Bitter

thirty-nine - cal

   West Haley was smiling on Friday. Most of the students hadn't recovered from the news about Jason, even the people who hadn't spoken to him once in their life, but Haley obviously already had. He was sitting with Lydia at lunch who just nodded along to what he said, staring down at her food before her. She looked small, like she was trying to shrink herself as much as possible so she could disappear. And I didn't blame her. There was no doubt that Jason's death had something to do with Haley. Why else would he go after Lydia and Meg like that? Someone had influenced him, I knew it.

   Lydia had looked so scared when she'd told me exactly what happened, and to say I hadn't felt bad for her then would've been a lie. She'd witnessed someone die. Then again, so had I, and I knew more than anything that it was kind of hard to just forget about. I'd actually almost told her about that when I'd gone to her house for dinner, when we were just about to leave the basement. What was I thinking? That wasn't for  her to know and it never would be.

   Speaking of Lydia, the weekend came and went and she never even texted me what Haley was saying to her at lunch. Maybe they had been talking about homecoming (it was moved to this coming Saturday because of the news about Jason). Maybe they were going together and she would tell me what was up with Haley. Or maybe she wouldn't. Whatever. I could take down Haley with or without Lydia's help, I was just waiting for the right time.

   Monday and Tuesday passed uneventfully and it was the same routine at school and home. Lydia would reluctantly be by Haley's side, stealing glances at me every so often in the hallway. It was important that Lydia and I weren't seen together, so Haley wouldn't get suspicious. Marco and Zach would talk to me but then we'd be separated by our classes (and Meg and Aly seemed to be their main focus anyway, at least for now with homecoming only a few days away). At home, Mom left me alone for the most part (and Dad did too, but that wasn't anything new). So with nothing to do on Wednesday, you know what I did? I worked on that essay that was due last Thursday, the one Mr. Shafer gave me an extension on.

   Yeah, I didn't get very far with it, but it was at least something. It was hard to do anything today since I was exhausted from all the running during soccer practice earlier. And also because during a water break, my teammates and Coach Wane started talking about Jason, remembering how great of a player he was. It was definitely weird being on that field without him and sometimes I felt like he'd just walk out of the school doors and join our game, like he'd been alive all along and he'd just been playing a sick joke on everyone.

I added another sentence onto my essay. I made that a thing whenever thoughts of Jason and Haley started clogging my mind again. That was when I looked over at the clock on my laptop screen and saw that it was almost 10 PM, so I gave up on trying to write anything else. Besides, my phone had just lit up on my desk and I leaned forward, looking down to see that it was finally a message from Lydia. There was no way I could focus on homework when I saw the text.

He knows, it read. What? What did that mean? She was most likely talking about Haley, but what did he know?

I grabbed my phone and immediately tapped out a message to her. Then another. All of them asked what she was talking about in one way or another, but she never answered me back. She had just texted me, why wasn't she saying anything now? My stomach felt like it was sinking and I tried calling her (never thought I'd call Lydia Bosher), but again, she wasn't picking up or replying. Was something wrong? Was something like what happened to Jason happening to Lydia right now? I cursed and threw on my coat, hurrying out of the room and bounding down the stairs. "I'm going to the store!" I called to Mom and Dad where I found out they were both in the living room once I'd reached the front door. I heard Mom get up from her chair, starting to speak, so I rushed out of the house into the cold and to my car, flinging myself into the driver's seat. There was no way Mom and Dad believed I was going to the store because I was peeling out of the driveway like my house was about to explode. Blasting the heat in the car, I raced to...I wasn't sure where.

Lydia hadn't gotten back to me yet and every time I checked to see if she'd said anything, I'd just be met with my last text to her. Where are you? I'd asked. No answer. Maybe her mom knew. So with that thought, I sped down the street, taking several turns, until I'd reached Lydia's house. This was when I thought about how Lydia could be asleep and maybe I was freaking out over nothing. Well, it wouldn't hurt to check and see if she was okay, right?

I pulled up outside, noticing there was still faint, orange light coming through the windows. Good, whoever was in there was probably awake. I hurried through the front yard, tiny raindrops beginning to fall from the black sky while I ran up the porch steps and slammed the doorbell. C'mon... I waited for only a few seconds before the porch light above my head flicked on and Lydia's mom opened the door a crack, peeking out at me before opening it the rest of the way, dressed in pajamas. "Cal?"

"Do you know where Lydia is?" I blurted out, a little winded.

Lydia's mom looked puzzled and she peered past me, out at my car sitting in the dark. "Isn't...isn't she with you?" she returned.

Now it was my turn to be confused. With me? "No..." I replied slowly, "why would she be with me?"

Lydia's mom scratched her head in the doorway, then looked up at me. "She told me that," she said. It only took a moment before the color drained from her face, realizing that Lydia had lied to her. Yep, Lydia "the angel" lied to her. "If she's not with you...then who is she with?"