“And then?” Solomon asked with a sharpness to his voice that I hadn’t heard before. Michael's angry gaze was now directed at Solomon obviously annoyed by his tone.
“Ask your girl, Solomon!” he said and walked out of the room pushing past Solomon in the doorway. Solomon watched as Michael walked away and then looked back at me.
“What are you doing? I thought you left.” He said, his voice was slightly softer but it still had an edge to it.
I was still panting, trying to catch my breath and regain my composure. I could feel that my face was red and I was sure it probably looked more flustered than angry. “I was looking for you, but then I ran into Michael and we got into a bit of an argument about something.” I said.
“About what?” he asked.
I looked around the room trying to think of what I could say but my mind was blank, all I could think of was the fact that Michael had left with the USB key and there wasn’t going to be another chance for me to get any information from the computers.
“Forget it.” Solomon said, deciding not to wait any longer for any answer. He walked into the room and placed the pile of papers he had down on the table. “Look I need to do some work. Do you mind waiting downstairs?”
“Yeh sure.” I said absently as I walked out of the room. Solomon had never spoken to me in such an annoyed tone before, but I didn’t know what I could tell him that would calm him down right now, my mind was still too foggy from the altercation with Michael and the fact that he had taken the key.
Michael wasn't in the hall when I got down to it. Emily told me that he had left in a hurry. I made my own excuse to Emily and decided to leave too. I couldn’t end the day having found nothing, so I was going to either have to convince Michael to give the USB back to me or I would have to find another way to sneak back in to use the computers again.
CHAPTER 14
I'd been walking around the town square for around 20 minutes when I decided the best option I had was to go to Michael’s house and wait for him there.
Michael’s mother answered the door. She was a fairly short and plump woman with a full round face, not bearing much resemblance to Michael's tall athletic physique, although she appeared to have the same cheerful countenance.
“Hi. I’m looking for Michael.” I said.
“Yes, he just got in.” She said smiling happily “You must be Claudia.”
“Yes, and you're Mrs Lawson?”
Mrs Lawson laughed, “Andrea, please.” She said.
“It’s really nice to meet you.” I said hoping that the pleasantries would soon be over and I could see Michael.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked stepping aside with a gesture for me to enter. I walked slowly into the house looking around as I went. It had a similar set up to Charles' house, I assumed most of the houses on these streets did since they all looked the same from outside.
Michael was sitting with his little sister on his lap reading her a story book. “You have a guest.” Andrea said.
Michael eyes flickered quickly between me and Andrea a pleasant smile slowly forming on his face. Something that I was sure was simply a reaction to his mother’s presence.
“Hey Josephine, this is Claudia.” He said to his sister.
“Hello Claudia.” Josephine said.
“Hi,” I responded, trying to mask the sigh of exasperation that followed. Michael raised one eyebrow slightly.
“Why don’t you sit down, I’ll get you a drink.” Andrea said and walked out of the room.
"Come." Josephine said tapping the sofa next to where she was sitting with Michal. Cautiously I walked over and sat down.
“You’re pretty.” Josephine said grinning widely at me.
I hadn't met Michael's family before, although he did speak a lot about his little sister. She looked like their mother, with a round face and dimples in both of her chubby cheeks.
“Thank you. You’re very pretty too.” I replied stroking her cheek. It was rough to touch, almost scaly, which you wouldn't notice from the look. Josephine giggled and turned to bury her face into Michael’s chest, he wrapped his arms around her and laughed quietly.
“I wanted to talk to you quickly.” I whispered, when I caught his eye.
He frowned but although he seemed a little irritated by my presence, his whole demeanour was a lot more relaxed than I was used to. “What about Claudia?”
“Come on Michael. You know what.”
Michael looked at me a little longer and then nodded “You sit here for minute Josie, I’m just going to talk with my friend.” He said tickling Josephine under her arms then lifted her off his lap and put her down on the sofa. “So … talk.”
“Can't we go to your room or something?” I said gesturing towards Josephine, who was watching us both with a big grin on her face.
“Yeh, take a girl up to my room? Do you want my mother to slap me?” Michael smiled, indicating he was joking. “We can go in the kitchen if you want?” he said getting up and walking towards the door.
His mother was still in the kitchen when we entered; she had the radio on and was dancing to a song as she went around placing different items onto a tray.
“Oh Claudia. I was just about to bring these in to you.” she said.
“It's ok Mom, we'll sit in here if you don't mind.”
“I have something in the oven at the moment.” she replied.
“Please Mom. We need to talk quickly. She's having some boy troubles with Solomon.” Michael said rolling his eyes. Andrea laughed as she picked up the tray and put it on the table.
“How glad I am that I'm no longer in high school.” she said.
I smiled back at her, not quite sure what else to do and then after reminding Michael to keep an eye on her food she walked out of the kitchen.
“Why did you say that?” I demanded angrily after she'd left.
“Well, it’s true isn't it. I mean he didn't look too happy when he came into the office earlier.” he laughed.
“Just give me the USB key back please?” I said ignoring his joke. Michael shook his head and sat down at the table.
“I did intend to check the key, but Josephine wanted me to read with her so I didn't get a chance.”
“I honestly don't see why any of this is of interest to you.” I quickly responded.
“Let's see. My best friend is in love with you, and then I find you sneaking around his workplace stealing files from their computers. I would say that's pretty interesting. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to tell the poor boy.”
Guilt rippled through me. Solomon would be hurt if he knew what I was doing but it wasn't for the reasons Michael was describing. “Can you stop talking about me and Solomon like that? We're just friends.”
Michael raised his eyebrow in such a mocking way, even I felt suspicious of my answer.
“Look, let’s just agree to disagree?” I asked hoping to move on from the subject.
“Whatever.” he said in an apathetic manner.
“I know you don’t like me very much. I just don’t know what I'm supposed to have done?” I asked rather than stated.
Michael looked at me for a short while and then sighed loudly. “I've never said I don't like you.”
"You've never had to." Michael looked down at the spread of food.
"There's no reason," he finally said. "I mean, I don't not like you."
Well, I guess that's something.
“Do you want to sit down for a little?” he said pulling out a chair next to him. His voice was even as he spoke, not overly serious but not his usual jokiness either. "Look, the truth is I ain't never seen Solomon so into any girl. I just don’t want you to mess him around, and you're just so mysterious all the time."
"I don't know what you mean when you say 'into'."
"This is what I'm talking about. One minute your all, 'Let's dance through the park' and the next your 'Oh, we're just friends '."
"But we are. He's really the best friend I've had. I would
n’t mess him around. I swear!"
Michael rubbed his hand over his forehead as if he were trying to decide on an important decision. "You should eat some of that." He said gesturing to the spread of food his mom had left for us. “My Mom will be offended if you don’t.”
There was a mixture of cakes and biscuits and two fruit juices. I didn't have much of an appetite, but I didn't want to offend Michael's family so I picked up a brownie and took a bite.
“Wow, did your Mom make this? It’s delicious!” I said taking another big bite. Michael laughed.
“Yeh, my Mom’s a pretty good cook. You should come around for dinner one day if you think those are nice.”
“Yeh, right.” I said, not convinced by his invitation. Michael placed his elbow on the table and rested his cheek on his hand.
“Can I ask you something?” he said.
Ahh, I groaned. My past experience of Michael’s attempts at conversation seemed to have been motivated by a desire to find some kind of fault in my character. “That depends Michael.” I said, narrowing my eyes slightly.
He lifted his hands up in a gesture of surrender and chuckled, “Ok Claudia. I know I’ve given you a hard time, but that’s just me. I don’t find it easy to trust people I’ve just met, and you never talk about yourself ... ever.” I couldn’t argue with him, I generally felt the same way about new acquaintances. “Seriously, it’s only because Solomon kept insisting you were cool that I even gave you the time of day ... no offence.”
“None taken Michael, I much prefer honesty to courtesy!”
“Yeh me too.” He said picking up a plate of cookies and offering it to me. “I’m just really curious,” he continued after I took one out and started eating “If you were an orphan, and Charles didn’t even know he had a daughter. How did you find him? No one seems to know the answer and no one seems at all perplexed by that.”
I nibbled quietly at the cookie for a while before answering; running through various stories I had come up with for if anyone insisted too much on an answer, but I had never really had to go into any of the details about how I found Charles, not even with Solomon. There were a few scenarios I could use without giving out more information than I wanted to, but I probably wouldn't be telling much truth either. Michael was still watching me, staring deeply into my eyes, with his own eyes narrowed slightly as if he were reading an obscure text. I looked down at the plate of cookies, I couldn't lie to him while he was looking at me like that, especially after my last statement about honesty.
“The truth is, I can’t tell you, not all of it anyway. There’s a lot about my past that I can’t tell you and not because I’m some sort of ex criminal, but it’s just safer for me that way and I really hope you understand.”
“Ok, that’s cool. Just tell me what you can.”
“Really?” I had hoped he would say that but didn’t really expect him to. Michael nodded, so I began. I told him I had a friend called John who expected I was in trouble and thought it would be better for me to leave the orphanage. He had given me some information about various places I should check out if I wanted to find out more about my past. I didn’t explain that John was later found dead or any of the dreams, I just stated that Westpoint stuck out from the rest of the names in the list and after visiting many Westpoints it was only by chance that I ran into Charles and then Veronica made the mistake of calling me by my mother’s name which led them to believe that I may be Charles’ daughter.
“Hmm, talk about a serious stroke of serendipity.” Michael said with a thoughtful look on his face causing me to burst into a fit of laughter. I wasn’t used to seeing Michael in such a sober mood. He raised an eyebrow obviously not impressed with my reaction and then straightened up in his chair with an even more serious look on his face. “So when you say you were in trouble, you mean someone was going to hurt you?” he said.
“Yes.” I answered quietly. Michael went quiet and stared at me for a while longer, then he put his hand in his pocket, took the USB key out and handed it to me.
“I’m going to trust you on this Claudia, just please don’t let me down.”
Now I see why Solomon is his best friend, I thought He's actually not that bad.
“So does this mean that we’re friends?” I asked.
“Of course. I am going to be the best man after all!” he laughed.
“Michael, stop it!”
“Ok fine.” He said still chuckling at his own joke “We’re cool.”
“Great. I should probably head home now.”
When I got up Michael jumped from his chair and ran to the kitchen drawer where he pulled out a roll of foil. He ripped off a huge sheet and started wrapping some of the biscuits and cakes into it.
“My Mom would want you to take these.” He said as we walked to the front door.
“Ok, tell your Mom I said thanks, they were lovely, and say goodbye to Josephine for me.”
He nodded and pulled open the front door. “Listen," he said, grabbing hold of my shoulder, "If anyone ever threatens to hurt you again Claudia, you know you can count on me right?”
Actually, prior to our lunch together, I wouldn't have assumed that at all, but I guess our friendship had taken a turn for the better. I smiled and nodded and then, after giving him a brief hug, left the house.
A huge wave of relief ran through me as I walked down the pathway outside his house, I ran over everything that had happened during the day and couldn’t help but laugh to myself. Who would have thought that I would be leaving for a charity event in the morning and then having lunch with Michael, my newly found bodyguard, by early evening. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice Solomon was waiting at the end of the pathway.
“Hey, Claudia. Are you ok?” he asked.
“Err, yeh sure.” I answered, taken by surprise.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I wanted to sort out that argument I had with Michael and then we ended up having some kind of tea party.” I laughed and showed him the parcel of cakes that Michael had wrapped for me.
“Oh right.” He said looking slightly disturbed.
“Did you come by to see Michael too?” I asked.
“Kind of .. but it doesn’t matter anymore.” He said turning back towards his car, “I just remembered I have to do something. Did you need a ride home?”
“If it’s not any trouble.” It would have been easier to make my own way home but I didn’t want to appear any more suspicious than I was sure I already was.
“It never is.” He said, but the tone of his voice seemed to contradict his statement. He was already in the car with the radio playing by the time I got in. Another contradiction, as he normally let me in first. Even his driving wasn't usual. Maybe he is in a hurry, I thought, but there was something about the uncomfortable silence that made me wonder otherwise.
“Is everything Ok?” I asked when we pulled up outside my house.
“Yeh, don’t worry about it. I've just had a strange day.” He looked over at me and gave a weak smile. This wasn't the Solomon I spent the mornings with in the school yard. He was distant, almost cold even. Maybe he's tired, I thought, trying to make as many excuses as I could. His eyes did look tired and were a different hue of blue then I had grown used to, they were a lot paler. But I had met up with Solomon a number of times when he truly was tired, and his character was never as vacant as it was now.
“Solomon,” I said, not convinced by his answer. “Have I done something to upset you?”
Without answering the question he looked down at his watch. “I really have to get going Claudia, can we speak another time?” he said placing his hands back on the steering wheel.
“Oh.” I said, struggling to find words. He can't know about the files already, I thought wondering why he was so upset with me. I didn't move. In fact I couldn't, my eyes trying to register any clue I could find in his expression or posture.
It wasn't tiredness I could see, it was sadness. What can I do to rem
ove the sadness from his face? I asked myself. But I didn't even know what had put it there in the first place, all I knew was that the accomplishments I had made during the day were now fading to insignificance in the light of Solomon's sudden mood change. Solomon lightly tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to let me know he was waiting to leave. “I'll see you soon then, will I?” I asked.
“Sure.” he replied without looking back to me. Slowly I got out of the car and walked up to the house door. Today has been a strange day for me too, I thought glancing back to the car before I opened my front door. But Solomon hadn't waited for me to enter as he usually would, he was already gone so I entered the house and prepared myself to find out what I could from the information I had retrieved.
CHAPTER 15
Charles was sitting at the computer in the living room when I got home. He had been working on some new lesson plans but I'd become quite good at assessing his mood, so I knew he wouldn’t mind being bothered.
“You think you have enough information to find out more about the facility you were in?” he asked, after I had explained what had happened that morning at the charity event and the information that I had downloaded from the computers.
“I really don't know, but it won't hurt to check.” I replied.
“As long as you're not planning to do anything that you probably shouldn't.” he said giving me a stern look. Not wanting to lie I shrugged my shoulders and looked away. “Claudia?” he said demanding an answer.
“Oh, dad.” I grunted, dropping my head slightly and catching my forehead in my palm. It's been a while since I had a headache, I thought as I rubbed my temples. It was starting to feel like getting the information was the easy part! I'd already dealt with Michael's questions, unknowingly upset Solomon and now I had Charles, who should really understand, questioning my motives. “I just have so many questions and they never leave me no matter how much I try, they're always at the back of my mind.”
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