The Imposter

Chapter Sixteen

I thought you already bought her a gift?” she asked. Yes, I did get her a gift, but I saw something else that she would like.” Mr. Salazar reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet. “Here,” he said, “use my card to buy whatever you need.”  

I grabbed the card, I had never had one of these for myself. “Are you sure?” I asked. Mrs. Salazar smiled at her husband and then looked at me. “Of course, honey. What’s ours is yours.” I thanked them for everything and ran to my room to grab my sweater. When I went outside, I saw a Range Rover. I wondered if I could drive it? Jaime came outside. “Are you ready to go?” Of course I was. “Can I drive?” I asked Jaime. “Do you have a driver’s licence?” He asked in his usual snarky tone. I shook my head. “Then no.” I thought that I would be able to go by myself and possibly get the chance to see my sister.  I guess that Jaime was good at reading thoughts. “Mrs. Salazar thought that it would be safer if I went with you. You don’t want to run into certain people from the past do you?” I knew he was referring to Mr. Jackson. I stepped into the car and off we went.

When we got to the shopping center, I got out of the car and told Jaime that I wanted to go to the jewelry store. We were both walking when I saw them. It was Jonah and Julie. I completely forgot that they both worked at this shopping center. What was I going to do? If Jonah says anything about the day we met, I’m dead. And this time it would be for reals. I tried to walk past them, but all of a sudden, Julie caught sight of me. “Erick, is that you?” she said as she got closer to me. “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” I started walking away, but she grabbed my hand. “No, it can't be. We were told you had died." Jaime got concerned. He grabbed her hand. “Please, don’t touch Mr. Salazar.” She started laughing. “What's all of this? Who is he? And why did he call you Mr. Salazar” I couldn’t let her know what was going on. “What is going on? We were so worried. We thought that you had died. Wait until…” She didn’t finish. Someone grabbed her hand.  Jonah.  He saw me and then saw Julie. “Julie, why are you disturbing the clients?” Julie looked at him and pointed to me. “It’s him! It’s  Erick!” Jonah saw me and grabbed Julie. “No Julie, that’s not him. We’re sorry for the confusion.” I started walking away. When I took a look back, I saw them both arguing about something. 

“We should go,” Jaime said. I still hadn’t gotten my gift. “I know of  another place where we can get what you want.” I agreed. It was too risky to stay any longer. I couldn’t believe what was going on. There was a part of that  deep down inside that wanted to go back and tell Julie that it was me. I knew that this was not a good decision. Instead, I just went on with Jaime leading the way to a new shopping center. 

At the jewelry store, I asked the lady at the counter to show me a simple necklace. I chose one that I knew Alana would love. I asked Jaime if we could stop somewhere I could walk. We stopped at a local park. I walked and thought for about two hours. I thought of what my life would be like if I hadn’t accepted the deal. Would I be living with the Jackson's still? Would anyone believe me if I told them what Mr. Jackson had done? Jaime walked up to me and asked if I was ready to go. “It’s almost time for the party and you still have to get ready.” I had completely forgotten about the party.

When I opened the door to the house, I saw a lot of worried faces. “Where were you?” Mrs. Salazar asked. She walked up and hugged me. “You didn’t answer your phone” She was worried about me. Why? “We thought you had disappeared again.” Daisy exclaimed. I never realized that I probably should have called them to let them know where I was at. Mr. Salazar walked past both women, “I’m glad you’re okay. Is there something wrong?” I smiled and shook my head. “No, I’m sorry I just got a bit distracted. I wanted to take a walk and lost track of time.” He rushed me to get ready. 

In my room, I grabbed the tuxedo that had been waiting for me. It was a black tuxedo, with a white button up shirt. I quickly put it on and started heading downstairs. Everyone was waiting for me to go. I had everything. The two presents that I had gotten for Alana and I even rehearsed something to say to her. 

We drove to the Country Club. The car was filled with silence. In my head, I continued practicing everything that I wanted to say to Alana. When we arrived at the event, I was amazed by the beauty of the place. There was a beautiful waterfall in front of the club with lights that made the water sparkle.

The place was packed with people. I remembered seeing some of them at my party. And then in the crowd I saw her. She was wearing a spectacular light pink dress. Our eyes met and she waved at me. Her parents and her walked towards us. “Hello” Mrs. Kelani said to us “we’re glad you made it.” I could tell that Mrs. Kelani was not happy to see me there. She glanced at Mrs. Salazar as if trying to warn her something.We placed our gifts on the table. Alana walked back to where her friends were at. There she laughed with them. All of a sudden she walked out of the room.

Erin came up to me, “Hey!” I waved at her as she approached me. “Alana wants to see you. She’s at the gazebo outside.” She whispered into my ear so that no one around us would hear her. Although no one have heard her. The music was so loud. I walked outside. What could she want to talk to me about? 

I met her at the gazebo.  She motioned me to sit down next to her. “Hi, I hope the party is going great,” she looked nervous as she said this. I nodded. “I guess Erin told you I wanted to talk to you. She mentioned to me the other day that you thought she was asking you out. I want to apologize for that. I should have…” I interrupted her. Was that what this was about the mix up that I had with Erin? “You don’t have to apologize. It was just a misunderstanding.” I started getting nervous with her there. 

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small box and handed it to her. “I hope you like it, I picked it out for you.” She opened the box, inside she found a necklace with an arrow. “Thank you! It’s wonderful!” She took it out of the box and asked me if I could help her with it. I fasten the necklace onto her neck. She glanced down at it and smiled. “It’s beautiful!” She looked at me with an innocent look. “It’s not as beautiful as you.” I couldn’t believe what had just come out of my mouth.

She laughed at what I said. “You do know that I have a boyfriend and that my parents want me to marry him?” I glanced at her. “I don’t care,” I said, as I started getting closer to her. I grabbed her hands, leaned in and felt my lips touching her lips. It was the first time that I ever kissed someone. It felt too surreal. The kiss felt as though it lasted twenty minutes, but in reality it might have only lasted twenty seconds. I could hear someone clearing up their throat. 

When our lips parted from each other, I looked at her to see her reaction. She had a look of fear in her face. Then she pointed at her father. I also saw my “parents” there. Mr. Kalani and my “father” started arguing. Daisy was getting Mrs. Kalani a chair to sit on. As for Mrs. Salazar, she came up to me and grabbed me by the arm. She interrupted the conversation between the men. “I’m sorry for what has happened. We must go.” She dragged me by the arm all the way to the car. When we got to the car she let go of my hand. I wanted to say something, but when I tried opening my mouth all I saw was Mrs. Salazar turn around and slap me. 

I was in shock with what had just happened. She demanded that I get in the car. I obeyed. Mr. Salazar argued with his wife all the way home. “You shouldn’t have slapped him like that. He did nothing wrong! He’s just a boy.” Mrs. Salazar ignored him. I knew had broken her rules.

When we got home. Mrs. Salazar walked me up the stairs. “You and I will talk tomorrow.” she said and walked out. Daisy came in to try and cheer me up. “Don’t worry,” she said “I’ll try talking to her so that she will go easy on you.” I shook my head. “It’s all my fault. She explained to me that I couldn’t fall in love with Alana and I did.” Daisy came closer and gave me a hug. At that moment, I knew that my whole life was about to change.

Valeria, 

I screwed up. I don’t know what’s going to happen now. You see, there’s this girl named Alana. She’s the most spectacular person that I have met. I fell in love, but that was a mistake. Today was her birthday. I got her the perfect gift, something that would show her that I cared. And then, I went and threw it all away. I gave her a kiss. Yes, I gave her a kiss, but I shouldn’t have. It was a mistake. They’re going to kick me out. And now what, I’ll have to go back to that dreaded house again. It was all for nothing. 

Erick

The rest of the night all I thought about was the way that Mrs. Salazar would tell her husband it was a lie and how I would be returned to the Jackson's for my mistake