As a kid you are taught it’s easier to tell the truth than lie. You are taught the more lies you tell the farther you dig a hole for yourself, and it's harder to get out. No one really listened to that though, you still lied as you grew up. Who broke the lamp? Who took the last cookie? Did you do your homework? you grow to be a lier, little white lies get bigger and the lies cut deeper. They wake you up in the middle of the night, in a cold sweat, but that won’t stop you. And lets all be honest with ourselves, it probably never will
Taylor’s did her best to never lie. She had a childhood naivete that made her scared of lying. But now someone she had known since she was seven was not just gone, but missing. Missing is a lot scarier than gone, because if someone is gone, you know where they are, but if they are missing, they might not even know where they are.
She thought of all of this as she did her makeup and hair. She heard the news two weeks ago and it still completely shaken her. They didn’t talk, but at least they would see eachother in school. Walking down the hallway. Taylor looked at herself in the mirror and practiced smiling. Not too much gums, not too wide, make sure to smile with your eyes too, but not too much you don’t want crows feet in your twenties.
The only reason she was doing this was because she had an interview with a store. She wanted them to sponsor her in the next Beauty Pageant she was going to be in, Miss Green. Miss Green was a pageant for “girls who want to change the world and help the environment,” a portion of all proceeds goes to the winners choice of a charidy. By “portion of all proceeds” they mean 1% and by “winners choice of a charity” they mean the winner has to choose from a list of five charities.
Taylor knew all this because she won Miss Green, in fact she won it two years in a row, and a little thing such as her friend Ava going missing wasn’t going to stop her from winning it for the third or at least that's what her parents think.
She was about to leave when her phone buzzed, it was Mathew. Taylor opened her phone, and the first thing that popped up was her last text she sent to Ava, “we’ll see.” closing it quickly she went to see what Matthew sent.
“Hey” appeared on her screen, she stared at it, Mathew never texted her, not even when they were all friends.
“Hi” was a… response, it wasn't a good one by any means, but it was a response
“Me Chloe and Daniel are all meeting up at the coffee shop” Mathew started “we were wondering if you wanted to join?”
Taylor had to think about this, she really did want to talk to all of them and see how they were doing, but the interview was in fifteen minutes. Did they even want to see her? Or was this just a formality? Did she actually want to see them? Her parents would would be mad, but they might know ware Ava is.
Her fingers hover over the keyboard for a few seconds before she saw Mathew start typing, she had to say something quick.
“I’ll be there” taylor regretted it as soon as she sent it.
“Grate! We’ll see you when you get here”
That store has sponerde her for the last four years, and know she’s just going do ditch them for some people she can barely stand? Yes, yes she is, because they keep the mondaneity out of her life, and she really needs to know what they know about Ava.
What was she going to tell her parents, was she going to lie, could she lie? She walked towards the door, she thought could lie over text or the phone much easier. Her father walked into the kitchen as she was turning the doorknob.
“Hey, Pumpkin, where are you going in such a rush?” his voice was friendly and warm, but Taylor could detect a hint of scepticism.
She turned around slowly and met her father’s gaze, “I have that meeting with the store, remember? I lost track of time and I don’t want to be late.” she tacket on one of fake smiles, and waited for his answer.
“Well then you better get going, shouldn't you?”
As soon as Taylor stepped out of her house she took a deep breath. She had never lied to her parents, and never so convincingly. The words fell from her lips and her body language was so convincing, almost addicting. She really liked it.
She walked to her car and opened her door, it smelled nice, it smelled strange. She shok her heid, no more lying willy nilly, just laying when it's necessary. When she has to.
The car started and Taylor drove off to the coffee shop, because why not?
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