Chapter 12:)

Cara's POV:

"Your time is slower today." Emily tells me

"I'm trying my best." I say with frustration.

"Cara, I can see it in your face." She says

"You can see what?" I ask

"That your heart isn't in it today." She sighs

"I'll do it again." I tell her getting back in the pool.

I get into my starting position and wait for her to signal. When the gun goes off, I push off the blocks with speed. I glide through the water stroking as hard as I can. I can feel the burn in my whole body, but I keep pushing.

"That was it!" Emily cheers.

I smile at her while trying to catch my breath.

"Told you." I tell her as I climb out.

She throws me a towel and pulls me in for a hug, "The coaches are going to be fighting for you."

"You think so?" I ask

"I know so." She reassures me.

"Thanks mom." I smile giving her another hug.

"I take it practice went well." Ali says walking towards us.

"Best time yet." I brag.

"All she has to do is swim like that tomorrow and our little girl could have a full ride to a top school." Emily informs her wife.

"That's great." Ali says giving me a hug.

"Thanks mom." I thank her, "I'm going to go change."

I head into the locker room and change into my leggings and hoodie.

You better have the swim of your life tomorrow, if not, you might become even more of a disappointment. No pressure. Xoxo.

-A

I groan. As if my mom isn't putting enough pressure on me. A has to remind me of it.

"Are you okay?" Ali asks, "You look a little pale."

"I'm just nervous." I tell her.

"If you say so." She smiles.

I sat quietly in the back seat. For some reason I couldn't shake the feeling the text gave me. It feels like A is threatening me, like if I don't win tomorrow, A is going to tell my moms what I'm doing.

Where are you?

I look down and see that the text is from Maddie. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey mom, can you drop me off at the brew?" I ask Emily.

"What for?" She asks.

"I'm working on a group project."

"Sure." She smiles.

Be right there.

I hop out of the car and make my way through the crowd.

"Finally." Maddie cheers.

"Sorry I'm late." I tell them, "I had training."

"Now that you're here, can you please tell Montgomery to leave?" Tyler says in annoyance

"Maddie is here to help us." I tell him.

"Why?" He asks clearly offended.

"Put the pride away Tyler." Maddie tells him, "Cara explained the situation to me and I think I can help."

"We'r fine without you." He tells her.

"If you were, you would've found something by now." She reminds him.

"It's not a big deal." I tell him.

"Fine." He gives in.

"Okay then." Maddie claps her hands together, "Fill me in."

"We got this." I show her the memory stick, "It has all the information stored on the adoption center's computer."

"I haven't found anything helpful on it though." Tyler joins in.

"Do you have a name we can run?" Maddie asks

I shake my head no, "I don't know anything, and it's making this process really difficult."

We fall into silence as we sit on our computers trying to find any piece of information we can.

"What if we find Sophia's birth father?" Maddie suggests, "Maybe he knows who your parents are."

"He's dead." I tell her.

"Shoot."

"I think I found something." Tyler tells us.

I practically leap out of my chair and join him on the couch.

"It's a document with your moms signatures." He sighs, "The rest is blacked out."

"Again?" I sigh

"What do you mean again?" Maddie asks

"We found my birth certificate but the hospital and my parents names were blacked out." I fill her in.

"It says that it comes from the hospital here." Tyler says

"So I was born here." I say stating the obvious.

"Let me see." Maddie says taking the computer.

She starts hitting random buttons, "Boom."

"What did you do?" Tyler asks.

"I got us an address." She smiles.

"Oh my god!" I scream, "That's amazing."

"Do they live in Rosewood?" Tyler asks.

"Just outside of it." She says.

"What are we waiting for?" I ask them, "Let's go!"

"It's not that simple." Tyler tells me.

"Why not?" I ask him

"What are you going to say to them?" He asks.

"I can think of that on the way." I shrug.

He sighs, "Okay, let's go."

"Yay!" Maddie cheers, "Field trip!"

"Sorry Montgomery, I've only got room for two on my bike."

"Luckily I brought my car." She says, "I'll drive."

Tyler looks at me and I shrug.

"This is it." Tyler says looking up from his phone.

"Let's go." I say trying to be brave.

I take a deep breath and knock on the door. A young lady opens the door.

"Can I help you?" She asks kindly.

"This might seem a little crazy, but I'm looking for my birth parents." I tell her, "The only I've found is this address."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I can help you." She says

"So you didn't give away a girl 17 years ago?" I say disappointed.

"No." She shakes her head.

"Do you know who the previous owners were?" Tyler steps up.

"My parents." She says, "And they aren't who you're looking for."

"What about the owners before that?" Maddie asks.

"I'm sorry I can't help you." She tells us.

She closes the door.

"She's hiding something." I tell Tyler and Maddie.

"She seemed sincere." Maddie tells me.

I sigh. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere.

Come back here tonight. The couple are going out and don't have an alarm system. You're welcome. Xoxo.

-A

I take a deep breath. This could give me the chance to snoop around.

"I'm sorry." Tyler says patting me on the back.

"It's fine." I tell him, "We'll find them."

I try to keep a straight face. I need to do this alone.

"Can you drop me off at home?" I ask Maddie, "I've had enough disappointment for one day."

"Sure." She offers me a smile.

I thank her and get out of the car.

"Did you get a lot of work done?" Ali asks as I walk into the house.

I nod.

"Are you okay?" She asks

"Yeah, I've just had a long day." I tell her, "I think I'm going to go rest for a bit."

I sit in my room and wait for it to get dark outside. I throw on some black clothes and sneak out through the window. I get on my bike and pedal as hard as I can. When I get to the house, no one is there. I hide my bike in the bushes. I make my way to the front door. Just as I'm about to open it, I hear a sound.

"What are you doing here?" Tyler hisses

"What are you doing here?" I return the question.

"I had a feeling you'd be here." He says.

"Whatever." I roll my eyes, "You can go now."

"I'm not letting you break into a house alone." He tells me.

He pushes past me and walks into the house. I roll my eyes and follow him.

"You take upstairs and I'll look around here." He says.

I make my way upstairs. I find an office with a locked safe. I take out a bobby pin and pick the lock.

"Tyler I think I found something." I call.

I pick up a piece of paper and see a picture of a women with my orange hair.

"She looks just like you." Tyler says scaring me.

"I think this is my mom." I smile.

"And your dad." He says picking up another photo.

"He looks so familiar." I sigh.

"Oh shit." Tyler says looking out the window, "They're home."

"What do we do?" I ask.

"Go out the back window." He instructs, "I'll meet you outside."

I drop the pictures and run.

"Go!" Tyler joining me.

I grab my bike and pedal away as fast as I can.

That was chapter 12:) Any guesses who her father might be?