The moment I stepped inside, the first thing I did was plug my phone into the charger. Once it powered on, the endless stream of notifications made it clear I was in for a serious scolding.
I called my parents back first, then returned every other missed call one by one. Just when I was about to call the girls, I was interrupted by someone—or several someones—who seemed determined to break down my front door.
"Where the hell have you been?""Why has your phone been off for hours, girl?"
Before I could even open my mouth to answer Aylin and Feyza's angry questions, they barged in and stormed straight into the living room.
"Welcome. Please, come in," I muttered into the empty space they left behind and closed the door.
As I put water on for coffee in the kitchen, I tried to arrange everything in a logical order in my head. Getting past these two required a well-structured lying strategy.
"Forget the coffee and come tell us what happened, Red!"
I did as Feyza said and headed to the living room. "If you don't want coffee, I can make tea instead."
Instead of responding to my sweet smile, Aylin grabbed my arm and pushed me onto the couch. "Spill it. Where were you all night, and why was your phone off? And don't give me the 'I was sleeping at home' excuse—I knocked on your door a dozen times."
With one sentence, Aylin ruined my carefully prepared story. I sighed and looked at them. Silently praying for forgiveness, I began telling the first lie that came to mind.
"As I told you, I came home after school and passed out cold, but Aslı kept calling nonstop, so I woke up around midnight. Remember my old roommate from last year? Her. She was crying so hard she couldn't even form words, so since her place is close, I went to check on her. Turns out she and her boyfriend broke up. She was sitting there chugging from a huge bottle like crazy. When I saw nothing was helping, I drank with her. When I opened my eyes again, it was noon. I had just plugged in my phone and was about to call you when you arrived."
My lie seemed to have done its job. Aylin put her bag down and turned to me.
"You could at least let us know, Duru. When we couldn't reach you, we thought something happened with Gökalp."
"No way. I don't think we need to worry about Gökalp anymore. He practically ran away after getting the notes yesterday."
Feyza didn't look convinced. "Are we talking about the same Gökalp?"
"I couldn't believe it either, but yeah."
Aylin jumped in curiously. "Was Rüzgar with you?"
"He said he had things to do around here, but he wasn't with me while I talked to Gökalp."
"Weird. Anyway, since that's settled, we can finally have those coffees now, right Teresa?"
"That would be nice."
I smiled at them and went to the kitchen. While making the coffees, I silently cursed Kerem. Thanks to him, there was now no one left in my life I hadn't lied to.
"I have a nightmare exam schedule next week. I doubt I'll even find time to sleep."
"Ever since you scored above average on an exam you took while drunk, I can't take you seriously about this, Sapphire, sorry. I'm the one who's screwed! Both of my makeup exams ended up on the same day."
I laughed at Aylin and sprawled on the couch. "For the first time ever, I don't have a single makeup class this term. I feel amazing."
Feyza giggled while Aylin rolled her eyes.
"You used to ditch exams to go swimming even when you did have makeup classes. I can't imagine what you'll do now."
I flashed her a cute grin and sipped my coffee. Feyza laughed with us, then suddenly turned to me.
"Oh! I just remembered—Nil asked about you today. She couldn't find Kerem anywhere and wondered if you knew something."
I spit out my coffee and stared at them in shock. Aylin cursed my clumsiness and pulled a pack of tissues from her bag. She handed me one and cleaned the mess with the others while I set my cup down grumpily.
"For God's sake! How would I know where that boy is?"
"That's what we told her too, but she acted like she had a reason to think otherwise."
What Aylin said made no sense. Even if she suspected I was the girl at his house, she must have spoken to the girls before going to Kerem's place.
Dragging this topic out could make me slip up. Changing the subject was the safest option.
"Anyway, forget about them. Should we eat something? I haven't had a proper meal since yesterday. I'm starving."
"Good idea. I couldn't eat either because I was trying to finish an assignment during lunch break."
"Then pizza is on me today." Feyza immediately defended herself when we both gave her a pointed look. "You two have such dirty minds! I said it because I actually want pizza this time!" As we stared at her knowingly, she threw her arms up. "So what if I think the delivery guy is cute!"
Laughing, I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Alright, fine. Order it."
As Feyza happily grabbed her phone, Aylin gave us a disapproving stare.
"You're always spoiling her."
I laughed and explained, "Relax, Teresa. Nothing's going to happen. To Sapphire, that boy is basically on elementary-school-crush level. He only has two tattoos."