Deception

by Stacy Claflin

  "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.

&
nbsp; "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!"

  I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, looking only up. I walked carefully and stood in front of her full length mirror. I looked in anticipation at the large sheet of paper, which she could not have removed more slowly.

  When I saw the unbelievably beautiful person staring at me from the mirror, I stopped breathing. I thought I was looking at the cover of a magazine. I couldn't be looking at myself. I didn't even recognize myself.

  "What did I tell you?" Brooke asked excitedly.

  I was completely speechless. The dress was gorgeous and elegant and fit me perfectly. It was black with silver sparkles throughout. Upon close inspection, it actually had specks of purples, greens and gold throughout, making it even more stunning. My hair was amazing and cascaded perfectly around my face and down my back. The dress brought out natural highlights in my hair that I didn't know existed.

  I did not even recognize my own face. It wasn't as though she had put on so much make up that my face was hidden. The makeup looked very natural, but yet brought out my features in a way that I never imagined possible.

  The jewelry, hair clips and nails were the perfect finishing touches to complete the picture that was me.

  "You're completely breathtaking," she said. "You look like royalty."

  "I can't believe that's me," I was finally able say. I couldn't take my eyes off my reflection. I simply couldn't believe what I saw. I had never seen anyone more beautiful and I truly could not believe that it was me. It couldn't be plain, boring me.

  "That's you, Alexis! Now you know why I've always been jealous of your looks."

  "I just can't believe it."

  "Time to meet your date!" she exclaimed. "Everyone is waiting!"

  Suddenly, my heart plummeted to my feet.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  "We're ready!" Brooke called out at the top of the stairs. "Is everyone ready to see my newest creation?"

  My heart started beating faster and I began walking down the stairs very carefully, since I was not used to wearing heels. That was the one thing that Brooke hadn't thought of, getting me used to walking in those uncomfortable things.

  Everyone was waiting for us downstairs, not just Brooke's family! I saw my parents and sister, Emma and Amanda. I couldn't believe that they were all waiting to see me!

  Suddenly, I was assaulted with a bunch of blinding flashing lights. Did everyone have cameras?

  When I got to the bottom of the stairs, everyone started talking at once.

  "You look beautiful, honey!" my dad said.

  "I can't believe it!" exclaimed my mom.

  "Alexis, you're gorgeous!" cried Natalie.

  "Where have you been hiding yourself?" asked Emma.

  "Smart and beautiful!" said Amanda.

  "You look fantastic!" Steve said.

  Once it felt like the room stopped spinning, I looked at Amanda, Emma and Natalie's dresses and told them how great they looked too.

  "Alexis," Brooke said, pulling my attention away from my friends and family. "There is someone that I'd like you to meet."

  I'd almost forgotten after the shock of seeing my parents and sister there!

  She grabbed my hand and walked me to the other side of the living room, where an extremely handsome young man stood watching everyone else.

  As our eyes met, everything else seemed to disappear around us. I became completely lost in his eyes and they took me to a fantastic, new place. I felt as though I had entered a new world. I was overcome by the feelings that washed over my mind, body and soul. I was not a romantic; this was something that I thought was reserved only for movies and books.

  I didn't know what to do with the intense feelings that were overtaking all of my senses. I thought that I might need to sit down, and I looked around for the nearest chair.

  My heart was racing and all of my skin seemed afire. My mind was swimming; I felt like the room was spinning out of control.

  How could a stranger bring out all of these feelings in me? I had just met him and neither of us had even spoken a single word.

  Looking into his eyes, I felt that I had found my home. I felt safe and secure, everything that I lacked at home. I knew that it was ridiculous and my mind was yelling at my emotions to get a grip.

  "Alexis, this is Cliff," Brooke said, bringing me back to reality.

  I blinked and then breathed. I hadn't realized that I was holding my breath--that he'd taken my breath away!

  He smiled. "It's wonderful to meet you, Alexis."

  His voice was the most amazing sound that I had ever heard. It seemed so familiar, and I was overcome with emotions of inexpressible joy. I also felt tears of happiness threatening to escape. What was going on with me?

  As I looked into his perfect face, I felt a
s if I had known that face my entire life. I had never met him before, so there was no reason for this, but I sensed while looking at his features that he really was my true home. It was as if he was the answer that I had been seeking all this time. I knew that I didn't belong with my family because somehow I belonged with this breathtakingly gorgeous stranger.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came. Instead, I threw my arms around him and whispered, "I have missed you so much!" I thought I should have been embarrassed for throwing myself at this stranger, but I felt like I was in the arms of someone who loved me and would go to the ends of the earth to protect me.

  He wrapped his arms around me and whispered, "Not as much as I've missed you."

  I was brought back to reality when I heard my parents and friends declaring their surprise.

  Blushing, I let go of Cliff and turned around. I had no words to explain my actions. I had been so taken in by my overwhelming feelings.

  Amanda saved me. "We need to get into the limo. We still need to pick up the others, and get to the restaurant."

  "A few more pictures first," my dad said. We all posed for the camera. I couldn't believe that they were actually taking pictures of me. I felt like a princess.

  Before I knew it, we were all in the limo and everyone was talking excitedly. I sat next to Cliff and simply took everything in. I looked at the beautiful dresses that Emma and Amanda were wearing, the fancy tux that Cliff wore and tried not to look into his eyes because I knew I would get lost in them again. I wanted to enjoy the whole experience at that moment.

  At the restaurant, I was seated directly across from Cliff and had more time to take in his gorgeous features. I had been so lost in his chocolate brown eyes when we first met that I hadn't had a chance to study the rest of his stunning face.

  "Alexis!" Amanda whispered to me, jabbing me in the side.

  I looked up and blushed. Everyone at the table and the waiter was staring at me.

  "Yes?" I asked.

  Cliff tried to suppress a smile. He must have thought I was a total fool.