Faking It

CW: Abuse

*Juliet’s POV*

The instant dread I feel returning to this building, wondering what fresh hell it will have in store for me this year, turns my stomach. Dryden High – where delinquents from all walks of life attempt and, more often than not, fail at getting an education. The place parents who can’t afford a real school and the rich parents looking to hide their embarrassments send their children. I fall into the latter category. The stain on the Delaurier family name.

Too busy drinking and partying to be able to pass my senior year of high school. Or at least that’s what he thinks. Because that’s the picture I’ve painted for him. I’m not stupid. Far from it in fact. No, failing senior year was a very intentional, calculated move. I need another year at home.

The sort of good news is, it’s not uncommon at Dryden for people to take longer than usual to graduate so at least I’m not without friends. Actually, it may be less common for people to graduate on time.

I run my hands through my dark purple hair – another tool I use to piss my father off – and sigh as I heave myself out of the sleek black Mercedes that was given to me on my 16th birthday. I sling my backpack over my shoulder and sulk towards the front doors, letting my black combat boots drag against the pavement.

“Jules!” I hear and turn to smile at Alex and Lily walking towards me with grins on their faces. I hug them both. “Why do you seem happy to be here?” I ask Lily.

“Honestly? It’s kind of a nice break from the crying baby. Does that make me an asshole?”

Lily got pregnant during 11th grade so she deferred her senior year. The father of the kid took off and hasn’t been seen since she told him she was pregnant. Dick.

“No, not at all. And you? How’s things at home?” I ask Alex.

He winces slightly and says. “They’re getting better. Still not great though. I just want to graduate this time around and get the fuck out of here. How about you? Are you actually planning to graduate this year?”

“Yeah. Eliza will graduate and go off to college next year so I won’t be sticking around.” Eliza; my little sister and the pride and joy of the family. Lily rubs my arm and gives me a sympathetic look. They know all about my situation.

“Come on then. If we’re all going to graduate, we should probably get to class,” Alex says and links his arm through mine and Lily’s.

We don’t have the same homeroom so all of our lockers are in different halls which is mildly annoying but not the end of the world. It’s not like I need them with me 24/7. I shove my bag in my locker and then make my way to homeroom.

I ignore everyone else in the class room and dump my note books on the desk in the far back corner of the room before plopping myself down in the seat, not caring when the chair makes a loud screeching noise on the floor. I pull out my phone and start a new game of Tetris. I don’t bother to look up when the chair next to me scrapes along the floor until I hear the one voice that is always sure to ruin my day.

“I’m surprised to see you here. I thought Daddy would have just bought you your diploma.”

Dallas Blake; thorn in my side since the first day of high school. Unlike me who’s just pretending to be, he is actually a troublemaker. Drinks, parties, fucks anything that moves and has a general disregard for the law. He’s our school’s resident weed dealer and couldn’t solve a quadratic equation if his life depended on it. It’s no wonder he flunked out the first time.

He also happens to hate my guts. Which, in all honesty, is fine by me because the feeling is mutual.

I roll my eyes in disgust and shoot back. “How is it that you manage to get more unappealing every year?”

He snorts and runs a hand through his dirty blonde hair which he always keeps just long enough for the strands to curl at the ends. It’s always pushed back and I’m never sure if he does that intentionally or if he just runs his greasy fingers through it so often it’s stuck like that.

“Oh please. Don’t lie to yourself sweetheart. We both know that’s not true. I have girls begging for a chance to suck my cock.”

“Yeah, you know, I really have to question their sanity.”

Before he can respond, the bell rings as our teacher walks through the door. Mr. Montgomery is the only math teacher at this school and he looks out over the crowd before his eyes stop on me and Dallas. “Is that going to be an issue?”

It’s no secret, even amongst the teachers, that we don’t get along. I’m about to tell him that yes, it will be so I can move as far away from him as possible but he says, “No. We’re fine here. We’re both reasonable adults and we’ve put our differences aside. Isn’t that right Juliet?”

It is abso-fucking-lutely incorrect but there is no way I’m about to be seen as less agreeable than Dallas Blake so I grit my teeth and reply, “Yep. All good.” Mr. Montgomery narrows his eyes but continues on with the lesson anyway.

I actively ignore him the whole class, even going so far as to take notes on shit I already know how to do. I watch the clock and when the bells rings, I’m out of my seat and halfway to the door before most of the class has even put down their pencils.

I am absolutely horrified to learn that I have almost every class with Dallas and by the time lunch rolls around, I’m seriously contemplating murder. I drop into one of the hard chairs in the cafeteria, slamming my tray of soggy fries and a sad looking chicken down in front of Lily and Alex.

“I swear this school is just finding new ways to fuck with me. Sticking me with the literal worst person on the planet for every class? Really?” I whine and angrily stab my chicken with the plastic fork.

“Hey, at least he’s nice to look at,” Lily says with a shrug and I cringe. “What? Don’t you give me that look Jules. You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed that he’s fucking hot.”

I shrug. “I can’t see past the hideous personality long enough to notice.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re so damn stubborn.”

“Yep,” I say, popping the ‘p’. “Now let’s stop discussing him so that I don’t vomit up this sorry excuse for food.”

***

When I get home, I run into my sister coming down the spiral stairs, looking completely opposite of me in every way. Her pin straight chocolate brown hair is pulled up into a neat high ponytail and she’s wearing a pink cashmere sweater with a white tennis skirt. Her makeup is perfectly done up and her nude heels click across the marble floor.

“Hey Ellie, how was your first day?” I ask her.

She wrinkles her nose up and says, “Stop calling me that. I’m not a kid anymore.”

“Oh. Right. Okay. So? First day?”

“It was fine. I would ask how your first day was, but seeing as it’s not your first try at senior year, I don’t really think that’s necessary,” she says in a snarky tone. I try not to let her words hurt me. We’ve had a rocky relationship since mom left and I started my quest to piss off our father. She doesn’t understand, but I’m doing this for her. All she sees is a fuck up; just like everyone else. It’s safer that way anyway.

“Are you going somewhere?” I ask her. It doesn’t matter how little she thinks of me, I’m still going to look out for her.

“To a friend’s. Not that it’s any of your business,” she replies and then walks right out the door and slams it in my face. I sigh and swallow down the sadness that is always closer to the surface than I wish it was. I instantly retreat to my room. I don’t want to risk running into my father right now. I’m not sure he’s even home, but it doesn’t matter. In my room with the door locked is the only place I can trick myself into pretending everything is fine.

I toss my black boots off and flop back onto the fluffy white duvet covering the king bed on the left side of the room. I lie there for several minutes and just breathe until I can force myself up again. It won’t do me any good to wallow in self-pity. My bare feet make little sound on the gray wood floors as I pad over to the gray couch placed in front of the flat screen TV mounted on the wall on the right side of my room. I turn it on and scroll to the next episode of my favourite show and let myself get lost in the world of Atlantis; thinking how convenient it would be if Stargates really did exist so I could get the fuck out of this life