“Why would I ever do that?” He said his eyebrows ruffled in confusion, and then slowly they straightened back into place as the realisation of my fears settled in. “You're not going to do anything that would make me want to get rid of you, okay?” He said smiling reassuringly. I nodded then he kissed me on the head and made his way to the door.
“Charles,” I called before he opened it. I dropped my gaze to the floor as he turned back to face me and brushed my foot along the carpet. “I was just wondering ... if you minded ... if I called you Dad instead of Charles?” I said looking up slowly, unsure of what expression I would find. Charles smiled, one of the biggest smiles I had seen yet.
“Of course I wouldn't mind. I would love that.” Of course he would, I smiled back.
“And, the other thing I wanted to say,” I paused slightly before continuing “I love you.” I shrugged my shoulders hoping to appear casual. His smile was the picture of complete satisfaction as he walked back over to hug me. “I love you too.” He said squeezing me tightly.
CHAPTER 8
I went down to the kitchen early the next morning and found Charles preparing breakfast. “Did you do all this by yourself?” I asked looking around at the pancakes, eggs, sausages and noodles that were spread on the table.
“Yep.” he said pouring orange juice into a glass for me.
Mmmm, I thought, “What’s the occasion?” I asked suspiciously.
“I don’t know, just in a good mood I guess.“
I sat down at the table and served some food into a plate. “Well, I did have something I wanted to talk to you about.” he said pulling up a chair next to me.
“OK,“ I laughed having already suspected an ulterior motive.
“It's just, I know you've been feeling a little lost and maybe that's because you don’t really have anything to do. So I was just wondering how we could make settling in a little easier for you.”
“I'm fine, we do do stuff sometimes,” I reminded him cheerfully.
“Yeh, I know. But since we want to make this a permanent situation I was thinking you needed more of a routine and maybe you could ... meet some friends.”
“Oh” I said starting to recognise where the conversation was heading.
“Wouldn't you like friends your own age?”
“I haven't had a friend my age for a long time Dad. I'm fine anyway; I don't need any more company than I already have.”
“Ok, look ... I was wondering if, maybe you wanted to start going to school. I know you're probably ahead of your age group due to the schooling you did in the facility, but school's a lot more than just academia. Some of my best years were spent at school.”
“Hmm.” I giggled, remembering some of the stories he'd told me of his school life.
“I thought maybe you could come down with me today to meet the principal and see how it goes.”
“Okay fine,” I sighed and bit into a piece of toast. “I'll come, I guess ... I don't mind enrolling ... probably could use something to keep me occupied during the day.” I told him between chews.
“Really?” he asked becoming excited. “I'll call Mrs Stevens now and let her know.”
“That sounds great.” I said feigning excitement. I'd a feeling this conversation was coming from hints he had made in the past and I didn't want him to feel as if he had pressured me but in all honesty enrolling into school was one of the last things on my mind. I was far from excited and didn't really expect much from it but I did get a feeling of contentment whenever I made Charles happy and since I didn't have anything else to do during the day it was a small sacrifice.
“Are you ready to leave now?” He asked getting up from the table. I looked down at the plate that I had just filled and then looked back at Charles with a bemused expression. “Right.” He said, chuckling slightly, “I guess I should let you finish first.”
After making arrangements to meet up with me at the school later in the day, he ruffled my hair and then left the room to get ready for work, leaving me to finish my breakfast off.
The facility had promised to set me up with a job and apartment when I left so they had given me some identity papers, which included my birth certificate and a list of previous addresses, most of which were fake. I retrieved the papers from my rucksack and looked through them. It was possible they would find me if I used them, or you could say I would find them. A chance I'm willing to take, I thought before filling in the application form that Charles had left for me.
There must be classes going on, I thought as I arrived in the empty courtyard. My thoughts were confirmed as my gaze drifted across the windows—all the students were patiently seated behind the small desks, some paying attention to the teachers, some sleeping and some gazing outside in complete boredom. None of them seemed to have noticed me, though.
A faint scent of lavender struck me instantly as soon as I entered the great hall and, at a closer glance to the floor, I found the cause—it had been freshly washed by the janitor who was walking along the lockers, making sure everything was in place. Again, I went on unnoticed.
Where do I find the principal’s office? I thought as I looked around. Seeing as there were no doors labelled ‘Principal’, I decided it would be better to just look for a map of the building, assuming there must be one.
However a few minutes later, after realising there probably isn't one, I was stood helplessly in the middle of the hallway, with absolutely no one to help me.
Great, I thought, I'm off to a good start.
“Hey!” I called out to a boy who suddenly appeared in the hallway. He seemed younger than me and had almost the same style—black shirt, covered by a leather jacket, along with tight black jeans and a pair of sneakers.
“Can you tell me where the principal’s office is?” I asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible. He didn't pay much attention to me, he simply turned around and continued on his way, but before I could decide how to react, he threw a grunted “Second floor” over his shoulder.
I shrugged. At least I knew where the damned office was.
“Come in, please,” a gentle voice came from behind the wooden door, just a few moments after I knocked. I opened it carefully and slid in, my gaze meeting the grey eyes of a woman, who could only have been the principal, Mrs Stevens.
“Ah, you must be Claudia,” she said as she gestured to the chair in front of her. “Please, don’t stay there. Take a seat.”
Mrs Stevens wasn’t how I had imagined a principal would be. I was expecting a dull, serious woman but instead she was quite a jolly person who seemed to laugh a lot. She was also a lot younger than I thought she would have been.
“I’m so glad you’re going to be joining us Claudia.” Mrs Stevens said shaking my hand, after the short interview. “You can start from tomorrow if that’s good for you.”
“I guess.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She said smiling, “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Okay, sure” I replied, although I wasn't exactly sure at all. It wasn't that I was unfamiliar with interacting with different people outside of my immediate circle, I just wasn't the most trusting of people. So I normally felt most comfortable with people that I knew exactly what to expect from.
I exhaled deeply and walked back into the reception where I found Charles waiting for me. Upon seeing him I immediately rushed over to him and hugged him, mainly out of relief.
“Sorry, I missed the appointment. I had to speak with a few of the students about their coursework.” He said squeezing my shoulder reassuringly, “Everything went well, didn’t it?”
I nodded “I should be starting tomorrow.” I said.
“That’s great.” He said as he led me out of the reception area. “I have another lesson soon, but I’ll walk you out.” We made our way back through the school passing the school’s trophy display cabinet which I stopped in front of.
“So, are you going to show me your awards?” I asked.
“I don’t k
now if they still have them up?” He said, blushing slightly as he spoke.
“Of course you do, you come down here 3 times a week you must have seen them. You need to stop being so modest.” I looked through the cabinet, there were trophies and awards for all types of things, from academia to various sports such as basketball, long distance running. There was a section for football which seemed to have the most trophies, one shelf was compiled with a variety of special awards all with Charles' name on them. “Wow, Solomon wasn’t joking when he said you broke all the records.”
Charles shook his head and looked away out of embarrassment. “Hmm, speak of the devil.” He said laughing lightly.
The hallway was fairly busy but it wasn't hard to make out Solomon as he approached us with the same contagious smile he had the first time we'd met. He walked along the school’s hallway dressed in a blue and orange letterman’s jacket, the symbol of the high-school’s football team on its chest.
“Hey Mr Williams. Claudia.” He said nodding as he greeted me.
“Hi.” We both said in unison.
“Have you changed your mind about coaching us?” he asked Charles.
“Sorry, I just can't make the commitment at the moment.” Charles said in what must have been his teacher’s voice. “I don't even have time to give Claudia a quick tour of the grounds. My class is starting shortly so I really need to rush off.”
“I could give her a tour if you wanted.” he asked.
“Don't you have a lesson, Solomon?” Charles asked eyeing him suspiciously.
“No Sir, I have free period.”
“Ah. You do realise free periods are for you to catch up on work, don’t you?”
“Yes Sir, but I’m already up to date on all my projects, so I have some time to kill.” Solomon said smiling cheekily.
"Right." Charles said. I giggled not having seen the teacher side of Charles in action before and enjoying the interaction between him and Solomon. The last boys I had had the company of were Becky’s brothers who were loud and boisterous, mostly running around with toy guns or bow and arrows. Solomon had a calm persona and reminded me of how I imagined Charles might have been in his younger years.
"Fine," Charles said, “In that case that would be great, if you don't mind Claudia?”
“No, I don't mind. As long as I'm not interrupting anything you were planning.” I asked Solomon to which he shook his head.
“Great.” Charles said putting his hand on my shoulder, “Will you be okay making your way home?”
Stifling a laugh I looked up at Charles narrowing my eyes slightly; he didn't really think I would have trouble making my way home. “Yeh, I'm sure I'll be fine. You'd better get to class.”
Charles nodded and said goodbye before walking back down the hallway. I turned back to Solomon and immediately caught his eyes. A coincidence or has he been staring at me the whole time?
“Sorry, he can be a little overprotective.” I said wondering if he had noticed my awkward reaction to Charles' question.
“I'd be the same way about you.” he said, his gaze intense and smouldering. “If you were my daughter I mean.” he added. Before clicking his tongue in the side of his mouth and opening his rucksack. “Are you thinking of enrolling into the school?” He asked, still looking in his bag.
“Yeh, I just filled in the papers today. I'm supposed to be starting tomorrow.”
“Yeh?” his head shot back up to look me in the eyes again. “That's great. So, shall we go?” He asked.
Strolling at a leisurely pace, we walked around the school grounds, with Solomon explaining the different lessons that took place in the different blocks. I couldn’t help gazing directly at him as he spoke and every time he caught my gaze he held it for a little longer than I was comfortable with causing me to look away feeling slightly flustered, but despite the shivers that flickered though me every time he caught me looking, I couldn’t help but look back into his eyes whenever I thought it were safe.
Solomon was definitely pleasant to look at, his eyes were the brightest blue I had seen, almost dazzling even, as the light reflected from them. He appeared to be type of boy that every girl in the high school would have had a crush on—tall, athletic and popular. Sighs of adoration could be heard every time he would smile at a passing group of girls, who would simultaneously clutch their bags against their chests and flutter their eyelids.
After he finished the tour he walked me back to the schools entrance asking light hearted questions and introducing me to various students we met along the way. As I was a little out of touch with the whole getting-to-know-you side of a friendship, I didn't ask much at all and answered all of his question as succinctly as possible.
“I hope I haven't bored you.” he said as we arrived at the school entrance.
“No, not at all.” I replied a little defensively, “Why would you think that?”
“I don't know, you just don't talk much.”
“Oh, right. Err, don’t take it personally; I don't talk much, I guess!" Slightly uncertain if that was the complete truth. "I really appreciate you showing me around though.” I said, although maybe not as much as I should. He hadn't exactly done anything wrong, it was just something about the way he looked at me whenever he caught my gaze. I couldn’t explain why it confused me so much, or why it caused me to erupt with ripples of anxiety and made me feel so self-conscious. But it was draining, of that I was sure. “I’ll let you get back to your schedule. I need to go into town to pick up a few things anyway.”
“Okay, hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeh, sure,” I said, and headed out of the gates.
I hadn’t been into the city centre much, but it was the type of the place that you quickly learnt to find your way around. Charles had given me some money earlier that day to buy school equipment if I did decide to go through with the enrolment so I made my way to the stationary shop, stopping along the way to look through the shop windows.
“You must be Claudia.” Said the reflection of a man in the shop window. “I didn't mean to startle you." He said when I spun round to meet his gaze. Something about him looked familiar but I couldn't make out where I knew him from.
"My names Marcus, I used to be good friends with your father.”
Ah, I thought finally recognising him from a photo I had seen at the house. He looked a lot different from the photo, more mature and rugged but something about his deep brown eyes still showed the boy who I had seen in the photo.
“He's never mentioned you.” I replied recalling that I had only ever seen him in that one photo.
“I did say we used to be friends.” He said looking at me with a wry smile.
I narrowed my eyes slightly, unsure why he would speak so candidly about his break up with my father when I had only just met him. Normally I would have contained my curiosity, but the cloud of mystery in his eyes had already drawn me in. “Why? What happened?” I asked.
“The usual I guess, we grew apart, might have had something to do with the fact that he stole the love of my life.”
“What? You and Rachael were a thing?” I burst out suddenly breaking into a smile.
He shook his head slowly, searching deeply into my eyes, “Have you been told how much you resemble your mother?”
Heat rushed through my body, settling in my face, I could feel my cheeks growing hot under his gaze. Looking away quickly, I focused on something at the bottom of the street appearing to be distracted by something, but only really wanting to escape the intensity of his stare.
“You don't need to look so distressed; I guess the best man won in the end.” he said. As he spoke he took a lock of hair that was blowing in my face and brushed it behind my ear allowing his finger tips to softly caress my neck.
“What are you doing?” I said pushing his hand away and stepping back until I was right up against the shop window. That isn't how you touch somebody that you've just met, especially the 16 year old daughter of your ex friend. “Rega
rdless of whatever you and my father had, I don't actually know you. And if you're thinking of involving me in some scheme to get back at him, that's pretty twisted.”
Marcus let off a low throaty laugh which sounded more like a snigger, “I'm quite sure I don't know what you're implying.”
I inhaled deeply as my chest tightened, I was beginning to find it difficult to breath. Not because he was scaring me, but something was stirring inside me that was, and suddenly I was wishing I was back at the school with Solomon.
“Honestly, I'm just happy to finally meet Denise's daughter, I've heard a lot about you. I'm curious how you found your way to Westpoint. It's my understanding that no one knew you'd even been born.” He searched my face for a few seconds until he caught my gaze, looking deeply into my eyes again. I stared back coolly, not wanting him to see the effect his presence was having as his dark eyes burnt into me making me feel lost and vulnerable.
However my voice didn’t support my persona, “It was quite by chance.” I said weakly.
“You'll have to tell me the story someday.” he said tilting his head sideways slightly. “You know, I have a venue up in the city, you're welcome to stop by sometime.”
“I'm only 16.” I said, surprised that he would suggest such an invitation.
“It wouldn't be the first time a 16 year old snuck out to a club.” he said, his wry smile spreading across his face.
“I doubt they sneak out to meet with their father’s adversary.”
Marcus laughed again then reached into his top inside pocket and took out a business card. “Well, if you change your mind, you'll know how to find me.” he said taking my hand in his and placing the card gently on my palm, then he winked and walked away.
I exhaled in relief and leaned back on the shop window. What just happened?
I went over the interaction I had just had with Marcus, an apparent good friend of Charles', who he had never spoken about, despite the amount of stories he had told me about his school days. I tried to imagine Charles and Marcus as good friends but couldn’t place them. There was a strong contrast between him and Charles and even Solomon for that matter. Although Solomon had made me feel uncomfortable, it wasn’t because of any evil intention he might have for me. I had actually felt quite safe in Solomon’s presence. Marcus, however, made me feel very unsafe, but the scariest part about it was that I enjoyed the feeling he stirred in me.
Heat Page 7