All the Little Lies (English Prep 1)

I liked seeing her bothered.

Hayley backed away slowly, the anger receding rapidly. Ollie stood and looked back and forth between us, trying to figure us out. Hayley began to shake her head, wrapping her arms around her body. She mumbled, “Shit.” Then her gaze traveled to her shoes. I followed her every move. My ears perked for more of her mumbling. “I can’t go back there. I’ll just have to ask Ann to transfer me. She’ll understand.”

“She’ll understand what?” I asked, divulging in her hidden world. The need to know more was eating at me. I liked control, and Hayley was too far out of reach.

“None of your business!” she all but shouted. Hayley took several breaths, but it was almost as if she were gasping for air. Ollie took a step closer to her cautiously, toeing the tiles one by one until he was right in front of her.

He looked at me, and his worried expression bugged me. I growled, striding to the pair of them and stopping right in front of her. “She’s having a panic attack.”

Ollie kept his eyes on her. “I know.” Then, he brought his attention to me for a second. “I recognize it. She’s doing exactly what you used to do.”

My teeth clanged together. I hated thinking about a time when I was the weaker link. For a year after Mom passed, I’d have random panic attacks. My heart would speed up, viciously trying to climb right out of my chest, my vision would get spotty, and I couldn’t breathe. Ollie was always the one to calm me. He was my anchor.

“Hayley.” He bent down to her level. She somehow slid to the floor and had her back resting along the lockers. “Tell me something you smell.”

Her breathing was still rapid, her chest rising and falling quickly. I found my own chest rising a little faster, watching her.

Ollie spoke again. “Hayley, focus!”

It was like Ollie wasn’t even there. My pulse quickened with every passing second. I was becoming more and more bothered at the sight of her. I thought back to her file that I had momentarily stolen. Did it say anything about Oakland High? What the fuck happened there?

Finally, I could no longer take it. I bent down and snapped my fingers. “Hayley!”

Just like that, she jerked her chin and met my eye. “Tell me something you smell.”

Through her gasps, she said, “Wh—what?”

I drove my eyes into hers. “What do you smell?”

“Woodsy…pine… cologne. You.”

I nodded. “Tell me something you feel.”

Her breaths became a little steadier. “Cool tiles.” Her fingers brushed over the floor.

“Tell me something you see.”

“You. I see you.”

We stared at each other. Her eyes conne

cted to mine, mine connected to hers. The color was coming back to her face, and her body became more relaxed. Her breaths evened out. There you are.

“You good now, Scrapper?” Ollie asked. Shit. I forgot he was here.

I stood up quickly and fought the urge to run in the other direction. Hayley nodded, peering up into his face. She slowly gathered herself and pulled herself up using his hand, smoothing out her not-long-enough skirt. My eyes lingered on her legs for a fraction too long. That didn’t sit well with me, either. None of this did.

Shit. Maybe I should tell the headmaster that she tried to seduce the football team and get her a one-way ticket out of English Prep. No, not before figuring out what she’s so damn afraid of at Oakland High.

Her voice was soft, like a feather floating to the ground. “Yeah, thanks. I’m fine.”

“So, what the fuck are we all three doing going to the headmaster’s office?” Ollie asked as he stepped back, giving Hayley some space.

She puffed a lock of hair out of her face. “Ask him.”

I scowled in her direction. “Fuck if I know. I didn’t go to him like you think.”

A sarcastic laugh fell out of her mouth. “I don’t believe you. You’d do anything to get me out of your kingdom.”