In 7 Days [Book 1]

Chapter 8 - Truths

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered to myself, a smile coming across my face. What Jake had said about my eyes being beautiful was the cheesiest and most stupid thing I have ever heard, but my stomach was still doing flips and my heart was still pounding. "That was so bad." I caught myself blushing bright red in the mirror.

I heard echoed footsteps through the door and I also heard girls talking, but I was unable to make out what they were saying through the steel and almost soundproof door. "Marley?" Unique asked, pushing the door open. No one came in, but I heard it creaking.

"Please, Marley?" The voice of Tina flooded through the door. "What's wrong?" Her voice echoed off the bathroom walls.

I heard the door shut again. I stared at myself in the mirror, debating if I should go out there and just tell them what was wrong. These guys were being friendly to me and they probably wouldn't judge. But what if they suddenly decided that because I was poor and my mom was overweight that they'd drop me? I couldn't bare that again.

During my debate with myself, a song came into my head. I'd heard it a couple of times, on the radio and once on the X Factor. It was called Cannonball and there was one line that said 'Love taught me to lie.' It didn't exactly apply completely to my situation, but I could lie out of love... love for who, though?

There was this voice in my head telling me to lie and just say, "She just seems like a nice person and i don't understand why people can be so mean." But my heart ached lying; my heart wanted to tell the whole truth.

Heart over head, I guess.

I walked, my feet tripping over each other, to the door and opened it slightly to see everyone standing there, gathered in a huddle. Kitty was there, too, with a smug look on her face which stood out so clearly from the concerned faces.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked worriedly, a frown on his face.

I took a deep breath and opened the door the whole way, leaning against the door frame. "Well," I began in a quiet voice, crossing my arms. "Promise you won't laugh or say something horrible or punch me in the face?" I asked, keeping my eyes squeezed shut.

I heard a chorus of agreements and a "can't promise anything" from Kitty.

"That woman..." I stuttered nervously, tugging on my sweater sleeves and taking a few deep breaths. "The lunch lady... she... i-is actually my mom. And-and it's the only job that she... could actually get and well... she can't afford much..." I trailed off, afraid of what was going to come at me next.

I raised my head and looked at everyone to see solemn looks on their faces. "We're..." Unique begun, but trailed off like me.

"Sorry." Artie finished, who was sitting right in front of me. I smiled and nodded, silently thanking him.

Then I heard a girly snicker coming from my left. "You mean, you're Mike and Molly's daughter?" Kitty said, not bothering to control her laughter. "How'd that happen, boob less?"

My heart sunk at her words. And just at that moment, two jocks dressed in Letterman jackets walked behind the small group of people who were gathered around me. "Wait, did I hear right?" The taller of the two said.

"Think you did, Phil." The other said with a smile, glimpsing at me. "Hey, girly! Is your mom Dumbo Jumbo?"

"Nice one!" The first jock shouted, putting his hand up for a high five.

"Just shut up, Bobby." Sam scoffed, turning around to face them.

"The Glee club is hanging out with the girl with the fatty mom! And with that, order is restored!" The one called Phil said with a nasty smile, holding his hands out like the pope. He laughed, clapped his hands together and walked away, cackling louder with every step he took. I shook my head, trying to fight tears - I just knew that people were going to be mean to me. I made a mistake.

We were all silent for a couple of minutes, until the bell rang. "I'm going." I mumbled, pushing my way out of the group and storming away, a tear slipping down my face. I frantically wiped it away.

No one followed me; I guess they thought I needed space. Or they knew they couldn't cheer me up anymore. Or they thought they shouldn't come near me because I was actually poor and a loser.

I went to my next class silently, avoiding everyone I had made friends with in the past day. I eyed Brittany sitting at the back of the class, surrounded by people who were all making a fuss of her. I sat down at the front, as far away from her as possible. I wasn't mad at her, I just didn't want to have to talk about everything - I didn't want to talk about what I had previously confessed to the group. I knew Brittany might make an offensive comment or something, she didn't seem to have a conscience.

It hurt. I hurt.

***

The class went by slowly - I was too consumed by my thoughts of 'why did you say anything?' to do anything to help it pass quicker - and I ran out of the room, avoiding the rush of people and avoiding Brittany.

I stopped at my locker and shoved my books in, taking a big sip of water from my water bottle. Someone touched my shoulder lightly and I turned around in shock, almost choking on the water. To my surprise, it was Sam. "Oh," I said, putting my hand over my heart, feeling it pound in my chest. "Hey, Sam." I turned back around to my locker.

"Hi." He sounded... sad? "I know what it's like," I half-turned around to him and raised an eyebrow. "Those clothes, they're from Walmart and you sewed designer labels on them. I get it."

"How do you know that?" I whispered, clutching my books close to my chest. I was freaking out. How did he know what it was like? How did he know about the tags? Did he see them? My heart was pounding.

"My family and I, we were... bummed out without money. We were poor and we didn't have any money at all, okay? I did some stupid things to get us back on our feet and I understand." He whispered back, a hint of a smile on his lips.

I returned his smile and turned to my locker, running my finger over the picture of mom and I on the door. "Thank you, Sam." I said quietly. I turned to him and gave him a bigger grin. I didn't feel quite as alone anymore, knowing that Sam understood me and what I might have been going through.

Sam gave me a smile and licked his lips. "I get it. You don't have to feel so, like, lonely now or whatever. You've got me, and I get it." Then he proceeded to do an impression, making me giggle.

Sam knew what I'm going through - and in all honesty, it seemed so weird to me. I guessed I could make him my friend, because he got me. He was nice enough to tell me all of these so I guessed he could be a friend to me. I just didn't know.

I stared at Sam. "Do you want to walk with me to my next class?"

Sam's face turned bright red. "I knew you'd want to hang out with me." Sam began walking ahead, wrapping his fingers around my forearm.

Maybe, just maybe, I could trust Sam.

***