Her Brother's Keeper: A Story of Alpha Centauri

An Evening to Remember 3

"But you're not that much older than I am!" she protested.

"I'm older than I look, so I will take that as a compliment," Miss Harrison retorted with a mysterious smile. "Now we need to move on to another subject, or we won't be eating for an hour or so, and I doubt either of us wish for that."

Christiana looked down at the plate which once contained her dinner rolls. It was currently empty because she had been nibbling on them constantly throughout their conversation. She didn't intend to let on that she was getting hungry, but the elder girl had realized it on her own.

"Okay, what should we talk about now?"

"How about we discuss the reason you would prefer not to become a Keeper?" the other female replied with a huge grin.

"Why do you wish to know so badly?"

"Why do you want to hide it so badly?"

"It's like I told Mother, I'm not sure that I am cut out to be a Keeper. It's a lot of responsibility."

"You are a terrible liar," the other girl said while resting her elbow on the table and propping her chin on her palm.

'Oh crap!' she thought as she tried her best to meet her friend's eyes.

"Why do you think I am lying?" Christiana deflected, trying to change the subject.

"Well, you aren't the type to back down. You are always competing with your family members in games, sports, and academics. Heck, when you were ten you would constantly try to take the blame for Haruhi and Johnathan every time they did something bad. You took responsibility for them five Years ago, why would you shirk it now?"

"I'm not sure if I can do it properly. Who knows, I might not even win if I join the tournament."

"This from the girl who dominates both sports and academics at her elementary school. With your abilities, you have a very good chance of winning. Even though she's older, your patSister Sakura seems to be unmotivated. Her Mother keeps pushing her to compete, and that's why she is putting forth any effort at all. She has lost once before. Why should she win this time?"

The rattled girl didn't even realize that Miss Harrison knew a lot of information about her patSister than she should have. Instead, she was struggling to develop a better excuse on the spot. Her friend was right, she was not very good at lying. Plus, despite being incredibly smart for a fifteen-Year-old, she was still only in elementary school. Making up plausible excuses on a moment's notice was not her forte.

"Look, I'm going to tell you something that might help you make the proper decision. It should give you a little more confidence in your abilities, so please listen carefully."

The girl gave her companion her undivided attention; her gaze directly on the other girl's face. Miss Harrison sat back in her chair and began speaking in a serious tone.

"I'm going to let you in on a piece of confidential information. The only person who knows this in your family is your Mother, Holly, so it is not to be discussed with anyone else. You are not to disclose what I am about to tell you, not your teachers, not your security guards, not even your siblings. This is something that most Senators do not know. They classify it above top-secret. Just talking to you about this might be considered treason by some, but it involves your genetic heritage, so I am choosing to reveal this to you."

The girl could not help but gulp upon hearing this. 'What could be so important about my lineage that it's a state secret?' she wondered while Miss Harrison took a drink from her almost empty glass. 'I've never seen her act this seriously before.'