Faking it.

CHAPTER 24

The next morning at school is exhausting. I'm tired. Like really really tired and I have a headache. It's probably because I wasn't able to sleep on the rock that Milli calls her bed. I'm trying to not show my pain too much since it's already Friday and I don't want to ruin the good news that reached my best friends and me yesterday with my grumpy behaviour.

When lunch break finally starts after way too many and way too long hours, I text Milli and Simon that I'll be in the library since I seriously can't take any more students talking. It makes my headache even worse.

I sit down in the back and lay my head on my folded arms. Why did I decide to wear the outfit from yesterday night to school today? It's extremely uncomfortable and cold to sit in here with only a skirt and top. How I didn't get dress-coded already is still beyond my imagination. I feel like I only had a few seconds of peace until a familiar voice interrupts it.

"Can I sit here?" Elliot asks and I give him a brief but still visible nod.

"What are you doing here?" He asks after he had sat down and put out his math text books. I shrug and look out of the window.

"Let me guess. You somehow knew that I would be here and because you missed me so much you decided to ditch your friends and come here to be with me." He says and I smirk.

"I think it was the other way 'round since you came here after me."

"Shit. You caught me." He says in a panicked voice and I smile. "But what are you actually doing here, since we know that I only came because I missed you so much." He continues and I shrug. "Just wanted a little bit of peace and undisturbed time." I answer and he looks around a little bit.

"Should I go or..?" He asks and I shake my head.

"Nah, you're good. But only if you give me something in return." I tell him with a little smirk.

He looks down at his school bag on the ground and then grabs something.

It's a grey piece of clothing and I recognise it as his hoodie.

"Use it as a pillow and take a nap. That usually helps with headaches." He says and I raise my eyebrows.

"How do you know I have a headache? I don't remember telling you anything."

"You didn't. But I saw how every time there was a louder than normal talking noise you winced and then put your hands on your head." He explains and I nod. He must have watched me a lot then.

"Thanks. Wake me up before the bell rings please."

I lay my head sideways and his hoodie, which I curled into some kind of ball. I fall in and out of my light sleep. Only really relaxing for a few minutes.

At some point I stay awake. My phone is in my hand and I look at the clock. Five more minutes before the bell rings.

When I turn my head to look at Elliot I see the he has his eyebrows furrowed and is concentrating on the paper in front of it.

"I would try to help you but I'm not the smartest either when it comes to maths." I joke and he looks up. He puts his textbooks away with a sigh and ask me, "How's the headache going?"

I hand him back his hoodie and nod. "It's a lot better actually. Thanks."

"No problem. I know how bad it can feel. I get really heavy migraines quite often."

"You do?" I ask and he nods. "Wow. I can't even handle a light headache and you have migraines. I would die if I were you." I say and he laughs. "You get used to it after some time."

There's some silence before he asks again. "Are we still on for tomorrow?"

"Yes. But we will need to do it early since my dance practise will be longer." I tell him and he nods. Then his eyes go wide like he just had the best idea of his life.

"How about we do it early in the morning. Like just before the sun comes out. It could look so amazing if you take the pictures against the sunrise." He tells me and I think.

It could gain us some extra points on the assignment.

"Okay. The sunrise starts at like half past seven. We could meet at the park at seven to you know, get some ideas already so that we don't take too long and miss the actual sunrise." I say and he smiles.

"Perfect."

The bell rings and I stand up.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I say to Elliot and head out.

I quickly set an alarm at 6:30 for tomorrow and walk into history class.

***

When I get home I'm alone. I walk into the kitchen and see that there's a sticky note on the fridge.

Are on a business trip in Europe.
Be back by Sunday.
Take care.
Love,
Mom.

Oh god please don't let Abby know. She will throw a major party in our house. I know that because she's done it before a few times already and every time I needed to clean up the mess afterwards.

My stomach grumbles and I sigh. I fill a pot with water and put some pasta in to cook.

I quickly walk upstairs to change into a pair of sweatpants. The tube top is actually really comfortable to wear so I leave that one on but put a cardigan over it because all windows were opened when I got here and march isn't that warm to be honest.

When I get to the kitchen again, I see that the water is about to boil and I quickly lower the heat of the stove.

Within minutes I have my food ready and walk to the dinning table to eat there. Alone.

Yeah I know it's depressing but that's going to be my always I guess.

I take my phone into my hand and look through the videos and pictures from yesterday evening.

There's one where I'm playing rock paper scissors against Robert. We're playing it a little bit loud- and aggressive but we're still laughing. I know Simon, Milli and I wanted another piece of cake and we decided on a fair and square game. If we won- which we did- we would get another slice of cake each.

I laugh at it and decide to post it in my Instagram story. In big, black letters I write "Imma do anything for cake." I tag Milli and Simon and shut my phone again, to finish my food.

A few minutes later I get a ding.

Elliot wants to follow me and I click on accept.

I guess he watched my story because he texts me.

E: Didn't peg you as the type to drink.

H: I only had one cocktail.

E: Wow. You really are a lightweight.

H: How would you know?

E: Because you had a headache from only one cocktail. Duh.

H: True.

H: But I didn't peg you as the type to be obsessed with me.

E: You wish.

H: Maybe I do maybe I don't. Who knows?

A smile spreads across my face. Is this considered flirting? If not, then why does it make me this damn giddy and excited?

We text the whole afternoon. Going trough different topics. At some point we switched from Instagram dm's to normal messaging, after I gave him my number.

Then he facetimed me and we talked from there. I even gave him a room tour of my bedroom since I've already been to his house and he said it would only be fair.

I yawn.

"Okay I think it's time to go. We need to get up early tomorrow." He says and I nod.

"Okay. Good Night."

"Night Hailey."

He ends the call and I lay back on my bed, grinning like an idiot.