little lies (an e.d. fanfiction)

✭ chapter 41

song for chapter: like that by bea miller + play on repeat!!

claire's pov

i zone out as i pick at my food with my silverware. i look up at my mom, liam, and jade, all of us sitting together and eating dinner at the kitchen table.

i look back down to my food and think about my personal life- something neither my mother or liam know anything about.

i told lily, maddie, hannah, and skylar today about me and ethan being official. they all had the same reaction as jade and it made my heart feel warm and happy to see such supportive friends surrounding me.

i smile to myself involuntarily as i think about ethan. i swear i can get butterflies from just thinking about him.

"what are you smiling about, claire?" my mom says before placing a piece of chicken into her mouth.

i freeze up, not even realizing that i was smiling as i was thinking about him.

i feel jade's head whip towards me, already knowing what it was about.

"oh, uh," i say a bit frantically, "i was just thinking about my geometry test. i got a ninety-seven on it," i say to her and then look down at the plate of food in front of me.

i stab my fork into a piece of chicken and bring it up to my mouth, chewing and swallowing the savory food.

"that's great, honey!" my mom says in a proud voice.

i nod and smile weakly at her. i wasn't exactly lying- i actually did get a ninety-seven on the test, but that's obviously not what i was smiling about.

"liam, how have your grades been?" my mom says in a more serious voice, causing jade and i to look at him along with my mother.

he shrugs lazily, his dinner still being completely untouched. he hasn't even grabbed his fork yet.

"i don't check my grades," he says in a low tone with his head down.

"well, maybe you should. your sister's been doing outstanding in school," she pauses and then starts to sound a bit aggravated, "don't you want to be like that?"

i cringe at her passive aggressive words. i hate when she compares liam to me, we're two completely different people. i'm always portrayed as the perfect child and i know it makes liam feel like shit.

"sure," my brother says in a careless tone, not having any interest in having this conversation whatsoever.

my mother rolls her eyes at him and liam doesn't even bring his chin up to make eye contact with her.

"mom, can you not?" i say, feeling irritated by the way she was treating my brother.

she looks at me shocked because usually i don't say anything. i don't know what's gotten into me this time. i guess i'm just angry that she has the nerve to act like such a bitch to him, and even in front of my best friend.

it just shows the amount of toxicity in this family.

liam brings his head up and looks at me in disbelief, surprised that i actually said something back to my mom.

my mom scoffs dramatically and puts her fork down, "excuse me?"

i feel jade and liam looking at me out of the corner of my eye, everyone in the room waiting for me to respond.