Chapter Ten

Didn’t See That One Coming

Is it wrong to compare walking to a friend’s car after school, as being the same as walking to your death?  That was exactly how I felt from the time the last school bell rung all the way until I saw Eric leaning against his very nice black, Mustang GT that he had gotten over the summer, in the senior parking lot.  My mind had been going wild with how I thought this conversation was going to turn out, different questions and answers.  Could I trust him?  Would I have to lie?  Could I lie? Why me? What was I even going to say? These all the common thoughts that traveled throughout my mind for the last three and a half hours of my life of the school day.

I took a deep breath as I got closer to Eric and his car, okay I can do this.  Maybe he’ll just forget about the whole thing.  Even if he didn’t, he’s smart, and awesome; would it be bad if one of my best friends knew?  I always imagined telling Mandy or Rachel first, but Eric, was still Eric.  Either way, there would be no going back once I told him the truth, and truth was always better for everyone, right? Right. I decided in my head as I walked the last ten steps.

“Hey Lisa, so how was the rest of school?” Eric said, trying to sound casual, but I could hear the nervousness behind it.  I couldn’t help but laugh too.  In a way it was the exact same conversation starter that my mom always did.

“What?” Eric asked again, before thinking about it and laughing a little before continuing, “Oh, sorry I guess that was kind of motherly sounding.”

“Yeah, I was waiting for you to notice.” I said with a smile, feeling more at ease.  Eric was always good about that.  No matter how awkward the situation was he could always ease the room.

“Lisa, I know you have a secret…” Eric started saying kind of loud as guys from the football team started honking their horns across the parking lot.

“Eric, please let’s just get in the car and talk about this.” I said nervously as I looked around. People were still going to their cars, and some were in earshot distance.  I did not want to have this conversation out in front of everyone.

“Okay, fine.” Eric said as he opened the passenger side car door for me, like he always did whenever I rode in his car. Yet, this time felt very awkward.  Okay Lisa, stop making things awkward.  Remember your conversation with Mr. Poloski; just act natural.  You are a princess for goodness sake. I coached myself as Eric walked around and got inside.

“Look, I’m really sorry Eric.  I’m really bad about making things awkward lately, that’s what Mr. Poloski was actually talking to me about.  And he’s right.  I just need to relax, and trust people.” I said over the purr of the engine, while he flipped through his small cd collection.

“Lisa, you just think too much.” He said with a smile as he put in his favorite “Taking Back Sunday” cd while we drove off towards the library.

“But that’s who you are Lisa, so you can’t really help that. It’s not a bad thing either.  Anyways, I was just saying before you freaked out, that it’s your secret, if you don’t want to tell me; then that’s fine.  I’m not going to force you too.  I just want you to know that whatever it is or was that you can trust me Lisa.  Friends stick together no matter what. Plus I know you Lisa; you wouldn’t hide something from me, especially from Mandy if it wasn’t important.” He finished saying as he looked over at me with a smirk.  I couldn’t help but smile back.  This was why I loved hanging out with Eric.  He was just laid back, and we enjoyed just talking. He was one of my best friends, and someone I did truly trust.  This was probably why I knew right then and there, that I could trust him with this secret.

“Thanks Eric.  It would be nice to have a friend or two that knew though.  You must promise to not mention this to anyone.  Not even people who you think may already know.  And you can’t tell Mandy.  I’ll tell her when the time is right.” I said as I turned down the music a little.

“Hmm this must be serious if you are making me promise.” He said with a smirk.

“Promise Eric or I’m not telling you a thing.”

“Hey that’s your decision.  But alright, fine I will do this properly.  I Eric Lawson, son of James and Kate Lawson, swear to keep this a secret.  Oh and I cross my heart, hope to die, and here’s my pinky, if you want to actually make this legit.” He said as he laughed and reached over to pinky promise with my pinky finger. I couldn’t help but laugh and roll my eyes.

“Haha fine, but remember you pinky promised.” I said with a little smirk.

“Alright, so what’s this secret of yours that Mr. Poloski knows about?  Why did he call you, ‘you’re highness’ and ‘you’re grace’?”

“Well, there’s this assignment for History class…” I started saying, I was so nervous.

“Lisa, I’m in your class, just get on with it. What’s going on?”

“Well, I discovered some things, okay a lot of things about my Russian side of my family.”

“Oh that’s great, but I thought you couldn’t find anything.”

“Well, I did, Mr. Poloski has been letting me use some of his own personal books about Russia and Europe, and well…I found out about my family.”

“Okay…Lisa geez get on with it, please this suspense is really killing me right now? Did you find out that your great grandmother is really a spy? I mean just tell me…if you are even going to tell me.”

“Right, sorry, well I found out that my great grandpappa was one of the Bolshevik Communist Soldiers that held the Romanov family prisoner during their last days.  Well, Leon, my great grandpappa, and well you’ve heard of the story of the youngest daughter of the Romanov family escaping, right?”

“Yeah…my sister used to watch that movie all the time when we were little, but what about it.”

“Well, you see Leon; actually helped her escape and they got married.” I said before I continued to explain.

“So, let me get this straight, are you saying that your great grandfather, this Leon guy, actually helped the princess escaped, they got married, and you’re related to them, you’re related to the famous Grand Duchess Anastasia?” He turned to give me a suspicious look, like I knew he would.

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” I said softly.

“I didn’t say that, but how can you be sure?  There was a woman years ago that claimed that she was the real princess and even the royal family believed her, you know.  How do you know your great grandmother isn’t another one of them fakes?” He said as he kept looking over at me as he drove.

“Because she gave me this.” I said as I showed him the Imperial ring on my left hand.

“Is it real?”

“Yes, of course it’s real.  It weights a ton on my hand. Listen, I didn’t expect you to believe me, but I’m not lying.” I said as we pulled into the library’s parking lot.  I could see Mandy and Rachel getting out of their cars as they slowly approached the car.  From the look on Mandy’s face, she could just tell that Eric and I were in a serious conversation.

“Hey ladies, can you give us a few minutes, we’ll be in a second.” Eric rolled down the tented passenger window and giving them a smile.

“Um, yeah, yall okay?” Mandy said cautiously.

“More than okay.” Eric said with a wink and a smile. What was he doing? I wondered.

“Well you two have fun then.” Rachel said with a smile, pulling Mandy away from the car towards the library. Not but three seconds later I got a text message from Mandy saying “Talk to you later Missy”.  I couldn’t help but groan, which Eric heard.

“What did Mandy say?” He asked as he leaned over reading the text message.  “Yep, I knew it was her, haha. Well, I guess later would be the perfect time to tell her about your family, right?”

“I don’t know Eric, besides why would I tell her when you don’t even believe me.”

“Lisa, for the last time, I do believe you.” He said as he looked at me with honest eyes.

“You…you do?” I stuttered out, his gaze making me blush and smile a little. Did he really believe me? So quickly? My own mother still didn’t believe me. I thought for a brief moment.

“Yeah I do Lisa; don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely crazy and in a way this is totally awesome, but I do trust you.  You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you, and to be honest you’re a terrible liar, at least when you do try to lie, Lisa.” He said with a small smile as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “I’m just more afraid that you were told a lie and you believed it, that is all.”

“Yeah I thought that too, until my mom made me do a blood test from one of great grandmamma’s personal doctor. Let me tell you, that wasn’t fun.” I still felt sick still thinking about being pricked by the needle and having blood drawled from me.

“Yeah…I bet so.  But still I don’t understand how Mr. Poloski fits into all of this? I mean why does he know before me, before Mandy?”

“Well, he’s um actually a Count of Russia.  I think we are related somehow, but either way his great grandfather was the famous Rasputin. But Mr. Poloski really has been great.  He’s helped me a lot with learning about my family. He’s going with me to Russia next week and going to introduce me to some of my other family members, and help me locate others.” I said in a rush.  I couldn’t believe Eric really did believe me.  It was so great being able to tell a friend.

“Huh, interesting, so you’re receiving help from the man whose great grandfather supposedly betrayed your family. The same guy who knew all along who you were, but didn’t tell you or anyone else…”

“I know, I know, but Mr. Poloski really hasn’t given me a reason to not trust him either.  Besides, he’s been helping me a lot.”

“Hold on since when are you going to Russia? Why next week? And why is he going with you?”

“Ha, you’re sounding more like my head right about now.  Questions, questions, questions.” I smiled at him and laughed a little before continuing. “Well, I wanted to go before graduation, because afterwards, I don’t know how busy I’ll be with getting ready to move and all.  Besides, Mr. Poloski has been there, and he has some contacts with some of my distant family there.  I want to be able to reunite at least one close family member with my Nunna.  She’s getting weaker, I can see it.  She doesn’t have that much longer left, and I want to at least give her this final closure of happiness.” I finish telling him, with a grim face. 

It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes and I could finally see how frail Nunna was.  She was dying, and I just didn’t know how much longer she had left.  I had to do this for not only me, but for her.  After everything that she’s been through and lived through, she deserves this little bit of happiness in her life, even if it’s in her last and final days.  Ironic as it was.

 “Well, anyways we should probably get inside before Mandy sends another text message or a search party.” I said with a giggle as I reached for the door to get out.

“Lisa, wait.” Eric said softly as he turned towards me, his eyes held my gaze for a brief second before he leaned over and kissed my cheek and then my lips gently.  My cheeks flared with blush as my heart started beating a thousand beats a second. I looked at him with so many questions in my eyes.

“Thank you for trusting me Lisa, you’re highness.” He said in a silly grin.

“Um…you’re, you’re welcome.” I smiled as I stuttered over my words.  Yet, it was at that moment that we both could feel not one pair, but two pair of eyes staring at us from in front of the car, as we turned our heads we could see Mandy and Rachel with their mouths opened staring at us.   I quickly glanced at Eric who just had a silly grin on his face as he reached to open his car door to get out and as I did the same all I could think about was, Eric just kissed me, what the heck just happened, he just kissed me.  I did not see that one coming.

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