Her Hidden Past

by Michela DiMarco

  In her previous life, the early-morning swims were Brooklyn’s favorite. Consistent with her past custom, she dove right into the lukewarm water and started her hour-long routine, trying to process the events from her first day of school. She was excited about her second day of school, and hoped it would be just as good, if not better. She also promised herself that she would not make a habit of checking up on her past through the computer. The last thing she wanted to do was betray the trust the Thompsons had placed in her. Her living situation could have turned out to be a nightmare, but she had been blessed, and she didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize that.

  After her swim, she sat in the hot tub for about ten minutes, and then went upstairs to shower and get ready for school. Classes started at eight-twenty, and they were supposed to leave the house at eight. At ten to eight, Brooklyn came flying back downstairs to the kitchen. Mary had already made one of her favorite breakfasts: plain oatmeal, a hard-boiled egg white, a banana, and skim milk.

  “This is great,” she said when she saw the food at the table.

  “I’m having fun spoiling you,” said Mary, smiling. “The boys just eat cereal. I’m glad you eat a real breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day.”

  “I never miss a meal,” answered Brooklyn as she shoveled the food in her mouth.

  “That’s good, because if you did, with all that swimming you’ve been doing, I would be worried.”

  Mary dropped Brooklyn and Ben at the front door of the school. Once inside, they stopped at Brooklyn’s locker and then Ben’s, and then headed to start the morning classes. Brooklyn had not noticed the prior day, but she had the first two morning classes with Blair. She was really excited about that. After math class, Blair proposed lunch together with Ben, Jordan, and the rest of their friends. Brooklyn warned her about possibly eating lunch with Sara, but Blair said that she wasn’t going to let her new friend eat lunch alone with Sara.

  By the time they reached the cafeteria, Sara was already seated back at her usual table with Kaylie and Stephanie. Brooklyn asked Sara if she would like to join them at Ben’s table, but luckily Sara declined, saying they would catch up another time. Brooklyn wasn’t sure if it was because Blair was standing at her side or not. The next week and a half went by quickly. While Brooklyn was getting acquainted with Ben and Gabe and their friends, she was also settling into a routine which included swimming every morning and sometimes after school as well. She was beginning to look forward to dinner with the Thompsons as a way to get to know the family better. She was also more comfortable thinking about them as her own family, people trying to help build a strong foundation for her future.

  Ben and Gabe were very different in so many ways: where Ben was confident and outgoing, Gabe was reserved and quiet; Ben liked girls and big groups of friends but Gabe loved sports and did not have time for girls. Brooklyn was developing a different relationship with each of them. With Ben, she wanted to come across as cool, knowledgeable and mature. But when she was around Gabe she was very relaxed and could just be herself.

  In the evenings, she spent a lot of time on the computer and on her cell phone talking to Blair. As their conversations and interactions gradually became longer, Brooklyn realized it was because their personalities were very similar. They were both confident, but not in a cocky or egotistical way. Blair had been quick to point out how much she disliked the cliques that had formed because they seemed to spend much time just criticizing the students who were not in those cliques. She did not go out of her way to try to impress anyone because she was comfortable with her own values and how the other kids reacted to her when she was kind to them.

  She was also started to talk to Adam a little, outside of school. They were slowly beginning to sit together in a group at lunch and chatted a little in gym class. And he seemed to check in on her every day after school on the computer, and sometimes they texted back and forth, or exchanged fast conversations over the phone.

  Brooklyn was finally beginning to feel that she had some sort of life again, despite the void that she felt every second of every day. She often thought of her parents and wondered what they would think of her new friends who were so different than the friends she used to have back in California. With her friends in California, there was minimal drama and everyone got along with everybody else. The girls basically just hung out with other girls so they did not try to impress the boys with make-up and beautiful clothes on a daily basis. But it was different in Michigan. Every day at school was like a fashion show with the clothes and the make-up. The girls especially noticed who you talked to and they noticed the car you arrived in and they were quick to criticize what they didn’t like. Despite these differences, Brooklyn felt that her new life was actually going better than she could have ever imagined.