Lilac's Lies

15

"You seriously think they're going to buy that?" I asked Clara, she was sitting in front of her massive vanity, carefully lining her lips. She had chosen a bright red lipstick, and I have to admit it complimented her.

"It's believable." She muttered, not her taking her eyes off her own reflection.

"Is it?" I asked her. "Why are we even doing this, anyways?"

That caused her to turn around and look at me. "Why are we going to watch two hot guys punch other hot guys?"

"We might be watching them get punched." I mumbled, rolling my eyes. All we knew is that they were boxers. We had no idea if they were good or not. "What's changed since the other day? When you were intent on going to dinner with them. You said you didn't want to risk it?"

"It's all a game, Lilly. They want to pretend like they still have us, but they don't. We just have to play their game with them. If they want us to go to dinner with them, whatever, fine. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. But, I'm not going to sacrifice my senior year because they think they can threaten us."

It was then that I realized Clara was fighting with herself. All of her differing answers to our problem, her changing opinions. She realized the gravity of our situation one minute, and the next minute she was pretending everything was fine. It's what Clara did best, after all. I wished I could do the same, but I couldn't.

"I don't know, Clara. I really don't know." I told her honestly.

Clara was about to answer, but my phone ringing stopped her. I felt my skin begin to crawl as I saw Jesse's name flashing on the screen. I took a breath before I answered it, trying to calm myself.

"Hey." I answered, trying to make my voice sound even, like I had nothing to hide.

That on its own was a joke. I only had things to hide. There was a body in my backyard and everything I did was just another shovel of dirt on top of it, trying to hide the evidence.

"So you're ditching me because you and Clara have to babysit?" Jesse asked immediately, skipping over any form of greeting.

"Yeah..." I said, and I could only hope the way my voice sounded was believable. Jesse had the ability to zoom in on every single aspect of me, whether it be the slight shake in my tone, or the way I slowed the singular word down.

"Who do you have to babysit?" He asked me sharply. He made no efforts to hide the fact that he was pissed.

"My mom's coworker's daughter." I said quickly, repeating what Clara had told me to say.

"Is this about money, Lilly? I know you don't have any but seriously, babysitting? You could have just asked me for cash." Jesse told me, making me grit my teeth. Even if I needed money, I'd never ask him. He'd just dangle the fact I needed something from him over my head, never letting me forget it.

"It's not about money. It's just a favour." I said quietly, praying again that my voice didn't betray me.

"Fine. You know what? Fine, it's whatever." Jesse basically cut me off. "Just make sure you text me, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. I will when I have time." I told him, feeling the unease begin to melt away at the promise of ending our conversation.

"No. That's not what I said." Jesse said sternly.

I wanted to sigh, but I made sure I didn't. "Okay."

Jesse didn't say anything else before he hung up the phone, but that was okay with me. I looked back to Clara, who had an excited smile plastered on her face.