Masked

X

"Mark I'm sorry okay? I wasn't trying to upset you or Liliana. Just punish me, I put Amelia up to this, it's not her fault," I defended her.

"Forget it Michael, you're both in trouble. Both of your punishments are to write a fifteen page essay on how wrong it is to lie to your parents and be involved. Furthermore, you'll be needing to say goodbye to Lacie when this vacation is over. We can't let her stay with us now. If we had talked to your first Michael we wouldn't be doing this. She knows too much so we'll have to return her and leave."

"No!" Amelia and I both yelled and looked at our parents.

"Liliana please," I begged her trying to see if she really knew how much Lacie meant to me.

"I'm sorry Michael, but you both knew better than this. So this is the punishment from your father and I."

Lacie had been listening to the conversation the entire time silently.

Liliana turned to her, "I'm sorry Lacie."

Neither met the other's eyes as she spoke, "it's okay Liliana, I understand. I guess it wasn't meant to be Michael. I wish I would've known sooner so I didn't have to waste my time or be broken hearted."

My jaw dropped as I saw the tears falling from her crystal blue eyes. The tears brimming in my eyes fell as well when Lacie retreated towards her room and shut the door. She couldn't possibly think this was my fault could she?

Amelia and I were excused to our rooms as she looked to me, "it's not your fault," before turning to go towards her room with Lacie and slammed the door.

I went into my room and muttered, "yes it is," and slammed the door. How on Earth was I going to be able to fix this?

"We could run away, yea it'll be risky... but I have to show Lacie how much she means to me," I told myself.

I knocked on Amelia's door softly.

"Come in Michael,"

I walked in and saw the two of them staring at each other intently.

"What's going on?"

"Trying to convince Lacie that you didn't mean to do what you did. What's your plan?" she looked at me.

I quickly explained my thoughts and waited for one of them to disagree.

"I'm in," Amelia said and looked at Lacie who still had tears in her eyes.

"If you're saying you didn't mean for this to happen then yes I'll go," she whispered.

I bent down and kissed her pale pink lips softly. She stared at me with her tear-stained eyes and gave me a tiny smile. She was forgiving me for my mistake and I felt utterly relieved.

"When do we leave?" she asked unsure of how we could manage this.

"Tonight, and I have no idea where we'll go yet," feeling a sudden uncertainty of not being prepared.

"It's okay Michael, we trust you," she hugged me tightly.

Amelia shook her head, "okay but if we do happen to get caught, what's our excuse?"

Lacie smiled, "easy. You say Michael and I got in a fight and you didn't want him to hurt me so you were taking me home before he realized. But of course he does and follows."

Amelia and I stared at her then at each other, "okay. Works for us."

Lacie giggled and grabbed her bag as she began packing things along with Amelia.

"Hey Michael we need to make sure you and Lacie still stay mad at each other for the rest of the night so Mark and Liliana don't get suspicious." Amelia finished and looked at me as if it was going to be impossible for me and Lacie to continue staying mad at one another.