1,000 Lies Told At 40,000 Feet High

Sarah, Amanda, Bree and I were sitting in the library behind the bookshelves avoiding our teacher and chatting. We were supposed to be working on an assignment on ancient Greece but who has time for school work when there are more important things to discuss, like if the rumours about Brittany McPherson having sex with three different guys in one night at some party, were true.

“Well, everyone knows she’s a slut,” Bree stated offhandedly.
“Oh my god Bree, you can’t just say shit like that,” I almost yelled, turning my head up and down the aisle of books and praying that no one had overheard.
“But it’s true,” Bree defended, shrugging her shoulders a little and giving me a look.
“That’s not the point Bree, for all we know, she’s a lovely person. It’s not like any of us have ever even spoken to her,” Sara said, coming to my rescue. Bree turned her gaze towards Sarah and she looked as if she was going to start an argument but thankfully Amanda, who had been off in her own world and was completely oblivious to the disagreement between our group, interrupted the conversation.
“Are you sure that Oscar won’t mind if you bring us along to the party? When is it again? Saturday or Friday? I’ve already forgotten. I should write this down somewhere, I know mum will grill me for details.”
“It’s Saturday,” I explained, “And it really won’t matter. It’s Oscar’s friend’s birthday and he said to bring who whoever you want. Everyone is bringing random extra people. I doubt the guy who’s birthday it is will even know half of the people at the party.”
“Well, school sucks and I could do with a fun night out. Count me in.”

***

The loud music surrounded me as I followed Oscar and Robbie through the dark house and out to the back yard. The house where the party was being held was in a suburban area and the back yard wasn’t that big, but it was full of people, most of which were crowded around the eskies full of drinks and bowls of snacks. Oscar scanned the area and gestured to a corner where I could vaguely make out some of Oscar’s other friends talking to some girls.

“It looks like Dan might be getting lucky tonight,” Robbie remarked before he set down the 6 pack of beers that he was holding and opened one. Robbie handed it to Oscar before reaching for another beer and opening that one for himself.
“Look on the rack on that chic,” Oscar commented to Robbie as he nodded his head in the direction of a group of girls that were standing a few metres away from us. Robbie looked to where Oscar was watching and smirked.
“Ummm, hello Oscar, I am right here!”I exclaimed loudly over the music. Oscar turned to face me and gave my hand a tight squeeze. He didn’t seem to notice my expression of disbelief or the fact that I was a little pissed off.
“I’m sorry babe, your boobs are great too.” I scoffed at Oscar and pulled away from him.
“I’m going to go and get a drink. Come and find me when you’re done being an asshole.”

***

I was sitting outside on the front lawn on my own trying to cool off after Oscar’s comment. I could still hear the music pounding from the backyard but the street was empty so no one was around to bother me. It was a warm night and the scent of roses and freshly mown grass was wafting towards me from the neighbour’s garden. I tilted my head up lazily and gazed up at the stars above me. The stars were so gorgeous that I almost forgot that I was pissed off at Oscar. I just didn’t understand how he could be so sweet and adorable sometimes and then a total dick at other times.

“Hey. I wondered where you had disappeared to. At first I thought you and Oscar might have gone off to some dark corner together and I wasn’t going to look for you but then I saw him talking with someone else and you weren’t there.”
I looked to my side as someone sat down beside me. In the darkness I could just make out the silhouette of Sarah in her dusty rose coloured sequined dress and matching stilettos.

“Hey,” I replied softly.
“Is everything alright Piper?” Sarah asked hesitantly. I stared out across the road at the dark houses and attempted to put my thoughts into words.
“What do you think of Oscar?” I questioned Sarah, not taking my eyes off of the house that was directly in front of me. The curtains were closed but the lights were on in the house and I could see the silhouette of a family sitting on the couch in a lounge room, watching TV. Sarah remained silent for a moment and when I turned to look at her, her head was down and she was fiddling with the sequins on her dress.

“You are my friend Sarah, I’m not going to get angry at you if you say something negative about him. I’ve pretty much heard it all from Chace anyway.”
“Well, I don’t really have anything against the guy, he seems alright. I don’t know him that well so I can’t say all that much. I haven’t really spent any time talking to him. Sorry,” Sarah eventually answered.
“No, that’s fine Sarah, I get it. Thanks anyway.”
“I mean, he makes you happy right? And that’s the most important thing isn’t it,” Sarah added.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm being ridiculous. We should get back to the party. I'm sure that Oscar is worrying about me and wondering where I am," I answered.
"Are you sure that you're all right? You sound a little off," Sarah questioned one last time as she stood up and brushed the dirt off the back of her dress.
"I'm fine, really Sarah, I just, it feels like, I don't know. Let's just go inside and have some fun, that's what we're here for after all," I stood up from the cool grass and began to walk back up the path towards the house. Sarah looped her arm through mine and walked beside me with a smile on her face.

“Hang on, wait a second. Who’s Chad?” Sarah questioned abruptly, pausing mid stride and pulling me to a stop with her.
“Chad? Who on earth are... Oh, you mean Chace. He’s just a friend of mine,” I replied slowly. Sarah grabbed my shoulders and forced me to turn and face her. The light from the front of the house was shinning in our eyes and I had to squint to try and block out the bright light. I felt like I was about to be interrogated. Knowing Sarah, I probably was going to be.

“What do you mean he’s a friend? I’ve never heard you mention him before. Why haven’t you? Is he a secret? Is he one of Oscar’s friends? Or do you know him from somewhere else? Where did you meet him? Has Oscar met him before? How old is he? Is he hot? Oh my god, is he single?” Sarah demanded from me, firing questions one after the other without pausing.

“Crap Sarah, slow down, one at a time,” I said, rolling my eyes and shaking my head a little, “You know me, you know what I’m like, I prefer to keep things to myself. Not because they’re secrets, but because that’s just what I do, especially when I know you and Bree and Amanda will make a big deal out of it. Chace is a guy that I met on a flight to Sydney a while back. This year his family moved to Sydney but Chace stayed in here Melbourne to attend some fancy private school. So now he flies to Sydney every second weekend to spend some time with his family. And I see him on the plane sometimes when I fly up to see my dad.” Sarah looked unsure for a moment and she didn’t release her tight grip on me.

“Does Oscar know about this guy?” Sarah asked slowly, her head tilting to the side slightly.
“No, I’ve never brought it up with him. But I don’t see why I would have to tell him, it’s not like there is anything going on between Chace and I,” I replied giving a small shrug. Sarah crossed her arms and sat down on the steps in front of the front door.
“You know, it’s probably not the best idea to sit there. Some drunk guy will come stumbling out the door and trip over you. And then throw up all over your dress.” Sarah rolled her eyes at my words but moved across to the side of the step.

“So is this Chace guy good looking?” I laughed at Sarah’s question and sat down on the step beside her, careful not to block the path of anyone who would be entering or exiting the house. After straightening my dress and pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes, I answered.
“He’s gorgeous. And he’s not full of himself at all either. It’s like he is totally oblivious to that fact that he could have any girl he wanted. And he dresses nicely as well. Not like wearing suit all the time or anything, but he still manages to look nice and not like he’s just rolled out of bed five minutes ago. Except for his hair. He has that whole ‘I-just-rolled-out-of-bed’ messy hairstyle, but it totally looks good on him. You know.”
Sarah raised her eyebrows at me and smirked, and then to add to the effect, she placed on hand on her hip and used her height to her advantage and look down at me slightly.
“It sounds like someone has a crush.” My mouth fell open in surprise at Sarah’s conclusion and I slapped her lightly on the arm.
“Oh my gosh Sarah, no way. Haven’t we already been over this? Chace and I are just friends. And besides, I have a boyfriend,” I finally replied, shaking my head.
“Yeah, and said boyfriend is out in the backyard doing whatever it is he’s doing and you were sitting out here on your own up until a minute ago. Anyway, that doesn’t matter right now, is Chace single? Can we meet him sometime? All the boys we know are such drags,” Sarah questioned further. At some point in time someone had turned the music up louder and it was becoming harder and harder to hear what Sarah was saying. The fact that we were sitting closer to the house didn’t help either.

“Chace is single at the moment. He’s told me that he’s interested in a girl but apparently she only sees him as a friend. I’ve tried to get more information out of him about this girl but he always changes the subject when I ask. All I know is that they don’t go to school together, and I only know that because I know that Chace goes to an all boys school, and that she is a few months younger than him. As for meeting him, that might be difficult. Chace goes to this fancy private school and he boards there. He is free to leave the school on weekends and some week nights but the school is almost an hour drive away from here. It’s in like a forest or something in the middle of nowhere. I can’t understand why his father insists on him going to the school, it would be a lot easier for him to just go to a school in Sydney. It must be costing them a fortune too. But that’s not any of my business.
I get the impression that Chace’s dad really values a good education, which is great thing, lots of people take their education for granted. But I think that Chace then feels a lot of pressure from his dad to do excellent in school. Anything less than an ‘A’ is considered not good enough. And to me that doesn’t seem fair. Why do academics have to matter so much if you want to be a musician or a painter or a racing car driver?” I said, going off on a little bit of a tangent. Okay, so it was more than ‘a bit’ of a tangent but Sarah wanted to know about him, so don’t blame me.

“So this Chace guy wants to be a racing car driver that paints in his spare time and is also in a band?” Sarah inquired dubiously. I froze for a moment as I processed what Sarah said and an image formed in my mind before I started laughing so hard that my sides hurt and I almost fell off the step.
“No, not at all. Chace says he wants to work in the film industry. Not as a movie director but something like that. I think he’d be good at it,” I finally answered between gasps of air when I had somewhat calmed down from my laughing fit.
“Hmmm,” was all that Sarah said in reply. She sat there watching me and looking very thoughtful for a moment before she jumped up and held out her hand for me to take.

“Come on, we should head back go back inside. That boyfriend of yours is probably wondering where you are,” Sarah said over her shoulder as she began to make her way towards the door once more after pulling me to my feet. I rolled my eyes at her as she began to do a strange dance move in time to the strident music as she walked but followed her none the less into the dark house.