One of the Bullied | ✔

Chapter 21 - No Love For A Liar

"Favourite animal?" Jean asks, looking up from my selection of books. I glance up from the sofa.

"Why are you asking me such hard questions?" I groan, laughing a little. "I don't know, I like snakes."

"Ew." He shudders. "Snakes are slimy and gross."

"I had a pet snake when I was twelve." I say with a grin. He shivers, going a little pale. "They're inoffensive, Jean. As long as they're not poisonous or eight meters long, they can't exactly hurt you."

"But they're... wild animals!"

"So are dogs." I shrug. "Come on, my snake got it's head caught in a kitchen paper roll one day. We had to cut it open to free him."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. They're cute and harmless."

He shakes his head. "They're scary. I couldn't live with one."

I roll my eyes. What is people's problem with snakes? "Yours?"

"What?"

"I mean, your favourite animal?"

"Dog." He says. "I have a dog in France, I miss her so much."

This time it's me who shudders. "What is people's obsession with dogs?" I exclaim. "Literally, everyone nowadays has to have a bloody dog."

"What's wrong with dogs?" Jean exclaims, standing up.

"Couldn't you be a little more original?" I complain.

"Are you scared of dogs?" He asks teasingly, obviously joking. He doesn't know how right he is.

I gulp. "Says the one who's scared of snakes! You know what, dogs can actually hurt you."

"So can snakes! They can swallow you whole!"

I pull out my phone and find the picture where Luigi is all tangled in my hair, and I'm wearing him like a crown. His head is about the size of my nose.

"Does that look like it could swallow you whole?" I ask, jabbing my finger at the screen. He's doing something on his own phone, and within seconds he flashes me a picture of what looks like a man-eating beast. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" I shriek.

"She's called Lulette."

"THAT COULD EAT YOU WHOLE!" I screech, shoving my phone in his face. "THAT COULD NOT!"

"Woah, woah, calm down. It's just a large dog."

"Fucking cannibal dog." I mutter, sitting back down and picking up Cider With Rosie, opening it to the page where I left off. "That thing looks like it should be locked up somewhere."

"Hey!" He exclaims, offended. "She's nice, okay?"

"Sure." I answer, sarcastically, laughing a little. "So, what are you going to do about Caitlyn? I mean, isn't she going to chase you down until your death?"

"Probably, but I don't like her." He answers.

"Well, you're going to have to tell her that." I smile, looking back up at him again. "I suspect she's not going to be very happy about it."

He bangs his head against the bookshelf gently. "Do I really have to?"

"Well, you can keep doing this two-way thing if that's what you want, but count me out." I shrug. "Not only that, but if you really don't like her, you need to tell her."

"Why?"

"Because it's mean to do that to someone." I say, shrugging.

"Do you really think Caitlyn would be sad or affected if I told her I didn't like her? She'd probably just make a huge fuss for attention and to make me feel sorry for her."