Liar

Chapter 2

Lair

            The school bell rang and Wassim scurried off into the crowd heading to their buses. Class had been awkward. Everyone was whispering. Eyes always found Wassim as he sat in his seat shifting uncomfortably. Olympia passed a note over his desk when the teacher wasn’t looking.

You’re a pervert!

Wassim didn’t know what pervert meant, but coming from Olympia, it couldn’t have been good. He crumbled the note and threw it at her. As he walked to the bus, he felt the eyes of students who weren’t even in his class. Wassim knew, everyone had heard of what happened. In Kings Glen, news travels fast. The bus was nearly full when Wassim had climbed its stairs.

“Hey, Wassim!” Someone waved for Wassim in the far back, where the cool people sat. It was Nick. “Come on back here, we need to talk.”  He gestured, shoving off a boy beside him and pointing him to another seat. Wassim felt his heart drumming. All the eyes of the bus were watching. Nick stood so that Wassim slide by the window.

“So,” Nick began shortly after the bus’s engine roared and was driving off to the neighborhoods. Wassim held his breathe, he wasn’t sure if he was thrilled or terrified that he was sitting beside Nick, the king. No, he reminded himself that Nick’s crown belonged to him; it should be Nick who felt the butterfly’s in his stomach not the other way around. “There’s been a rumor going around.”

“Yeah, what rumor?”

“I heard you got to touch Andria’s,” Nick touched his chest and grinned. Wassim felt color flushing through his cheeks. He hid his embarrassment by looking away at the window. A boy the seat ahead with red hair and intense freckles sprinkled all over his face turned and faced them. Wassim knew the boy, his name was James and he was a troublemaker.

“Look at the way he’s smiling Nick, I knew it wasn’t just a rumor. He actually did it!” James sniggered then playfully rubbed Wassim’s fuzzy hair. Wassim slapped James hand off. James looked amused. “This guy is a pervert, I can feel it. He’s just like me!”

“Calm down James,” Nick warned, James immediately settled. “So, how did it happen? Don’t tell me it was by accident, cause that would mean you’re a woos.”

“No, I’m not a woos! It wasn’t an accident!” Wassim snapped back then quickly regretted what he’d said. James reformed his ugly smirk.

“I knew it!” James jumped up and down in his seat excitedly ranting, “Pervert, pervert, he’s a pervert!” James was making a scene; Wassim knew he had to stop him and quick. Whatever pervert meant wasn’t a good thing, and having that phrase latched around his name would destroy his prestige in school and hurt his chances with making friends with Nick.

“She came to me,” Wassim lied. James suddenly stopped his singing.

“What do you mean, she came to you?” Nick’s interest had been redrawn. Wassim’s face was boiling hot. There was only one way to save himself. Wassim knew he had to lie. There was no other way, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel the guilt. What will one lie do? He told himself.

“I was on the playground. Like you probably heard, we were playing Chops during recess and I was it.” Wassim paused taking a deep steady breath. Nick and James were watching him closely; their eyes wide, mouths down and open. “She jumped in front of me and took my hands then placed them on her-,” Wassim frowned and turned to the window. There was no reason to continue, they’d gotten the message. He heard their gasps, knew what came next. They gave one another a snappy high five then felt Nick’s hand over his shoulder.  

“Dude, you’re so cool!” Nick grinned.

“Yeah, you’re totally cool,” James nodded. These were the words Wassim had been waiting to hear all his life. He had entered the inner circle of cool. Accepted now, his position ranked in the back of the bus, upgraded from its center. Still, under Wassim’s grinning and laughing with Nick and James, he wasn’t happy. His grin was fake. The guilt was terrible. He didn’t want to feel it and was frustrated why he even did. He hated Andria. He hated her to the core and yet the guilt strangled him like a rope around his throat. Touching Andria had been an accident. That was the truth. That truth was had been corrupted. Now, the official story was Andria had forced Wassim to touch her. By tomorrow, Wassim’s lie would reach every students ear as if it were caught by wildfire. No matter what Andria said, the lie would stick. There was no way she could object to what Nick thought was true. After all, Nick was the king and what he said went. It was as simple as that.

Wassim sighed when he got off the bus with Nick. Nick had been busy texting everyone with the latest development of the Wassim- Andria scandal. They walked down the hill, the pair didn’t talk much. Nick too busy with messaging on his phone and Wassim buried in too deep in guilt to start a conversation. Halfway home, Wassim remembered Mona. He’d been so engrossed with his own business; he’d forgotten to wait for her. If Mona didn’t find him waiting as usual on the bus stop, who knows what she would do. Hastily, Wassim said his goodbye, whom Nick merely nodded off and he sprinted back uphill. He’d just made it to the bus stop when the Kings Park bus eased by the curve. The young people climbed down. Mona grinned when she saw her older brother.

“How was school?” Wassim said out of breath as he took her hand.

“Eww! Your hands are sweaty,” Mona quickly slipped off his grip, “And you smell,” she pinched her nose.  

“I was running back here to get you-,”

“I don’t want to hold hands with a smelly and sweaty person,” Mona began rubbing her hands over her pants.

“Okay, whatever. Let’s just get going, I’m tired and I want to go home.” They walked then side by side, down the hill to their blue house at the end of a row of townhouses.

“Angels didn’t come to get me today,” Mona grinned, “I was super good!” Wassim chuckled; Mona was still on about Angels and being bad. “Were you good today?” Wassim thought about that, he’d touched Andria after cheating in a game, been bad to his classmates and lied about touching Andria. Pretty much, Wassim had broken every rule of being good, all in one day.

“Yeah, I was an angel,” Wassim finally said. He glanced up at the sky, wondering if Angels did scoop down the bad and the wicked; how fast would have they kidnapped him for being both. That’s when he saw it. It towered high in the sky. A cloud. One cloud lingering by itself in the vast ocean of sapphire blue. The cloud was white, as white as snow. Its shape was that of an eye. An eye in the sky hovering over the wicked and the bad. It could have been coincidence but Wassim sensed it wasn’t. Something in his mind registered with the lone eye-shaped cloud.  It made him feel uneasy. “Mona, I’ll race you home, go!” Wassim broke into a sprint, his little sister trailing behind screaming for injustice. The white cloud remained hovering over them both.