What Lies Beneath Page #10

The undiscovered truth of Nicholas Anderson

• Fiction

								


"Would you all prefer to place everything in the car?" I inquire.

"You are here as well. I suppose great minds do indeed think alike." Emmett states.

"Don't lie. Ray texted, saying he couldn't hold Evan back, and they're on their way here. I was about to call you, like I did him, so we can put everything away before they get here." Rick says.

"Whatever," Emmett mutters.

With that, we returned to my car and placed everything away before Emmett's phone began ringing with Evan's name displayed on the screen.

"Hey," Emmett said as he answered the call.

"We're at the southeast entrance," the voice on the other end informed. With that, the call was concluded.

"It seems that they have arrived," Rick stated as he noticed a red Porsche Cayenne entering the parking lot. As the vehicle came to a halt, Evan emerged from the passenger seat while Ray exited from the driver's side.

"Where did you all go?" Evan inquired as he approached us.

"As you can clearly see, we're at the mall," Rick responded sarcastically.

"I mean, where did the guys go when Ray grabbed one of them for the biology lecture after school?" he said, looking pissed off.

We all turned to Ray, but he merely shrugged. Nevertheless, I noticed a slight smirk on his face.

"With the grade you received on the weekly biology test, you clearly need the lecture," I told him, which only made him glare at me.

"That test wasn't fair; it included things from as far back as freshman year," he complains.

"You do know that next term we are sitting for the SATs, or are you planning to retake them in your senior year?" Ray says.

"Wait, you can take the SATs twice?" Emmett asks in shock. I look at him only to see that he is actually serious.

"And you guys think I'm the one who needs help?" Evan questions in disbelief.

"So we have two idiots, not one. Can we go eat now?" Rick says, as he walks away with Evan behind him, still complaining, and Ray, who trails behind with a contented expression.

I look at Emmett, who still appears to be confused. "We have to take the SATs during our junior year, but if we fail or wish to improve our scores, we can retake them as seniors. However, retaking them is not mandatory if you achieve your desired score," I explain.

"How come I didn't know this?" he says.

I just smile at him. "Let's go before we're left behind." With that, I started walking toward the other guys.

It didn't take long for us to reach the food court.

"What should we get?" Ray asked.

"I want McDonald's," Emmett said, leaving no room for arguments. With that, we each ordered something, with me only taking large fries and a strawberry milkshake.

"You should eat more," Evan mentioned, glancing at my food tray and noticing the others' drinks, large fries, burgers, and chicken nuggets.

"Not really hungry," I say, looking down.

"Anyway, did you hear that next week on Friday, Brianne is throwing a back-to-school party?" Emmett says, cutting off our conversation, which I was thankful for.

With that, everyone became distracted by the talk about the party. As I ate, Emmett took three of my fries and gave me three chicken nuggets. I wasn't really shocked by his actions since he started doing this on the second day we met. Seeing as I always had fries, he took some and then replaced them with something else. Which was odd because instead of questioning my eating habits, he did this instead-and for whatever reason, it wasn't annoying. Perhaps this is friendship, I thought as Emmett smiled at me.

After we finished eating, I had to part ways with the guys since they all lived in different neighborhoods from me. That's how I ended up taking all the gifts in the end.

***********************

"You need to take Anne with you to your friend's birthday party," my mother demanded.

I didn't understand how things had ended up this way. I was just finishing my homework on a Saturday night when my mother walked into my room, telling me how depressed Anne felt because she didn't know anyone at school since she had missed her chances to make friends by being sick the first two weeks. Yet, somehow, it had ended up with me having to take her to Evan's birthday party.

"But they don't even know her," I tried to explain.

"If you don't want to go, that's fine too," she says, leaving the room.

Do I even have a choice: either take her or do not go at all. I am unsure whether to laugh or cry. A single word from her, and they would drop everything and even move mountains, but what about me?'No one cares about you.' 

I pick up my phone and call Ray. I should check first before giving up.

"Hi," I hear his voice say from the other side of the phone.

"Hey, something came up," I say, feeling nervous.

"Don't say you can't make it," Ray says.

"What do you mean he can't come?" I hear Rick's voice in the background.

"That's not it. My mother wants me to bring my sister."

"Tell her to f**k off," Rick shouts.

"Don't swear," I hear an unfamiliar voice say.

"How old is she?" Ray says.

"She's 14."

"So she's a freshman. Wait, do you mean the sister that was sick before?" he asks.

"Yeah, that's her."

"I think it's okay. There are going to be people her age, so it's fine," Ray says.

"The f*ck, I don't want some -"

"What did I say about swearing, Richard Collins?" I hear a man's angry voice say.

"I have to go, and you can bring her," Ray says, ending the call abruptly.

I guess I can bring her with me.

After that, I proceeded downstairs and made my way to the living room, where I found Anne seated between my parents. She had a large bowl of caramel popcorn resting on her lap. It appeared that they were watching an animated movie. The scene resembled a picture-perfect family, with my parents having two cups of coffee placed in front of them on the table and Anne's soda positioned in between, mirroring their seating arrangement. They all wore broad smiles as they laughed at something on the screen.

I found myself glancing around the living room, taking note of the various family photographs on display. I was only present in two of them, both of which happened to be formal family portraits. The remaining photographs depicted the three of them on various holidays, such as going to some resort to surf at the beach or skiing on a snowy mountain. These were trips that I was never invited to join, with the excuse given being summer school, even though I had skipped a grade.

There were also photographs of Anne receiving awards and some childhood pictures of her playing around or making mud pies.

If someone were to visit this house, I doubt they would even consider me as one of their children, given my lack of presence in it.

"What do you want, boy?" My father says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"I wanted to say that Anne can come with me tomorrow."

"That sounds wonderful," my mother replies with a smile.

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