What We Hide

We Need to Talk

Natalia went downstairs and into the kitchen. When she entered, she saw a plate of fruit with some tea on the table. She was smiling even though this was the breakfast she has been having since she has been with the Novas. She sat down and started eating. Moments later Mr. Nova came into the kitchen with Mrs. Nova.

"Good morning Rachel, good morning Mr. Nova" Natalia looked up.

"Good morning." They replied in unison with a smile.

"Natalia dear, we need to talk." Mrs. Nova said with a serious tone. 

Natalia's heart stopped and tears threaten to fall from her eyes. "What is it?" Natalia asked putting her fork down and looked up trying to stop her tears from escaping. 

Every time Natalia heard We need to talk, that meant that she was going to move to another foster home because she wasn't a 'good fit' for that family or she was too old.

"We wanted to tell you that were are considering adopting another child." Mr. Nova said

"Oh . . ." Natalia was shocked, she didn't know what to say. this was something that had never happened to her. "I'm happy to hear that. I hope you're able to adopt them." She forced a smile.

Natalia got up and gave them a hug and thanked them for having her as a guest.

"Where are you going dear?" Mrs. Nova stopped Natalia from leaving.

"I'm going to pack my things up," Natalia replied in defeat.

"Why?" Mrs. Nova chuckled with confusion

"Because you want a different child and that means that you don't want me anymore, and I understand," Natalia cleared her throat 

Mrs. Nova looked at her husband and they shared the same bewildered eyes, and they started laughing. "Oh, Dear we're considering getting another child so you can talk to them and not feel so lonely." Mrs. Nova realized why Natalia was going to pack.

"Did you think we didn't want you?" Mrs. Nova caressed Natalia's face.

"Yes, that's exactly what I thought, because every time a foster parent told me that they needed to talk, that usually meant that I was going to be moved to a different foster home because they didn't like me, or because I was too old and they didn't want me," Natalia replied letting the tears of happiness fall. 

"Not at all, you are a perfect match for us Honey, and don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you as long as you're with us." Mr. Nova cleaned Natalia's tears and pulled her in for a hug.

"Now come and finished your breakfast so Paul can take you to school." Mrs. Nova said

Paul was one of the family driver/bodyguard, he had been taking Natalia wherever she asked since he got to the Novas. Mr. Nova made sure Natalia was always safe when she left home. Mr. Nova was the founder and CEO of a worldwide Cybersecurity company called CyberTek.

Natalia gave them both a smile. She had never felt such great joy in her life. It was always fear or anxiety that plagued her existence. She was always fearful of doing something wrong and being punished. She never really had the chance to grow up as a normal kid.

Natalia sat down and finished her breakfast and went back upstairs to brush her teeth and grab the phone and earphones the Novas got her when she first came to their house. The Novas trusted her so they gave her keys to their house. She was starting to feel like she had a family. Natalia went back downstairs and said goodbye to the people she was starting to consider a long-term family. 

She got in the car with Paul and headed to school. She attended a private school called Eastwood. She rarely attended schools growing up especially not private schools for the super wealthy where tuition was 35,000 dollars a year. She was getting used to the snobs that ran the school and whose parents probably ran the city. She was placed in 10 grade based on her age but was now in 11th. Had she taken the placement exam she would've probably tested out of high school. 

Natalia had been going to Eastwood for just as long as she had been with the Novas. Schools like this rarely had a completely new person join mid-year so she was still considered the new girl. She had yet to make friends, she had acquaintances she saw in classes and around campus but no one she regularly talked to. She limited herself from making friends because most of the time she would be in one place for too long as it was a waste of her time. 

Not many people knew what she went through, the only people who knew were her father and the social workers. So she was also glad she had a fresh start to try to feel as normal as she was able to.  At school, She didn't talk to anyone, she usually just sat outside on the grass to read or to mess on her laptop. She was put in the advanced classes but they weren't difficult for her. She had been getting perfect scores on all her assignments since she's been in Eastwood.

There wasn't one class that was complicated for her. Her favorite class was her computer science class. The class required students to create websites, apps, and games and she found that child's play. She could build a website in one hour or less. Since she had lots of free time in that class she started hacking into the school's database to learn about random kids at her school, she then hacked the city's database and she'd even hacked companies' databases for fun.

when Natalia was ten her dad opened the door to a bald man threatening her dad for hacking into Stark Industries system. Obviously her dad had nothing to do with it, but the bald man didn't even consider that it was the little girl standing next to her father. That day Natalia got her fingertip burnt, adn he made Natalia erase everything she had acquired from Stark's database with blistered fingers. After that day she learned to hide her IP address and make her computer untraceable. If she ever wanted to hack his system again she probably could do it.

Natalia had gone to her morning classes and as she was dozing off in her economics class the bell rang and it was time for lunch. She made her way to the food hall and stood in line quietly reading her book waiting for the line to move forward. There was a group of boys behind her and she heard them talking about her body but she just ignored them because she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of her attention. A boy from behind yelled, "Hey, New Girl, nice curves!"

Natalia continued ignoring him. The kid walked up to her and slapped her butt.

"Firm ass you've got there!" He said as his group of friends laughed.

Natalia's body burned with anger she, turned around grabbed his hand, twisted his wrist, kneed him in the groin and punched him in the face breaking his nose. Blood was everywhere and Natalia was about to punch him again but the security guards came before she could throw another punch. They grabbed her and she tried to get loose. They started to pull her through the hall to the principal's office. She kicked and yelled at them to let her go, but they didn't so she bit a guard forcing him to let go.

"Let go of me, I'll go on my own!" she yelled. They escorted her to the principal's office. Natalia sat in front of Mr. Rivera, the principal. Mr. Rivera didn't say a word to her, he just dialed the Nova residence and waited for them to answer. Mr. Rivera was vague.

"Mrs. Nova I'm going to need you to come to Eastwood and talk. Natalia got herself in a situation." Mr. Rivera said over the phone.

Natalia sat there waiting for Mrs. Nova to arrive.