Building on Lies (7 page)

I could guess what she was thinking. Why was her guy talking to a Cove girl, and why hadn’t he bothered to say hello to her?

Chapter 4

I couldn’t get out of the cafeteria fast enough after I noticed Samantha St. John glaring at me.
It probably would have been better if I’d stayed at the lunch table with my friends, and acted as if Channing’s surprise visit meant nothing. Running out of the lunchroom most likely made her suspicious, but I don’t handle pressure very well. At that moment, I just wanted to be far away from Samantha, and even further away from my curious friends.

There was still thirty minutes left to my lunch hour, still enough time to go to the nurse's office. I could feel a tension headache coming on. So I excused myself from my friends and hurried out of the lunchroom.

Ro followed me out of the cafeteria, and grabbed me by the arm.

“ Nellie! What the heck was about?" she asked me, incredulously.

“ What?" I asked, even though I knew she meant Channing.

“ Your guy!" she whispered. “ How could he just walk up to our table like that, acting like a complete weirdo?”

“ I guess he was really bothered by Joaquim," I said. “ I told you, Joaquim was leaning over me like he was my man or something”.

“ Well, Emanuela and Ana couldn’t stop talking about it. Trust it’ll be all over school by the end of the day”. Ro sighed.

“ What can they say? Chan wanted to work on a paper for a class we have together? What’s so crazy about that?”

“ Hello, you two aren’t the only ones in Sociology class. I’m in it too, remember? And so are a bunch of other kids. We don’t have a paper due!" Ro pointed out.

I groaned, and rubbed my temples. “ Ro. I feel a major headache coming on. I hope the nurse has some pain medicine”.

“ The nurse isn’t allowed to dispense medication without a note from your parent, dummy. Come on, let’s go to my locker. I have some Tylenol," Ro said, and put her arm around my shoulder.

“ I just wish things between me and Chan weren’t so complicated," I said, leaning my head Ro’s shoulder. “ I just wish we could be a normal couple”.

“ I don’t know, Nellie," Ro said. “ You two have been seeing each other for a while now. How much longer are you going to sneak around? Until senior year? This is crazy!”

“ I know. But, he isn’t going to leave Samantha. And I don’t want to give him up.”

“ Then expect a lot more headaches in your future, girlie," Ro said, shaking her head.

We reached her locker, and she dug around for some Tylenol. She had some bottled water, which she handed me as well. I swallowed down some pills, hoping they’d work soon.

“ And another thing…how are you going to meet with Channing after school when we’re going to the mall with Joaquim?" Ro asked. “ You can’t stand Joaquim up”.

“ Shit!" I cursed, then clapped my hand over my mouth when Ro looked at me disapprovingly. “Ro! You have to cover for me!”

“ I am not," Ro said, firmly. “ That wouldn’t be fair to Joaquim or to Tommy or to me.”

“ But Channing wants to talk!" I protested. “I need to explain to him what happened this morning!”

“Then tell him you can’t talk until AFTER we come back from the mall," Ro said. “You should text him now and let him know.”

I sighed, and reached for my phone, which was in my school bag. I quickly wrote Channing a text, telling him I wouldn’t be able to see him right after school. Hopefully he would understand.

“ Good girl," Ro said, once I was done. “ Listen, I’m going to head to the library to see if I can catch Tommy before the bell rings. Don’t look so upset. I’m sure Channing will understand”.

Ro kissed me on the cheek then headed for the library. I sat down in a chair in the corridor, and put my head in my hands. The medicine still hadn’t kicked in. A headache had formed around my eyes and forehead, and I rubbed at my temples again, hoping it would go away fast.

I was busy trying to relieve the pressure in my head so I didn’t pay any attention to footsteps approaching me. It was still lunch hour, and the bell hadn’t rung, which meant the halls were empty. I figured the footsteps were a hall monitor or school security. If it was, all I had to do was show a copy of my schedule to let them know it was my lunch hour, and I wasn’t skipping a class.

I looked up, though, when a pair of trendy high heeled boots stopped in front of me. I lifted my head up, and was shocked to see Samantha St. John.

I tried my best to not look shaken, or even worse, guilty. It wasn’t easy to be approached by the girlfriend of the guy you’re fooling around with. I gave her what I hoped was a quizzical expression.

“ Hey, I’m Samantha," she said, sweetly. Her voice was breathy, and high pitched, like a little girl.

“ Hi," I said, cautiously.

“ I couldn’t help but notice my boyfriend was talking to you in the cafeteria," she went on, still smiling at me. It was strange, but her smile appeared to be genuine. “ And I was wondering if everything was OK? He seemed nervous?”

I was so unnerved by her question all I could do was stare at her blankly.

“ You mean Channing Sutton?" was all I could think of to say, when I managed to get my thoughts together.

“ Yeah," she nodded. “ I’m sorry, yeah. Channing. He’s my boyfriend. I was just wondering why he came to talk to you. He’s supposed to be in his Art class this period, so I thought maybe something was wrong. He didn’t even come over to say hi”.

“ Oh," I said, and I waved my hand dismissively. “ We’re in Sociology together. And we have a paper due. He was just asking me when we could get together with some other kids in our class. For a study group. He’s the group leader and he wasn’t able to reach me. Tracking me down in the lunchroom was his last resort”.

I was impressed by how easily I was able to lie to her, and the lie sounded pretty convincing, even to my own ears.

“ Oh, OK. Makes sense," she said, running a hand through her long red hair.

“ Channing is one of those serious students," I rambled on. “ I always wait until the last minute to get my papers done, but it seems like he’s more organized than that”.

“ Oh, he definitely is," Samantha agreed. “ He’s used to pulling all A’s. Sorry if he pressured you about the paper. I’ll tell him it’s definitely not cool to chase someone down during their lunch period”.

I pretended to laugh, and shrug it off. “ It’s no big deal. I really should have made more of an effort to meet with our study group”.

“ What’s your name, by the way? I’ve seen you around the halls but I don’t know you? I’m sorry, but I was so worried about Channing I forgot to ask you before”.

I felt my face grow red when she mentioned being worried about Channing. It made me realize she probably cared about him as much as I did.

“ Um, it’s Nellie," I said, my voice getting a little wobbly. “ Nellie Depaola”.

“ Nice to meet you, Nellie," Samantha said, giving me another friendly smile. “ I’ll see you around. Good luck on the paper!”

“ Sure. Thanks," I said, and got up from my chair. I walked away from her as quickly as I could, feeling sick to my stomach.

I looked over my shoulder once I got to the end of the hall, but she was gone. The bell rang, and I practically sprinted to my next class.

My morning classes had been consumed with worrying about Channing. In my afternoon classes, I couldn’t stop thinking about Samantha. I’d been watching Samantha like a hawk ever since Channing and I had started seeing each other. I had to admit a part of me was a little obsessed with her, because she seemed so different from me. I wanted to know what it was Channing saw in her in the first place.

But even though I’d spent a lot of lunch periods surreptitiously watching Samantha, and taking mental notes on her hair and her shoes and makeup, I never thought I’d ever have actual contact with her. Never thought I’d exchange words with her. We moved in entirely different circles. It was easy to cheat with Channing when Samantha was just a girl I saw in school, but talking to her and seeing how nice she seemed made me feel differently about her.

Maybe I wasn’t being fair to her.

I tried to push the thought to the back of my mind. The things Channing had told me about her made it seem as if she wasn’t really that nice of a person. Channing never came right out and told me he hated her, but I always got the feeling he didn’t like her at all. He was only with her because of how unstable she was…

It was hard to visualize the girl I’d spoke to earlier as an unstable person. A crazy girl, if the things Channing had told me were true. The girl who had approached me seemed normal enough, kind of friendly for an A-girl, actually.

I was grateful when the final bell rung, and school was out. Every part of me wanted to go home, and curl up in my bed. I didn’t want to go to the mall, or even talk to Channing. I just wanted to forget about all of my problems and sleep.

But Ro was waiting for me by my locker, probably thinking I was going to bail on her and Tommy and Joaquim. I didn’t tell her about my encounter with Samantha. I knew it would just make her go into a whole lecture about how wrong my relationship with Channing was.

“ What’s wrong?" she asked, though, because she is my best friend and knows me better than anyone in the world.

“ My head still hurts that’s all," I replied, but I took a deep breath, and tried to make myself look cheerful.

“ The Tylenol didn’t work?" she asked, frowning.

“ Not really, but I’m fine," I said.

“ Nellie, honestly. What’s happening to you?" she said, with a concerned sigh.

“ Ro, I’m okay. Maybe I’m just hungry," I said, and waved to Joaquim, who was waiting by his truck. He smiled and waved back.

“ Nellie’s not feeling well, so we can’t hang out too long at the mall," Ro told him, and I shot her a grateful smile. She knew I wouldn’t feel like myself until I talked to Channing.

“ Aw, that’s too bad," Joaquim said, stroking my hair. “ Well, if you girls know where to get your dresses, then we shouldn’t take long”.

“ I think we should head straight for Alice Fashions, right, Nellie? The dresses there are pretty and don’t cost too much," Ro suggested.

“ Nellie, I just want you to know I’ll pay for your dress," Joaquim offered. “ I don’t want you to worry about the cost”.

I felt my face grow hot…Joaquim was so nice! I knew he worked with his father at the fishery, and he was saving all of his money to be able to pay for community college. It wasn’t easy for him to spend money frivolously.

“ Joaquim, you don’t have to," I began to say but he cut me off.

“ No, Nellie, I’m serious. I’m really glad you agreed to come to the Winter Dance with me, when you could have gone with any guy you wanted," he said. “ You’re the prettiest and nicest girl in school, Nellie. Most guys would kill to go out with you. I’m flattered you chose to go with me”.

Ro grinned from ear to ear at Joaquim's words, but all I could do was smile weakly at him. If he only knew how not nice of a person I could be… for the last three months, I’d been nothing but a liar and a cheater…

“ Joaquim,
pare isso!
Stop it!" Ro laughed. “ You’re going to give her a big head!”

“ It’s all true," Joaquim said, pushing a strand of hair away from my face. It was like he couldn’t stop touching me.

“ Thank you so much, Joaquim. I feel the same way”, I mumbled.

Tommy appeared at that moment, and the subject changed, much to my relief.

“ So, Nellie, I heard an A-guy came up to you in the lunchroom. What was that about?" Tommy asked. A-guy was what Cove kids called the boys from Ardsley Park, like Channing. Emanuela and Ana Beatriz had wasted no time in telling everyone about Channing approaching me in the lunchroom.

“ It was no big deal. You know Channing Sutton? One of the twins from A Park? He was just asking Nellie about a paper they need to work on," Ro jumped in with an explanation.

“ Oh," Tommy said, nodding his head. “ I thought maybe he was trying to ask you out or something”.

“ Why would a rich A guy like that ask out a Portuguese girl?" Joaquim scoffed.

I pursed my lips together, and looked out the car window.

“ I’ll tell you why. Because they think Cove girls are easy, that’s why," Tommy said. “ A guys are always trying to hit on Cove girls, because they think they can impress them with their money and their flashy cars”.

“ Eh, who cares anyway?" Ro said, but Tommy was on a roll.

“ It makes me sick how some Cove girls actually go out with those guys, and actually take them seriously. Like Lucia Braga? Remember her? She dumped her fiance to start dating one of those A-guys? And what happened? She got pregnant and he dumped her like a hot potato," Tommy said, scornfully.

“ I remember her, she went to school with my brother. They say the guy even refused to admit the baby was his. Lucia had to move all the way to Boston because her parents couldn’t help her, you know they retired from the cannery early and all they had was a small pension," Joaquim added, shaking his head.

“ Well, I can’t say I feel bad for her. Any Portuguese girl dumb enough to fall for one of those Ardsley guys gets what she deserves," Tommy said, his voice hard.