Braided

Chapter 16: Plans

"What?" I looked up from the papers Nathan gave me to look at him. "How would we get that kind of money?"

"I don't know." He looked as disappointed as me. He wanted everything to be a sure thing to.

I laid down on the bed and stared over at the poster we left on it. I grabbed it and hovered it over my face. I couldn't deny it the little girl did look a lot like me. we were both freckly red headed girls with scars on our thumbs. The age progression picture did sightly look like e. The only differences were the shapes of our faces. Mine was a little more rounder than hers. Some how even though it was extremely realistic it still seemed unnatural.

Nathan sat down at the desk. He was skimming through his phone. He was either skimming to see if there was any that was anything cheaper or he's doing things that people with phones do.

"Maybe it's nothing," I placed the paper next to me, "I mean Mom probably got freaked out cause the girl looks like me."

"Anything's possible." Nathan looked over at me over his phone.

He got up from the chair and laid next to me. We stared at each other smiling. It was kind of peaceful just laying there with our legs hanging over the side of the bed.

"I can get the money." he turned over at his side, "I can catch some hours at the restaurant."

"But." I was cut off before finishing.

"Don't worry, your peace of mind is all I want." He gave his adorable smile again.

I smiled back at him, he always knew what to say to make me feel safe. When I told him last night about the poster and Mom acting weird he was supportive and told that it was probably nothing and if it was something he'd be there for me.

Last night we didn't even speak about it after wards. We just ate popcorn and watched movies and played Uno. Nathan came over after his school got out and was prepared. He brought over paper printed of some DNA testing sites and explained a bit to me. It showed how much he was worried about it all, just because I was worried.

I jumped at the sound of NVU5's song My Way rang through the air and I watched Nathan as he scrambled to get the phone out of his pocket and it fell making him quickly try to catch. He failed. He was breathing heavily like he's done some hard core exercising. He did struggle a little bit with his phone, but more than likely he had a little heart attack when the phone disturbed our little bit of silence.

I rolled over and giggled into my hands, trying to keep him from hearing. I knew he heard it anyway though. He sat back down on the bed poking my side and telling me it wasn't funny while he was laughing just as much. He was holding the phone's bottom half listening to whoever was talking, but trying to not interrupt them and answered when he needed to.

"Do you think it would be alright if Naomi came over?" He asked pulling away the phone.

"Yeah!" I said excitedly.

It had been a few weeks since I last talked to her. Last time she had come over and visited it was only for a few minutes. She'd been busy with band and school. I mean a seniors life at a high school must be rough.She has school things and also has to try for scholarships and worry about college and her future in general. It must of been tiring for her.

I looked around at the missing poster, and all the testing places papers and panicked. If Naomi saw this she probably would suspect something we couldn't confirm yet. It was her cousin after all and I didn't want her to think any different of me. I placed all the papers in an old folder and placed it under everything in the bottom drawer. It was in a safe place, even Mom wouldn't dig all the way to the bottom.

"Promise you won't tell anyone, especially Naomi," I begged Nathan. I didn't wanted Naomi to see me as a freak.

"I promise." He answered hugging me.

We had made a plan and that is the start of anything.It was a plan that would assure us that it was just a misunderstanding. That all these thoughts on my whole life being a lie would stop, and I would have a peace of mind. I mean how cliched would it be if I wasn't her daughter. I may not have the average life, but my life wasn't a soap opera. I was just an average teenage girl who's a little more isolated than most from the outside world. I mean this couldn't be what we feared. Right?