Wanted Lies

-=Chapter 2=-

Caleb took Maia's arm and dragged her into the hallway. "Sorry, my family is a little weird." "No worries!" Maia stared at the pictures on the walls. There were paintings by not very well known artists. Well, they weren't well known to her. But one stood out. It was a family portrait. It was framed in a huge golden frame, while the others were in silver frames. It was black and white and it had Elise and Ansel at the top row, and what looked like a 5 year old Caleb on the left, a 4 year old Clayton, and in the middle of both boys, a 3 year old Faye. At the top, in big, shimmery, black letters that spelled 'The Wolffe Family" were pasted in a perfect straight line.

"That was a long time ago, like 12 years ago." Caleb announced. There were more family pictures. One was of Caleb in a diaper box. Laughing Maia said, "Is this you?" He tried to find the picture she was talking about, and when Maia saw Caleb's face turn bright red, she knew he had. "Yeah" he said, embarrassed.

"So, who is Derrick? Is he new?" She was still thinking of every single event that had happened to her, trying to remember where she knew Derrick. But nothing came to her. "Yeah, he came from Canada. He went back to visit family, and he just came home today." Jackpot! She lived in Canada too. Now she narrowed down all the events. The events where she actually was in Canada. But still nothing came to her. Maybe he was just a friend. But it didn't feel like it. It felt as if he'd done something big to her.

"Are you hungry? I can get you some tofu or salad." After getting off a plane and walking around street corner her stomach was empty."I'll have some tofu." Caleb slipped into the kitchen and shoved two plate fulls of white rice and tofu laid perfectly on top of it, into the microwave. While he let the microwave heat their 5 course meal, he took out 2 silver sets of forks and knives. After the clock on the microwave counted down from 47 seconds to 0 seconds, Caleb took out the plates and laid them down on the table.

"So your staying here and I'd like to get to know you. If that's okay." with her mouth full of rice she answered, "nah.." Another piece of tofu went into her mouth. "I mean it's your house, I should get to know you... When did you get here?" That was a close one. He'd already asked her enough questions in the car. She was sweating like she'd just gone on a run and thinking like she was Einstein. Maia didn't want to go through that again. Once was enough.

"I moved here around 2nd grade which was about 10 years ago." She tried to calculate his age. In second grade you are 7 and plus 10 years. He was 17 years old, in 12th grade! "You're 17?" Caleb proudly said,"Yep, how old are you?" The more information she gave out the closer he would get to knowing her. She felt as if she could trust him, but you can never trust anyone. "15..., but I'm turning 16" he couldn't figure out her just by her age. For all he knew she was Maia Smith, 15 years old, from Wisconsin. But there was no such person as Maia Smith, 15 years old, from Wisconsin.

Caleb went and grabbed both plates in his hands like a waiter. He put them all in the dish washer and cranked it up. Maia looked up at the digital clock on the oven that read '9:30'. "Nine thirty already?" Caleb exclaimed. "I have to go to school tomorrow, where did you go to school?" Thinking back the story she made up, she said,"Wisconsin" "Well I go to school not far from here, we just have to get you registered in tomorrow and you can go to school here, until you go back." Until she went back? If she ever went back to Canada, her sister would kill her, her parents wouldn't look at her, and everyone else would turn her in to the police.

"No, I'm never going back!" "You're going to stay here? I mean I guess I could make some adjustments."Caleb was thinking about how he could make room and Maia saw it on his face. "No, just until I get some money to get an apartment, is that okay?" "Of course, even longer if you need to." Caleb had a smile on his face. Maia could tell he was a nice guy.

She started heading upstairs with a pink Hello Kitty towel in her hand. Caleb said that that was the only soft towel they had. It was nice of Caleb to go through all this trouble for her, letting her stay in his house, giving her food, and looking for the softest towel, but if he ever figured out why she was here and not in Canada, he would never forgive her. Just as she arrived to the bathroom, someone came out. She saw that same familiar smirk on his face. "After you." The man motioned his hand to let Maia in. She had a forced smile on her face, "Thanks sir." He stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear, "It's okay, call me Derrick." Then he plopped downstairs, still grinning.