Phase One

Troy looked deep into my eyes.

"Who, Gabi, who?" he asked impatiently.

"This may seem a little impossible. But Mr. Johnson looks exactly like…my father!"

By the shocked yet knowing look on Troy's face, I could tell he understood completely. He had seen the photo of my dad often, whenever we studied together (honestly, we really did study!) or when he picked me up for a date, or when we watched movies or even just talked.

"You know what, Gabriella? You're right! Wow, that's creepy that two guys can look so similar!" he exclaimed.

" No Troy, I think that Mr. Johnson is my dad!"

"Gabi, how could that be? Your dad died a long time ago. People don't just rise from the dead you know!"

I sighed. I knew it was unlikely, but I just had this feeling that he was my dad.

"You know, Troy, my mom could have lied to me! If she had something to hide. Maybe…Maybe I was the result of a summer fling and she didn't want me to know I was born illegitimately, you know, as not to encourage me to act the way she did." I joked.

Troy grinned.

"Yeah," he said enthusiastically," "Or maybe he was having an affair with another woman so he pretended he had drowned in order to free himself of you and your mom so he could be with his mistress!"

I smiled.

"Troy, do you believe me at all when I say that he's my dad?"

"You know, now that I think about it there's more and more evidence that he is. He looks exactly like the picture. And he has similar speech patterns to you, and he walks with the same stride. You have to same noses and hair. I can't believe that no one else has noticed the similarities between the two of you!"

"Oh Troy," I sighed, "Thanks for understanding. And for now, could we maybe keep this on the down low? If I'm wrong, I'll look really stupid. I want to find out for sure before I say anything."

"That's fine Gabi. But how will you find out if he's your dad or not? Are you just going to ask him straight out?"

"Of course not! I already have a plan being to take shape in my head. Here's what I'm going to do for Phase One…"

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I closed my textbook and looked at my watch. Perfect. It was 10 o'clock. My mom would be drowsy enough to not really be careful about what she was saying but it was early enough so that she wouldn't be too emotional.

I walked next door to my mom's room, where she was watching the news from her bed. I flopped down beside her.

"Mom, I'm…um…doing a family tree in LA and well since I need to put Dad on there, I want to explain his cause of death. How was it that he drowned again?"

My mom blinked. I saw a tear forming in the corner of her eye.

"I don't really like to talk about it, but I guess this once…You see, we were on vacation. We went to Florida so we could go to Disney World and swim in the ocean. Your father was swimming and all of a sudden the waves got really fierce. He got stuck in a riptide and was pulled far away from shore. He became too weak to stay above the surface and he drowned."

Hmmm. Very different from the other story she told me. Since she had been so cooperative answering that question, I decided to press further.

"Mom, what did dad look like?"

"Um…," she said, obviously distracted by the TV.

Then what I had said registered and she snapped.

"I thought I told you I don't want to talk about it!" She yelled. "Did I not make myself clear!"

I ran from the room, frightened by her outburst. I thought a little. It was very suspicious how she had caged her story. When I was younger I was told hew died in a boating accident. Now a riptide killed him? Hmmm…This was definitely worth investigating more.

I decided to call Troy and update him on my latest discovery.

"Hello?"
"Hi Troy!"

"Hey Gabs! How did Phase One go?"

"Perfect. She told me my dad died in a riptide during a vacation we took. Last time she said it was a boating accident. Very fishy, don't you think?"

"Yep. You were right Gabi. Something's going on here. Something worth investigating. I think that it's just about time to launch Phase Two."

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Another cliffy! But don't be sad. It's just because I love you. Well actually because people are more likely to put this story on their alert list so they can find out what happens! Lol Press that little purple button! The more reviews, the sooner I update!