1,000 Lies Told At 40,000 Feet High

I hated walking home. It wasn’t the fact that I hated any form of physical activity, or that school had just finished and I was exhausted, or even that my bag was almost causing me to fall over because it was so heavy. Mostly it was the weather. In summer, it could get to 38 degrees Celsius –sometimes even more- and in winter it could drop to 4 degrees Celsius. Today it was one of the days when it was so hot that I was certain that I would pass out before I made it home. This was the reason why, when I turned 18 and could drive, my father was going to buy me a car for my birthday. I hadn’t told my father that he was buying me a car but it was unlikely that he would even remember my birthday let alone notice a few grand spent on the credit card for an old second-hand car.

Fortunately, my friend Amanda lived close to me and I have someone to talk to as we walk home. Amanda is one of my three best friends, the other two being Bree and Sarah. Amanda and I meet when we were in the same P.E. class in year 7 and we have been friends since. Amanda was an average height and had blonde hair. Her eyes were blue and reminded me of the ocean and the beach. Amanda was the opposite of me in that she loved sports. When we first meet, she played soccer, netball, basketball, hockey, tennis, volleyball and competed in swimming. Now she had scaled it back and she did only four sports but I still had no idea how she managed to fit in school and a part-time job. Amanda was also agonizingly innocent and naïve. Sure she wasn’t entirely oblivious to the world but she never perceived things in a sexual way like someone else might. Amanda could never understand ‘that’s what she said’ jokes or work out why we were laughing at the things that she innocently said. Usually we would end up having to explain something to her a few times before she finally connected the dots. And when she did connect the dots, her reaction was more often than not something along the lines of ‘Ewwww!’ It made me wonder how on earth she managed to be the only one in our group with a boyfriend.

“So are you going to go?” Amanda asked me as we continued to walk along the footpath. Amanda was talking about a party of a friend of friends that we had somehow been invited to.
“Yeah, I guess,” I replied shrugging, “But only if the others are going. I hate not knowing anybody at a party, it’s just so awkward.”

“I’m not sure if they are going. I have a feeling that they will, but even if they don’t go, you’ll know me,” Amanda said, squinting her eyes against the sun. I scoffed.
“That doesn’t count; you and Ben will spend the entire night making out on the couch. And when you’re not sucking face, you’ll be holding hands and smiling like you’ve just discovered the meaning of life or something. It makes me sick, not to mention depressed.” Amanda gasped at my remark and narrowed her eyes at me but, she didn’t try to deny it.

“If you want, I could tell Ben to bring a few of his friends to introduce you to. Some of them are pretty hot!” Amanda finally suggested.
“Amanda! I don’t think you’re supposed to say things like that when you’re already in a relationship,” I exclaimed in surprise. Amanda just winked at me and continued to walk along the road towards our homes.
“Fine, I’ll go to the stupid party. But Bree and Sarah better be there,” I said.
Amanda just laughed and shook her head. We had arrived in front of my house so we stopped and Amanda turned to face me.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” said Amanda.
“Nah, I don’t know, I think I might be busy hunting white elephants. School doesn’t really fit into my schedule right now,” I replied.
“Well, I’ll try to remember to collect any work from the teachers for you then,” Amanda said playing along. She gave me a tight hug and then turned back around and started walking towards her house, her long blonde ponytail swishing behind her as she walked.

The house that I lived in, unlike my father’s house in Sydney, was a home. It was only single story and the backyard was small but it was enough for my mum and me. The house was a very pale blue colour that almost seemed white and the paint was starting to peel. Our front garden was filled with colourful flowers and was the cumulative creation of my mother’s spontaneity. Although she didn’t really have much knowledge of plants, she frequently bought flowers on a whim and placed them somewhere in between the other daffodils and sunflowers, hoping that they would survive. I liked the garden because it created so much colour and vibrancy to our otherwise dull house, my mum liked it because it gave her a creative outlet and a distraction.

“Hey Mum, I’m home from school,” I called as I walked into the house and dropped by heavy bag next to my bedroom door. I shut the door and quickly pulled off my school uniform, a shapeless dress of white and purple. After I put on a change of clothes, I went to the kitchen in search of a snack.

“Hey honey, how was your day?” said my mother from her position at the kitchen bench. People tell me that my mother looks just like me, I disagreed. Sure, we had the same coloured eyes and hair, but apart from that, we were completely different. My mother was beautifully tanned and had her hair pulled back in a high chignon. Her face had few wrinkles and unlike some of the other mums that I knew, she didn’t look like she had fallen into a make-up bag. Today my mum was wearing a colourful printed maxi dress and a pair of pink and white thongs.

“It was school,” I replied, searching for something to eat in the fridge, “Do we have any of those noodles left over from dinner last night?”
“Hmmm,” I mother replied absentmindedly, not even bothering to look up from her book. I rolled my eyes at her. My mother was obsessed with self-help books, she had been ever since the divorce. When she first started to read them, I thought that it was just a phase, but even after almost three years, my mother continued to devour them. I could understand why she read the books though, mostly because she was lonely. Since the divorce, my mum hadn’t really been in any serious relationships. Sure she had been on a few dates and had had a boyfriend here or there, but things had never lasted for some reason or another.

“So, there is this party that I’ve been invited to this weekend and I was wondering if I could go,” I said to mum. Hey, if she was off with the pixies then don’t blame me for trying to get something out of it.
“Who’s party?” She asked me, still not looking up from the book. This one was called “What Men Want In Bed”. Oh good lord.
“Umm, just someone that I know,” I answered hesitantly as I sat down beside her and began to eat.

“Will there be any alcohol?” Shit. Why was she being so observant today?
“Mum! We’re seventeen,” I said, attempting to dodge the question. As far as my mum knew, my friends and I were the perfect, well-behaved girls we were supposed to be.
“Fine, you can go,” Mum finally agreed, “Put it in my diary so that I don’t forget.”
“Thanks mum,” I said quickly hugging her before leaving to go to my room. I had a feeling that this was going to be a very good weekend.