Believe Me, I'm Lying

It was almost eight o’clock by the time I stumbled into Will’s apartment. Shock spread across Will’s face as he came into the living room, where I was standing, still in my dirty clothing. After a moment, a grin made its way onto Will’s face.

“Rough first day?”

“You have no idea,” I muttered, peeling my shirt away from my skin. “Where’s Elliot?”

“Sleeping,” Will informed me, his eyes raking up and down my body. “You’re a mess…”

“I had no idea,” I responded sarcastically, trying to stay as still as possible. “I’m flaking, so I’m going to go take a shower quickly and change. When I come back, I expect you to have a nice pot of chicken soup on the stove for me.”

“Yes your majesty,” Will responded with a deep bow. “Don’t… flake too much on my carpet, please.”

With a wave of the hand and a chuckle, I left Will’s apartment and headed to my own, pulling my house key out from my purse. Home was a welcoming sight. I stepped into my apartment, a sigh escaping my lips. Today had been a long day…

It had taken over five hours for the six of us to clean the whole classroom. Tucker and the rest of the students never came back, but I hadn’t expected them to. Oh well, it was their detention time, not mine. I kicked off my shoes, and made a beeline for the shower.

The warm water ran down my back and I relaxed my muscles, letting the grime be washed off my body. My back hurt especially from all the scrubbing… I shuddered at the memory. There definitely could not be a repeat of today.

Zak’s words entered my mind and I frowned. Arden and Oliver were school gang leaders? Those existed? Well, it was a delinquent’s school… but still! Why my class? A scowl appeared on my face. I needed this job! If I got fired because of those two…

I shook my head. I wouldn’t get fired because it wouldn’t be my fault. And who knows? Maybe things would get better. After all, today was only the first day. And Zak had had been pretty helpful… Hopefully at least half the class would be under control. I only had to worry about Arden’s half…

Zak had explained that only seniors were part of the gang, and there were only about fifteen people in each gang, which was comforting. But I had still ended up with a class with half from Arden’s group and half from Oliver’s group. It was definitely going to be a year to remember.

I had a feeling Oliver was going to be the hardest person to deal with, but luckily Zak, the supposed second in command, was easy to get along with. Arden seemed like the teasing type, so it was difficult to tell with him. Tucker didn’t seem like a nice person at all. Another sigh left my mouth. Why me?

After washing my hair and body, I jumped out of the shower and quickly dried off. Crossing the hall to my bedroom, I grabbed a pair of pajama pants and an over sized t-shirt from my dresser and threw them on. I yanked a hairbrush through my damp hair a few times before heading back over to Will’s.

“Just in time,” I heard him call from the kitchen as I opened the door. “You’re soup is done.”

“Oh, tha—” I started, but was cut off by a loud, high-pitched noise.

“Pig!” Elliot squealed, running up to me, and wrapping his arms around my waist. “How was your day?”

“Um, exciting,” I responded, smiling wryly. Exciting wasn’t even the half of it…

“I’d love to hear about it over some soup,” Will said, appearing by the kitchen door. “Care to join me?”

“I haven’t eaten since about 11:30 this morning, I’d love to,” I responded, scooping Elliot off the ground and carrying him to the kitchen with me. “What’d you do today, bud?”

“Guess,” Will snorted, getting three bowls out of the cabinet. “He always plays it…”

“Played the Wii?”

“Mario Cart,” Elliot responded with a grin.

I laughed, ruffling his hair. “Did you kick some computer butt?”

“I won every time!” he said excitedly, following me around the kitchen like a baby duck. “Luigi kept making me crash with bananas!”

“He cried about it,” Will teased, nudging Elliot in the back with his elbow.

“That’s because—”

“Go sit down, Eli,” I ordered, saving the two from getting into an immature fight. I shot a warning glance at Will.

He rolled his eyes at me. “I wasn’t going to argue with him about it.”

“Sure you won’t.”

Will sighed, handing me a bowl. “You can take as much as you want.”

Not wanting to put any soup to waste, and feeling very hungry, I poured myself a large helping before filling up Elliot’s bowl. I went to the kitchen table and placed his bowl in front of him, and then sat at my place. Will brought over spoons and gave one to me and one to Elliot.

“So, let’s hear about your day,” Will started, finally taking a seat across from me. “I’d really like to know why you came home looking like someone tried to bake you in a cake.”

I sighed. Before I started explaining I ate some of my soup, ignoring the scalding feeling of the hot liquid in my mouth. Will watched me with an amused face all the way through as I told him the story, and when I was done he burst out laughing.

“Sounds like fun!”

“Not at all,” I returned, pursing my lips. “It was horrifying!”

“It is a school for delinquents, Harley,” Will pointed out. “You can’t say you honestly didn’t expect this to happen.”

“Yes, I can, because I at least thought they’d abide by the rules! And I didn’t know I would be teaching seniors!”

“You’re teaching seniors?”

“Yeah!”

Will frowned. “I don’t like that. They’re older than you.”

“I don’t like it either,” I agreed, taking another spoonful of soup in my mouth. “They don’t take me seriously. Imagine if someone found out my real age in that class!”

“No one will find out as long as you don’t say anything,” Will told me.

“I know, but what if another thing like today happens? I don’t know how many food fights I can sit through while being ignored while I’m the teacher. They are worse than Elliot!” I complained, pursing my lips at Will.

“Make them respect you,” he suggested with a shrug.

“How can I do that when they won’t even listen to me? And being mean isn’t one of my strong points, I’m sure you know that.”

“If you’re mean they’ll just hate you and it’ll be worse,” Will responded. “Besides, no one likes mean teachers.”

“I don’t know if I can handle this,” I admitted with a sigh. “Uncle Rob didn’t say I was fired, but if this keeps going then I probably will be fired. I should start looking for another job.”

“Harley, don’t be a pansy.”

I narrowed my eyes at Will. “How am I being a pansy?”

“Just because you had one hard day doesn’t mean the rest will be like it!” he told me, frowning. “Don’t give up so easily.”

“I’m not used to people doing what they want, Will! Remember? The only people I’ve really interacted with for the past year are you, Elliot, and Seth from my old job!”

“Exactly. So it’s going to take awhile to adjust.”

“But—”

“I have an idea,” Will cut me off, a smirk appearing on his face

“What?”

“What if you’re nice?”

“I am nice?” I responded, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Will shook his head. “No, I meant like, really nice. So nice that they’ll feel bad about today.”

“I don’t think they’d care if I was nice or not.”

“You can’t knock it before you try it, Harley.”

Will grinned at me smugly. I returned his look with a bemused one. Overly nice? Maybe that would work… An idea popped into my head and I felt a grin grow on my face as well.

“I see you see what I mean now,” Will commented, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s worth a shot,” I told him, nodding my head.

Overly nice… I could do that.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

My uncle looked up at me in shock when I walked into his office the next morning. I smiled at him in greeting and took a seat across from him at the desk.

“Harley,” he said in surprise.

“What?”

“Nothing, I’m just surprised to see you here. I thought you might not want to come back after yesterday,” my uncle responded, smiling at me. “I’m glad you decided to though.”

“I’m not going to give up that easily,” I told my uncle.

“I’m sorry you got stuck with a class with Oliver and Arden, but I can’t transfer them out because they need to take that class in order to graduate. But I gave them both a severe scolding yesterday, so hopefully they won’t be a problem anymore.”

“Hopefully,” I agreed. “Uncle Rob, do I have the ability to cancel a detention?”

My uncle raised an eyebrow. “Yes, why?”

“No reason,” I responded quickly. “I was just wondering. Anyway, I’m going to go prepare for my sophomore class. Hopefully they won’t start a food fight.”

“Harley, one more thing!” my uncle said as I was standing up.

I looked at him questioningly. “What?”

“For Oliver and Arden’s punishment, I told them they have to help you prep for your classes. Arden will help you first period, and Oliver will help you sixth for a month.”

I stared at my uncle in horror. “What? Why?”

“For punishment,” my uncle told me, narrowing his eyes in confusion. “I had to punish them somehow and I thought you’d like the help.”

“But they were the ones who started the food fight in the first place!” My uncle was going to make me be in a room alone with them for a month? I was going to be killed!

“That won’t happen again,” my uncle assured me, smiling slightly.

“But—”

“Harley, it will be fine.”

Sighing in defeat, I nodded, and made my way to the exit. So much for having to only deal with them one period a day. The hallways were empty as I made my way towards my classroom; the students hadn’t arrived yet. When I reached my classroom I tried the door handle and, to my surprise, it was unlocked. I frowned, opening it slowly. Suddenly it was whipped open and I fell forwards, being tugged along with the door.

A strong pair of hands steadied me and I looked up to see Tucker standing in front of me with a scowl on his face.

“Move,” he said, shoving me to the side.

I stumbled a few steps, but didn’t fall. It was a smart idea not to wear high heels today. Tucker attempted to walk away, but I grabbed his arm before he was out of reach. He stopped and turned to me with a scowl.

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? What were you doing in my room?” I demanded in irritation.

“None of your business!”

“It is my business!”

“Let go,” Tucker ordered, ripping his arm away from my grasp. “Stupid girl.”

“You…” I growled, narrowing my eyes at him.

He ignored me and started walking briskly down the hallway and away from me. For a minute I glared after him, but he never looked back. A sigh escaped my lips as I cautiously entered my classroom. Who knew what he was doing in here…

Keeping vigilant, I made my way around the classroom to look for anything out of place. It was kind of hard to do since I didn’t really remember where anything was supposed to be since I had only been here for one day, but I did my best. Nothing suspicious came up, but I was still curious as to what Tucker was doing in my room.

I made my way to my desk and suddenly my foot slipped out from under me. My eyes flew open in shock as I fell to the ground. When my hands touched the ground I nearly yanked them back. It was wet! I groaned in annoyance as I felt the water soak into my slacks.

“You have a habit of falling, don’t you?” an amused voice commented from above me.

My heart leapt into my throat and I quickly looked up to see Arden smirking at me. He held out his hand, but I ignored it, managing to push myself to my feet.

“Someone thought it’d be a great idea to make the floor wet,” I muttered, knowing exactly who it was.

Arden laughed. “What a simple prank. I could have done much better.”

I sighed, running my hands over my pants to see how wet they were. They weren’t that bad, only a little damp. I carefully maneuvered myself to the supply room where the paper towels were stored. Arden followed me and I tossed a roll to him.

“First task, dry off the floor. I don’t want anyone falling and having the risk of being injured,” I told him.

“Yes ma'am,” Arden responded, mock saluting me.

I looked at him in surprise. He was going to listen to me just like that? But yesterday he didn’t want to listen to me! He grinned when he saw my expression.

“I’ve decided I like you, Harley.”

My face heated up slightly and I quickly averted my eyes. “You have to call me Ms. Allen.”

“Nope, I like Harley,” Arden responded, walking out of the supply room. “If I were you I wouldn’t be worrying about what I call you, I’d be glad that I’ve decided not to cause trouble for you.”

“Why the sudden change though?”

“You looked so pitiful yesterday, I couldn’t let it happen again,” Arden responded with another smirk.

“What about your followers?”

Arden looked at me in surprise. “You know about the gangs?”

“Zak explained them to me yesterday,” I responded.

Arden ripped open the package of paper towels and proceeded to unroll it out on the floor. Then he used his foot to wipe the floor with the paper towels. Well, I guess that was one way of cleaning up the water.

“I don’t tell my followers what to do,” Arden said. “They just listen to me, I don’t know why. They listen to Tucker too, but Tucker usually just does what I do.”

I sighed. Tucker was going to be a difficult student. It really was just my luck to end up with a senior class full of school gang members. But it couldn’t be that bad. Zak and Arden seemed like nice enough people.

“Move,” Arden ordered, shoving me aside and breaking me from my thoughts.

“What’s with everyone pushing me?” I demanded, steadying myself. “You know asking works just as well!”

“Whatever. What else do you need me to do?”

Shaking my head, I walked over to my desk where the planner was. I quickly scanned it for the recipe and frowned. “Forbidden chocolate cookies?”

“Is that what we’re making too?” Arden asked sounding excited.

“No, we won’t be cooking today,” I told him, a smile forming on my mouth. “I have another plans.”

“That’s no fun,” Arden complained, walking over to me and looking at the schedule. “Hey! It says right there we’re making that—”

“I’m the teacher, I can change plans,” I responded, turning up to look at him.

He was surprisingly close. I quickly took a step back to put space between us while my face heated up. A look of surprise appeared on his face, and he brought his head closer to mine again. I continued to back away, making sure not to let him come too close.

“Take off your glasses,” Arden ordered.

“What? Why?”

“Just do it.”

“No!”

“Don’t make me force you,” Arden warned, coming closer. “Just take them off for a few seconds.”

“No!” I reiterated, bringing my hand to my glasses. “Why?”

“I just want to see your face without them on,” Arden responded, frowning. “You look really young.”

I cleared my throat, feeling anxious. He couldn’t find out by just thinking I looked young. “Thanks for the compliment, but I am still young. Twenty-one isn’t that old.”

Arden looked at me for a minute with an unreadable expression, and then he laughed. “Actually I was going to say you looked like a middle schooler or something.”

“What?” I responded, feeling offended. “I don’t look that young!”

“Is that why you wear glasses? To hide your baby face?” Arden teased.

“I don’t have a baby face!”

“Sure you don’t.”

“Don’t sass a teacher,” I warned.

Arden suddenly burst out laughing and I watched with a frown on my face. When he was done laughing he looked at me with a grin, shaking his head. “You’re funny.”

“Okay…”

“Should we start putting the ingredients out?” Arden asked. “The homeroom bell already rang about fifteen minutes ago. I’ll need you to call the office for me to let them know I’m here.”

“Eh?” I responded in surprise, glancing at the clock. That much time had passed already? I looked back to Arden who was waiting expectantly. “Um, sure. Let’s get started.”

“Right away, Harley!”

“Don’t call me that,” I scolded. “You can’t call a teacher by their first name.”

“I’ll do what I want,” Arden responded, rolling his eyes.

I pursed my lips. Nice teacher, think nice teacher, I thought to myself. “Okay, you can call me Harley, but only when people aren’t around.”

Arden thought about it for a minute before nodding. “Aright, deal.”

When the period ended, Arden took his leave, and I stood at the front of the classroom, waiting for my first class of the day. People slowly began to fill the room, gazing at me curiously. To say the least, I was surprised at the people who entered. I knew they were sophomores, but they looked so young! Maybe that was why Arden thought I looked so young.

Bleach blonde hair entered my vision and I looked over to see Melissa smiling at me. “Morning, Ms. Allen,” she greeted, taking a seat front and center. “I heard about your classroom fiasco yesterday.”

“Yeah, fiasco,” I responded, grimacing. “I’m hoping it won’t happen with this class.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll behave,” she assured me with another smile.

Melissa was right. The sophomore class was very well behaved compared to the seniors. They followed my instructions completely, and without problem. Not one single egg went flying across the room.

The junior class was the same. It was awkward though, because they were the same age as me. They didn’t know that, but I did, which was strange to me. And, to my pleasure, my junior class was mostly girls. It was like heaven compared to my senior class of all boys.

When fifth period ended, I sat down at my desk, resting my head on the top. It had been an easy, and rather fun, day so far. But now came the change. Oliver was supposed to help me prepare this period. I was not looking forward to dealing with his anti-social personality.

Just as I had that thought, the man himself came through the door.