The Book

I get off the bus almost running, and I jog my way home. There is no one at the house except Nina, who came in five minutes after I had already made myself comfortable in my bedroom. I hear her walking up the stairs and opening the door of her room. The book is already in my hands, but I am nervous to read it, for some reason. I remember the words the weird boy told me after giving it to me, to not let anyone see it or take it from me. 

I open the book and see the strange language that covers the first page. How am I able to understand this? I feel a tug that pulls on my stomach as I begin reading and then, there's a knock on my door. I get scared and hide the book in my backpack, quickly getting a notebook out of it. I also grab the chemistry book and a pencil. 

"Come in" I say. Nina enters my room and I am skeptical of her visit. "Hey. Are you okay?" She asks me and I look at her confused. "Yeah" I answer. I feel both nervous and excited at the fact she is finally talking to me and showing some concern for my well being. "Okay... you left the bus rushing, so I just wanted to make sure you were fine." 

I smile at Nina and she looks at me anxiously. Then, I catch her staring at my necklace. I have the pearl sticking out of my blouse. I know it is a strange pearl, but I feel like all of the sudden the people around me are noticing it more than ever. 

"Listen, I want to apologize for the way I have been behaving. I am not used to having a sister around. Can we start over?" Is Nina being sincere? I don't know... there is something about her that makes me not want to trust her, but maybe that's just me being me. I'm always thinking someone is out to get me. I need to stop that if I want to make friends. I made a friend today at school, Laura, and that feels good. Why not befriend another person? 

"Sure" I say to Nina, with a smile. "What are you working on?" She points at my book and notebook. My instincts tell me to lie. "Oh, I wanted to do my chemistry homework as soon as possible. I have to do some chores Mrs. Flores left for me. Hopefully I can go to bed early. I had a difficult day today."

"Oh, yeah, I saw what happened in the morning with those brats at the bus stop. I thought of helping, but you handled yourself pretty well" she says to me. I laugh and say thanks. 

"Were those two boys sitting near you in the bus talking to you?" I try to collect myself and disguise my facial expressions after hearing what Nina just asked me. Why is she interested in them? I act like I have no idea who she is talking about. "Jake and Blake" she says, after realizing I am clueless. Good, that means she believes me. 

"The tall guys sitting right across from you," Nina explains. I nod, demonstrating recognition now. "Oh, no, not really. I have a few classes with Jake, and one with the other one. I didn't even know his name until you mentioned it. Blake, you say?" Nina sighs and looks at me seriously. "Whatever you do, stay away from them. They are nothing but trouble. Trust me." I look away and focus on Wolfy. I stare at him while I think about what to say next. 

"Do you know them?" Nina makes a disgusted face. "Yes, they are brothers, twin brothers, not identical, obviously. They made my life a living hell last year. I just don't want them picking on the new girl again... and by that, I mean you. You are me this year." Nina stands up. "Well, I will leave you to do your homework." 

She leaves my room and I stand up to close the door again, and this time I make sure to lock it. I have so many questions now. Honestly, I am freaking out about reading the book after the conversation I just had with Nina. Although I don't trust her, I don't think it is safe for me to start reading the book before I get to know who this Blake guy is. He seems mysterious enough for me to just trust him… I have to talk to him.

I do all my homework and keep the weird book safe in my backpack. Then, I do the chores I lied about earlier. I found some stuff to do to keep me occupied and to keep up the lie for Nina. 

The Flores get home and we help with dinner. 

After dinner, I decide to take a shower so I can go to bed early, like I said I would do. 

When I fall asleep, I begin to have the same weird dreams I have been having lately. Then, I wake up screaming in the middle of the night, finding a silhouette standing in front of my bed. 

It is dark and I can't believe my eyes, so I reach for the lamp on the nightstand to turn on the light. I am shaking and terrified, so it takes me a little bit to turn on my lamp. I hear a noise and I see the person who was standing right in front of me leave the room in a hurry.

The light is on now and I find the courage to get up. I breathe in deep, trying to calm myself down and slowly walk to Nina's bedroom. I find her sleeping in her bed. How is this possible? I could have sworn that it was her in my room, minutes ago! It had to be her! Am I going crazy or is this girl up to something? What is happening? Not again, not the chaos.

I walk back to my room and try to go back to sleep but I fail to. I pray until my alarm goes off... or so I think. 

After shutting my alarm, I start getting ready for school.

When I head downstairs to eat breakfast, I don't see Nina, so I ask about her. Mrs. Flores tells me she doesn't feel good and that she won't be going to school today. "What's wrong with her?" I ask, worried and also feeling suspicious, because I thought that was her in my room last night. "Lady problems" Mrs. Flores says, with a face that shows sympathy. 

"I have lady problems sometimes too, but in my case, the ladies never seem to go away" Mr. Flores says, joking, and I laugh when his wife smacks him in the head with a kitchen towel. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, smiling and Mr. Flores says he is only kidding.

I finish my cereal and head upstairs to check on Nina, before leaving to catch the bus. "Nina?" I say, knocking on her door. "What?" She answers with annoyance. "Do you need me to do anything, like ask your teachers for any notes or assignments you might miss today? Perhaps get you a candy bar from the vending machine, or a book from the library? Anything to make you feel better?" 

There is silence… and just as I'm about to call her name again, she answers. "No! Ugh, you're so nice you make me sick! Go away, you're going to miss the bus." I smile at her response and leave the house running as soon as I hear the bus coming to our street. I get to the bus stop just as the bus is stopping and the stupid kids from yesterday are getting in. I follow them inside and pick the same spot from yesterday to sit down. 

The bus keeps moving and a few minutes after I see the two weirdos getting picked up, Jake and Blake. Jake gets in and smiles at me sweetly. I return the smile and he sits down as his brother follows him. Blake gives me an intense look and I look away. The way he looks at me makes me think we share something we are not supposed to share, like that book. He sits next to Jake and I don't look at them until it is time to get off the bus.

On our brief walk to school, I decide I better pull Blake aside so I can talk to him in private. I walk fast so I can meet him. When I am behind him, I tap him on his shoulder. He turns around and he seems surprised to find me facing him. Jake, who is walking with him, also stops. Blake almost pleads with his eyes not to mention the book in front of his brother, or so I think. I get that impression from his reaction. 

"Hey, can I talk to you in private?" I say and Jake smiles dims. "Sure" Blake says, and I can see him relax a little. He looks at his brother and signals him to go on without him. "Do you know my real parents... Are you..?" I pause for a minute. "Are you my brother?" 

Blake's face is like stone now. He stares at me and just thinks. He thinks without saying anything for a couple of minutes.

"Did you get to read the book at all?" He asks. "I... I tried, but I couldn't. I wanted to ask you some things first." Blake is anxious now and I get the impression he is scared. "Where's the book?" He asks me, looking kind of angry. "Is in my backpack" I say to him, opening my backpack to show him the book. 

"Oh no!" I search for it and can't find it. "Oh no, what? You lost it?" I don't know what to say to Blake. His hands are holding his head now and he looks at me furious. "Do you have any idea how much I'm risking giving that book to you?" He closes his eyes and sighs with frustration. "Of course not!" Blake answers his own question. 

I feel nervous... so, so nervous. "Well, I'm sure it is at the house somewhere. No one saw the book. I promise." Blake looks around and then, I can see his mind is connecting dots. "Where's your foster sister?" As I open my mouth to answer, Blake says "I knew it! We have to go back to your house, immediately!" 

Blake takes off in the opposite direction of the school's entrance.

"What's going on? Nina? She doesn't feel good, that's why she's not here." I walk quickly, trying to keep up with him. Blake walks towards the parking lot and stops in front of a car. I follow him. Is he trying to break into a car? Oh no! "Blake? Whose car is this?" 

He opens the car without a problem and gets in. "Get in!" He demands and I do as he says. "Where are we going? What is happening right now?" 

Blake drives without answering my questions.

I give up asking him anything else and a few minutes later we are parked in front of my house. How am I going to explain to my foster parents what I am doing here? 

Blake gets out of the car with me. 

"You're going to make sure your book is where you left it. I'll walk with you and you can say to your parents you forgot your book and came back for it... that I was nice enough to give you a ride." Seems like he thinks of everything… He even stole a car and I rode with him. What is wrong with me? 

My own questioning doesn't stop me from taking orders from him, because I am curious about the book and the information it contains. The only reason I'm doing this is because the book might involve my parents.

I do exactly as Blake suggests and get in the house. 

My parents are not in the living room, so I head straight to my room while Blake stays downstairs, guarding the door… I don't know why. I search around my room until I see the book. How did it get here? The book is under my bed, covered with a rug and I find Wolfy on top of the rug. I suppose I could have done this in my sleep. Maybe it fell from my backpack.

I shove the book in my backpack and set Wolfy on my bed. Then, I run back downstairs and tell Blake we can leave. We head out and I tell him the book is safe with me, in my backpack again. He sighs in relief. We get in the car and he drives back to school. 

"You need to give me some answers, man. You just stole a car to take me home, to get this book. So, obviously we are in some kind of big deal situation and I need to know!"

"First of all, I didn't steal this car, okay? I just borrowed it and we are returning it in the same condition we got it. Second, I am not your brother, but I know him... and you need to read the book so you can contact him. It is very important. And third, don't trust anyone, that includes my brother, your friends and especially Nina!" 

We arrive at the school's parking lot and Blake parks the car in the same spot we found it and we head to school. 

"Are my parents involved in some type of secret government branch or are they in some kind of illegal organization? Do you work for them, or with them?" I stop him from walking so he can look at me in the eyes and answer truthfully. 

Blake stares at me and sighs, and then, he says "I can't tell you anything right now. My job was to deliver the book to you and have you read it, so I can make sure you are the person I was supposed to find. After you do that, I can continue to carry on the rest of the plan." 

I nod at him, believing what he just told me. 

"Is it because the book is written in a different language? Is that why you need me to read it, to see if I understand? That would tell you if I'm the right person, huh?" Blake's eyes widen at the conclusion I just came up with. "Something like that," he says. "The book is written with an encrypted code that only the person who is meant to read it can understand." 

"Here" he adds, "this is my cell phone's number. You should only contact me if there is an emergency or something super weird is happening. Okay?"

I nod, taking the piece of paper from him. Then, I walk by myself to class, keeping the backpack with me at all times today, knowing how important the book inside of it is.