Clandestine

eighteen

-julia-

I wait until my mother leaves for work. Her departure time varies every day depending on what meetings she has, so it's difficult to guess when she's actually going to leave the house.

She leaves around eleven.

I leave Carlotta and Rosalina in my room, mumbling something about going to look for lunch. Hopefully they don't' try to follow me and find the kitchen empty. I don't know if they hear me. Rosalina is too busy shouting into her phone as she looks for a new model. Carlotta glances up from her phone, where she's probably reading swimmer stats and researching videos of her favorite team.

I sneak down the stairs to my mother's office. I beg the entire way that it isn't locked. No one ever goes into her office when she isn't there, so why would she have the need to lock it. Everyone is too afraid of her to ever consider breaking into her office.

It's time I stop that trend.

I try to turn the handle and curse. It's locked. My mother is too paranoid. Of course she is.

I pull Rosalina's bright pink bobby pin out of my hair and try to remember the countless videos I have watched on this. I like to pretend that I some genius spy, when really I'm just a foolish girl who tries to pretend to know how to do things.

I jam my bobby pin and jiggle it like I know what I'm doing. I think of the pins in the lock and how you have to move certain ones, but I don't remember how you know what pins to move.

The longer I stand there wiggling the pin in the lock, the more desperate I become. What if a staff member walks down the hall? They would surely know to report this to my mother, Even if they didn't directly report it, the house would be buzzing with the gossip of it. My mother would find out sooner or later.

Footsteps patter down the stairs. A cleaning maid? One of the kitchen staff coming to see what we would like for lunch?

I try to yank the bobby pin out of the lock so that I can hide. Instead, it becomes caught. I can't just leave it. A bright pink bobby pin would certainly catch the attention of anyone in the staff. It wouldn't take long for them to pin in back on me. The bright pink bobby pin match my hair color perfectly.

I stand in front of the door and try to pull it out. What if the bobby pin breaks inside of the lock? My mother will certainly know when she tries to unlock her door later.

The person steps off the staircase and turn down this hall. My silent begging that they go the other way falls flat.

They turn the corner and I sigh a breath of relief.

Carlotta.

"What are you doing? I thought you were going to get us lunch," Carlotta says.

For a second I consider lying, but she's my best friend. I have to tell her. "I'm trying to break into my mom's office. There's something that I need to see."

She peers at me, "Your future as a politician is really stressing you out, isn't it?"

I consider correcting her and telling her that it's only a small part of a very terrifying mess. But I just nod. It's too complicated to explain while whispering in the hall.

She peers at the bobby pin jammed into the lock, "Were you trying to unlock this?"

"Yeah, I thought I know how, but it turns out that I don't."

"I can do it, I think." She twists and turns the bobby lock. Within five seconds, she swings the door open and whisks the bright pink bobby pin back into my hair.