Read author's note at end. Comment too.

"Guess where am I going to spend my summer vacations?" Hilda blocked my way as soon as I entered the school gates.

"I don't really care," I said, and tried to side step her, but her faithful friend Lisa blocked my way with her arms crossed across her chest.

"Oh, you do care," she said, smiling.

"Why should I?" I asked, tiredly.

"Remember when we were in 7th grade..." Hilda said.

"Yes?" I said.

"One day, during the English lecture..." she stopped again, waiting for me to respond.

I kept staring at her with a bored look on my face.

"All the students had to tell what their dream place was. Do you remember?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"And you said it was your ultimate dream to visit Switzerland," she said.

"So?" I asked.

"I'm going to Switzerland this summer. You can come with me," she said.

"Why would you want me to come with you?" I asked. "Plus, I can't afford the trip."

"That's the reason. I think there is no way you can ever afford to go. So, being the kind person I am, I have decided to take you with me. You won't have to pay even a tiny bit of money," she said.

"Why would you do that?" I asked, ignoring what she said about me never being able to afford the trip.

"I told you, I have a kind heart," she said, looking innocent.

"When hell freezes over," I scoffed. "What's in it for you?"

"Nothing," she said.

"Well, whatever the reason is, the answer's no," I said, and pushed Lisa out of my way.

No way was I ever going to believe that Hilda was taking me on a free trip to my dream place, without taking something in return. She was probably planning to make me be her slave the entire trip.

"I'm sure your daddy will never take you there. Oh I forgot, he won't be taking you anywhere anytime soon. Or ever, for that matter," she snickered. "You may as well except my offer."

It wasn't the first time she had made fun of me for being an orphan, but it was the first time it angered me.

"Shut up!" I growled, struggling to keep my tears inside my eyes.

"Why so angry?" she snickered again.

I was so angry that I couldn't even reply.

"What's going on here?" asked Harvey stepping between me and Hilda.

"Don't interrupt us, Harvey. I'm giving her a chance of a life time," Hilda said smugly.

"She doesn't want to take the chance. Thank you very much," said Harvey and grabbed my arm to lead me away.

"I'm taking her to Switzerland with me this summer," she said.

"I'm sorry but she can't come," Harvey scowled.

"And you know that how?" asked Hilda, challenging.

"Because she already said that she's going to spend her vacations with me and Jamie," Harvey lied.

"I thought she was only taking my place as your friend. But now I can see she's so much more imposing than I ever was. Involving herself with your cousins too," Hilda said, disgust obvious in her voice.

"She's not imposing. Jamie and I invited her ourselves," Harvey countered.

"You never invited me. And if I gave any hint, you said that it was family only," she said. "And Mary is clearly not family."

"It's a free country," Harvey said airily.

She threw Harvey a disgusted look before turning to leave.

"I always knew you were dying to come, Harvey taunted her cheerfully.

Hilda turned back with a growl.

"You'll pay for this!" she snapped at me.

"Me? Are you freaking kidding me right now?" I yelled.

"Yes, you," she yelled back. "You took away my best friend."

"I did not..." I started.

"I thought I was your best friend," Lisa interrupted me, looking hurt.

I raised my eyebrows, as if mocking Hilda.

"You are," Hilda turned to Lisa. "I meant guy best friend."

"Oh," Lisa looked relieved at once.

I rolled my eyes.

"Let's go, Mary," Harvey grabbed my arm again.

"Remember my warning, Mary," Hilda said, pointing a finger at me.

"I did not take him away," I scowled. "You repelled him away."

"Don't you dare justify your actions," she snapped.

"Justify my actions? I am not justifying anything. I do not have any actions to justify," I said.

"You know you..." Hilda started.

"Now now," Harvey interrupted. "No one took me, or repelled me. I am a human being who has his own mind and can make his own decisions."

"But she manupilated you, Hilda scowled.

"I manupilated him? Oh no, he suddenly got out of your manipulation," I said.

"There goes the bell," Harvey tried to stop our fight.

"You are a liar," Hilda snapped at me, ignoring Harvey.

"I'm a liar? I..." I started.

"Stop repeating what I say," Hilda screamed.

"Stop repeating what you say?" I said and let out a gwaffaw.

Hilda stepped towards me seething with anger, her hands outstretched.

Harvey grabbed my arm, yet again, and dragged me away from her.

I turned my head around and threw Hilda a mocking smile before following Harvey to the class.

***

"Mary Mary, you're looking scary," sang Harvey, placing his lunch tray beside mine.

I ignored him and popped a chicken popcorn into my mouth.

He poked me in my ribs.

I grabbed his finger and twisted it.

"Ow!" he yelped.

"What happened?" I smiled sweetly.

"Nothing," Harvey smiled even more sweetly in return.

"Where's Jamie?" I asked.

"Dunno," he shrugged, still smiling.

"Why so happy?" I asked, stabbing my grilled fish with my fork.

He turned in his seat and looked into my eyes, smiling mischievously.

"What are you up to?" I asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," he replied. "I'm just happy. It's not a crime now, is it?"

"It is, if you're thinking of something illegal," I said.

"Nah! Nothing illegal," he said, still smiling.

"What then?" I asked.

"I have no idea," he beamed.

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my food.

After a couple of minutes of silent eating, I put my fork down and turned towards Harvey.

"Why did you say to Hilda that I was spending my vacations at the boathouse with you?" I asked.

"Because you are," he replied.

"You didn't say that just to get rid of her?" I asked, putting up a bored demeanor.

In fact, I was delighted on the inside. Two months of summer vacations at a boathouse. Boating and fishing in a beautiful lake. Not to mention Harvey and Jamie around me twenty four, seven. No responsibilities and no chores. It was bound to be the best time of my life.

"No, absolutely not. I meant it," he said.

I smiled a goofy smile and picked up my fork again.

"You're coming, right?" he asked.

"What if I say 'no'?" I asked, smiling.

"We've taken you there once, we can do it again," he smirked.

"Oh yeah, I still have to go to the police for that," I said.

"You wouldn't," Harvey placed his hand over his heart, feigning hurt.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" I teased, and quickly moved my plate out of his reach, as he bent forward to steal a chip.

***

"Mary," I heard my name being called and snapped out of my day dream.

I spun on my heel and raised my eyebrows in questioning.

"We're waiting for you in the car. If you wanted to slump against the wall, you could have told us earlier," Lily spat, and walked away before hearing my response.

Lily had turned more horrible ever since she heard that I was her sister. On the contrary, Margaret turned a bit sensitive to my feelings. Although she didn't stop ordering me about.

"I'm coming," I said, following her.

The moment I walked out of the school building, a wave of depression washed over me. It was ironic, considering most students had it the other way round.

I, on the other hand, felt more and more miserable as I neared my house. Thoughts about my father resurfaced, and I got angry at myself because my tears were too eager to spill.

I got out of the car and went straight to my room. I locked the door and decided to start a therapy session for myself. I couldn't possibly go on living in my tears-eager-to-spill-mood.

I jumped on my bed and started firing punches at my pillow. I kept punching furiously till I was exhausted and couldn't punch anymore. I flung the pillow as far as I could and leaned against the head of my bed, breathing heavily.

"Kids! Lunch's ready," my aunt yelled from downstairs.

I didn't feel like eating anything, but I wanted to check if my therapy session had worked or not. So, I got up slowly and went downstairs, not even bothering to wash my hands.

I breathed deeply in the aroma of boiled rice and corn, and waited for everyone to fill their plates before grabbing the spoon.

"Pass the salt, Simon," said Lily.

Simon kept eating his rice, lost in thoughts.

"Oh come on! Pass the salt, Simon," Lily snapped, elbowing Simon in the ribs.

"What?" Simon snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Lily like she was something out of the world.

"Pass the salt, please," Lily repeated angrily.

Simon shook his head and handed the salt pot to Lily.

After five minutes of clinking of spoons against the plates, I felt as if someone was looking at me. I glanced up and saw Lily staring at me, her eyes gleaming maliciously.

I gave her my best scowl and turned my attention to my food again.

"Mom, dad used to love boiled rice with corn, didn't he?" she asked, plastering an innocent look on her face.

Aunt nodded.

"I remember dad saying so once," said Lily.

I saw aunt glance at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Did Simmy take after dad?" Lily asked her mother, referring to Simon as Simmy, to make fun of him.

"He did," aunt replied.

"I don't think he did. He doesn't look a bit like dad," said Margaret.

"He does," aunt said.

"No, he doesn't. He has blonde hair. Dad had brown..." Margaret started.

"And dad never started at nothing. Like Simmy does," Lily interrupted Margaret, laughing.

"That's enough," aunt snapped.

"I think I took after dad. I resemble him more than Simon, don't I?" Lily asked her mother.

"Not from the inside, you don't," I retorted.

"Very funny, Mary. At least he didn't hate me as much as to not tell me that he was my father," Lily spat poison, disguising it in that fake sweet voice of hers.

"Lily!" aunt said warningly.

"What, mom?" I'm just telling her the truth, Lily shrugged.

"You don't know the truth," I snapped, feeling proud that I didn't feel any tears prickling my eyes, just anger.

"What else could it be, other than the fact that he hated you?" Lily said.

"He loved me. You know he did. Or else he would have thrown me in some orphanage," I said forcefully, trying to convince myself as much as her.

"Oh!" Lily smiled maliciously. "It might be your mother that he hated."

"Lily!" aunt exclaimed.

It was too much for me to give just a verbal reply. I got up and slapped Lily's face as hard as I could.

"What was that?" Simon snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of my hand hitting Lily's face.

"Nothing! You go back to your fairyland," snapped Lily, shedding her sweet demanour.

"What?" he stared at her, looking confused.

"Ask your bitchy devotee," she snapped.

He turned to face me.

Usually I couldn't bear his intelligent eyes staring at me like he could see into my soul, but anger fuelled me and I stared steadily back.

After a few seconds, he suddenly broke the eye contact and started eating his rice as if nothing had happened.

I was used to his strange behaviour so I silently sat back on my own chair and resumed my eating with renewed appetite. I felt really good after taking most of my anger out on Lily.

Strangely enough, aunt didn't say a word. Neither to me, nor to Lily. Maybe she also thought that she deserved it. But I was sure Lily was already plotting lady-like revenge against me in that pretty little head of hers.

***

I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to fall asleep. Something was bugging me at the back of my mind, but I couldn't put a finger on it.

I decided to resume reading the mystery novel that I was in the middle of, to take my mind off of things. I got up and turned on the light, because I didn't have a bedside lamp.

I located the line that had me in tears the night before, and started reading.

'After eight years he finally had, not one, but two suspects. Dorothy and Ramsay. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Dorothy talking to a guy he didn't know. Maybe he was about to add a third suspect to his list.'

I mentally patted my back for not tearing up and continued, totally absorbed in the novel.

After reading a couple of chapters, my eyes begin to droop. I read sleepily.

'He wanted Dorothy to leave the room so that he could search it.

"Can I have a glass of water?" he asked her nervously.

"I'll get you some classic martini. With a twist of fresh lemon," she giggled.

"No, thanks. I... erm... I don't feel well," he lied.

He couldn't possibly get drunk when he was on the most important mission of his life.

"Orange juice then?" she raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, smiling mysteriously, like she knew why he was there.

"Sounds good," he threw her a fake smile, growing more nervous.

"I'll just go get some," she replied and got up, twirling her hair around her finger.

He waited for her to completely disappear round the corner at the end of the hallway, before scrambling to her writing table. He pulled open the top drawer, his hands shaking. He shuffled through the assortment of things, quickly but quietly. He was hoping to find a clue or two. Maybe there was a diary somewhere, in which he could find something relevant to the case.

'This happens in detective stories all the time. Serial killers keeping records of their victims,' he thought, opening the second drawer to look for a diary.'

"A diary! That's it!" I exclaimed out loud, my sleep vanishing.

'Why didn't I think of it before? Aunt likes to keep a record of everything. She must have a diary where I can find out more about my father, something that might lead me to his past. My past! I might even find out who my mother was.' I thought ecstatically.

I couldn't possibly wait till morning. So I tiptoed to her room and placed my ear on the keyhole. There was no sound of snoring or deep breathing.

I had to find out if she was awake or asleep. So I knocked lightly on the door.

"Who's there?" she asked at once.

I quickly tiptoed back to my room and feigned asleep, in case aunt decided to get up and see who had knocked at her door.

Reluctantly, I decided to postpone my mission till the morning. I tossed and turned in my bed until I finally fell asleep.

Author's note:

First of all, everyone please pray for a really good friend of mine, who has just undergone treatment for blood cancer. May she be blessed with the best of health. Ameen.

Secondly, I would like to dedicate this chapter to AsmaaAbuaisha for guessing that Harvey was the one to place the white tulip in Mary's locker along with the reason.

Thirdly, uh, vote, comment and share, if you like.

Toodles!