Two: Noel

I saw Casey coming out of the guidance counselor's office looking very frazzled—very uncharacteristic of the girl.

I headed over, deciding to see what was up.

"Casey. You okay?"

She jumped. Apparently she hadn't seen me coming.

"Oh. Hey Noel. You startled me."

"I can see that," I said, smirking.

"Right," she said, giggling and shifting her weight uncomfortably, "I guess you can… do that… see things, I mean."

She smiled lamely as she finished. The girl was always kind of awkward, but this seemed a little extreme.

She turned to go, but I grabbed her elbow, keeping her in place.

She turned her eyes to me and blinked a few times.

Right. She obviously expected me to say something after I'd stopped her from leaving and all.

"Did something happen, Casey?"

"What do you mean? Why would you think that something happened?" she asked innocently.

"You just seem a little… I don't know… off."

She giggled a little before she spoke, which meant she was gearing up to brush of my concern with some easily believed lie.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all. I stayed up too late reading. I'm sure I'll be finre once I wake up a bit more."

She was so predictable.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes and forced a smile on my face.

"Okay then, but I'm here if you want to talk about anything."

Desperate always did look good on me.

Three: Casey

I know I'm a terrible liar. I'm usually proud of that fact, but today I couldn't help but wish I'd had at least a little more experience in the area.

Noel knew something was up when he saw me leaving Paul's office. I'm pretty sure he knew I was lying too.

Of course he knew. Even Marti could have picked up on that. I'm a terrible liar.

It wasn't even that big of a deal. I wasn't hiding any big secret. I just didn't want anyone else to look at me the way Paul had. It was like he couldn't believe I was even asking a question with such an obvious answer.

I was making my way to my English class when, once again, I forgot about the stairs. As I gathered my things from the fall I looked to see who I needed to apologize to for breaking my fall.

I froze. Derek was glaring at me from his spot on the ground.

"Really, Case? Couldn't stop thinking about yourself long enough to walk to class without injuring anyone?"

With that said, he turned and walked away.

"Derek!" I shouted after him.

He didn't even glance back. He just ignored me and kept walking. I sighed, picked up the last of my fallen books, and continued towards my class.