The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell

Author:Todd Mitchell [Mitchell, Todd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5621-8
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2010-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

I CALLED JESS’S DORM ROOM the next day. It was the last day of finals, and all the students were supposed to pack and go home for winter break after they finished exams. I worried that she might have left already, and I didn’t have her cell number.

She picked up after the third ring. “Hey, Jess.”

“Oh,” she answered. “It’s you.”

“I think it’s me,” I said. “I mean, you can never be certain, can you? I don’t always feel like myself.”

Jess didn’t say anything. In the background, I heard Rachel talking with someone else. I realized how strange I must have sounded. Ghost44 would have understood, but I had to be careful with Jess.

“Why’d you call?” she asked.

“I miss you,” I said, surprised by how cold she sounded. “I haven’t talked with anyone in days. I’m going crazy here.”

“Crazy how? Crazy like you’re wearing lipstick and talking to your hand, or crazy like you dissed your incredibly awesome girlfriend to go skinny-dipping in a frozen pond?”

“Sorry about the pond thing.”

“Save it. I knew there was someone else.”

“You mean Ellie?” I wanted to kick myself for not thinking of what Jess might have heard. This explained why she hadn’t returned my calls. “You think I snuck out to see the Ice Queen?”

“Why I’m even talking to you is beyond me.”

“Hold on. There’s nothing going on between me and Ellie.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true,” I said. “It was a coincidence that she was there.”

“Then why’d you go swimming?”

“I was bored. Honestly, Ellie wasn’t even around when I jumped in the pond.” Technically, it was true, but I didn’t know if Jess would buy it.

“I’m not stupid,” she replied. “I know Ellie was there. She called security.”

“She must have seen me jump.” I racked my brain for some way to convince her. “Look, if there was something going on between Ellie and me, why would she just leave me there? Why wouldn’t she walk me inside so I could warm up? It’s because of her that I got suspended.”

Jess didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “You could have frozen to death.”

“I was fine.”

“Yeah, right.” She still sounded pissed.

I tried to change the subject. “You ever think about running away?”

No answer.

“I wish we could run away together,” I said.

“Where would you want to go?” she finally replied.

“Someplace interesting. California, maybe. Or Seattle. Someplace where no one knows us — so we could start over.”

“Why do you want to start over?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I just need to get away from here.”

“Why? What happened?” she asked, concern breaking through her anger.

“Nothing happened. Nothing ever happens here.” Even though it was the truth, it sounded like a diversion. Let her think I’d survived fistfights and abuse, because no one makes a movie about a bored middle-class teenager living in a cornfield with nice parents.

I heard a door shut in the background and the other voices grew distant. Jess must have stepped into the bathroom to talk. “You okay, James?”

“Yeah. I’m great,” I said. “I just think running away would be fun.

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