Believe Me, I'm Lying

Saturday morning I woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. For a few moments I debated about sleeping for a little longer, but the delicious scent drove me out of the comfort of my covers. I trudged into the kitchen, rubbing my eyes sleepily. Will entered my vision, whistling to himself as he hovered over the stove.

“Morning!” he chirped upon seeing me. “I’m making breakfast.”

“Obviously,” I responded, cracking a smile.

“Pig!” Elliot came out of nowhere and ran into my full force, nearly knocking me over. “Morning!”

“Don’t call me Pig,” I sighed half-heartedly. I had the feeling he wouldn’t be giving up that nickname any time soon.

Elliot pouted at me, resemebling a puppy. “But Pig is Pig…”

I couldn’t help another grin from spreading on my face. Lowering myself down to Elliot’s level, I gathered him into a giant bear hug, squeezing him tight. “You’re too cute! I love you!”

“Hey, hey! I want in on this love fest,” Will commented, wagging his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes. “You’re too old.”

“Ouch…”

“Is breakfast ready? I’m hungry,” I complained, sitting down at the kitchen table and slumping my head on it. “And tired.”

“You should have slept longer,” Will told me with a laugh.

“And miss out on your not-so-awesome cooking? I think not,” I responded, waving my hand. “It smells good.”

Will shrugged. “I may not be much of a cook, but I thought I’d make you a nice breakfast.”

“What’s the occasion?”

“That I finally finished my manuscript on time this time, and that you made it through another week of school,” Will responded with a grin. “I’m proud of both of us.”

“I’m proud of Sherry for not killing you.”

Will winced. “She probably would of if it wasn’t for Eli in the room with me.”

“… I don’t think I want to know.”

“I don’t think you do either.”

I cracked a smile as Will winked at me. He returned his attention back to the stove before he spoke again. “So, what are your plans today?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know… I kind of want to go to the mall.”

“First pay check?”

“The money should be in the bank now,” I responded with a grin. “It’s weird actually having enough money to pay the bills and still have enough to be able to buy things for myself.”

“I feel like I want to cry...”

“What? Why?”

“I just feel happy for you,” Will told me, turning off the stove. “I don’t know how to describe it. I guess this is how a couple who has been wanting a baby feels when they find out the wife or girlfriend is pregnant.”

I stared at will with a blank expression. “That made no sense.”

He laughed. “Never mind. I’m happy you have extra spending money… Since you’d never take mine.”

“And I never will,” I stated firmly. “We’ve been over this.”

Will sighed. “I know, I know. I just feel like—”

“A helpful neighbor, who you are,” I cut him off, rolling my eyes.

“Right. Here,” Will said, putting a plate full of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of me. “Enjoy, mi amor.”

“Gracias, tío.”

“You’re too cold,” Will said with a sigh. “At least call me a brother. Uncle makes me sound old…”

“Mall,” Elliot suddenly said, his eyes lighting up. “Can I come?”

“Of course, Eli.”

“Can I get a toy?”

“Absolutely,” I told him with a grin. Now that I actually had extra money, I would buy him anything he wanted.

Elliot cheered happily, his eyes wide with excitement. I was just as excited as he was— before I could never afford to buy him something when we went. Well, besides little things here and there, but now he could actually get something worthwhile.

“Eat up, champ,” Will ordered, placing a tray of food in front of Elliot. “The mall is a big place. If you’re going to be walking around today you’ll need all the strength you can get.”

“Gotcha, captain!” Elliot responded with a mock salute to Will.

I smiled, turning back to my own breakfast. Will watched me intently as I scooped the first spoonful of eggs into my mouth. To my surprise, they were actually good. Will waited expectantly as I slowly chewed and swallowed the egg in my mouth.

“Well?” he demanded.

“Disgusting,” I responded immediately. “Worst eggs I’ve ever tasted.”

Will frowned. “Dang it. I tried really hard too.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “I’m kidding. They’re really good.”

Will looked at me with a relieved expression. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Perfect. So as an award, will you cook me breakfast tomorrow?” Will implored with a small grin.

I rolled my eyes. “Yes.”

“Pig, when are we going to the mall?” Elliot asked, gaining my attention.

“After lunch?”

“Okay,” Elliot responded sounding excited. “Can we eat lunch after we’re done with breakfast?”

Will laughed, putting a hand on Elliot’s head. “I don’t think you have enough room in your stomach for both meals.”

“No, I’m really hungry,” Elliot insisted.

“Elliot, even if we did eat lunch right away, I still need to get ready,” I told him with a laugh. “You can wait.”

“Fine,” he pouted.

“Cheer up,” Will said, mussing with Elliot’s hair. “I’ll play videogames with you while you wait.”

I smiled as Elliot cheered right up. Will grinned at me and I mouthed a thank-you. I really had no idea what I’d do without him.

The mall wasn’t that crowded when we arrived. There were still a number of people, but not as many as I had expected. I tightened my grip on Elliot’s hand as we weaved through the throngs of people going every which way. Elliot was grinning excitedly at all the stores as we went by them, which made me smile.

“Where do you want to go first?” I asked him, squatting down to his level. “Anywhere.”

“Candy store,” he replied immediately.

I laughed slightly. “I should’ve guessed. C’mon.”

Elliot and I made our way to the candy store on the other side of the mall. When we made it to the store, Elliot ran ahead of me eagerly. I followed behind him quickly, not letting him out of my sight.

“What can I get?” he asked me, stopping in front of one of the large display cases of candy.

“Anything,” I assured him. “Fill up a whole bag.”

Elliot grinned at me widely, his eyes widening in eagerness. “Really?”

I nodded. “You just have to remember brush your teeth.”

And with that, Elliot grabbed a plastic bag and dragged me throughout the store, making me put in all the candy he wanted. I had a feeling I was going to regret this when he was bouncing off the walls at home, but seeing him this happy made me happy, and that was all that mattered. When he was finished, I was surprised to find that his total was only ten dollars. With a large bag of candy in Elliot’s hand and a lollipop in my mouth, we exited the candy shop.

“Where to next?”

“I can get something else?” Elliot asked, a small gasp leaving his mouth.

“Mhm,” I told him, grabbing his hand as we started growing through the crowds of people. “Hold my hand, Eli.”

“Can I make a Build-A-Bear and dress it up?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You want a Build-A-Bear?”

Elliot nodded frantically. “Yes!”

“Okay,” I said with a laugh. “Let’s go make one.”

Elliot suddenly lunged himself at my legs, giving me a hard hug. “I love you, Pig.”

“Oh, you love me for my money,” I joked, patting his head. “Come on.”

The Build-A-Bear workshop was close to the candy store so we got there pretty quickly. Elliot was practically dragging me into the store, babbling excitedly about what he was going to make. He went straight up to the bins with the animal bodies and picked up a pig.

“I’m making you,” Elliot told me with a toothy grin.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to be amused or upset at this. I appreciated the fact that he wanted to make a Build-A-Bear after me, but I didn’t appreciate the fact that he chose a pig. It made sense because of my nickname, but still…

“Welcome to Build-A-Bear!” an enthusiastic voice cried from behind me. “Are you making a bear, little guy?”

I turned around and nearly had a heart attack. Zak was staring at me in surprise, his jaw slightly open. Immediately I began to think of excuses to make if he questioned me about anything. I wasn’t dressed any different than I dressed on casual Friday at school, so that wouldn’t be a problem.

“Ms. Allen,” Zak said in surprise.

“Hello, Zak,” I responded awkwardly, brushing a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “You work here?”

Zak grinned and nodded. “Yeah, this is how I afford school. What are you doing here?”

“I’m making a pig for Pig!” Elliot told Zak eagerly before I could respond.

“Pig?” Zak repeated, looking at me.

I blushed, shooting a glare at Elliot. “Sorry, that’s the nickname he has for me.”

“Is he your son?”

“What?”

“This boy, is he your son?” Zak asked, glancing at Elliot. “He sure looks like you…” He squatted down to Elliot’s level to examine him closer. “Aw, so cute!”

“No, no,” I told Zak, shaking my head. “This is my brother, Elliot.”

“Hello Elliot,” Zak greeted Elliot, holding out his hand. “I’m your sister’s friend, Zak.”

For some reason it made me happy that Zak introduced me as his friend instead of teacher. Part of me knew he probably shouldn’t, but I didn’t really care. Teachers could be friends too.

“Hi,” Elliot responded, suddenly shy. He hid behind my leg and I couldn’t help but to laugh.

“Look, you scared him Zak.”

Zak looked at Elliot in surprise. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. Can we just make his pig?”

Zak laughed. “Of course. C’mon, Elliot. Let’s go stuff that pig.”

Zak started marching further into the store and Elliot and I quickly followed him. He stopped in front of a large machine full of fluff and gestured for Elliot to give him the pig. Elliot did so and Zak began to fill the pig with fluff.

“He Elliot, why don’t you choose a heart from that bin over there while I finish filling this guy up?” Zak suggested to Elliot, nodding his head to a bin full of small, stuffed, felt hearts.

“Okay! Pig, what color heart?” Elliot asked, turning towards me.

“How about red?”

“Okay!”

Elliot ran and got the heart and gave it to Zak. Then Zak made Elliot do a lot of useless stuff like doing jumping jacks for good health for the stuffed animal, and spinning in circles for good luck. I almost laughed when Zak began spinning in circles with Elliot. It was really amusing. Finally when the animal was done, Elliot went off to find an outfit for it.

“And now my shift is technically over,” Zak commented, looking at the watch on his hand. “Do you want to grab a coffee with me?”

I raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. “A teacher having coffee with a student?”

Zak grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Face it, you don’t look older enough to be a teacher. And I’ve had coffee with Ms. Rose before and Mr. Cole.”

“Who’s Mr. Cole?”

“He’s a science teacher,” Zak told me. “One coffee won’t hurt anyone.”

“No, it won’t,” I agreed with a smile. “And I have some questions for you…”

Now it was Zak’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Why do I have the feeling it’s about Oliver and Arden?”

“Because you’re the sweetest student I’ve ever taught and you want to help out poor little me who is harassed daily by delinquent students?”

Zak laughed. “You aren’t harassed daily.”

“I have to deal with Oliver. It’s close enough.”

“True,” Zak agreed, laughing again. “I’m happy to answer your questions as long as it isn’t too personal. Those you have to ask the boys yourself.”

“I just want to know why they hate each other.”

Zak frowned slightly. “There’s a lot to it…”

“Let me guess. You can only tell me some of the reason?”

“Yep.”

I sighed. “Well, whatever. A little bit for now is okay until I can convince Arden to tell me.”

“Why not Oliver?”

“Oliver hates me,” I admitted. “I can just tell.”

Zak chuckled. “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you. Oliver is just a very anti-social guy.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed.”

“Pig! Pig look!”

I turned around to see Elliot rushing up to me, holding out an outfit for his stuffed pig. It consisted of a shirt with a Wii on it and a pair of blue jeans. I laughed, shaking my head. “Eli, you’re too obsessed with your videogames… maybe you should take a break.”

Elliot looked like I had just taken his bag of candy away from him. Then he looked like he was about to cry. “But Pig… I like Wii…”

Zak laughed as I sighed lightly. “Elliot, don’t worry about it. I was joking. That outfit looks great. Are you ready to pay?”

Elliot nodded. “Yep!”

“I’m going to go clock out and change, and I’ll meet you at the front in about five minutes, okay?” Zak told me, beginning to undo is apron.

“Sounds good,” I responded, leading Elliot towards the cash register. “See you soon.”

Ten minutes later Zak emerged from the store dressed in a pair of grey jeans and a black and white plaid shirt. He grinned at me and waved. “You ready?”

“Rocking the plaid, huh?”

“Isn’t everyone these days?” Zak responded, heading into the crowds of people making their way towards the center of the mall.

“I guess,” I responded with a shrug. “Where are we getting coffee?”

“Where do you want to get coffee, Ms. Allen?”

“Um, you can call me Harley out of school,” I said awkwardly. “I mean… you should call me Ms. Allen, but it feels awkward in public and… It’s, um…”

Zak laughed. “Okay, Harley. I get you. This is your first year of teaching too, right? I can understand how weird it must be to be called by your last name, especially since you’re only twenty-one.”

“Right…” I frowned slightly. Zak was so gullible. It made me feel bad for lying to him about my age.

“You don’t act like a teacher at all, anyway,” Zak continued with a shrug.

“I do too,” I protested.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes!”

“Really sure?”

“Okay, fine. I sometimes do,” I finally muttered, pursing my lips. “But it’s my first year, so give me a break.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” Zak assured me. “They have the best hot chocolate at Border’s, do you want to go there?”

“Sure,” I responded. “I also want to pick up a book…”

Zak wrapped an arm around my shoulder and suddenly steered me to the left. I tightened my hand around Elliot’s, surprised by the sudden change in direction. People around us gave us irritated looks as they stopped to let us through.

“Sorry!” I apologized, brushing past a rather burly man.

When we made it out of the crowd and into the bookstore, Zak didn’t remove his arm. I let him keep it around me as we made our way to the café part of the bookstore. An elderly couple smiled at us as we went by.

“Look at the cute young family,” the wife commented, smiling at me.

I stared at her in surprise. “F-family?”

“And they told us it wouldn’t work out,” Zak told the elderly couple with a wink. “We proved them wrong.”

“Zak!”

The elderly couple laughed as Zak dragged me away from them. This time I escaped out from under his arm. He rolled his eyes at me. “What? I was just making them happy.”

I didn’t respond and just continued to frown at him. He rolled his eyes. “What do you want to drink? It’s on me.”

“Hot chocolate,” I told him, scanning the menu. “It sounds better than coffee to me right now.”

“What do you want, Elliot?” Zak asked, turning to my brother. “Hot chocolate too?”

My brother nodded his head vigorously. “With extra whipped cream!”

Zak grinned at him. “Of course.”

Zak ordered our drinks while Elliot and I went to take a seat in the corner of the café area. When he returned he put Elliot’s hot chocolate in front of him and a spoon and fork.

“Careful, it’s hot,” he warned. “Let it cool down first.”

“Okay,” Elliot responded, dipping his finger into the whipped cream.

“Out of curiosity, do you have a younger sibling?” I asked as Zak placed my hot chocolate in front of me.

Zak smiled. “Yeah, a younger sister about your brother’s age. Hey, maybe they could have a play date!”

“They should,” I responded with a laugh. “Elliot doesn’t really know anyone besides some kids at the day care he used to go to.”

“Well, we’ll set one up one day,” Zak told me, taking a sip of his own drink, which I wasn’t quite sure what was.

“So,” I started, wanting to get straight to the point. “Were Oliver and Arden ever friends?”

Zak nodded. “Yep. Tucker, Oliver, Arden, and I used to live on the same street as each other. Arden and I still do, but Tucker and Arden moved in the beginning of high school.”

“Were you guys all friends?”

Zak nodded again. “From fourth grade until eighth.”

“What exactly happened?”

“Well, I guess when Oliver and Tucker moved away, things just began to fall apart between us,” Zak told me, his eyebrows furrowing. “What happened between Oliver and Arden, I don’t know. But I do know that whatever caused them to hate each other is the reason why today we have our mock gang in school.”

“That… wasn’t helpful at all,” I responded with a sigh.

“Sorry. Let me try to think of anything else…”

“Don’t apologize, I’m just prodding into something I probably shouldn’t be,” I muttered, taking a skip of my hot chocolate. I retracted immediately, feeling my eyes tear up. “Hot!”

Zak laughed, raising an eyebrow at me. “I told your brother it would be hot, I didn’t think I’d need to tell you too.”

“You don’t,” I told him, feeling myself flush.

“Pig is stupid,” Elliot commented with a sly smirk.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Good one, Eli.”

“Oh, you know what? I think that Oliver being adopted might have put a rift between them too,” Zak commented suddenly. “Oliver started being a jerk when he was adopted. He even pretty much ignored me, and we were the closest.”

I wanted to ask about Oliver’s parents, but I knew Zak wouldn’t have the answer to any of my questions. “So when did you notice that Oliver and Arden didn’t like each other?”

Zak snorted. “Didn’t like? You mean hated each other’s guts? It was the beginning of high school, but it grew worse when we transferred to Wesley Academy.”

“I think my uncle has a good school…”

“No, they didn’t want to kill each other because of the school, Ms. Al— Harley,” Zak corrected himself. “You know what? I wish my last name was Davidson so if we got married your name was Harley Davidson…”

I smiled wryly. “Let’s stay on track, Mr. Adler.”

“I’m guessing something happened between them that they never told anybody about. You’d have to ask one of them to find out though.”

“I’ll ask Arden,” I told Zak. “Eventually…”

“Why Arden?”

“Hmm?”

Zak was looking at me suspiciously when I glanced at him. “Why do you always turn to Arden?”

“He’s just… Um, Arden is,” I hesitated trying to figure out what to say. Why did I always turn to Arden? “Arden’s easier to get along with than Oliver,” I finally told him.

“Yeah, but Arden is also… Never mind.”

“Never mind what?”

“Nothing,” Zak responded with a shrug. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Obviously you were,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “Tell me.”

“Nope.”

“Tell me or I’ll fail you.”

Zak looked at me in shock. “You can’t do that!”

I laughed at his reaction. “I know, I was kidding. But seriously, just tell me—”

Suddenly the sound of a cell phone ringing cut me off. Zak quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After looking at it for a minute he held a finger up to me and flipped it open.

“Hello?” Zak answered, frowning slightly. “Hi. What do you want?” There was a short silence and Zak furrowed his eyebrows. “No, but she’s right in front of me… No, I just ran into her. I don’t know. Yeah, sure…” Zak handed me the phone. “Here…”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

I took the phone bemusedly and put it up to my ear. “Hello?”

“Be ready at seven o’clock tonight,” a familiar voice demanded, sounding bored.

“Oliver?” I asked in shock.

“Great deduction, detective,” he responded sarcastically.

I scowled. “What do you mean by ‘be ready at seven o’clock tonight’?”

“I mean you have to be ready to leave your house at seven tonight.”

“For what?”

“Job training,” Oliver told me. “You’re starting next week so you need to come in tonight for training.”

I frowned. “What if I have plans?”

“Cancel them,” Oliver said simply. “I’ll pick you up at seven sharp. Give me your address.”

“I can drive myself—”

“Just give me your address. I’m picking you up.”

I scowled, but gave Oliver my address. “Where do you work?”

“You’ll see,” Oliver responded before I heard a click.

I stared at the phone in my hand, not sure what kind of expression to make. I was going in for training tonight? What was Oliver’s job? And why did I tell him where I lived so easily? I didn’t want him stalking me…

“Why did Oliver want to talk to you?” Zak asked curiously, making me jump.

“Um, he had a question about what we baked last week,” I made up quickly. “I guess he wants to make it…”

Zak raised an eyebrow suspiciously but didn’t pry. “Well he was lucky I happened to be with you. But he did ask a question I want to be able to answer. Can I have your cell phone number?”

“You want my number?”

“You know, um, just in case like Oliver I want to bake something we baked in class…”

I smiled slightly. “Do you have any other teacher’s numbers?”

Zak grinned at me. “Mr. Cole’s…”

“Okay, but you can only use it for school related things,” I warned him, opening a new contact on his phone.

“Of course!”

“Here,” I said, handing his phone back to him when I finished typing in my number. “It’s under Harley.”

“I’ll text you my number,” Zak responded, taking his phone. After a moment of fiddling with his phone he closed it and looked back up at me. “Sent.”

As soon as he said the words my phone vibrated and I quickly grabbed it and saved Zak’s number. The time on my phone read two o’clock. I frowned slightly. Only five hours until I was supposed to go to Oliver’s work… Curiosity was killing me. What did he do? Would I be able to handle it? Butterflies appeared in my stomach. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to wait until seven o’clock to find out.