Chapter 5 – Truth or Dare?
After leaving Chandler’s house, I did a lot of thinking about what I had learned so far. Maybe, just maybe, I had been blowing things out of proportion. Maybe there was a good reason Faedra was keeping all of this secret from me. But if there was a good reason, I sure couldn’t think of it.
We had already planned to go hiking over the weekend – just the two of us. I decided that would be a good opportunity to try and get her to talk about her powers. Maybe if it was just the two of us with nobody else around, she would come clean and tell me the truth.
I borrowed Mom’s car and picked up Faedra on Sunday afternoon after she and her family got back from church. We drove out to a favorite hiking trail of mine – one that skirted the top of a mountain, then shot almost straight down and finally ended at a lake that almost no one ever went to. After hiking down to the lake, we ate the lunch we had brought and just listened to the forest sounds. No cars, no dogs barking... nothing but the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the occasional fish that would disturb the top of the water as it snagged a bug for a lunch of its own. It was peaceful.
“You never really told me why you stopped coming to the meeting about six months ago,” I began. “I know you said that you didn’t feel comfortable sharing with everyone and all, but I wonder if there’s something else – some other reason.”
I tried to be nonchalant and not stare at her too intensely as I waited for her to respond. Her lips puckered and she drew back one corner of her mouth the way she did whenever she didn’t want to answer a question.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. She looked away from where I was sitting, obviously not wanting to look me in the eye. I guessed she figured it was easier to avoid telling me the truth that way.
“You sure there’s nothing you want to tell me?”
She looked down at her shoes and started scratching in the dirt with the tip of her sneaker. I thought she was just going to tell me ‘no’ and move on. After I heard what came out of her mouth next, I wished she had.
“Dylan,” she began, still looking down at her shoe as she continued scratching in the dirt, “do you think I’m pretty?”
I felt a hot feeling creeping into my face. I knew my cheeks were probably turning red. Faedra turned and looked at me with her nose all scrunched up, her eyebrows raised – kind of like she was waiting to hear something she didn’t want to hear. And me, Dylan, the guy who always had something to say and never lost his cool in front of a crowd... I suddenly found myself tongue-tied.
“I, ahhh, of course, ahhh, yeah, I mean... sure, you’re pretty,” I fumbled. When I’d said the word ‘sure’, my voice had shot up about two octaves. It had sounded like a bird chirping. Now it was my turn to stare at my shoes. I felt like I wanted to dissolve into the ground.
She laughed and then said, “You don’t have to be embarrassed; I think it’s cute.”
I didn’t ask what she was referring to as ‘cute’, whether it was my Rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer face, my suddenly cracking high-pitched voice, or the fact that I couldn’t form a complete sentence. I decided it didn’t matter. On top of that, I was having a hard time remembering what we had been talking about before she’d asked me that question.
A beeping sound suddenly started coming from Faedra’s backpack. She fished out her phone and then frowned as she read a text message. When she looked back up at me, all of the previous light-heartedness was gone from her expression.
“I have to get home, right now.”
“Okay, no problem, we can start hiking back,” I replied.
“Dylan, I need you to do something for me, and please don’t ask me why. I need you to give me a ten-minute head start before you start hiking back. My dad’s gonna give me a ride at the trail head, so I won’t be riding home with you.”
I nodded my head up and down. She was probably expecting me to protest or something but knowing what I knew, it made total sense. If she needed to get home fast, she didn’t need me slowing her down. As soon as I was out of sight, she could fly off and probably be home before I got back to the car.
“Yeah, okay,” I responded.
She looked relieved, and then turned and started jogging along the trail back to the car.
“Be safe!” I yelled after her when she was almost out of sight. A few minutes later, I saw a dark speck in the distance, soaring through the sky.
* * * * *
I had a lot to think about on the hike back to the car. First, Faedra hadn’t given me any more information about why she’d stopped coming to the support group meetings. Second, she hadn’t taken the opportunity to come clean when I’d given her the chance by asking if there was anything she wanted to tell me, so she obviously had no intention of telling me the truth about her superpowers. And third, what was up with her asking me if I thought she was pretty? Was she starting to have the same feelings for me that I was beginning to have for her? The thought made me smile for a second – until I remembered that she was flat-out lying to me about something very important.
I thought about how to handle the situation all the way home. I could confront her with the video, proving that I already knew she was a super, but then where would that leave us? What else might she be lying to me about? How could I get her to voluntarily tell me the truth without letting her know what I already knew? I didn’t want to lose our friendship, but she had violated my trust. How could I trust her again unless she showed me that she valued our relationship more than her secret?
The solution came to me at a stop light while I was waiting for the light to turn green. It was so simple that I was surprised I hadn’t thought of it sooner. A big smile came across my face, and I drove home a happy man – well, teenager – but you get the point.
I was going to pick a fight with Bruno.