Lie Again! Chapter 66

Chapter 66. I Know, But (1)

 

Jack and Lucas. They were the school’s notorious troublemakers. They spent every class sleeping, and on the rare occasions they were awake, they disrupted the lesson by tossing difficult questions at the teacher. 

 

The fact that they only ever picked on timid female teachers under the guise of “questions” made them especially nasty pieces of work.

 

They slammed their trays, each holding a flattened hamburger, down with a clatter and immediately started running their mouths.

 

“Hey, do you think she’s coming today?” 

 

Lucas spoke, blond hair with dark circles sagging all the way down to his cheekbones.

 

“That Cameron b*stard’s full of shit, you can’t trust him. Even if she comes, she’ll probably just hang out with her friends and leave.”

 

At Lucas’s words, Jack, wearing a navy beanie, curled his thick lips into a cynical grin.

 

“If it’s her friends, you mean that cheerleader and Miller? I like them too. Especially Miller. She’s sexy. I hope they come together.”

 

Lucas whistled crudely, his face lighting up.

 

But Jonathan couldn’t laugh. He stared at Evan with a stunned expression.

 

Cheerleader and Miller. Someone who always moved around with that pairing came to mind.

 

…No way. It can’t be.

 

There are tons of cheerleaders, and Miller is a ridiculously common last name. Just in this cafeteria alone there’d be five or six Millers. That means the Miller those idiots were talking about might not be ‘that’ Miller at all.

 

With a nervous heart, Jonathan glanced at his friend to gauge his reaction. Evan simply sat there in silence, his expression unreadable.

 

“You really think Miller would even look at you? She probably ignores everyone dumber than her.”

 

“That’s what makes her sexy.”

 

“You perverted prick.” 

 

Thankfully, the two idiots’ conversation drifted toward some unidentified Miller. A socially inept Miller who ignored everyone. A certain face kept popping into Jonathan’s head, but he desperately pushed it away.

 

Yeah—even if it really was that Miller, they still hadn’t said that name yet. Just as Jonathan was starting to relax—

 

The conversation, which seemed like it would end with their snickering among themselves, took a new turn when Jack shrugged.

 

“Well, whatever. Doesn’t matter if she doesn’t come. They said she might show up.”

 

She.

 

That vague pronoun again. Jonathan shot a quick glance toward the seat in front of him.

 

The heavy stone that had finally begun to lift from his chest came crashing back down. 

 

Damn it, they just won’t let it go. 

 

A cold chill ran down Jonathan’s spine, and he began to shake his leg nervously. The Evan Butterfield he had known since childhood was not the type to solve problems with violence, but… 

 

‘I haven’t been able to read him at all lately.’

 

With only a bit of exaggeration, he had learned more about Evan in this single semester than in the ten-plus years they had grown up together. The guy who used to be indifferent to everything—treating every situation with a shrug—had been acting so colorful lately.

 

He had wondered more than once if Evan was going through a belated puberty that others usually hit in middle school. 

 

“Ah, I’ve been dying to see. Those girls who act all stuck-up usually play differently once they get some booze and a little bit of this in them and loosen up.” 

 

Lucas grinned at Jack’s words. He mimicked a smoking gesture with two fingers to his lips and laughed, crinkling his nose. 

 

‘Filthy b*stards.’ 

 

As the conversation grew increasingly vile, faint creases formed between Jonathan’s brows.

 

“Who knows? Tonight, it might be the transfer student climbing onto a table, ripping her shirt off, and swinging it around.”

 

The transfer student.

 

When the identity of she finally spilled from their mouths, Jonathan closed his eyes grimly. Oblivious to his inner despair, Lucas slapped the table with both hands and whooped.

 

“Ah, fuck, I can’t wait—”

 

But he never finished his sentence. The screech and crash of a chair tumbling across the floor swallowed his voice.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

Silence fell over the noisy corner of the cafeteria. Not only the two guys at the neighboring table, but all the curious gazes around them converged on one spot.

 

The person who had kicked over the perfectly innocent chair sat there calmly.

 

Jonathan watched the person across from him with uneasy eyes. He felt like this guy, who looked like he was thinking of God-knows-what, was about to cause a scene at any moment. Then, realizing his own worry, he felt a strange sensation.

 

An incident?

 

If anything, incidents had always been his domain. When had he ever worried about Evan causing trouble?

 

He couldn’t exactly call him a model student, but Evan Butterfield knew precisely where the line was. A tolerable boundary—nothing excessive, nothing that would leave a bad impression, nothing that couldn’t be cleaned up afterward. He walked that line precariously, but always stayed within it.

 

Contrary to Jonathan’s fears, Evan simply picked up his tray, still holding a half-eaten sandwich, and stood up. He turned away neatly, without sparing the guys beside him even a glance.

 

‘Was I just overthinking?’

 

Watching that, Jonathan let out a sigh of relief.

 

The Evan he knew was the most rational person around him. He rarely lost his temper and was shrewd about weighing what benefited him. Maybe he’d just finished a brief bout of adolescence and come back to his senses.

 

Jonathan hurriedly started clearing his plate to chase after the guy who was leaving him behind. Just when he thought that was how it would end—

 

The footsteps striding away came to an abrupt halt. The straight back paused for a moment, then Evan casually set the tray down and turned around.

 

Without hesitation, he walked right up to Jack and Lucas and flicked his hand lightly.

 

A curse burst from Lucas’s mouth.

 

“Ah, fuck!”

 

Evan had tipped Lucas’s tray over with the tip of his fingers. Gasping sounds rose from around them.

 

The only one unfazed was the culprit who’d just splattered hamburger mayo and greasy fries all over Lucas’s pants.

 

Lucas hesitated in confusion at Evan’s breezy demeanor, clearly unprepared for a sudden confrontation, and was just about to stand—

 

When Evan planted both hands on the edge of the table and leaned in.

 

“Hey. You guys stink.”

 

A neat smile paired with a blunt insult fell from his lips.

 

“Your shitty stench is wafting all the way over here. I’d like to pretend I don’t see it, but you’re making that impossible.”

 

Lucas and Jack turned to look at each other. With his gentle tone, it was hard to immediately tell whether this was a provocation or something else. Especially since they thought they were on reasonably decent terms with Evan Butterfield.

 

Whenever they happened to run into Butterfield and acted friendly, he was the type to casually accept the greeting, not show hostility. No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to say he had zero interest in them. So why suddenly…

 

“Why are you so desperate to show everyone you’re losers? Everyone already knows, even if you don’t advertise it everywhere.” 

 

Only then did Jack fully realize Evan was picking a fight, and his brows snapped together.

 

“Fuck, who the hell do you think you—”

 

It was the moment he slammed the table and tried to stand, unable to swallow the insult.

 

Evan’s expression hardened frighteningly, as if he’d never smiled at all, and he stared Jack down as he spoke. Faced with a side of Evan completely unlike his usual easygoing self, Jack flinched without meaning to.

 

“Should I go tell Shore to come search you guys right now? I’m dying to see what comes out. Pot? Snow? Crack? Whatever it is, it’ll be perfect for ruining your lives, right? I want to see the show, too.”

 

“…….”

 

At that, Jack’s mouth clamped shut like a shell. His pride wounded by the inability to retort, he kept muttering curses, but since he’d already turned his head away from Evan’s gaze, he only looked pathetic.

 

Watching Jack slump back into his chair, raking a hand through his hair in irritation, and Lucas rolling his eyes helplessly, Evan crooked one corner of his mouth.

 

Predictable.

 

It wasn’t that hard to shut guys like this up. People who had nothing to lose and had given up on life were tricky to handle, but these morons were just pretenders. Why else would they act like reckless lowlifes while still diligently filling their attendance days?

 

Touching every forbidden thing at this age, acting like they feared nothing, indulging in every kind of excess—only to go meek at a few words of threat. It was laughable.

 

Idiots.

 

And the fact that Jin’s name was even being tossed around by trash like this made his irritation boil over uncontrollably.

 

With his head burning, Evan clenched his fists tightly and swallowed down the rage surging up his throat, then pulled away from the table.

 

After casting one last savage glare at the two of them, Evan turned and walked away.

 

Jonathan watched the back of his head as Evan strode off, grabbed the tray he’d left behind, and disappeared. Shaking his head, Jonathan clapped with impressed applause.

 

Definitely puberty.

 

“I wonder if he’ll start getting pimples.”