Heat

by Elizabeth Caroline

  "At the hospital I met the head of the facility. Jason was dying anyway, but this doctor administered a drug which made sure he wouldn't survive."

  "You're certain." Solomon asked.

  "Yes. He told me. Anyway, he knows that I'm in Westpoint and he knows about my family and friends." I glanced at Solomon to make sure he was paying attention "He told me that if I ever interfered with the facility again he would do something bad to my friends and family."

  Solomon turned to me, his eyes narrowing for a second to gauge if I was serious or not, and then responded with a simple "ok".

  "Solomon, this is serious. Being friends with me could be dangerous, I don't want you to get hurt." I said.

  "So you think it's better if I stay away from you?"

  "I don’t know. I just don't want you to get hurt." I repeated.

  "So, you just told me that you and your family are potentially in danger and you expect me to just stop hanging out with you? Really? So Michael gets to be your bodyguard, but I should stay away to keep myself safe?"

  "That's not what I said."

  "I can actually take care of you better than Michael can."

  "This isn't about Michael and it's not a competition between the two of you anyway." I rebutted, and then remembering the situation with the pass code I added "Plus he's not even my bodyguard."

  "I'm just saying, it's my job to protect you not the other way around. Besides I can take care of myself." he said turning to offer a soft smile. "What about your family? If you stay out of his way, he'll leave your family alone?"

  "That's what he says, but I don't know."

  "Okay." he said, and looked back to the road. "Can I ask you something?"

  "Okay." I said, dreading what it might be.

  "If you ever do decide to interfere with them again. Can you let me know first? No matter how random or spontaneous it may be."

  "Of course, I told you I don't want you to get into any trouble."

  "Not so I can run away Claudia." he said, his mischievous smile spreading across his face again "Because you should have some back up, right?"

  "Please Solomon, it's not funny."

  "I'm not joking." he said seriously. "The next time you go to do anything like that, I'm coming with you." I didn't answer. "Claudia, I'm being very serious. I'll be really upset if you disappear like that again."

  "Okay." I said, not actually meaning it of course.

  "Promise?" he said, turning to look into my eyes.

  No. I thought but didn't answer.

  "Claudia?" He said his voice more forceful than usual.

  "Ok, promise." I said.

  By the time we pulled up outside my house I was feeling more like the old Claudia, only the thought of having to explain everything to Charles made me slightly nervous.

  “You know, you never asked me why I was sent to a research facility.” I said to Solomon before getting out of the car.

  “Yeh I know.” he answered. “I figured the fact that you didn't say why meant you weren't 100% comfortable discussing it. Besides, it doesn't matter, it wouldn't change anything.”

  I leaned over to him and kissed him on his cheek. “Thank you.” I whispered and then sat back in my seat. “I probably won't be in school for a few days. Do you think I'll still be able to see you?”

  “Of course. I'll call you when I finish and see what you want to do.” he said. He was smiling with only the left side of his mouth, his dimple piercing his cheek deeply making him look more school boyish than ever.

  “Okay, great. Well, I'll see you soon I guess.”

  I walked up to my house going over what I would say to everyone when I got in. Before knocking the door I looked back over at Solomon, who seemed to be waiting for me to get in, possibly to make sure I was. I waved, saddened by the fact that he was going to leave, but too happy by that fact that I actually have him to let it hurt too much, and then I turned back to the door and knocked.

  CHAPTER 21

  It was quite early still, at least an hour until dawn, so it took a few knocks before Veronica finally pulled the door open. She was dressed in her usual dressing gown and slippers and was also wearing one of her biggest smiles when she saw me in the doorway. She hugged me for what seemed like a very long time and then brought me into the living room. Charles was sprawled out across the sofa fast asleep.

  “He hasn't slept well at all since you left.” Veronica said. I kneeled down next to him and brushed a lock of his golden hair from his forehead. Charles frowned as my hand ran across his head, I wonder if he is having a bad dream, I thought.

  "Dad" I called softly. He wasn't a heavy sleeper, but I had to repeat his name a few times before he finally opened his eyes, his forehead rumpled into a confused frown.

  “Claudia" he said, jumping up from the sofa to catch me in a tight embrace. "Why did you leave like that?"

  "I'm sorry."

  "You promised you would come to me!"

  “Really dad, it all just happened so quickly.”

  He shook his head. "You can't make promises if you don't intend to keep them and you can't just get up and walk out without a word and then not bother to come back.” He said. His voice was firm, but his eyes were filled more with sadness than anger. A distant type of sadness as if maybe he was referring to more than what had just happened. "It can’t happen to me again Claudia!" He continued, clarifying what I already thought.

  “I'm sorry.” I said, the guilt even more now that he had eluded to the fact that my disappearance had reminded him of my mother's.

  “Just don't do it again.” he said and kissed me on my forehead.

  The rest of the morning went a lot easier than I had expected it to. Rachael woke up not long after I got home, and we all we sat in the kitchen while Veronica made pancakes. Mostly small talk was made around the table, until Rachael, who obviously couldn't wait any longer asked exactly where I had been and what I had been doing. Charles gave her a harsh reprimanding look as he normally did when Rachael couldn't help but say what was on her mind.

  “It's okay, I really should explain.” I said realising that I actually liked Rachael quite a lot and so, starting with R's visit to my school, I began telling them what had happened over the last 3 weeks. I didn't leave anything out from the scenarios with Q and Z, but decided a quick rundown of my three weeks on the run would be better than the lonely, drawn out version I had lived. I managed to get through the whole story stopping only a few times to cry. I had envisioned a lot more nerves when it came to telling the story, but after seeing how well Solomon had taken it, I knew I would be safe telling my family.

  And as I spoke they reacted as I would have expected any true family who cared to react. Asking questions, giving concerned remarks, and although there was an obvious disapproving tone to the feedback due to that fact I hadn't included them when it was actually happening. There was not once, any look of hatred or fear as I had seen in the eyes of other people before.

  * * *

  I sat up in my bed the next morning and looked around my room. I was so happy to finally be home again, not just for the bed, food and showers, but because I was back amongst the people I loved and who, I had finally accepted, loved me back.

  It was Monday, a school day, but I had decided to take a few days off to properly recuperate before going back in. I went downstairs and had breakfast as usual with Charles, Rachael and Veronica, who all seemed to have taken what happened with Q quite well. Rachael even eluding to the fact that Q deserved it, although she didn’t say it in as many words.

  Veronica was more concerned with the fate of Jason and the fact that they could always produce more children to experiment on. Charles did discuss returning to the facility with me to destroy the samples, but Charles felt it was too risky with Z’s threat looming over our friends and family. So in the end we decided it was better to lay low for a while and think of something else we could do which wouldn't jeopardise any ones safety.

  Later that day Solomon vi
sited with Emily and Stacy. Solomon had already told them that a close friend of mine from the orphanage had died and as I was taking it very badly it was better not to ask too much about it.

  Stacy came again the next day with Susanne and on Wednesday I had a visit from Michael who, despite our shaky start, had become quite a good friend, as well as taking his role as bodyguard quite seriously.

  “So are you two going to tell me what really happened?” he asked as he sat in the garden with me and Solomon.

  “What makes you think we haven’t?” I asked curiously.

  “Come on! You were at school with Solomon and then some woman shows up and you disappear, leaving your school bag behind. Solomon was freaking out, like he thought you’d been kidnapped or something. Then, we finally get through to Charles and he doesn’t know where you are, but the next day he tells us that you had to rush off to an old friend's wedding or something like this.”

  “Right! Are you calling my father a liar?” I said raising an eyebrow.

  “No, it's not that. It's just ... Maybe I don’t know you as well as I think I do, but I can’t imagine you being so excited about a wedding that you just left the city without saying goodbye to anyone. Not even your Dad.”

  I laughed, it did sound unreal when you put it like that. I looked at Solomon, who just shrugged his shoulders to indicate that it was up to me if I decided to tell him. I knew Solomon trusted Michael enough to think it was safe to tell him, and to be quite honest so did I. But as I ran through the story, deciding what I would and wouldn't tell him, the heaviness once again weighed down on my chest so instead I decided I had talked about it one too many times already.

  “I really don't want to go over it right now.” I said suddenly becoming serious.

  Michael nodded understandingly, “But we agree that the wedding story was a lie, yeh?”

  I nodded.

  “Ok cool. You don't need to explain if it's too difficult. Just don't do it again. I know you're still fairly new to this 'friend stuff' as you call it, but normally when we're in a problem. We tell our friends and ask for their help. Right?”

  I nodded again and Michael didn't push the subject. He was good like that, not someone to push his opinions or try to get to talk about things you didn't want to, as long as you were honest when you did speak, he was happy.

  We sat in the garden until Veronica came to let me know dinner was ready, she did invite the boys to stay and eat, but they didn't want to intrude so they decided to go.

  “Oh, I forgot to mention.” Solomon said as I walked them to his car. “Peter's been asking about you, he said to send his regards.”

  “Peter? Really? That's sweet. I didn't know he noticed anything outside of his video games.” I said with a hint of sardonicism.

  “Ouch. That wasn't very nice.” Michael said with a smirk on his face.

  “I know, sorry. It's just, he's never spoken to me … at all!”

  “Yeh, don't take it too personally. He's a quiet guy.” Solomon said.

  “I know. Well, at least he thinks of me, I guess.”

  Michael laughed and nodded his head.

  “Well, return the gesture to Peter. Tell him it was nice to hear from him.” I said as Solomon opened the door to get into the car.

  I waved as they drove away and then walked back to the house putting 'get to know Peter' down on a mental list of things I needed to do. I didn't really know how I would achieve that since he hardly spoke and I wasn't the best when it came to getting to know people. But as Michael had already proved, if Solomon saw him as a 'good guy', he probably was.

  * * *

  By the time Friday came I was quite enjoying my time off, I spent the whole morning with my family and every evening I had a visit from one of my school friends. I seemed to have spent more time with my friends by not being at school, but admittedly, it wasn't the same seeing them one by one rather than all together.

  Emily and Stacy came to visit me after school that day, with a large 'get well soon' card and a box of chocolates.

  “Everyone was asking how you were after I came to see you, and I didn't really know what to say. So I told them you were really unwell, and … well, they all put together and bought this for you.” Emily said with an embarrassed expression as she gave me the card. Emily hadn't asked much about my disappearance, but she quite obviously didn't believe the wedding story either.

  Graciously, I accepted the card and chocolates, thanking them for collecting it for me. Then I opened it and put it on the table for us to share. We spent the next few hours sitting in the garden talking, Emily and Stacy having their usual rants about pop idol and celebrities.

  “Sorry, I took so long.” Solomon said when he came to pick them up. “I had to run a few errands for my aunt. I hope they weren't too much” They had already gotten into the car and Solomon was walking me back to the house.

  “No, they were fine.” I replied with a look of bemusement, you would have thought he had left me to babysit two pre-schoolers the concern he was showing.

  “It's just I know there's a big difference to seeing Emily randomly throughout the day and a solid 5 hours with her, and Stacy on top of that. WOW!” he chuckled.

  “They're not that bad Solomon.” I laughed.

  “Anyway, I'd better get them back, I just wanted to apologise for not coming yesterday.”

  “Yeh. What happened? I was expecting you.”

  “I know. I had training and then Michael had me running around town on some mission. I didn't get back until quite late.”

  “It's okay, as long as it was Michael that you were out with all night.” I said although I didn't really suspect otherwise. Solomon smiled. It was one of those cute, shy smiles he sometimes did. “I actually wanted to ask you something. You know, I haven't done anything for a while so I was wondering if you wanted to go to the cinema or something tomorrow.”

  “Sure, I don't mind. How did the girls feel about it? They all went out last weekend, remember?”

  “Yeh. I didn't ask them.” I said, watching my foot as I brushed it along the floor nervously. “I meant just me and you, maybe?” Solomon didn't answer for a while, his eyes slightly narrowed, trying to figure something out, and then the corner of his mouth slowly curled into a smirk.

  “Claudia?" he said slowly. "Are you asking me out on a date?”

  I bit down on my lip, trying to stop the nervous laugh that was erupting in my stomach “I guess so.” I said.

  “Wow," he said, combing his fingers through his hair. "What time should I collect you?”

  “Around 5?” I said, hoping it wasn't too early and I didn't seem too eager.

  “Ok, 5's good.” he replied quickly.

  “Okay, see you then” I said and went back into the house.

  * * *

  I walked back and forth in my bedroom looking at the pile of clothes on my bed. I wasn't normally so picky about what I wore, but somehow every outfit I'd tried on tonight just didn't seem right. Too casual, too dressy, too 'I just feel like staying in bed today!'

  “Did you want something to eat before you went out?” Rachael asked as she peered around the door.

  “No, I'm not hungry.” I answered. “But you can help me with something if you're not busy.”

  “Sure, what's the problem?” she asked walking into the room.

  “There's no problem. I'm just wondering, if you were going out with a friend what you would choose to wear?” I asked trying to appear nonchalant. Rachael looked down at the pile of clothes on the bed.

  “Anything.” she said quickly, “Unless it was some kind of occasion or something.”

  “No. No occasion, just maybe you wanted to look different, for once.” I shrugged my shoulder as I spoke, hoping my nervousness wasn't too apparent.

  Of course being Rachael, the queen of scepticism, she had already caught on. She looked at me inquisitively, and then smiled. “I see.” she said “I guess if I wanted to look 'different', I might choose something s
pecial; that I've never worn. Like that outfit you bought in Paris, you haven't worn it yet.” She walked over to the cabinet and pulled it out. It was a black dress with no straps and a sweetheart neckline.

  “I can't wear that.” I said, I had never really considered wearing it when I bought it, buying it simply because I thought it was pretty.

  “Of course you can, and I can give you some earrings to match it.” she said putting it into my hands. “Put it on and I'll be right back.”

  I got dressed and looked into in the mirror, the soft fabric embraced my body, wrapping around my waist and chest like a dark veil. It was shorter in the front, leaving my legs in sight. I took in a deep breath. I did look different. So different, that I also felt different. Butterflies fluttered around my stomach as I thought of what the night might hold for me.

  I'm really going on a date, with Solomon. The thought had crossed my mind before but it had always made me more nervous over the future than anything else. Tonight though, I was finally ready and I wanted it more than anything.

  “Beautiful.” Rachael said when she came back into the room. She walked over and pushed 2 small diamanté earrings into my ears. Good job Mrs Maple had decided to get my ears pierced, I thought. Then she pulled a comb out of her pocket and started pinning up sections of my hair. When she finished she stood in front of me for few seconds to admire her handiwork and then she nodded her head and walked back out of the room. "Tell me all the details when you get home." she said over her shoulder as she walked out.