted as I made the vase behind him crash on his head. He let go of me and staggered back but regained his balance. I stared amazed at him. If a vase had just been shattered on my head, I’d be out cold.

“Maybe you should realize this, little boy,” he said, as I sent the stacks and stacks of books off the bookshelves towards him. He merely swatted them away as if they were flies.

“Realize what?” I asked calmly, looking around the room for anything else I could use. I glanced at the coffee table and thought something that size would do, but only if he was preoccupied.

“If I can break you’re puny little hand vith my own fingers,” he said, walking towards me, “and nothing hurts me, vut vould be the only explanation as to vhy I’m unharmed?” It clicked.

“You’re not-” I said skeptically, then stopped. Of course he was.

“I have an infinite amount of strength and energy,” he said, taking bigger steps towards me. “I can’t be hurt.”

“Oh sure you can,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“Vut did you say little boy?”

“Well, every Super has his own weakness,” I said, not entirely sure where I was going with this. “Although you can’t be hurt physically, I can always try mentally.” He gazed perplexed at me.

“See, there you go,” I said, raising my uninjured arm towards him. “You have no idea what I’m talking about. Maybe that’s your weakness.”

“I have no veaknesses,” he said, taking a larger step towards me. “Only spineless jellyfishes have veaknesses. So vhy don’t you go cry to your mommy, little boy?” My heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t possibly know. It was simply a coincidence. Lie.

“I have no mother,” I said harshly. “If I did, she wouldn’t have disowned me and forced me out of the house.” He laughed again.

“Oh, poor little baby boy,” he said, rubbing his eyes like he was crying. “No mommy to cry to.” I swear to God, if he calls me little boy one more time…

“I’m completely capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much,” I said, scowling. “I’ve been completely independent since I was nine.”

“Oh, so the little boy had a hard childhood?” he mocked. That’s it! My anger took control of me and the coffee table flew through the air behind him. But he anticipated it and snatched it out of the air with one hand.

“Oh no,” I mumbled to myself, as I watched him break it with his hand. He smiled evilly at me and nodded.

“Oh yes,” he said, leaping at me. I jumped up in the air, hitting my head on the ceiling and bouncing back to the ground. I felt hands close around my throat and press me up against the wall. Last chance… I thought as I struggled to get air. I dove into his mind.

Haha, scrawny little boy, I heard the man think. He thinks he can defeat me. He’s so stupid, thinking I have veaknesses. Nothing can defeat me but… Then it was almost as if he had stopped thinking completely. His grip loosened on my throat, and I took the opportunity to push him away.

Scrawny rat! Stay out of here! he thought.

Now why would he say- I thought but I realized too late as I felt the excruciating sharp pain come to my head. It completely immobilized me, as I fell to my knees, grasping my head. I heard a distant laugh but couldn’t bear to look up at him.

“Now, I vill finish you,” he said, his voice drawing nearer. “Master vill be most pleased.” I felt his hands creep around my exposed neck as I sat helplessly cradling my head.
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Cliff hanger! (**insert dramatic music here**) dun dun dun!! you'll never know what happens next... or you can just click the "next chapter button" to find out. but wait! i've stolen the next chapter button! MWAHAHAHA!! **clears throat** sorry about that...