Undercover: Book 1 — Chapter Twenty-One

I slowly got out of my van, already feeling exhausted with the day. Locking my car, I entered my house slowly, not caring when my feet dragged against the ground. I paused in the living room when I came face to face with my parents.

I didn't hide my surprise and got straight to the point. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I hope you don't mind. I thought it would be okay if we stopped by our home,” my mother said dryly, her voicing lacking any real emotion.

"Right, well, welcome home!" I said with a nervous smile. My parents only come home every once in a while, or when there is a problem. I'm guessing they came home for a problem. "I'm just going to go upstairs," I said, heading straight for the stairs.

"Clover Ann Thompson, take a seat now," my mother said, pointing to the couch, causing me to let out a sigh.

Well, so much for that.

"You have been modeling for years. I mean, since you were a baby, for goodness sake! Which is why when I heard from not only Mary but from social media and places like TMZ that you're hanging out with some juvenile delinquent, I was quite disappointed. You were raised better than this." Her disgust with the situation was clear and hung through the air with tension.

Yeah, Mom, I missed you and I love you, too. Thanks for coming home for once. I appreciate your constant support with my career. Sure, I'd love to go out to dinner with you and Dad. I tried to get rid of my scowl.

"Mother, don't be dramatic, he is not a delinquent! Plus, it's all taken care of, so you have nothing to worry about. Have you looked at the magazines lately? "I asked, already knowing the answer.

Probably not.

"No, Clover, you know I don't have time to look at all of your photo shoots. I have a busy schedule. You should appreciate the fact that I go across the world opening up clothing shops all while selling my greatest creations to celebrities that make us rich. Plus, with your father constantly traveling as one of the greatest surgeons, it's all just impossible for us. You should know by now that we don't have time for your childish behavior and your typical photo shoots." My mother sighed as she looked down at her expensive watch.

“You especially shouldn’t be running around getting yourself in trouble like this. You’ve created and built an occupation for yourself that won’t take you to college. So, if this occupation you have going on fails, so do you.” My father agreed.

Ouch.

"You're right. I'm so sorry," I said with a tight smile.

"Yes, well, let me see how you fixed the situation," My mom said, waving off my apology.

"In the recent magazine, Mary and I worked out the whole jail thing," I said, grabbing the magazine off the glass side table next to the couch.

"Oh, you see, I really like this. What a truly brilliant idea. I must congratulate Mary for this. I mean, that red lace lingerie and then the devil wings and horns. Absolutely genius," she said, nodding in approval. "See, I knew it would work out. This jail shoot just tops it off."

I let out a sigh when suddenly her phone rang.

"Yeah, that wasn't bad. Now, your father and I are going out to dinner, so maybe I’ll see you later." My mother handed me my magazine.

“I told you I can’t go to dinner. I have to sit into a surgery tonight. It’s important if I want to get bonus points and go to chief of surgery.” My dad said looking annoyed.

“When did you tell me this?” She asked with her hands on her hips as she now stood.

“When you tried planning this three weeks ago.”

She narrowed her eyes, “You mean when I was facing a crisis with a shipment in New Zealand?”

“Does it matter? Either way, I told you.” He said shrugging.

“Fine, I’ll just cancel the whole damn thing. Don’t worry about it. Enjoy your surgery.” She said not bothering to hide her anger as she slipped off her heels and headed upstairs. I sat there for a moment, waiting for my dad to say anything.

Thanks for the invite mom, I’d love to go to dinner with you.

My lips pursed as I looked at my father. "Are you staying any longer?"

He only scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Clearly not. I just told you I have surgery.” I watched as he stood up, grabbing his briefcase. “I may be home for breakfast tomorrow if I don’t get another call in.” He said before he walked out of the room.

"Yeah, I love you both, too," I whispered when the front door slammed close. The sound caused the usual tears to fill my eyes. I wiped my eyes angrily as one traitorous tear fell.

"Do not cry. You know better than to expect anything more," I whispered to myself, my fists unconsciously trying to clench the end of the plush couch.

I sighed as the familiar ringtone of my cell sounded throughout the room. "Hello," I said, not even bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Clover, what do you think you're doing? Go get on your run now! I want you in that new promotional item. The gray and black sports bra and pair it with any matching shorts," Mary ordered. “Also, wear Nike shoes. If you promote their items for a week, you'll get a decent promotional cut. I already signed the papers."

Yeah, because some teenager is really going to gush over me wearing some Nike tennis shoes.

"Sorry, I forgot! My parents came home so I was talking to them," I explained, but she didn't seem to care as she rambled on about something else. Once she was finished yelling, I hesitantly got off the phone, taking off my ugly brown messy wig. I went upstairs and opened the top left dresser drawer, putting my wig and glasses inside. I didn't hide the relief I felt from taking the slobbery piece from my mouth, the usual lisp I got from it disappearing as it was washed off and put in its black case. I put on the outfit I was ordered to and threw my hair up in a high ponytail.

I headed downstairs and exited out the front door, locking it behind me and placing my spare key back under its usual step. I immediately turned on my timer on my Apple watch and started on my jog, slightly glad to see the usual paparazzi weren't around.

All the celebrities on the street must be out. They usually swarmed when there were other celebrities home on the street. What celebrities? I wasn't sure, but I was almost positive some famous basketball player lived somewhere down here along with some famous singer.

Three hours later, I decided to call it a day and headed home. I was surprised to see my door was opened a small crack.

"Hello?" I yelled in the dark house, making sure to close the door behind me.

"Mary? Mom? Dad?" I yelled, frowning slightly when I didn't hear anyone. I thought my mom was home? Did she decide to go out on that dinner after all? I grabbed a picture frame from the table and slowly started walking upstairs.

Don't judge me. It's the best I've got.

"Hello," I whispered, looking down the hallway.

"Hey, do you have some—" someone said from beside me, making me jump and throw the picture frame in the same direction the voice came from.

"Oww, what the hell was that for?" a familiar voice yelled, causing me to walk over and switch on the hall light.

I inhaled a good amount of oxygen, looking up at my ceiling.

"I should kill you for this,” I muttered, causing Andrew’s eyebrows to furrow.

"What? Why are you still whispering?" he whispered, glancing around.

"Andrew, what the hell are you doing in my house?" I questioned.

"I was walking by and the front door was wide open, so I decided to be the best person you could ever imagine and came to check if everything was okay," Andrew said while holding his arm. "Quite brave and heroic, if you ask me, yet still I get assaulted."

I saw he was bleeding slightly. "Sorry about that. Here, follow me," I said, helping him up off the ground and leading him to the bathroom.

"Should I ask what a wooden picture frame would do if someone did break in?" Andrew asked with a raised eyebrow as I cleaned his cut,

"In my defense, it was the first thing I saw. You don't really have time to think in a deadly situation," I said, placing a band-aid on the area. "Plus, it managed to make you bleed."

I put away all the supplies before heading back into my bedroom, Andrew close behind me.

"Anyway, did you see anyone in here?" I asked.

"No, the house was completely empty." He shrugged as he picked up a magazine off my side table and started flipping through it while laying on my bed.

"Well, thanks for letting me know and sorry again for hitting you with a picture frame," I apologized.

Next time I'll go for your head.

"But I have to shower and do all that fun stuff, so you're going to have to go," I said, taking the magazine out of his hand.

"Bye, Clo," he said, taking the magazine from my hand, rolling it up and putting it in his back pocket. "By the way, you look hot in that magazine."

"Goodbye, Andrew," I said, slamming my bedroom door behind him. I slid off my tennis shoes, socks, and pants. I grabbed my silk pajamas and headed into the bathroom, on the way losing my sports bra and my underwear.  Oh, the perks of living alone ninety percent of the time. Once the water was set at the right temperature, I went in, thoroughly enjoying the hot steam it created along with the pressure on my back.

Once I was done doing my usual routine in the shower, I got out, wrapping the towel around me and drying off. I picked up my dirty clothes, throwing them into the basket before putting on my pajamas. As I walked past, I noticed my top left dresser drawer was opened. Walking over to the dresser, I saw a white envelope lying there.

Dear Clover,

Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you share them with everyone. Hasn't your mother always taught you that? Oh, my bad, she is never home to tell you anything. See you at school tomorrow, Lucky.

Kisses,

Unknown.

I read the letter over and over again. It couldn't be. Did someone actually know my secret? Everything in the drawer was gone. Feeling the panic start to consume me, I opened every dresser drawer, throwing out every outfit onto the floor.

"C'mon, where is it?" I muttered once all the drawers were empty and my nerd stuff couldn't be found. Picking up my cell phone, I dialed the one number I knew could help.

"Hello," Mary said sleepily from the other line.

"We have a problem," I said, glancing around my now messy room.

"What? What's wrong?" Mary snapped, sounding irritated, yet now wide awake.

"Someone stole my nerd uniform."  When she didn't reply, I rephrased the statement.

"Someone stole everything I use to go undercover.”