Page 1 of Surviving Lies

Chapter 1

Becca

I was done taking his shit, so we broke up. Let me rephrase that:Ibroke up withhim.Saying “we” broke up makes it sound consensual, like we both wanted it or that we decided it was the right thing to do. It was neither of those things. I was just sick of his shit, so it had to end.

But with school starting up, I faced having to see him again.

For the first time.

And I decided I was going to make an impression.

“Oh darlin’, this is going to look gorgeous. All your friends are going to be so jealous! Now you send them all my way when they are, sweetie, ya hear?”

What I really needed her to do was shut up and finish the dye job so I could get the hell out of here. I was second-guessing doing this more the longer I sat in this godforsaken chair. I loved my long, dark hair, and so did Ty. But wasn’t that why I was doing it?

“These reddish highlights really make your green eyes pop, and with that tan you have, my God, you are one hot potato! Lula, come look at her!”

Oh, Jesus Christ, I was never getting out of there!

“Thanks so much, Ellen Jean, but I really need to get going. Big party to get to, and so many people will have time to see the new me! Thanks so much!” Turning around, I looked in the mirror, and immediately tears sprung to my eyes. Ellen Jean came right to my side, her bony arms going around my shoulders.

“Oh, honey, what’s wrong? Don’tcha like it?”

That wasn’t the problem. I actually loved it. What I didn’t like was the feeling that I needed to change myself to get Ty’s attention. And why did I want his attention, anyway? I broke up with him.

“I actually love it, Ellen Jean. Thank you so much!” I turned and hugged her. She hugged me back with a fierceness I didn’t expect from those stick arms. “I’m sure all my friends will line up by next week.”

“Now, remember,” she said as she held me by my arms, “you’ll need some maintenance on those roots in about five weeks or so, so I’ll see you soon, sweetie.” The bills barely made it in her hands before I ran out the door.

I raced to my car so I could make it back to our townhouse before Lanie, my roommate, got there. We were living together again this year, and I was hopeful our second year here at college would go better than our first. Xander and she were driving down from NOVA together. She stayed with him all summer, since her parents moved overseas last spring. Lanie and Xander went through so much last semester because of her sick ex-boyfriend back in Texas, who was now thankfully in jail. His family was mob related, and he was such a douchebag. He abused Lanie, like, really badly, sexually, mentally, in ways I didn’t even like to think about. It took most of last year for her to open up to us about it. And thank God she found Xander. He was her saving grace. He saved her, literally and figuratively, I guess. But I played a big role, too. I stuck by her all year. I’m good like that. A good friend. That’s me.

So I was racing to our new home together to be a good friend.

But I felt like a terrible friend.

The worst.

It would be the first time I was seeing her since last semester.

And that made me a terrible friend.

I raced into the apartment but came to a screeching halt when there were two other bodies inside I didn’t recognize.

“Hey, you must be Becca,” the one with long, brown hair and almost the same color skin said. “I’m Macie, and this is Ava.” She pointed at the one with a black pixie cut and a few piercings. Christ, they were both beautiful. And since they were also my roommates, I would probably need to be friends with them. Well, of course I would be friends with them. Iwantedto be friends with them. But they would meet Ty as well. Fuckity fuck! Why has he made me so fucking insecure?

“Hey guys, yeah, I’m Becca. Lanie should be here any minute, so you’ll get to meet her, too. It’s nice to put a face to all the texts we’ve been exchanging.”

Ava turned to me, and I was stunned by her eyes. It was as if emeralds were popped into her head, literally. I mean, I had green eyes, but hers were outrageous. They had to be contacts. Combined with her hair, she was fucking hot. “Sorry, Becca, that sucks. We’ll have to wait to meet her later. We were just heading out.” And she had a freaking deep, sultry voice to go along with it all, too. Shit.

“We’re heading to a party right down the block if you guys want to head over when you get back. You won’t be able to miss it,” I told them both, hoping they could make it.

Macie was the one to chime in next. She was quite a bit taller than Ava, and me, for that matter. “Maybe we will,” she said, her voice smooth, but more high-pitched than Ava’s. “But we don’t know exactly when we’ll be back. If not, we’ll catch up tomorrow, OK?” Her smile was bright as she waved and they walked out the door.

And they were gone. And I was alone. Nothing good came of me being alone lately. Me alone with my thoughts usually meant scrolling through social media or old pictures and getting myself more and more upset with each passing day. But the odd thing was that Ty had no new posts on any of his accounts this entire summer, not a single one. I mean, he was a guy, so he didn’t post much, but he posted. But nothing. Nada. Nilch.

While I was upstairs putting some clothes in my closet, I heard the front door and I went running.

“Lanie, is that you?!” I called from the top of the stairs. As I turned the corner, I saw her and her oh-so-hot boyfriend standing in the hallway. Running full speed across the room, I wrapped her in a bear hug and squeezed tight.

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