Don't Remember Me

“Who’s Taylor?” She asked, eyeing the message. I felt the terror go through my bones at the mention of the name.
“I-I don’t know.” I lied. Well, it wasn’t like I could say, ‘Yeah, it’s some kid that I thought was a state away that I met on an online game. But it turns out he really goes to this school and he’s knows my biggest secret.’
“Well, they know you.” She stated.
No shit? I thought bitterly. I wasn’t mad at her, I was hating myself right now more than ever because I had been so stupid and believed everything I was told by Taylor.
“Maybe they’re a stalker that’s after me for my good looks and charm.” I tried to play it off as a joke. Apparently she wasn’t up for this because she quirked an eyebrow at me.
“Maybe we should find out who they are and confront them.”
Take out the ‘we’ and maybe I’ll consider it. After all, what if he talks and Nia finds out that I love Hayden?
After much consideration, I decided to take Nia’s advice. But only until the end, that way I could interrogate him myself. “And how do you suggest we do that?”
“Well…” She thought it over for a few seconds. “We could ask for the school roster.”
“And say it’s for a project?” I suggested.
“Yeah, we’ll say we need it for a school-wide survey.” She nodded, her brown curls spilling over her shoulder.
“Sounds like a plan.” I said, looking around. The hallway was starting to empty out. “Well, let’s get to class and we’ll get the roster at lunch. After Hayden asks you out.”
She giggled a little and then nodded in agreement. She took it so lightly, but the words burned my throat. But I knew I was good at covering it up – after all, I’d been hiding it for a few years now.

In English, the teacher was pretty lax and let us do whatever we wanted. Well, okay so he told us to study for the finals that were coming up next week, but it wasn’t like anyone was going to listen.
I glanced behind me as Hayden, who was gesturing for me to come sit next to him. I left my post at the desk I was assigned and took the empty seat next to him.
“Did you talk to Nia?” He asked. It was a little agitating that he called me over for that, even though I knew that was the only thing he wanted to talk with me about at this point.
Of course I did, you asked me to. I thought, giving a quick, darting glance at his figure. I rolled my eyes at how happy he seemed to be talking about her.
I had nothing against Nia, it wasn’t her fault he liked her.
“Yeah, I talked to her. She’ll go out with you if you ask.” I said, trying to act happy about it. Which made me feel like an actor on this stage that is my life. I acted all of my emotions so often I wasn’t entirely sure which ones were the truth anymore.
He was smiling so much at this point that it made me want to smile too. But then I remembered I wasn’t the reason for his smile; Nia was.
“Thanks man, I owe you. I couldn’t have talked to her myself.” He said, giving me a short hug that I didn’t return.
Reason one being, I didn’t want it to mean more to me than it already did and reason two being I was afraid I’d end up wanting more than just a hug. But it was fine; I was used to coercing myself to not want it.
“Yeah, I know I’m amazing.” I tried to say it in a conceited fashion, but it didn’t work out. Hayden pulled away and rested his head on his palm.
“So what ever happened to you and Ryan?”
“I broke it off.” I said bluntly and maybe a little cruelly.
“He just wanted you for your body?” He asked, chuckling.
“Yeah, that’s it.” I rolled my eyes but laughed along with him. I went on to tell him the conversation I’d had with Brian earlier in the car. He cracked up over that enough for the teacher to snap at us and tell him to stop laughing. I glared over at the teacher for trying to hinder the smile on Hayden’s face. The smile I’d put there.
“And he believed you?!”
“Yeah! He was like, ‘No big brother! You’re killing my brain cells with tales of your homosexual tendencies!’ or something like that.”
Okay, so he didn’t really say that, but I liked to exaggerate like that. Then Hayden hit my head like in those V8 commercials.
“He didn’t really say that you liar!” He laughed.
“Okay, okay, you caught me.”
I squirmed noticeably as my phone went off on vibrate mode in my pocket. The class was just loud enough for no one to have heard it though. Swiftly, I pulled it out to read the message. “Who texted you?”
I froze as I saw the name. But I quickly composed myself. “Just Ryan. I think he still wants to get back together with me.” I lied, making it sound believable. No way was I going to include Hayden in something that could possibly expose the secret I have no intention on telling him.
Good thing he didn’t know Ryan or else he’d know that wasn’t the case. Ryan hadn’t even really been into me and it was likewise with me.
“You’re such a lady – err man – killer.” He corrected as he spoke.
How about we play a game? Looking at the written text made me a little nauseous because now I knew this person was toying with me.
And if I don’t want to? I typed back without shorthand text. I’d always hated that so I wrote out my sentences and even punctuated them. I turned it onto silent mode.
“So? What did he want?” Hayden asked impatiently.
“Oh, just wanted the CD I borrowed from him.”
He sighed, most likely because he thought that was ‘boring as hell’.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” He asked suddenly, looking at me. He didn’t really let me answer because we both knew the answer was yes. “What do you like better, boys or girls?”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t really care about anyone I date so neither I guess. I figure I’ll have more of a chance to find someone I’ll actually like if I date guys and girls.” I explained in a bored fashion.
It was a half-truth. I love Hayden, but I wanted to find someone else to make me forget him. Maybe if I found that person then I could stop loving Hayden and attribute those affections to that person instead.
I checked my phone to see that there was a new message. It was extremely long and it completely disregarded the fact that I didn’t want to be a lap dog that responded to his beck and call.
I want you to find out who I am within the week and I won’t tell anyone about Hayden. I’ll give you one hint about me each morning. You can use anyone and anything at your disposal to find out my identity. I want your answer by Friday. Oh, and your first hint is: I go to your high school.
He had implied that he would tell people that I was in love with my best friend if I didn’t do it.
It was excruciatingly hopeless. I was now this kid’s puppet.
I had five days to figure out this person’s identity. Too bad his first hint was a dud; I was already made aware of the fact that they went to school here.
Okay, what did Nia say about the kid when she saw them at my locker? All she could see was that they were short. I’d have to interrogate her to see if she remembered anything beyond that.
Which is exactly what I did once I got to the cafeteria, well, after Hayden had asked her out anyways (luckily I hadn’t been there when that happened).
“Why can’t I go with you guys?” Hayden asked.
“Because it’s top secret.” I said in a childish voice, rolling my eyes and straying back out of the lunchroom, Nia following behind me.
“Why can’t he come?”
“I don’t have to tell you.” I said, maybe a little too coldly. But when I saw her face at my comment I sort of made up something. Although it was a half-truth again. “I don’t want him worrying.”
She smiled back up at me. “Okay, I get’cha. Stalkers are reason for worry though. Not that anyone would wanna pick a fight with you anyways.”
“Exactly, that’s why I’m dealing with this on my own.”
“Then why am I here?” She asked meekly.
“You’re my back-up. Besides, I wouldn’t have even told you if you hadn’t found out the way you did.” I stated.
The secretary looked up at us like we were new students. We weren’t in here very often at all because we didn’t bother to start shit with other kids here. “What can I do you for hun?” She asked in a sugary voice.
“We need a list of the students with their name and grade.” I said. But she raised an eyebrow at us.
“We’re doing a survey.”
“Why would you need a list of your classmates then?” The woman asked, till retaining her smile. Although, I could feel her becoming more and more wary of our intentions.
“So we can check off the names of the students we’ve interviewed. That way we don’t interview them twice.” Nia lied smoothly. I have to give her credit, she was good at that.
The woman sighed and proceeded to print on out for us. “Thanks!” Nia cheered at her as the secretary handed us the stapled papers.
We sat down in the hallway and I started going through the names. “Did they tell you their last name?”
“No.” I stated blandly, still sifting through the names. I found a Taylor Shultz on the first page and circled it. There were two more on the next five pages and I did the same thing to them. Their names read Taylor Hayes and Taylor Benefiel.
“At least we narrowed it down.” She nodded.