章節 71: Seventy one
We went back home and Nick stood outside with Uche talking while I went in. I opened the front door leisurely and was about to head in when I got startled to meet my aunt arranging the dining table.
"Aunt," I held my chest when I called."You're home early."
"I am." She sighed and kept the towel she was using to wipe her hands down on the table.
"Okay," I just said and wanted to go up the stairs but she called me back.
"Julie?"
"Yes Aunt?"
"Why..." She exhaled with pause before proceeding to ask what she wanted to."Why did you lie to your principal today?"
"What?" I laughed guiltily but when I turned, she wasn't smiling, not to speak of laughing.
"Julie, I know you lied. You're terrible at lying, has no one ever told you?"
Fuck. I think Uche once told me that; how terrible I was at lying.
"I could tell you where lying, I think Nate's parents could too. I had to defend you because I figured out there must be a reason you decided to lie." She looked concerned. I hated it when an adult got that concerned about me.
"So you think I lied. You don't trust me." I was going to manipulate her but fuck, she's good.
"Julie. I watched Uche grow up with my son. He comes over a lot, and I could tell his handwriting when I saw it..."
Fuck. It just kept getting worst. I didn't want to stand there with her, having that conversation. I just didn't want to.
"I ask him to write back letters for me sometimes because of his graceful handwriting. Why did you lie, Julie? Did Uche do it? Was it him that hit Nate like that?"
"No." I shook my head.
"Why did you lie then? I couldn't stop thinking about it when I returned to the office from your school, and all I could figure was that you were trying to cover something up with your lie. Tell me. Before this gets out of my control. Nate's parents are threatening to involve the police..."
"Uche didn't do it!" I snapped.
"So who? Do you know?"
"No. No, aunt, I don't know who."
"So why did you lie to the principal?"
"I don't know. I just did."
"No, there must be a reason."
"There's no reason aunt, I swear."
"Are you seeing Uche?"
"..." I paused. Yes? No? She's already made it known that she could tell if I was lying. If I said No, would she know I was lying?
The front door opened behind me so I turned around and saw Nick walk in while singing along to a song.
He soon noticed me and his mum, and shoved his left hand into his pocket to hide the packet in his hand.
"Mum..." he trailed at first, "You're home early today."
"I am." She turned her attention away from me to him."Is that what I think it is?"
"What?" Nick acted clueless of her question but it made her angry, somehow.
"What do you mean what? You know what I'm talking about."
"I don't." Nick kept a straight face so she left me and walked up to him.
"Let me see your hand," she demanded but he didn't move, he just stood at looked back at her, blinking from time to time.
"Let me see your hand, Nicholas, take your hand out of your pocket." She insisted.
I knew it was bad when she called him by his full name. I didn't hear her call him that often. And she seemed to be getting angrier with the more time he spent not doing like she asked.
"Nick!"
"Mum, it's not..."
"It is." She caught him short.
"It's not."
"Show it to me then," she stood, hands akimbo with her demand.
Nick drew in breath and exhaled, sighing before taking his right hand out of his pocket. He had a packet of candy. Or was it?
"O my god, Nick," my aunt rubbed on her face when she saw what he held. I decided to go closer to see what, but not too close though
I didn't wanna get involved with what they had going on.
"You're back at taking these?" My aunt asked him but he just looked away."Look at me, Nick."
"Look at you, and then what?" Nick finally said something.
"Since when did you go back to this?"
"It's just Candy." Nick muttered.
"It's not Candy, Nick. It's a drug. Maybe you've forgotten that you almost died taking these before. Got me worried as hell, Nick. You almost died. And you promised me that you wouldn't take them anymore, remember?"
"..." Nick had no words this time. He actually became sober after listening to her. I couldn't believe it was actually a drug and not just Candy. It did look like Candy.
"I spent my day dealing with Julie, and now I've got to deal with you. I'm tired. You kids just..." She paused to sigh, then she shook her head and started up the stairs. When my aunt went upstairs, I rushed to Nick.
"Are those really drugs?" I asked but he reacted with an angry look, then he walked up the stairs next.
I joined them and went up to freshen up. Some time later, after I was done, Nick knocked on my door.
"My mum wants you to come downstairs for dinner," He told me before walking away.
I joined them downstairs and met everyone sitting moodily. I took a seat opposite Nick. Our forks scratched the plates at intervals, the only sound in the dining room till we were done eating.
Nick and I took our plates to the sink and were about to go upstairs one after the other when my aunt called us back.
"Julie sit back with me. Nick, get them down. All of them, the candy type and the noncandy type. And you better not lock your room door once you go up there."
"There's no noncandy type," I heard Nick mumur as he continued up the stairs. I knew how Nick sometimes spoke and behaved with the teachers, he could choose to behave that way with his mum; he could choose to disrespect her but he wasn't doing that.
It's probably because she earlier mentioned and reminded him of when he almost died and left her in pain. Pretty manipulative if you ask me.
Now that I think of it, Nick once pranked Uche by faking his passing out and Uche fell for the prank really hard. O shit, Uche was taking the candy drug thing too? That could explain why he fell for Nick's prank and didn't want to let my aunt find out about it that day.
I'll ask via text once I get to my room. If he lies about it, he'll so give me a doubting mind concerning Nate's issue.
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