People Like Us (Completed)

Chapter 31 - Daniella

"Don't worry, Mom and Dad won't find out. We can keep a secret," Dorothy says.

"Yeah but what about keeping this from Dad?" Johnny says. "If he thinks something is wrong he'll read our minds to find out what it is. And when he does, something bad will happen to us for lying to him."

I hadn't thought of that.

"I can put up a mental block," Dorothy suggests. "So, can you, Johnny."

"Exactly," I say. I'd forgotten that Dad had taught the two of them to put up mental blocks, too. "I can probably put one on Flora if I need to." I glance over at Flora, who's fast asleep on the couch I'd placed her in when I'd dropped her here.

"Yeah, but everyone else, just don't think about it," Ricky suggests.

"That's harder than it looks," Violet says.

"Well, it's not like Dad's just gonna read our minds for no reason," Molly says. "He'll only do it if he thinks something's wrong that we're not telling him about."

"You can do it, Vi. Remember Dad taught us how to do that, too, for the same reason he taught us how to put up mental blocks," Dorothy says.

"Okay," Violet says. "But, Daddy didn't want us to use it against him."

"We can't think of it like that, Vi," Johnny says. "Think of it as us using it to protect someone else."

"Right," I say. "Mom and Dad don't want us using our powers to help other people at school because it could reveal our powers to all the normal people. But these aren't normal people, they're people with powers. And they don't have people like Mom and Dad looking after them, but they do have us. So, right now, that means not telling Mom and Dad about them. Does that make sense, you guys?"

"Yes, it does," Violet says.

"You didn't have to tell me twice," Dorothy comments.

"I understand, Dan," Johnny says.

"Good," I nod approvingly.

I never thought I'd have to explain why lying to our parents is the right decision. But, just like how Mom and Dad sometimes hide the truth from us to protect us, this is pretty much the same thing, except we're doing it to protect someone outside our family. We've never been close enough to another family to do something like this for them. Even at our old school, all the friends we had were just in passing.

"And besides. You know Mom and Dad, they would totally throw another family into a train if they thought that family was a danger to us. Which, they totally might think is the case, especially if they found out that it was the Masked Spider's family we are protecting," Molly says.

"Mols, don't say something like that!" I say seeing Dorothy, Johnny, and Violet's confused faces.

"She doesn't really mean that, guys. She knows Mom and Dad would never hurt anybody," Ricky says quickly.

"Yes, I do mean that. We're already going to be lying to Mom and Dad enough, and since Ricky's been dating the Masked Spider since we moved here, he even has practice. We don't need to lie to Dorothy, Johnny, and Vi, too, especially not about the real reason we're lying to our parents," Molly continues. "If Mom and Dad found out about them and how much information they know about us, they would probably turn them into the people that are hunting them themselves."

"Molly, stop it, first of all, I'm not dating the Masked Spider. We're just friends. We met because I accidentally saw her without her mask. Second of all," He turns to Dorothy, Johnny, and Violet. "What Molly is trying to say is that Mom and Dad always put us first, which is a good thing. It means they love us."