A/N: Thanks to all you great reviewers. :) Here lies Chapter 3! Speaking of lies…

Oliver tapped his pen anxiously on his desktop and looked around. Their first period Chemistry teacher, Mr. Woods, was approaching the white board, sniffling, tissue in hand. “Good morning class, today we will be learning about ionic bonding.” His voice was hoarse, and he sneezed twice before proceeding to draw a diagram on the board. Lilly was still nowhere to be seen. Oliver looked at the clock. Seven-o-three. Usually Mr. Woods takes attendance immediately, to make sure none of the tardy students could slip in without him noticing and get away with it. Maybe Lilly was in luck today.

Oliver jumped as a folded piece of paper landed on his desk. He knew the large print on the front reading “OPEN!” was in Miley’s handwriting. He slowly opened it, making sure that no crinkling paper could snap the teacher out of the current chemistry trance he had drifted into. Once he had gotten the note open, he didn’t bother writing back. He merely shrugged at Miley’s question. Where’s Lilly?

As if on cue, Mr. Woods turned around and faced the class. “How absent-minded of me, I forgot to take attendance.” As the man walked back to his computer desk in the front corner of the classroom, he muttered, “Must be this darn cold…” Oliver set his head down on his desk in defeat, a bit too quickly. After his forehead collided painfully with the wooden desk, he drew it back up, rubbing it with his palm. He could hear Miley failing to hold in her giggles. This was not his day.

Did she honestly get in the car with him and ditch school? Oliver thought, trying to ignore the current throbbing in his head. Just like that? Well, there was one thing Oliver knew for sure. He wouldn’t be the one covering for her. If she was going to be stupid enough to go gallivanting around with her new senior boyfriend and his shiny red car, he wasn’t going to save her ass. Not this time.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Lilly tried to stay focused on the positives. The wind in her hair, Johnny’s warm, rough hand resting on top of hers. Instead, all she could think about was getting in trouble at school. Although she had never been “Little Miss Goodie Two-shoes”, Lilly had never skipped before. She was worried about a certain message that administration left on student’s house phones when an unexcused absence popped into their computers. She imagined the look on her mother’s face when she got home, telling Lilly that she was grounded for a month.

“You nervous?” Johnny asked, keeping his eyes on the road. Apparently, she was not difficult to read.

“Um, no—” Lilly started. Screw it, I suck at lying. “Well… yeah, kinda.” She felt waves of embarrassment rush over her.

“Lilly, it’s—”

“And I know you probably think it’s stupid and childish and immature…”

“Lilly—”

“It’s just that I really don’t want to be stuck grounded at home forever and then I wouldn’t be able to do anything with you or my friends and—”

“Lilly!” She stopped, expecting him to laugh or say that her fears were dumb and irrational. Instead, he spoke gently, smiling. “It’s alright. I understand exactly what you’re saying. I’m not going to pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do.” Johnny waited for a few moments, but Lilly didn’t respond. “Are you ok?”

Lilly sighed. “Yeah, it’s just that you’re being so nice about this, and I feel like I’m ruining all the fun.”

Johnny chuckled. “Hey,” he said, giving her hand an assuring squeeze, “we have plenty of time to have fun.” Lilly smiled at the thought. Plenty of time to have fun. So he still wanted to hang out with her. This in itself calmed some of her fears.

“Thanks,” was all she could think of saying. She hadn’t noticed until now that he had pulled over into a gas station.

“It’s no problem, really. I’m going to take you back to school, and we’ll hang out tonight, when we don’t have to worry about anything.” He leaned over, and to her surprise, kissed her cheek lightly. She felt her heart skip a beat and heat rush to her face. Thankfully, Johnny’s U-turn though the gas-station parking lot gave her enough time to take a moment and recompose herself.

As they headed back to the school, Lilly asked a question that had been on her mind for most of the ride. “Where were you going to take me?”

“Oh, right… Well, I’m not really sure, actually.” He glanced over at her, taking in her baffled expression. “You see, sometimes I just like to drive wherever the road takes me. It’s kind of a release, you know? Like freedom. I don’t need a map or a set destination or a deadline. I just drive. I know that sounds really dumb, but—”

“No,” Lilly said, cutting him off. “It sounds like a lot of fun.”

“Oh, it is. That is, until you get caught in a thunderstorm with the top down and you can’t get the roof back on,” he said, laughing.

“That happened to you?” she said, laughing with him.

“Yes, and it’s a great story. I’ll have to tell it to you later, when we have more time. Can’t be any more late.” He turned into the school and drove straight to the entrance. “I’ll drop you off here and go park. I’ll see you at lunch.” He smiled at her and drove off to find a spot.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

As Lilly rushed through the halls, across the courtyard, and up stairs (only tripping once), she wracked her brain for a good excuse for being twenty minutes late. I could say I couldn’t find my cellphone. Or my dog got sick. Or maybe…. no, that wouldn’t work. There was a hit-and run and I was the only witness, so I had to stay and be interrogated by the police. Wait, that’s ridiculous…

Sooner than she had expected, the door to room 2-134 came into her view. She’d just use the excuse that had every male teacher dropping the interrogation immediately. Girl problems. Men wanted absolutely nothing to do with menstrual information unless they happened to be a doctor, and she knew that would never change.

She swung the door open slowly and crept in. “I’m sorry I’m so late.”

Mr. Woods response surprised her. “It’s alright, Miss Truscott. Mr. Oken told me you weren’t feeling well this morning. I’m glad you decided to come.” Lilly glanced at Oliver. He was looking away from her, scribbling on a scrap of paper.

“Oh, um… Alright, thanks.” Guilt laden, Lilly slunk into her seat. Why do people have to be so nice to me when I’m lying? She waved at Oliver and whispered his name, but he wouldn’t look at her. Eventually she gave up and got out a sheet of notebook paper to fill with endless diagrams and formulas. She hoped that the day would end better than it had started.

A/N: Constructive criticism (including the pointing out of any errors I have most likely made) is appreciated, flames are not. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. :)