The lying boyfriend

[Friday]

Ah, what a wonderful day at school… it's that time of year where it's constantly warm, my seasonal depression has thawed into normal depression again. What a wonderful day.

"Pst… Owen… Come here."

Such a wonderful day, I think I'll ignore whoever was trying to come and talk to me.

"GET OVER HERE YOU IDIOT!" They said as they yanked me by the collar and pressed me up against a wall.

"Oh… it's only chi…" I said looking at the tiny girl trying to be intimidating.

"What are you saying? I'll kick you in the dick."

"I mean… it's my good friend Charley. How are you? You seem well."

I wasn't stupid enough to argue when someone threatens to punch me in the privates. I will happily throw away any and all pride if it means I can be protected.

"So what do you want?" I asked fearing for my life.

"I need your help."

Help she says… she needs my help? I wonder what this could be about? Last time she wanted me to do something I had to fix her friendship. Of course, I went along and helped her because I was worried about dying, but do I really have to help her again? I don't owe her anything, aren't I the one always helping her?

"What with?" I said suspiciously.

"There is this guy in my class-"

"Stop right there." I interrupted. "If it's about a guy, I don't care. I don't want to know. You and boys are nothing but trouble. I'm leaving."

"No wait-" She said kicking my legs so I can't run. "At least listen to what I have to say…"

"There is this one boy in my class-" Charley began to tell me her story. I tried to stay awake to her rubbish but I'm not sure I can. "This guy has a reputation for being weird. No one in the class talks to him. One day I thought I'd be nice to him and start talking to him. Anyone could see he was lonely so I wanted to talk to him. But skipping ahead-"

What is this strange story? anyone could see the kid was getting bullied.

"So a few weeks go by and we still talk a bit and he comes to me and confesses. I mean, who wouldn't, I'm clearly super good looking."

More like super annoying. Why can't she just finish the story already?

"So, he asks me out and I don't know what to do or say so I tell him I have a boyfriend. He gets sad and asks if he can meet my 'boyfriend' and now I'm here."

"You aren't going to ask me to pretend to be your boyfriend, right?" I said even though I knew it was coming.

"You got it!" She said like a quiz show host, pointing at me with a forced grin. "Anyway, he'll be here in about a few seconds so good luck. The lines aren't hard. Hey there!" she said to the boy who walked around the corner. He didn't look like someone who was lonely, but then what does lonely look like? He looked like a normal student, kinda like me. He wore the school uniform as properly as can be. His tie was all the way up and his shirt was tucked in. He seems like a model student.

"S-so… is this your boyfriend?" he said with visible sweat pouring down his face. Maybe this is why people call him weird.

"Yes, this is Owen. He's in the year above!" Chaley said like a master actress who had learnt every line to the script. "Now that you've seen him... " She said using her eyes to get the kid to leave.

"A-ah, right." The boy slowly walked off with his head down. It was clear that he was upset about the situation. It was only made worse by Charley.

"Phew, thanks for that." She said with a smile on her face despite the fact I was not smiling. "What's with that look?" she asked.

"Do you not see what you've done?" I said. "The guy confessed his feelings to you and you lied to him. You could have at least rejected him. How would you have felt if Sean had done this to you instead of rejecting you."

"I-i don't know." She said. "I don't think I would want that."

"Wow, good to see you actually have a heart. From what you have shown just now I was sure you didn't care about others feelings. Why is everyone around me so childish."

I decided to leave Charley alone after that. As I walked back to my classroom. At least, that's what I wanted her to think. I knew she was going to talk to the guy so I had to sneak and find a way to overhear the conversation.

I managed to find her standing at the door of her classroom, talk about convenience.

"Listen, about earlier." She said to the guy whose name I do not know. "I wanted to tell you that… that guy wasn't my boyfriend. I don't have a boyfriend."

"R-right." The guy said experiencing some type of shock.

"I just didn't know how to respond to your confession. I'm sorry I lied. I just panicked and didn't know what to do."

"It's ok." The guy said. "I really thought you guys were dating. You seem happy with him."

"THAT GUY!" Charley screamed not knowing 'that guy' was right here. "Nah, he's just a pain to me. I don't see him that way. I don't. You know I don't, right?" I couldn't see Charley's expression but if there was a sound I was familiar with it was the sound of Charley's anger. That being said, if she was to find out I was here I'd be killed on the spot. I'm glad she managed to fix her issues by herself for once… wait… isn't this how all her problems fix themselves?