F.A.I.T.H.

MOVIE >scene89> - A Dorm. A Delinquent. A Girl.

"Sit." Lexis demanded.

"Why?" Anthony was suddenly nervous. He had just come back from the doctor's office and Lexis had been waiting for him in the Ellis wing. "Did I do something wrong?"

Anthony sat on the sofa and Lexis walked to the window. "You do know how upset I can become, don't you Anthony?"

"Yeah. Its pretty scary." Anthony said with honesty. Even though Lexis had never been throughly angry with Anthony himself, Anthony had witnessed his anger when he fought with their father. And it was terrifying.

"You also know that I could easily tell if someone is lying or not." Lexis turned around and eyed his brother.

Anthony nodded. "Almost like you're inside their head."

"Where did you first meet Rihanna?"

Anthony froze, caught off guard. His eyes were split wide open as he stared at Lexis.

Lexis' eyebrows pulled up.

Anthony pursed his lips.

"When you asked about the blind spot, she was the one who found it. Why was she using it?"

Oh god, Rihanna was going to kill Anthony. She hates Lexis, and she clearly warned him that she'd go sensei on him if he ever opened his mouth to Lexis about her.

That aside, how is he supposed to lie to Lexis? Its impossible. The consequences could be brutal. He can't risk his life. If he lies, he might risk Rihanna's too.

"She jumped down from the high wall ninja style."

"I'm guessing you couldn't find her for a long time after that incident, and that's why you had that great depression for some period of time. And then you found her again. Where?"

Anthony grunted. "You have to promise not to tell her though. Or anyone else. She'll kill me."

"Because that's what I do all day, gossip." Lexis said with a slight smile, humor dripping from each word.

Anthony threw his head back and cackled. "She was in the boys' gym, in the shower, washing glue that Summer poured on her."

"And you were there because...?"

Anthony cleared his throat, and in a low voice that he wished Lexis wouldn't hear, he quickly said. "I pulled a prank on this guy and him and his friend were chasing me."

Lexis sighed. "So you hid behind her until they left?"

Anthony shook his head. "Not quite. She's really good at fighting. She beat both of them up with some ninja moves and we ran away."

"What do you mean..." Lexis trailed off when he remembered what Devon told him. He had mentioned that she gave Judo classes to kids on a daily basis. He just never realized that it would be any good that it had Anthony wired up like this.

"After that? What happened?"

"Well, we hid in the piano room, where she plays the piano like Cara used to. I didn't know that she did until she practically kicked me out of the room. Then I came in and–" Anthony cut off what he was going to say as his eyes became glazed with a memory.

"What are you thinking about?" Lexis sat in front of him, his eyes squinted at his little brother's frozen state.

"One time..." Anthony said, his eyes still frozen, his voice low with fear. "She was playing the piano. She always played sad songs, but that time she played a really happy one. And she didn't cover her eyes. It was the most amazing thing, but then something bad happened. I don't know what happened to her. She was fine one second, saying that she's really glad that I existed in her life too, and the next second she passes out. Just dropped to the ground and, and," Anthony's breathing was tormented by the memory. "I thought she died."

"Did you ask her what happened?"

Anthony looked at Lexis and nodded. "She said she had a long day. Summer bullied her and she had glue all over her clothes that she had to wash off. And everyone knew about her being poor so I kind of understood."

"She was lying." Lexis looked down at his entwined fingers, wondering what could have caused the unconsciousness. Clearly there is something about piano playing that makes her edgy, too vulnerable. And he wondered what that was.

"I need you to do something for me." Lexis said. "Get me a number from her phone. Or the phone's password, either will work."

Lexis will never forget her face expressions when she had to write the invitation card for the D triple A event. Surely the person she was texting will give away more information about her.

Anthony stood to his feet. "No way! That's deceiving her. I can't do that."

"I need you to help me with this Anthony."

"Lexis! I like her, okay? A lot. I don't want to ruin my relationship with her because of something so stupid."

"Its something important. For the Academy."

"I don't care about the Academy! I know you don't either. There is no way I'm doing something so mean to her." Anthony turned away aggressively, but paused long enough to look at Lexis and say. "And thanks for asking how my appointment went today." Anthony left, more upset with his brother than he ever was.

Lexis sighed and leaned back on the sofa. He grabbed the tablet that he had been reading from before Anthony came in, and opened the page that he was on.

Thank you for sticking to your promise and not coming today to the appointment. I truly believe it's healthier for the both of you. Here is the report of today's visit.

Cam Palandro, M.D.

Lexis opened the document and began reviewing it. 

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