Believe Me, I'm Lying Read online

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Jordan Lynde

  Copyright

  About the Book

  When seventeen-year-old Harley’s parents are killed in a car crash, she’s desperate to find work so that she can support her little brother, Elliott. Pretending to be twenty-two, Harley accepts a role as a teacher – at a school for delinquents. It’s tough – but life gets even more complicated when Harley starts to have feelings for not one, but two of her students . . .

  BELIEVE ME, I’M LYING

  Jordan Lynde

  To my family, friends, and fans. Without you there is no me.

  Prologue

  Rain has always been a harbinger of tragedy for me.

  Something horrible didn’t occur every time it rained, but everything bad that had happened to me throughout my life had happened on a day when it was pouring. A light sprinkle never bothered me: it was only when the rain seemed really relentless.

  It started when I was seven. A car hit the cat I’d had since I was a child because the driver hadn’t been able to see through the torrential rainfall.

  When I was ten, I found out my grandpa had cancer. It was raining that day. Almost a year later, it was raining on the day he died. He was the only family I had besides my mother and father. My little brother hadn’t been born at the time.

  It had been raining the day I broke my leg in gym class when I was thirteen.

  Rain fell from the sky the day my house burned down when I was fourteen, forcing my family to move across town, away from my friends, my school, and everything I knew.

  At sixteen, I’d gotten into my first car accident because I’d hydroplaned on the wet road.

  And it had been raining the day my parents died.

  Rain had been pelting against the windowpanes, almost drowning out the sound of our math teacher ranting about sine, cosine and tangent. ‘Sohcahtoa,’ she said to the class, writing the word on the board. ‘Sine is opposite over hypotenuse, cosine is adjacent over hypotenuse, and tangent is opposite over adjacent. Make sure you write that down, because I promise that it will help you greatly when the chapter test comes.’

  I picked up my pencil and scribbled down the foreign word, repeating it over in my head, trying to understand what a tangent was. I hated math, and math hated me. A sleepy yawn escaped my lips as Ms Black began to pass out practice work sheets, ignoring the mumbled protests. Almost the whole class seemed to be asleep today – not that I could blame them. Rainy days made everyone tired.

  Suddenly the door burst open and the principal, Mr Venn, walked in, looking stricken. A slight murmur rose from the class at his abrupt appearance. I held my head up a little higher, straining my ears to hear what he was saying to my geometry teacher. An expression of alarm crossed her face and she threw a quick glance in my direction. I furrowed my eyebrows, curious. Apparently the rest of the class was too, because everyone had gone deathly silent.

  ‘Harley,’ Ms Black said, gesturing me to the front of the room. ‘Come here, please.’

  A weight dropped into my gut as I stood slowly, under the impression that I was in some serious trouble. My thoughts raced as I frantically thought of what I could have done. I wasn’t a trouble student.

  ‘Bring your stuff,’ Mr Venn added.

  I swallowed as I nodded, flipping the binder on my desk shut, not bothering to take out the pencil or calculator. Unzipping my backpack, I quickly shoved my stuff into it and zipped it back up as I made my way to the front of the classroom. A few of my classmates gave me sympathetic looks as I passed them.

  Mr Venn signaled for me to follow him out of the classroom and my heart pounded in my chest as I tried to think what I could have possibly done to get myself into trouble. Nothing came to mind . . . except earlier in the day, when I’d stolen a lollipop from the secretary’s office while turning in the attendance form. But I couldn’t be in too much trouble for that.

  ‘Harley,’ Mr Venn started once we were out of the room, his voice wavering. ‘I’m afraid I have some very bad news for you.’ He swallowed. ‘There’s no easy way to say this, but your parents were in a car accident and you need to get to the hospital.’

  My smile dropped and I froze. ‘What?’

  ‘We received a call from the hospital about five minutes ago,’ he explained. ‘Your parents were listed as your emergency contacts in our records, so is there anyone else who can take you over there?’

  ‘Are they going to be OK?’ I asked, my eyes wide.

  ‘I’m sorry; I don’t know,’ he responded. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know anything about the situation. The person I spoke to at the hospital simply told me they had been in an accident. But is there anyone who can go with you to the hospital? Come here and pick you up? An aunt or uncle, maybe?’

  I shook my head. ‘No, no. There’s no one else. How am I going to get there? I need to get there!’

  ‘I can give you a ride since it’s an emergency,’ Mr Venn said, opening the door to his office. ‘I’ll just grab my keys.’

  I nodded, gripping my backpack tighter. He snatched the keys off his desk and then headed for the back entrance of the school. I followed without a second’s hesitation, stepping out into the cold, pouring rain. Each freezing drop stung my bare skin, and I had to squint to see through it. Mr Venn guided me to his Mazda and I quickly got into the passenger seat, tossing my backpack into the back and snapping my seat buckle. He slid into the driver’s side, slamming the door a little harder than necessary. I could tell he was trying to stay calm.

  I pressed my head to the cool glass of the window, trying not to be sick as the world whizzed by me. My hands shook and I silently prayed for my parents to be OK. They hadn’t told Mr Venn anything on the phone, so didn’t that mean my parents were fine? They had to be OK – they still had to take care of me and my brother. They had to be OK.

  When we arrived, Mr Venn pulled up all the way to the emergency entrance, allowing me to get out of the car. ‘I’ll go park, and be in the waiting area,’ he told me. ‘If you need me, just come and find me, OK?’

  I nodded quickly and rushed into the building, running up to the reception desk. I’d never been to the emergency room by myself before. What was I supposed to say? ‘Hi . . . I’m here for my parents. They were in a car accident.’

  Just as the receptionist saw me, a hand was placed on my shoulder. A nurse. ‘Harley Allen?’

  I turned and nodded at her. ‘We’ve been expecting you. Please follow me,’ she said, putting an arm round me and guiding me through the doors to the left of the reception desk. ‘Is it just you?’

  ‘There’s no one else . . . except my little brother,’ I told her, my voice barel
y coming out of a dry throat.

  She started speed walking down the corridor with me in tow. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to burst out of my chest – trepidation, anxiety and worry were the only things I could feel. My eyes watered, but I blinked back the tears. I’d be able to see my parents in a moment.

  We stopped outside a hospital room with a blindingly white door. When I reached for the handle, the nurse quickly pulled on my shoulder, forcing me to stop.

  ‘You can’t go in yet,’ she told me.

  ‘They’re my parents!’ I cried angrily, narrowing my eyes at her. ‘I can go in whenever I want!’

  The nurse’s eyes softened and she shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, but your mother’s in a critical condition, and no one can go in right now. We just need you close by so that when she’s able to see you, you’ll be right here.’

  ‘She?’ I repeated, my eyes going wide. ‘Where’s my dad? Isn’t he with her?’

  She dropped her gaze as soon as I asked the question and my heart fell before she even spoke. ‘Your father . . . I’m terribly sorry. We tried our best, but there wasn’t anything we could do. He—’

  ‘No,’ I said loudly, covering my ears and shaking my head. ‘No, I don’t want to hear that! No!’

  My dad wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead. He was alive and fine this morning when I left for school. It hadn’t even been three hours since we’d said goodbye! There was no way he could have died in that time frame – this had to be some sick, twisted joke everyone was playing on me.

  ‘I’m truly sorry,’ the nurse said, squeezing my shoulder. ‘I’m so sorry for your loss. But your father didn’t suffer, Harley. He passed away—’

  I tried blocking out any noise with my hands, but it didn’t work. I could still hear the sounds coming from inside the room where my mom was, the rain lashing at the window, the beating of my frantic heart, the nurse’s next words.

  ‘—in the ambulance before he reached the hospital. He suffered from severe blood loss, and his neck had been broken. I’m so sorry—’

  Suddenly the door to the hospital room burst open and the nurse stopped speaking. A young doctor with cropped hair appeared, looking tired. A crimson liquid covered the front of his jacket and the gloves on his hands and I stared at him in horror, my mouth dropping. He stared back at me for a second before looking around, and then turning back to me. ‘Are you part of the Allen family?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘I’m Harley. The daughter.’

  ‘You can come in now,’ he said urgently, moving to make room for me. ‘Your mom has been asking for you since she woke up.’

  I rushed into the room, bumping another doctor aside. My mom was lying on the hospital bed, an oxygen mask over her face. Her chestnut-colored hair was tangled and wet and white bandages were wrapped around her head. I had to resist the urge to be sick as I dropped to my knees beside her. Her eyes were closed and she lay still.

  ‘Mom!’ I cried, gripping the edge of the bed, too afraid to touch her. ‘Mom!’

  She didn’t answer. I clenched my fists tighter. Why was this happening? What did we do to deserve this? Tears started spilling down my face again and I scrubbed them away viciously. ‘Mom, it’s me, Harley.’

  My mom turned her head, opening her eyes and smiling weakly at me.

  ‘Mom,’ I whispered in relief, my voice shaking.

  She moved her hand towards mine, her face twisting in pain as she did, and I quickly brought my arm up to meet hers, grasping it tightly. With her other hand, she managed to pull off the mask.

  ‘You shouldn’t do that, ma’am—’ one of the doctors started to say, but my mom ignored her.

  ‘Harley,’ she whispered.

  My heart sunk upon hearing her weak voice. I squeezed her hand, blinded by my tears. ‘Mom, save your strength,’ I told her, not knowing what else to say. ‘When you’re better you can talk to me—’

  ‘I love you, honey,’ she interrupted me, her voice just as shaky as mine.

  ‘I love you too, Mom,’ I responded, attempting to smile at her. ‘When you get out of here, I’ll take you to your favorite restaurant to prove it, and—’

  My mom shook her head slightly. ‘I don’t . . . think I’ll be able to go.’ She took a shaky breath, sweat rolling down the side of her face. ‘Sorry.’

  My hands were shaking so hard it looked like they were vibrating. I held my mom’s hand more firmly. ‘Mom, don’t say that! You’re definitely coming!’

  ‘Your father. How is he?’

  Dead. My breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t tell her – I couldn’t tell her Dad was dead. Not while she was like this. Fresh tears sprung to my eyes as I shook my head and faked a smile. ‘He’s fine,’ I lied. ‘He’s waiting for you to be OK too, so don’t let him down!’

  ‘Tell him I . . .’ She paused, taking a deep breath. ‘I love him.’

  ‘You tell him, Mom!’ I demanded, my pitch raising a few octaves. ‘I won’t!’

  My mom laughed weakly, but it was so quiet I could barely hear her. I felt her grip on my hand loosen. ‘Elliot is too young for this,’ she said with a sigh. ‘Make sure he knows . . . how much I love him too.’

  ‘Let him know yourself, Mom!’

  She shook her head and I forced the lump in my throat down, wiping my eyes with my free hand so I could see her clearer. Tears were filling her eyes too, and running down her cheeks. I took a shaky breath, unable to think coherently. What was I supposed to say? Words come hard when you realize they could be the last you’ll ever say to someone.

  ‘I love you, Harley,’ she whispered again, letting go of my hand. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Don’t apologize,’ I choked out. ‘I love you too.’

  There was a brief moment of silence before the heart monitor went off, beeping frantically. Then I was being pulled away from the bed.

  I fought violently against the arms that were trying to drag me away from my mom. ‘Mom!’ I screamed, using every ounce of my strength to try to free myself. ‘Mom! No! Mom! Let me go!’

  ‘You need to leave the room now,’ ordered the doctor who was pulling me away.

  ‘Mom! No!’ I shrieked, my vision blurring. The hands gripping my shoulders were sure to leave a bruise, but I fought harder against them. ‘Mom! Don’t leave me! Mom, please! Please! Please! Hold on!’

  ‘Get her out of here,’ another doctor shouted.

  The one holding onto me grunted as I tried to force my way out of his arms one last time. I couldn’t see my mom any more – doctors and nurses were surrounding her bed, blocking her from sight. ‘Mom!’ I called again.

  The clamor of the room grew and grew, and once again I found myself outside the door, the first nurse’s arms around my shoulders. My shouts of protest mingled with the panicked shouts of doctors and I tried to get back inside the room, but the grip on my shoulder was vice-like.

  Then, abruptly, everything went horrifyingly silent, aside from a resounding beep that filled the room. I stood stock-still in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at my mom’s motionless body as doctors rushed around her bed. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the beeping sound eventually faded away, as did the cries of doctors. A deafening silence filled the room, and my ears – I felt like I was drowning in it.

  ‘Harley?’

  I turned my head slowly and saw one of the doctors giving me a compassionate look. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he apologized, sounding sincere. ‘She’s gone.’

  Tears filled my eyes once again as I stumbled toward the bed, my legs giving out when I reached it. I landed on my knees hard, but I barely felt it. I put a hand on my mom’s white cheek. ‘Mom,’ I whispered, touching her still warm skin. ‘Please, wake up, Mom . . .’

  No response.

  ‘Please don’t leave me alone,’ I breathed, feeling warm tears roll down my cheeks. ‘Please, don’t.’

  Silence.

  A sob escaped my lips and I dropped my head, my arms splaying acros
s her body. Loud sobs wracked my body as I cried, forgetting anyone was around me. I held on as tightly as I could to my mother’s body, as if squeezing her would bring her back to life.

  It hurt. I couldn’t breathe and each sob made my whole torso heave, making me into one shaking, convulsing mess. But I couldn’t stop crying. Tears poured down my cheeks like the heavy rain outside. And I knew that it wasn’t only for my mother – I was crying for my dad as well. Within ten minutes, I had just lost the two most important people in my life.

  My world had collapsed.

  Chapter One

  Ten Months Later

  The pounding of rain filled my ears as I stared wide-eyed at my boss. He returned my gaze with a solemn one. ‘Please,’ I begged, clenching my fists. ‘You don’t understand. I need this job! Without it I can’t support my brother and myself—’

  ‘Harley,’ my boss snapped, silencing me instantly. ‘I can’t have you coming to work late every day!’

  ‘It’s not every day!’ I responded, my voice rising. ‘My brother just misbehaves sometimes and I have to deal with him first—’

  My boss’s expression hardened as he cut me off. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘You’re fired, Harley,’ he stated with an air of finality.

  ‘If I don’t have a job I can’t pay the rent or buy groceries!’ I protested, tears gathering in my eyes.

  ‘My best advice is that you let a foster-family adopt you and your brother,’ he said, looking uninterested. ‘And you should go back to school instead of working full time.’

  ‘I get home-schooled,’ I snapped. ‘And there’s no way I’m going to take the chance of my brother and me being separated. He’s all I have.’

  ‘Well, then, I’m sorry.’

  I glared at him. ‘At least I know what kind of man you are now. The kind that would fire a worker even though her life depends on the job!’

  My boss – well, ex-boss now – sighed, rubbing his forehead. ‘I need to have people here who work hard and actually show up on time. I’m sorry you couldn’t follow those rules.’