These Lying Eyes Read Online Free Page B

Mason?” he asked, and Mina closed her eyes before slowly turning to face the couple behind her and Max.
    Hailey spread her lips in the semblance of a smile; Mina echoed it. Mina and Hailey moved restlessly, not meeting the other’s eyes.
    “Hailey right?” Max asked as he glanced at Mina’s cousin.
    “I don’t know if you’re in good company Max,” Hailey spread another fake smile while running her fore-finger over the perfect skin above her chest, “I’m having this sudden memory of you running with my wild cousin in the woods. Seems like it’s only a matter of time before she leads you astray again.”
    Wild cousin. As if Mina were the raccoon of their family. At least she hadn’t said crazy.
    “Good times.” Max grinned.
    Mina produced a stilted chuckle, glancing at Charlie, Hailey’s boyfriend. He was chatting with Max about something or other not noticing how Hailey was eyeing Max.
    “So,” Max said a few moments later as his eyes bounced between Mina and Hailey, “I forgot how much you two look alike.”
    “Yeah,” Mina tried to smile but feared her face formed some sort of post-death rictus.
    She knew and hated that she was the artless version of Hailey. They had matching curls. Though Hailey’s were only blonde. But, they also had matching full lips and high cheek bones. Hailey had a single mole near her eye, bigger than a freckle, yet the darn thing still managed to be sexy. Mina’s eyes were gray while Hailey’s were deep, dark brown. Mina’s face was thinner but that was due to the combination of stress and her diet of apples. Hailey was, of course, model tall and made Mina feel like a sprite.
    And, Hailey’s elbows didn’t stick out.
    “Yeah,” Hailey ran her fingers through her curls, drawing attention to how much smoother, silkier her hair was than, well, everyone’s, “we used to get that all the time. Our moms even confused us a few times. ‘Member Mina?”
    Hailey upped her charm, leaning forward so she could peek up at Max through her thick lashes, a near chuckle hovered on her lips as she played with the collar of her shirt. As she did, Hailey’s charm washed over the boys.
    Mina pushed back her envy, sliding down in her seat. The current moment was so stark next to the previous hour when Max had been hers alone. Somehow during that time, she’d forgotten that she was crazy, sick-looking and too thin. Mina twisted her earrings and twirled her hair. She was sure she couldn’t keep up this bantering for long. Only, she wasn’t bantering; she was sitting silently, grimly while Hailey charmed the socks off of Max and Charlie.
    Charlie flicked Mina’s shoulder playfully. “So Mina, Hailey tells me that you...uh…what’s the word? Take a lot of unscheduled vacation from school.”
    Mina pursed her lips and shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Oh really?” Max asked. “I remember a few unscheduled vacation days with you.”
    “Well I for one,” Mina said pretending she was having fun, “blame the grade school teachers. Noticing too late that I didn’t always come back from lunch. I mean after you spend a few afternoons innocently swinging a little longer or poking a few sticks into a pond, you learn a very, very, valuable lesson.”
    “Oh yeah,” Max asked, grinning, dimples flashing, making Mina’s heart stutter before she remembered this was her childhood buddy, a near brother.
    “What’s this valuable lesson?” Charlie asked.
    “The fun you can have when no one knows where you are.” She explained, “It’s perfection.”
    “That’s some fun I’d be willing to learn,” Max said, and a delighted grin leapt onto Mina’s face before she could stop it.
    “Relearn if I remember right.” Hailey said snidely.
    Mina’s mouth dropped to deliver…something, but the teacher entered the classroom giving Mina the escape she needed from her cousin. Gratefully, she turned forward and pulled out a notebook. Max nudged Mina’s