Gifted

Ch. 11 He Knows

              Ok, longest chapter yet guys, sorry to those of you who tend to like the short and sweet chapters more...

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              "Don't you have a date today?" Franklin asked as he walked across the hall to the dining room of his little home in Augusta. It was quaint, but well furnished, unlike many other homes in Maine. The dining table was dark cherry wood, covered overtop by a simple red table cloth. The walls were a neutral beige color.

                 "Yes," Amanda said, looking up at her boss as he came and sat down with his oatmeal. "I think he plans on asking me to the football game with him, nothing special, maybe he has a plan for after the game. However, I already know what troubles Mr. Aiden LeFlour."

                 Franklin dropped the spoon and looked at the young Ms. Holloway, "And?"  he asked.

                 "He knows," she said feigning disappointment.

                 "How much does he know?" Franklin demanded for further details.

                 "Well he didn't exactly tell me everything, but he did say that you 'made him feel welcome, not letting him know that your true purpose is to use him.'"

                 Franklin slammed his hand down on the table, and the fire on the candles blew up into tall blue flames. "Damn it," he burst out, "he wasn't supposed to find out so soon."

                 "I told him I had heard some teachers talking about him skipping seventh hour and to be careful. Today I'll work on getting him back to class. I'll assure him, tell him that he can't possibly know the whole story," she carried on.

                 "Get him into class today," Franklin commanded.

                 Amanda looked surprised, "It's not as if I have an abundance of time to convince him. I have about two minutes before first hour."

                 "No my dear, you have all of first hour, and the additional two minutes prior."

                 "Okay," she sighed. Her family needed her to succeed. Six months ago her mother had given birth to a child. It wasn't expected, or planned for, but never the less, it happened. When the baby was born the Holloways thought it was a forgone conclusion that it would be gifted, but when the midwife held the infant in her arms and cut the umbilical cord, the first thing she noticed were the baby's hazel eyes.

                 The Holloways and their neighbors did their best to keep it a secret. They even managed to hide the baby during a march, but it was a close call, and would not have been a success if the baby had awoken from his nap mid-march. It was apparent they could not keep the act up for forever. Franklin came a day or two before the next march, promising his help to conceal the baby. However, he did not do it out of pure charity, he wanted something in exchange. He needed someone to help him carry out a plan he had, and she had to be of high school age. Needless to say, Amanda Holloway more than fit the description.  She knew she could not fail. Society may have done wrong by them, but they could not give up their baby boy, even if he was not like them.

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                 Amanda walked calmly to Aiden as he stood outside Fisher's classroom. He was facing the other way, talking to Jon, as always. She slipped her hand in to his and said hello. She leaned her head against his arm. He had a deceptively strong build. He was lean, but still had a reasonable muscle mass.