don't lie to me

Chapter I

"Mia Williams if you don't get your ass back in that seat I will send you straight to Mr. Harrington's office for the fifth time this week!" Mrs. Frank yelled with spit flying as she spoke.

I chuckled at her threat. It wasn't an empty threat, just one that didn't phase me since I spent so much time with him I called him Scott. "Oh goodie, I've been missing those mints he has in there." I smirked as I saw her frown and some of my classmates snicker. Jay, my best friend, however, didn't hold back and started laughing. He was probably more amused by Mrs. Frank's than my comment, but I was still glad he was entertained.

Jay was two years older than me since I skipped a grade and just made the cut off, and he just missed it. He was the only one who knew about my shitty home life and had helped me a lot through the years so making him happy always gave me some joy since I felt like I owed him for dragging him into my situation.

"Principal's office. NOW!" I simply shrugged at her demand and grabbed my stuff and kissed Jay on the cheek goodbye.

I took my sweet time getting to the office since, even though me and Scott were best buds, he said the next time I acted out he would call home. I hadn't remembered this during my chat with Mrs. Frank, but I was thinking of it now, and I was getting nervous. I would probably get kicked out and screamed at, but that didn't matter, my main concern was that my stepdad, Greg, warned me that if he got one more call he would send me away, and I had far too much attachment to my town to let someone like Greg take me from it.

"Mia Williams, so nice to see you again." I acknowledged the secretary's sarcastic greeting with a sarcastic wave.

"I was thinking the same thing, I guess the office was lonely without me yesterday." I wasn't in school the previous day since Greg made me go work at some club since he wasn't going to be able to pay rent.

The secretary looked like she was about to say something but was cut off by Mr. Harrington beckoning me to his office. I took a look around the extremely familiar office and took a seat in a chair that was practically my own.

"Ah so Ms. Williams, I understand that you caused yet another disturbance to Mrs. Frank's class today." Scott began.

"I would hardly call it a disturbance, Scott. More of a much-needed boost in class entertainment since I was practically going to fall asleep with her going on and on about the importance of algebra 2. I'll save you the chat with Mrs. Frank, it's nothing!" I knew I should be trying to save my ass right now but sometimes my mouth had a mind of its own.

"Mia, our constant interactions need to stop. I am going to call your father-" stepfather "and encourage him to have a chat with you and pull you out of some extra curriculars, like perhaps cheer." At his words I was fuming 1) the 'chat' he wanted me and Greg to have would end in him chasing me down and trying to walk in a straight line long enough to beat the shit out of me and 2) I couldn't quit cheer since not only I loved it, and we had big competition coming up but also because it had gotten me through too many rough patches in my life to let it go just like that.

"I would hardly call that an effective plan. Me and Greg have had the 'encouraged conversations' before, and they've had little effect on my behavior. Also, fuck you for trying to get me out of cheer." Scott just sighed.

"In addition to your behavioral issues, your grades and attendance are low, you are a smart girl this doesn't need to be the situation. Your test scores are good, and we all know you are bright so why don't you put in the effort you did when you moved up a grade."

"I had motivation then, that is no longer the case."

"What was this motivation and maybe we can try to recreate it now."

"There was this boy - Carter I think - in the grade above me. I wanted him to notice me since he was so hot with this curly blond hair and the sexiest a-" I was cut off by Mr. Harrington.

"I get the idea Mia," I laughed at his discomfort.

"Well as lovely as this chat was I really should get going, don't want to miss out on some fantastic education." I said as I stood up.

"Mia, you can't go through life not using your intelligence unless a cute boy walks by. Also, I didn't decide this conversation was over."

"That's so unfortunate because I did. Oh well, toodles!"

I didn't feel like going back to that bitch's class, so I just hung out in the bathroom for a bit before grabbing my stuff for gym. Gym was by far my favorite class since I got to go with my cheer team to practice instead of playing their stupid games.

When I arrived only a few other people were there, so I greeted them, and we started talking about a party this Friday.

Practice was painful since we were trying to complicate our routine, so we could score better at competitions, unfortunately this meant that as the flyer I ended up on the floor a lot, meaning that I added more bruises to the array already on covering my skin from previous practices.

When it finally ended I got changed back into my original clothes. I looked in the mirror to fix my hair and makeup. It all looked good, so I took a step back and examined the rest of my outfit. It was November in Wisconsin so the weather was severe, but that didn't stop me from showing off my toned legs with a short skirt.

It was now time for lunch, so I sat at my usual table in the middle of the cafeteria with some teammates, Jay, and some other kids. It went by quickly and no one said anything about my lack of lunch since they were used to it by now. I was rarely hungry anyway since I couldn't remember the last time Greg had gotten food for me, and any money I got was spent on other things.

I went through the rest of my day without any major events, but the walk home was dreadful, as what waited for me inside.