Labyrinth: A Jeremiah Valeska Story *COMPLETED*

Chapter 11: The Lie

The following week was full of new experiences. Now that Xander and I were a couple, we began spending more time together than we did with Ella. She didn't seem to mind though and was constantly encouraging us to be alone, as any enthusiastic match maker would. I didn't mention Xander's brother again as it proved to only upset him. However, I decided to conduct my own little investigation into his brother. All without Xander's knowledge, of course. I planned on visiting the Gotham library after school, to see if there was any public record of his twin. I wanted to know what had happened between them, and I wanted to help them reconcile. I would do anything to revive my brother, and I refused to let Xander throw his very much alive brother away. That day in Calculus, Casandra showed for the first time since the party. She was wearing shades and a big hat, probably to hide her embarrassment. She didn't make any jabs at her classmates or tease any of her friends. She sat quietly and did her work and it was refreshing to see how civil she could be. The party must have been a wake up call and her father must have finally cracked down on her behavior. After class, Xander and I grabbed lunch at Mark's and went over our homework of the day. I was struggling to figure out one of the problems and I looked over to see Xander had finished the entire worksheet. "How do you do that?" I asked him, completely puzzled. "It's as if this stuff comes naturally to you..." I groaned. Xander gave me a kind smile. "If you need help, all you have to do is ask..." He offered and his smile turned to a smirk. I pushed his shoulder playfully. "No seriously, it's as if you already know this stuff. How do you do it?" I press, feeling stupid for not understanding the material as fast as he can. Xander took a deep breath before looking down at his work. "Okay, I have a confession to make... Please don't get mad." He began as my confusion intensified but I nodded. "I was kind of a child prodigy, I've been taking college courses since high school... Even though it is my first year at St. Ignatius, as far as credits go I am a senior." He revealed and I was speechless. I suppose it would make sense why I only had one class with him while all the other freshmen were in the same classes. "Then why are you in Calculus?" I ask, all of this information being a lot to take in. "I'm taking it so I can refresh myself on the basic principles of Calculus for my Calculus IV for Engineers class." He explained and I found it humorous that he found the hardest class I had ever taken to be "basic". I still couldn't get over how he had hidden this from me for so long. "Why did you keep it a secret?" I quizzed him, not feeling angry but more concerned about the possibility that there was more he was hiding from me. "I didn't want you or Ella to think of me as the freaky genius guy. I wanted to be normal and make friends without anyone knowing. I was always the kid who was forced to do other people's homework and I wanted to get away from that." He admitted and I suddenly realized what he meant when he said when that he understood what it was like to not belong when we first met. There were many layers to Xander Wilde, and I had the feeling that I was just scratching the surface. I didn't mind though, because I liked the challenge of learning more about him. After lunch, I told Xander that I needed to go get a book for my Global Studies class at the library. He bid me goodbye with a kiss, and then left me on my way. Once I reached the library, I went straight to the Public Records Department. It was a room full of computers and public records. I sat down at one of the computers and I pulled up the birth and death certificate database. I felt bad going behind Xander's back to find this information, but he didn't seem like he was willing to unveil it to me any time soon. I searched the name "Wilde" and a whole list of people popped up. His brother had to be in here somewhere, I just had to find Xander first so I could search for a relative with the same information. I scanned the entire list for his name with no luck. Strange. I then searched "Xander Wilde" in the database and it came up empty. I called over one of the workers and explained to her that I couldn't find someone in the database. "That seems highly unlikely... Everyone on public record is in there." She explained and I felt my heart sink. "Thank you." I dismissed her while staring at the screen. "Error" the screen read and I felt like I was going to throw up. Amongst all the truths revealed to me that day, there was one thing I was certain of... Xander Wilde was a fake name.