Free Atlantis by Lisa Graves Page A

her in the eyes as I answered, “Nothing.”
    “ What on earth are you talking about hoe?” Nicholas couldn’t figure out what was making Charlotte so mad. I almost laughed at how thick-headed he could be when it came to girls, but I held it back in an effort to calm Charlotte down.
    “ WHY IS HE HERE?” She purposely directed her anger at me. It was kind of funny, that even furious, she couldn’t talk to Nicholas.
    “ What do you mean, why am I here?”
    I looked at Nicholas, trying to send him telepathic messages with my eyes that it would be over a lot quicker if he would just be quiet.
    Nicholas was taking a defensive tact. “I came over to check on Lil, like she said. You got me all worked up on the phone last night.”
    That wasn’t too bad. Then he said something that turned the conversation upside down and SMACK! into my forehead.
    “ You wouldn’t say what was the matter, so I decided to come check on Lil myself.”
    Charlottes eyes turned from pretty blue almonds to slits, and a sinister smile came over her face. “You want to know what was wrong with little Lilly, huh?”
    I could see where this was going.
    “ Did you happen to find out what was bothering her Nic?” She was too calm.
    “ Not yet. I decided to make us breakfast first.”
    It was quite annoying, the two of them talking as though I wasn’t even there.
    “ How nice.” She didn’t look like she thought that was nice at all. Charlotte turned to face me.
    “ Oh, you noticed I’m still here, did’ja?”
    “ Do you want to tell him what happened last night?”
    Please no. Don’t do this. I tried with all my might to shoot spears out of my eyes at her. “No,” I whispered.
    She smiled. “Shall I tell him?”
    “ No,” I said with more force this time.
    “ Tell me what?” Nicholas looked bewildered at the direction Charlotte’s fit had taken.
    “ Please don’t,” was all I could say, plead rather, to Charlotte.
    Nicholas set the tray of food down on my desk and walked over and put his arm around me. I felt so uncomfortable. Not because of his arm around me, but because Charlotte was getting angrier by the second and I was afraid of what she might do.
    “ If Lilly doesn’t want me to know something, that’s fine. I trust her.”
    Charlotte’s head cocked to one side as she said, “Really?”
    “ Yes.” He squeezed me.
    It hurt that I could see the dark cloud above my room about to burst, and have no way to take cover. Charlotte had found a way to stop Nicholas from liking me, even as a friend, and was going to take it even if it hurt someone.
    “ Lilly was a mess last night because of Ell-i-ott.” Of course she would emphasize every syllable of his name.
    Nicholas’s arm fell off my shoulder and down to his side. Even though I saw it coming, it hurt seeing his reaction.
    Nicholas looked down at me. “Who’s Elliott?”
    I shrugged. I didn’t know what to say.
    Unfortunately, Charlotte answered for me. “Oh Elliott is just her boyfriend .”
    All Nicholas could do was whisper, “What?” It was as if someone had come up and punched him in the stomach. I could see in his eyes he was hurting inside. Charlotte’s words were stabbing my best friend and I couldn’t stop it.
    I was pissed. Charlotte looked happy as a clam. “Oh it gets better.” She smiled.
    “ What do you mean?” Nicholas could barely talk now. I hated Charlotte for ratting on me, but worse, I couldn’t believe she could purposely do this to Nicholas. All for the trivial offense of liking me.
    “ Oh, Elliott is imaginary.”
    My eyes closed in frustration and I took some slow deep breaths to help calm me down. If Charlotte didn’t can it quick, I was going to chuck a Pop-Tart at her pretty little head.
    I opened my eyes and looked at Nicholas. It was hard to tell what he was feeling now. The pain in his eyes flashed confused, then back to pain. Now he was the speechless one. For as much pain as he was in, I was hurt too. He couldn’t even