Love and Lies

Troy's POV I fight the urge to flip the switch on and reveal the face of the unarmed burglar rummaging through our refrigerator. It's funny how fearless people have seem to become as they just break into people's houses without wondering what the future holds for them if they are caught. I clench my fists and hold the frying pan in my hand even tighter,holding my breath in and praying silently that the 'unarmed' burglar really is unarmed. The burglar seems to be unaware of my presence as he keeps on filling his bag with items from our refrigerator. I mean, who goes to people's houses just to steal food. Especially given the fact that this house has an high tech security system. I wonder how he managed to get past the gate with the amount of security men lingering around there. Or how he managed to come inside the house without knowing the password. Or how he managed to get into the living room without the security alarms going off and waking the entire building up. Or how he got into the kitchen without an already registered footprint. That is reason enough for me not to alert my parents or anybody else. Other than that, everybody knows my father, John Bailey, to be one of those men who would never let a burglar get away with it. He believes it's a deep ruin of his reputation . I squint my eyes in the dim light to make out the figure of the supposed burglar. He has a very slender figure and his face is masked entirely, revealing just his eyes. Taking brave steps forward, I walk on my tiptoes and try to hit him from behind. As if pre-warned by an adrenaline, he turns around in a swift motion and grabs a hold of my hand,stopping it mid air. I gasp and open my mouth to yell for help. He stops me by flipping me around and putting a hand over my mouth. My screams are hung in my throat and I feel like I'm going to choke if I don't let them out. "Shush." he whispers in my ear. My eyes widen in realization at the sound of his voice. Turns out he's a female. I grab a tight hold of her hand that's over my mouth and try to flip her around. She stops me and places both my hands behind my back. "Don't make a sound if you love yourself." she warns and I hear a deep smirk in her voice. I nod very fast and I gulp as I feel the beads of sweat that start to form on my forehead. Calm down Troy. She's a lady, you're a guy. "S.. Stop. If I alert everybody, you'll be a goner." I tell her, trying my best to sound as confident as I can. "Just leave me alone. Steal what you already have and go in peace." That seems to do the trick as she frees her grip of me. She looks at the sack in her hands and then the refrigerator and then me. She nods and continues to fill her sack up. "Aren't you in the least bit afraid?" I ask her in awe. She doesn't reply me and increases her pace. I start to feel panic for her. Even though she is wrong, I really don't want my father to find her here. She would definitely be a goner and I honestly think she's brave enough to have come this far in the first place even if it's just to steal food. She ties the sack up and flings it over a shoulder. She pulls something like a rope out of her pocket and aims it at the window. She clips the first end which is some sort of metal clip to the window and attaches the other end to the belt around her waist. She climbs on the window and stands straight on it. She turns to look at me, "Thank you fat boy", before she jumps out the window. My heart skips a beat and I rush to the window to see if she's okay. I sigh in relief when she pulls the rope and the side clipped to the window is unclipped. I watch in awe as she runs out of the garden. "I'm not fat." I mumble slowly to myself when she's out of sight. It's true, I'm not. * * * I open my eyes and hit the alarm clock as hard as I can. It's six in the morning, the same time I wake up everyday even though it was the holidays. This is it, my first day of school in my last year of highschool. I roll out of bed and neatly tuck the sheets into the headboard. The room other than the bed is already neat, as always. I grab a towel and undress before heading to the shower. A lot of thoughts run in my head. I'm finally a senior. It's so hard to believe. I still remember my fresher year,that seems so long ago, when I'd thought that this day would never come. I run the cold water in my hair,adding more shampoo and rubbing my hand through it, making sure the shampoo gets everywhere. My mind races back to the girl burglar. I mentally applaud her for being so bold. If only I had half that courage, maybe my life would be a lot different. Unlike many rich people, I'm not one of the populars. I just go to school, come back home, repeat. Majority have no idea who I am or that I'm one of 'the Baileys'. A lot of people just think I'm a Bailey. I have nothing but a few friends to call my own and my only attempt at having a girlfriend was two years ago and that didn't work out for either of us because she thought I was boring. I slide a plain white shirt on, Blue Jeans and a pair of white sneakers. I pull a black cardigan over my head and wear my glasses before heading downstairs to join my family for breakfast. Heading down the stairs, I bring my phone out to set my schedule for today. I'm not sure what it is we would exactly be doing today but my schedule is for sure arranged in an order that wouldn't be disrupted by any unexpected future occurrences. When I get downstairs, my family is already seated in the dining hall. The table is set with all kinds of meal for everyone to choose from. No matter how many times I suggest that we make our food choices before it's cooked,they all never seem to put my thoughts into consideration and of course, there's always untouched food that becomes leftovers. "Good morning." I announce in a low voice and take a seat on the dining table. My mom smiles at me and my dad just keeps his focus on the newspaper in his hands that he seems to be so engrossed in. My little sister, Jenna, has never been more excited to resume back to school given the fact that it's going to be first year in highschool. I turn to look at her seated on the chair across from me and give her a little wink. I think the makeup on her face is a little bit too much for a fourteen year old but of course, it's always just my opinion. "Ready for your last year in highschool?" My mom's voice fills the awkwardly silent hall as I finally manage to get comfortable in my seat. Without looking at her, I nod. I pick a fork and knife from the table and start to dig into my breakfast of roasted turkey and ham sandwich,the only thing on the table too large for a family of four, that suits my morning craving. "What about me? Wouldn't you ask if I am ready for my first year in highschool?" Jenna asks as she dabs around her mouth with a little white napkin. "We don't exactly have to. You haven't spoken less of it all week, I'm pretty sure we know pretty much how you feel." my mom teases her and laughs a little. It's not everyday we get to see her laugh, smile, yes but she's ever too busy to laugh. "No talking over breakfast." My dad speaks for the first time. He still has his gaze fixed on the newspaper in his hands. Nobody utters a word of course and I can't help but roll my eyes. I think pretty much everyone I've stumbled upon fears my dad the most. One time when we were younger, he even instilled a rule that we referred to him as Mr Bailey and not dad, or father. How that rule went extinct,I'm not certain but we certainly did manage to get rid of it. He feels more like a boss than a father. We spend the rest of our breakfast in an extremely awkward silence.