Deception (6 page)

"It is! I'm glad that you found out," I told her. "It's one more piece to this crazy puzzle. Also, Amanda is going to look at some old courthouse records to see if she can find anything. I don't know if that will turn up anything else, but if I was adopted, there might be something there."

***

I was at my locker when Tanner came up to me. "Have you thought any more about joining the track team?"

"I've been occupied with other things," I told him.

"Think about it, okay?" he asked. "You could probably get a scholarship if you run like that all season."

"I don't think that Harvard offers track scholarships," I told him. "They are going to be far more interested in my perfect GPA."

"I don't know much about Harvard, but I do know that those schools like for a person to be well rounded," he said. "If you're only about grades and test scores, they will be more interested in someone who has the grades and the other accomplishments too."

That stopped me in my tracks. "You know something, Tanner. You're right, you're exactly right."

He smiled. "So you'll try out for the track team?"

"I'll definitely think about it," I promised. "I need to get through this weekend before I start thinking about sports though."

"Are you going to the dance?" he asked, surprised.

"Don't sound so surprised! Yes, I'm going. I'm sure I'll see you there."

"Who's your date?"

"He's from out of town."

"I'll definitely look out for you then," he said.

"Okay, sounds fantastic."

"You'll think about the track team, right?"

I wanted to throw a book at him. "I told you that I would, just stop bugging me about it."

"Okay, okay. I still can't get over how fast you are. You've been hiding some mad skills."

Emma walked in between the two of us. "Alexis, is Tanner bothering you?"

"No, he was just leaving."

"Just think about it," he said again as he walked off.

"What was that all about?" she asked. "Why was Tanner talking to you?"

"He really wants me to join the track team this year."

"You?" she asked, not bothering to hide her surprise.

"Yes, he saw me run last week and he was quite impressed."

"Have you been holding out on us, Lexi? I never knew you could run."

"I decided that I need to be more well-rounded," I told her, pretending that it was my idea. "I can't just be all about brains and grades. I need to outshine my sister, right?"

"Oh, I get it now," she winked. "At least it sounds like you have some serious running skills if Tanner wants you on the team. He's picky about who he accepts."

"It's too bad I can't join the team sooner. I could use the distraction now."

"Now is the ideal time to start training for the team if you are going to join," she said. "If you want, we can run together. I have been thinking about losing some weight and I know it's obvious to everyone that I need to lose it."

"That sounds good," I said. "It would be nice to have a running partner."

***

That afternoon, as I was leaving school after the CSI Club, the crows were waiting for me. I hadn't seen them since the previous week and I was confident that at least I could run fast.

The crows were flying in one large circle over the parking lot. I wasn't sure if they had noticed me or not, and I wondered what would happen if I found someone to walk out to my car with me. It was definitely worth a try.

I walked back into the school and started looking for someone who might be about to walk out there or who might need a ride home. I knew that several other clubs would be getting out soon too.

I saw someone heading toward the doors to the parking lot. I walked several feet behind him and I was happy to see the crows fly off and scatter. I knew that they probably weren't gone for good, but at least they were gone for now.

I drove to Amanda's place because we were going to talk about what she had discovered at the court house. I knew there had to be at least
something
good, because if it was nothing she could have easily told me that at lunch in the cafeteria.

Once we had settled in, she started telling me about her trip to the court house. "Luckily, my aunt didn't question me about what I needed to look for. She just opened the door for me and let me get to work."

"So what did you find?"

"At first I didn't find anything on your family," she said. "There is absolutely nothing on any of you before you were three years old."

"That backs up their story about our moving here after the old house flooded," I said.

"Yeah, but then it gets weird," she said. "Your dad put in a hospital request for your birth certificate then and a social security number request for you. It was as if you had no identity before coming to this town."

Chills went down my spine. "Did you find anything else?"

She was quiet for a moment. "Yes, I did find more. But first I have to ask if you really want to know what I found."

"How could I not? I am on a mission to find out the truth about my past!"

She sighed. "Okay. Well, some relative of yours that wasn't named needed bone marrow. Your parents, sister and you were all tested to see if any of you were matches. None of you were, but you know that I took that genetics class--I saw right away that you are not related to your family at all."

"I knew it."

"But that's not all. All the documentation shows that they have been claiming you to be a fully natural child. Most adopted kids do have birth certificates with their adopted parents names on it, but there's always documentation of the adoption."

"For some reason, they obviously want everyone to believe that I'm not adopted. But why?" I wondered aloud.

"That's a question that only they can answer," she said.

"I don't even know how to approach this with them," I said. "I don't even know if I want to. Even if I share evidence with them, they will just continue to deny it."

***

I stopped playing detective for the rest of the week as I allowed the new information to sink in. Even though I highly suspected that I was adopted, finding out that it was true was still a shock.

It lead to even more questions....

Who were my natural parents and where were they?

Why didn't they want me?

Who was I?

Did I have other siblings? Would I ever get to meet them?

Why were my parents so insistent on keeping this from me?

It was a lot to take in and I hadn't said a word of it to Natalie, even though I had promised to tell her as soon as I found out. In a way, it seemed that if I said it out loud, it would make everything even more real.

In order to get my mind off of all of my questions, which I knew I wouldn't have answers to any time soon, I began researching crows.

After reading past the information about their high intelligence, life cycles, habits and other normal facts, I read that for centuries, it was believed that crows are associated with death. Many people used to believe that if crows followed someone, it was an omen of impending death.

"What?!" I jumped up from my chair. These things were possibly indicating my impending death? My heart sank. Why had I gone in search of this?

I decided then and there to stop playing detective, because so far, nothing good had come of it. I found out that I have birth parents who probably didn't want me, on top of these adoptive parents who didn't really like me. Now the crows that have been chasing me could be a sign that I was about to die, which I did actually suspect, but finding out the reality was much worse than suspecting.

***

I was surprisingly glad when Saturday finally came and it was time for Brooke to start getting me ready for the dance. She wanted me to come over a full five hours before it was time to leave for dinner.

I couldn't imagine what she would need five hours of preparation for, but I was definitely glad to have the distraction. I had spent most of the week buried in my studies, trying to avoid feelings of despair. All of these new facts about my life were almost more than I could handle.

On a positive and very surprising note, my parents wanted us to stop by before the dance so that they could get a picture. Of me.

When I got to Brooke's house, she informed me, "Steve and Cliff are out and will be for a while, so you don't need to worry about seeing Cliff before you're beautified."

"Oh!
That's
why you need five hours," I said, finally understanding. "It's going to take that much time to make me resemble beautiful."

She let out a loud laugh. "There is a lot to do and I spent close to that amount of time last night getting ready for my own homecoming dance! Just you wait; you will finally see how beautiful you are."

"We'll see," I said, doubtful.

She smiled, "Yes we will! Like I said, you will be amazed!"

When we got to her room, I couldn't believe the sight. All of her mirrors and windows were covered with heavy paper. "You really don't want me to see myself before you're finished, do you?"

"That's right!" she said. "You won't be able to capture a reflection of yourself until I show you what you look like in a full length mirror."

She started by taking me into the bathroom (the mirrors were covered there too, of course) and she washed my hair in the sink.

"You know, I did take a shower this morning," I said.

"Trust me, this shampoo and conditioner will make your hair awesome! You're going to beg me to take some home."

I sighed and hoped that she wouldn't be too disappointed when she saw that I wasn't going to look as beautiful as she had hoped.

When she had taken what felt like a half an hour on washing and conditioning my hair, she pulled out the strangest shaped contraption that I'd ever seen and started drying my hair.

While it was still damp, she put in a wide array of different sized curlers all over my head. It was a very unusual feeling. Then she sprayed something all over my hair that smelled like honey and flowers all over my hair and covered it all with some kind of bag thing.

"I'm not sure what to think of all of this," I told her truthfully.

"Just wait, just wait," she reassured me.

We moved back to her bedroom, where she put some funny smelling liquid on a cotton ball and rubbed it all over my face. Once that dried, she applied layer after layer of lotions on my face. It seemed to me that she must have used a lotion of every color in the rainbow.

Once that was done, we went to the kitchen and had some lunch. I was very glad that Steve and Cliff were not there. I felt like I looked completely crazy--not that I would know of course, since all of the mirrors were covered.

Then we were back up to her room where she gave me a manicure and pedicure. She started with cleaning and massaging my fingers and toes and it felt amazing.

"Is this why so many people get manicures and pedicures?" I asked.

"It's fabulous, isn't it?" she asked, smiling.

"It definitely is! I'm going to have to start getting these on a regular basis."

She just smiled and continued with my royal treatment. When she was finished, I couldn't stop staring at my nails, each and everyone was a work of art. They were all very similar, but each one was slightly different.

I was beginning to feel like a work of art myself...and I was starting to like it!

After my nails had set, she started on my hair. She took off the bag and tested the level of my hair's dryness, which met her approval, so she slowly removed the mass of curlers. She bustled around pulling this curl, pinning that one, spraying another.

It seemed to take an hour, and I had a challenging time keeping my head still. She kept tilting it back to the correct angle.

Once she was done, she used about an entire bottle of hair spray and I guessed it would take several washings to get all of that out.

After that, she let me stretch and walk around before she got to work on my makeup.

"With all of this work that you're doing, I'm sure that I will definitely look better than normal," I had to admit. "But I'm still not convinced that I'm going to look beautiful."

"Alexis, even without the makeup or the dress you look simply amazing. I can't wait for you to see the finished product!"

"I am curious!" I said with a smile.

"Sit down and let's get going on the makeup. We're almost done! Can you believe it?"

"No, this has been quite the marathon!"

Just as she was finishing up my makeup, there was a knock on her door. "
Don't
come in!" she shouted.

"Just seeing if you guys are almost done," Steve's voice came from the other side of the door. "Cliff is almost done getting ready."

"We're not ready!" Brooke hollered. "Just wait downstairs and I'll announce it before we go down the stairs."

"Okay!" Steve called back.

"Almost done," she told me. She stepped back, looked over my makeup and smiled. "Perfect! Now it's time to get you into the dress."

"I haven't even seen it! Bring it out!" I exclaimed.

She pulled a dress bag out of her closet and laid it slowly on her bed.

"I don't think I can take it anymore! Take it out of the bag!" I felt like I might explode from the apprehension.

She slowly unzipped the bag and then said, "Close your eyes!"

"What?" I exclaimed. "You're joking!"

"Not in the slightest. Close those eyes and no peeking!"

I sighed and vowed that I would get her back. I closed my eyes.

"Grab my hand and step into the dress," she said putting her hand on mine. "Okay, now hold still as I zip it up."

She zipped the dress up and pulled it here and there. She stepped back, presumably to give me a full look over.

She helped me slip on some uncomfortable heels. Then she slipped a necklace on my neck, a bracelet on my left wrist, and finally some earrings on my ears. She stepped back again.

"Amazing, simply amazing!" She sounded as if she was in awe. Then her tone changed to boss. "Listen closely. I want you to look UP and walk over to my full length mirror. Do not look down to see the dress or anything else. Just look up and walk to the mirror. I'm going to remove the paper and then you can see how you look!"