-One: Hiding Behind Lies-
“Miss Lockwood!” A sharp, shrill voice pulled Crystal from her day dream. Crystal shook her head lightly, fading the silver stars from her mind. “Sorry, Ms. Butler. I just… got lost.” Crystal mumbled, knowing that it was no use making excuses. Ms. Butler was no rival of Crystal, but she expected everyone of her students to pay attention to her lesson. No one in her math class had a harder time doing that than Crystal. A straight A+ student, of course, but that was something she couldn’t stop. Crystal had never been a popular kid, everyone thought of her as the know-it-all freak. All the ways reading herself into trouble, they would say. It didn’t help that she had her family’s traditional red hair and amber eyes. Her cheeks were a tinted raspberry and matched her lips. At age eleven, she had reached the college level in every subject she had taken. But her mother wouldn’t allow Crystal to move grades. “She’s not going to hang out with the older kids,” her mother had insisted. A click clop click brought Crystal back into reality. Ms. Butler approached Crystal’s desk. At first she looked angry, but behind that Crystal could see the pity in her eyes. It almost looked like she wanted to give Crystal a big hug. Ms. Butler turned to the class instead. “Recess!” she called. “Except for you, Miss Lockwood,” she eyed Crystal through her blue framed glasses. She turned to walk back to her desk at the front of the room, but paused. “Mr. Holloway!” she shouted at the disappearing corner of red sweatshirt at the door. “Don’t forget your lunch this time! Last time Mr. Ravenscroft ate it by accident!” The boy nodded his thanks and grabbed a brown paper bag before dashing outside. “Miss Lockwood.” Ms. Butler turned to Crystal. Her face softened. “How are you going? You daydream in class, and you ignore my attempts to help you.” Crystal shifted uncomfortably. “Well, with Mother being gone all day, it just… gets a bit lonely.” Crystal lied easily, pasting on a face that hopefully fit her words. Ms. Butler opened her mouth to say something, but just then, the phone on her desk rang. “Oh dear! Well, have a good day! You can go now.” As I walked out of the classroom, I slammed into Mr. Whitlock, the science teacher. Mr. Whitlock is the kind of teacher that has wavy blond hair that is always sticking up in the way that makes you wonder if he recently exploded his classroom. “Cryst! How are you?” he said loudly, using his nickname for her. This only added to her liking of him. After all, any of the other teachers at Maria Teresa Performing Arts were consistently using the title “Miss” or “Mr”. Crystal blinked, Mr. Whitlock’s round face filling her vision. “Uh, good!” she said, pulling up what should have looked like a perfectly normal expression. “I was just going to recess,” Crystal mumbled, and immediately Mr. Whitlock shook himself as if with a daze and exclaimed, “Well, then I’d better leave you to it!” He hoisted up a fake smile and rushed down the long hallway. Crystal hurried outside, having the vague feeling that she wasn’t the only one hiding behind lies at the moment.