Conspicuous Secrets

Chapter Four

On 6/12/18 I changed all the chapter lengths to be more effective in interest and reading. If you are don't know where you left off, message me where you were at in the storyline and I will let you know where to start back off at. Sorry for the inconvenience:)

***

I hated feeling this way. Looking in the mirror, I didn't like what I saw. The person looking back at me wasn't the real me. This was Lydia King. She was a fraud. "If you don't get in here, we are going to be late!" my brother called from the other room. Shaking my head, I sighed. I needed to clear my mind and get myself together before I got distracted.

"Are you okay?" my brother's voice sounded from my bedroom door, making me realized I had been standing there for a while longer.

I grabbed my backpack from my bed. "How long are we going to have to do this?" I asked, knowing he would know exactly what I was talking about.

He shrugged and situated his backpack on his shoulder. "As long as it takes until we are safe."

#

I sighed in frustration as I failed to open my locker for the third time in a row. Feeling someone's eyes on me, I glanced over my shoulder and my suspicions were confirmed. Across the hall, leaning against the lockers was the boy I had run into the hallway on my first day. The egotistical blonde who was rude to me in our two interactions. Deciding it was best to ignore him, I turned back around and attempted to open my locker again. I failed.

"They get jammed a lot," a voice said beside me. I jump in fright and an amused chuckle released from his lips. He pushed his way in between me and the wall of lockers before asking for my code. After telling him, he successfully opened it for me.

"Thanks," I told him awkwardly as he stepped back out of my way. I wanted him to leave but was too nice to tell him. I knew he was a really rude dude and I didn't want involved with him. Unfortunately, by the time I had pushed my backpack inside of my locker and retrieved the books I needed, he hadn't left. "What do you want?" I finally asked him, my voice coming off as annoyed.

"I want to know your name," he stated, matter-of-fact.

I shook my head. "I'm not telling you my name. I can already tell you aren't a nice person."

He smirked. "Looks like someone has great intuition."

I rolled my eyes and readjusted my grip on my books. "More like you gave off a horrible first impression, then, on our second interaction, you again, gave off an awful impression," I reminded him. "So sorry, but I'm really not interested."

He shrugged as if it didn't bother him. "Your loss. Hey, did I see you sitting with Kason and his annoying friends yesterday?" I hesitated, not knowing what his train of thought was, but nodded anyway. He smirked. "Great. Tell Kason that I look forward to seeing him tonight."

I scrunched my eyebrows, his words catching me by surprise. "You're friends with Kason?"

He shrugged. "We bad boys have to stick together." I stared at him, not being able to picture Kason actually liking to hang out with him when I knew Aria hated him. After a long moment, he rolled his eyes, realizing I didn't believe him. "Alright, fine, we work together." Nodding once, I closed my locker. "I'm Miles, by the way." I nodded once more then started to walk around him to my first class. "You still aren't going to tell me your name, gorgeous?"

I shook my head and called back to him over my shoulder. "Not a chance."

#

I sat down at the picnic table outside and watched my brother play around with a soccer ball with Holden. Aria had decided that she wanted to eat outside since it was a nice day. It was late fall, so it was usually quite cold outside, but today was in the late sixties. As someone who hates winter, Aria said that we needed to make the most of the warmer weather. Everyone agreed and followed suit, deciding that upsetting Aria was a bad idea.

I took a drink from my water bottle, my eyes remaining on my brother as Aria and Marla talked about something that I couldn't find myself interested in. Jaxon was actually amazing at soccer. Back in Florida, he was the best of the best, and the star player on his soccer team.

"Your brother is an amazing athlete, too?" Marla's voice echoed in my ears. I turned to look at her as she continued. "Can he get any more perfect?"

I rolled my eyes. "Please, I really don't want to hear about your crush on my brother," I told her. "It's revolting to think that someone could seriously be interested in him." I glanced back at the boys and noticed a grown man walking up to them. I didn't recognize him, but he seemed really keen on talking to my brother.

At that time, Kason sat down in front of me at the table, looking frustrated at something. I didn't know if this was a common occurrence or what because Aria and Marla didn't act like something was odd. "Where have you been?" Marla asked him. In return, he just shook his head as if he didn't want to talk about it.

A few minutes passed by, with hardly anyone saying anything. I mainly listened in on Aria and Marla, who were planning some type of group outing. I felt out of place. My gaze diverted back to my brother, who was still talking to the adult. A bright smile was on his face and I wondered what they were talking about. My questions were about to be answered because right then, Holden and my brother started making their way toward us.

"You will not believe what just happened," Jaxon said once they arrived, his attention mainly directed at me. He had everyone's attention. "The soccer coach just offered me a place as a starter on the varsity team!" he cheered excitedly. I froze in place, my thoughts now spinning in circles.

"That's amazing!" Marla cheered.

"Congratulations," Aria and Kason told him.

"Are you going to take it?" I asked him, trying to hide the fact that I was nervous out of my mind.

He inhaled and released it. "Yeah, I figured if I could get a scholarship then it would help us get out of the dump of a place we live in," he said.

I nodded, not saying anything else and giving him the look that we needed to talk about it later. Glancing around the table, no one seemed confused or curious about our exchange. Except for Kason, that is. He was staring at me as if he was trying to figure me out. That was the reason I had built my walls. We had to be careful. No one could figure us out.

"Oh, Kason," I said, remembering my earlier occurrence that morning. "This guy named Miles said that he looked forward to seeing you tonight," I told him. He froze at my words and continued staring at me with his large, deep-blue eyes. "So, you work together?"

Glancing down at the salad in front of him, he picked his fork around in it. "Yeah, something like that," he replied vaguely.

I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but Holden spoke before I had the chance. "You talked to Miles Anderson?" Holden asked, surprised.

I nodded, not understanding why they were suddenly acting weird. "He walked up to me when I was at my locker this morning."

Kason and Holden shared a skeptical look. "Try to stay away from him," Kason said. "He really isn't someone you want to get involved with."

I nodded. "I figured. He's the rudest human being I've ever met."

"I'm offended," a voice said, coming closer to our table. "I really am." We all looked up at the one and only Miles Anderson, whose hair had even more hair gel in since our last encounter. He really needed to go easy on that stuff. At least he knew that his hair wouldn't move at all under any circumstances.