My Fake Reality

The Recognition

We get home, and Braidy is sitting on our porch swing. Oh my gosh! How will I get rid of him? And will I ever?
I don't get out of the car. Only my parents and Henry do.
"Hello," I hear my father say, "May I help you?"
"I'm here to see Kamri."
"Oh! I'm sorry to inform you, but we just dropped Kamri off at a friend's house."
"Oh. Ok."
My dad went to unlock the door while Henry and my mom went to get out luggage. I saw them coming so I quietly told Sabrina to duck. My mom looks through the window to make sure that we are hidden before she opens the back door of the car. She starts piling out the luggage as Henry rolls it to the door and inside.
I hear my dad speak, "What are you waiting for?"
Braidy must still be sitting on the swing because I never saw him get up to leave.
"Uh, I, uh, don't know," Braidy responds, obviously caught off guard.
"Well, I would appreciate if you would leave."
"Yes, sir."
I peer out a tiny bit to see him walk away. Finally! We wait a few more minutes before my parents come tell us the coast is clear. We get out and help with the final few items.
We ate before we came home, so we just hung out at home until Sabrina's parents came and got her.
The next day, I had to go to school.
When I got there, Shawn asked, "How was the trip?"
Being honest, as I have now learned to do, I answered, "Awesome! I wished you could have seen it, too."
"Me too."
School went on like normal. At the end of the day, I went to the bus line because my dad had a meeting.
I was sitting down when I heard, "Kamri!"
I turned my head, and there was Braidy. I had my earbuds in, so I pretend not to hear him. Then I see someone stand up. I look. It's Abby. Oh, no! She walks over to him. I watch them without being too obvious. Then I see him peek around her. I turn back around with my eyes still watching. He points in my direction. I stop watching.
A couple minutes later, Abby comes over to me and says, "Kamri. There's some really cute guy over there who claims to be Braidy, your boyfriend. But I thought you broke up with him."
"I did. But he won't leave me alone."
"Well, he wants to talk to you."
"Well, tell him that I don't want to talk to him."
"Wow. What went down between you guys?"
"Well, he just became really real and all this other junk because I broke up with him," I stop, "Let me start over. I need to control my lying."
"What lying?"
"Exactly. I have lied about a lot of things since I moved back here. Including having a boyfriend. Yeah, he's fake. And as you have just witnessed, I am really good at making up stories to cover them up. It has become a problem. I think that's why he showed up. To teach me a lesson, but I'm not sure. But yeah. It felt good to get that off my chest. At least part of the weight. Hey. Thanks for listening."
"No problem. So he's available?"
"Abby! He's a lie. He's fake. Who knows what will end up happening to him?"
"Okay," she says sadly.
We both laugh. She gets up and walks away.
I look over where Braidy was, but he isn't there anymore.
The next day, we have an award ceremony for people who won some scholarship. I don't get why we must go to it. Like can't they just tell them and be done with it.
So we got out of our classes when they called for us over the intercom.
There were three students already there, sitting to the side. They are the ones getting the award. Obviously, GayAnn Jones is one of the three.
Once everyone sits and settles down, Principal Kane begins, "I would like to welcome all of you to this recognition of these students whose grades excel. Now let's begin. Our Vice Principal Clay is going to hand out the awards while I call out the names. Our first student is Agatha Wilkens. She is being awarded a $8,000 scholarship to any college she chooses."
Everyone claps. Agatha walks up, gets the award, and takes a picture before she sits back down.
"Our next student is Cato Connor. He is being awarded a $12,000 scholarship to any college of his liking."
People clap. He gets his award and walks back to his seat.
"Last but not least, we have a brilliant student known as GayAnn Jones. She will be receiving a $16,000 scholarship for any college she attends."
People clap and the whole jig goes down when Principal Kane closes with, "I'd like to thank all the parents who attended. Students, please wait for your teacher to dismiss you before leaving."
The volume in the room skyrockets.
At the end of the day, I go to my dad's room.
Nothing much happened the next day, except that I actually controlled my lying, and I was so happy about it.
My dad had another meeting, so I went to the bus line to go home.