Out

Chapter 10

My not-date with Jack ended up being pretty fun, much to my surprise. We went to this cute little 50's inspired diner, and the milkshakes were ridiculously good. We stopped and picked up a vase for the flowers, too, while we were out. I put them on my desk near the window so they could get sunlight.

As I'm getting dressed, all I can think about is Alice. What is she going to say? I ditched her to have some time for myself, but I ended up going out with Jack anyway!

I gather my things and rush to my first class. I'm running a bit late today.

I get there and sit down in my seat as Mr. Morris walks over to me. "Good morning, Miss Abbott," he says sipping his coffee.

"Good morning, Mr. Morris," I chirp. "How are you?"

"Wonderful, thank you for asking. And you?"

"I'm well, I suppose," I respond.

After a moment, he says quietly, "I'm glad you seem to be adjusting well. Honestly, when you first arrived here, I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. But you seem to be doing great, considering all that's happened to you."

My eyes go wide. My breath catches in my throat. "You know," I whisper, tears burning my eyes. I blink rapidly to clear them away before they can fall.

He nods silently, not meeting my eyes.

You knew someone was going to find out eventually, I tell myself.

"Does anyone else know?" I ask quietly.

He shakes his head no. "Your aunt told me everything when I voiced my concerns to her about you."

"Ahh, yes. You thought I was depressed," I recall, thinking back to the night my aunt had came to my room.

"It would make sense if you were," he says. I just shake my head no. "Well...if you ever need anything, you know where to find me."

"Thanks," I mutter quietly.

He gives me a small smile and walks back to the front of the room. "Today," he starts, "we will..."

And then I tune him out. I doodle in my notebook until the bell rings, and then I gather my things and head to my next class. I just can't believe he knows.

*************************************

At lunch, I sit with Alice and the rest of them. Piper and Nathan are arguing over something stupid, like usual. Alice is throwing grapes at Brendan, and he is trying to catch them in his mouth. Lexi is throwing carrots at Brendan, not even trying to aim for his face. Just hitting him in the chest, shoulder, hand...everywhere but his mouth. All is right in the world.

Except me.

"What is wrong with you?" Brendan asks me, snapping me back to reality.

"What? Nothing," I say quickly. A little too quickly.

"Oh please," Brendan scoffs. "I may not have known you that long, but I can tell when something's up...And something is definitely up."

"I'm fine," I say, putting on a big grin. "Really, I am."

His face says that he clearly doesn't believe me, but he doesn't say anything else, and I'm grateful for that.

*************************************

I do my best to stop thinking about it, and by the time the end of the day finally rolls around, I'm in a much better mood. I haven't forgotten, but I'm feeling better than I was earlier today.

"Hey," Alice says, throwing her arm around my shoulders as we walk towards the dorms. "We're all gonna get together tonight at Starbucks to study for the history test. Wanna come?" Before I can answer she adds, "You're coming. See you there at six!"

She jogs away before I can say no. I roll my eyes and chuckle quietly at her.

When I get to my room, I quickly shower and let my hair air dry. I pull on a pair of black leggings and my pullover gray hoodie. I put on my white converse, and grab my history notes before walking out of the room and heading to Starbucks.

When I get there, I see all of them sitting at the bar near the window. As I'm walking over to them, I hear someone say, "Seriously, Alice?" I slow down my walking until I come to a stop, and eavesdrop on their conversation. I know it's rude, but I'm curious!

She sighs and says, "Yeah. I'm sorry. I just feel really bad for her! I mean, she has no other friends."

My heart speeds up. She has to be talking about me...

"Just because she can't make friends doesn't mean that we should have to put up with her. Next time, tell me before you invite her so I can think up a good excuse not to come."

"Oh come on Lexi, don't be mean. I really like her! She's nice."

So it's Lexi who doesn't like me... I tell myself.

"I do too. She's really cool," Alice says.

"Yeah, whatever," Lexi scoffs.

I've heard enough. I storm over to where they're sitting and snap, "You know, if you have a problem with me, I'd prefer you just say it to my face. Not behind my back."

Lexi is caught completely off guard. I know she would have never said those things if she had known I was listening.

"I must say, you're an extremely good actress," I tell her. "I had no clue you hated me so much. I honestly thought we were friends," I scoff. "Should've known..." I mutter.

I turn around and storm away. "Sophie, wait!" I hear Piper shout behind me. But I don't turn around. I walk out and wait only a few seconds before I hail a cab. When I climb inside, I'm extremely disappointed to see that I don't recognize the driver. I just tell him where I'm going and lean my head against the window, watching the world zoom by.

My mood has turned sour once again.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Dun dun duuuuun!!!! Mr. Morris knows her secret!!! What do you think about that?

Were you expecting Lexi to be such a jerk?

Sorry for not really going into a description of the date, I just didn't really think it was too important to write every detail. Were you surprised she said yes?? Do you think they will stay together??

What do you think she'll do about "the gang", as I like to call them?

Any thoughts on the secret? Let me know!! Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter