Chapter 14
The rest of the week, after tryouts, I just pretended to be normal. I was pretending so well that I actually started to feel like I was. I studied with Abigale and Cameron, impressed the coach in wrestling, talked to Lorena time and again in class, and at the end of the day came home tired like a normal school-involved student. My Aunt didn’t even get on my nerves because she saw how hard I was trying to make something of myself. My relationship with her was actually starting to change.
As far as my problems go, I really don’t have any. I convinced myself that Jessie was just trying to get under my skin, because that’s just what she did. Like Abigale said, Jessie is a bitch to everyone. If she wanted to tell people about me then she already would have, and if her goal is to set me off then I’m just going to have to keep calm and ignore her. She isn’t worth it. Almost two weeks here, and my life already feels like it’s changing for the better. She’s not about to ruin that for me. I won’t let her.
I rushed into the school with Cameron behind me. Abigale was walking her regular pace because she wasn’t on a mission like us. We had to see if we made the team. Cameron most likely did, but who knew what coach was thinking? I could have done great, but not good enough.
“Look,” Cameron patted my shoulder laughing quietly. Lenard was ahead of us, searching for his name on the list that probably wasn’t there, “You make the team bro?” Cameron asked.
Lenard looked at us then walked away in shame. This time, I almost burst out laughing.
We finally made it to the list and started going down the names.
“I made the team,” Cameron spotted his name first.
“Congrats,” Abigale said finally catching up.
I was starting to get worried. I couldn’t find my name anywhere.
“Uh-oh,” Cameron didn’t sound so happy anymore. He walked back up and started looking for my name with me.
“Why can’t I find it?” I said out loud.
“He could’ve put this in alphabetical order,” Cameron sighed, “He never does.”
My excited feeling was fading away, because I couldn’t fine my name on the list.
“You made the team,” I heard a soft voice say, “Look towards the bottom of the page,” Lorena got in between me and Cameron and scanned the two pages with her finger, “Right here,” she stopped on my name close to the bottom of the list, “I saw your name while looking for Josh’s,” She gave me a soft smile, “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” I sighed with relief when I saw my name, “Really,” I started to get that warm feeling in my stomach again. I guess that had something to do with her being so familiar.
“Alright, well, I have to get ready for class. I’ll see you in English,” she started walking towards her first period class.
“I’ll come with you!” Cameron jogged up to her. Apparently he switched his homeroom class, and was now in a class with her.
“Congrats, girl,” Abigale said, “now I get to watch you kick some real ass.”
“Thanks,” I laughed.
We walked to our first period.
* * *
I slouched in my chair as Mrs. Pond talked about some Shakespeare project we were supposed to be starting today. I know a lot about Shakespeare, so all I was waiting on were the instructions on the project.
Lorena sat in front of me and listened to Mrs. Pond like the rest of the class. I think this is the first time I actually saw her listening instead of reading.
Lorena moved some of the hair from her back to her shoulder, revealing the purple bruise on the back of her neck. It was round, but somewhat formed a finger print.
“Lorena been getting down,” Someone from the back of the class said.
Lorena looked back. I smiled and nodded towards her, “Your neck.”
“Oh,” She gave me a fake smile and moved her hair back. While everyone thought it was a sucker bite, it was really just a bruise from Josh’s big fingers. I wanted to say something, but it wasn’t my place.
Mrs. Pond finally stopped talking and told us to pick a partner. Two people had to work on a paper together and turn it in by Friday.
The other students soon started talking and establishing who was working with who. I kind of panicked when I looked around and couldn’t figure out to ask, and was going to ask Lorena, but I figured she had other friends to choose from.
Lorena turned around and looked at me. It was like she wanted to ask, but couldn’t get the words out. It was a pretty awkward silence battle we were having.
“So, I guess we have that established,” Lorena laughed.
We had an agreement with our eyes. She and I were now partners. I laughed with her.
The bell rang and like always the students rushed out of class.
“We can meet up at the library and start the project,” Lorena said while picking up her books.
“I have practice.”
“That’s fine. I can wait until you get off, really.”
“You sure?” I didn’t want to be a burden.
“Yeah, I can even pick you up from practice if you'd like.”
“N-no. It’s OK. I’ll meet you at the library,” Did I just stutter?
“OK,” Lorena pulled out her phone. Her hair fell to both sides of her face, “What’s your number? Just in case something comes up.” She handed me her phone.
Now the butterfly feeling was kicking in, and I was afraid that I might start turning red.
I put my cell phone number in and quickly handed it back to her. Her hand brushed mine. It was warm.
“Alright,” Lorena put her phone back in her pocket, “Now all I hope is that you know something about Shakespeare.”
“To be or not to be,” I said with a grin.
“That is the question...” Lorena finished.
“Wow,” Mrs. Pond said sarcastically, “you guys are the perfect team.”
We both laughed and walked out of the class.
“Well, I’ll see you at the library tonight?” I asked.
“It’s a date,” Lorena answered with a wide grin, then she walked away.
* * *
I sat in Miss Shy’s office after a week of not seeing her and just stared. I tried to act like I didn’t care, but I really did feel bad about all those things I said in our last session. It really just took some time being away from her to realize that.
Miss Shy had me confused about how I felt about her. She was such a kind woman, and seemed to genuinely be interested in just me, and not my past. But then again to get to know me well, a person would have to know about the things I went through. They would have to know about my childhood, the things I’ve done, and the crimes I’ve committed.
“So, it’s been a while,” She said with a bright smile on her face, “How are you?”
“I’m okay. Nothing to really tell.”
“How is school going so far?”
“Fine. Everything is pretty easy, not much of a challenge.”
“Oh! I heard you made the wrestling team, good job. I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you,” A smile started to come up on my face. Then it diminished when I thought about the last time I was in her office, “Miss Shy?”
“Hmm?”
“I....” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to open up to her, but I didn’t have to be mean either, “About the last time I was here-”
“Don’t worry about it,” She said with a soft voice, “I shouldn’t have tried to get you to talk about things like that so soon. I guess I felt a little upset and retaliated a bit.”
“You, Miss Smiley face, got upset?” We both laughed.
“Believe me, I’m not always smiling. I just have to so that the students feel comfortable with me.”
“Are you supposed to be telling me this? You kind of like, revealed an important secret.”
“And it’ll stay secret as long as you don’t say anything. But really, smiling all day makes my cheeks hurt, and I think it’s mak
ing me wrinkle.”
“No, you look good Miss Shy. I haven’t spotted any.”
“You’re so kind sweetie, but you don’t have to lie to me.”
I gave her a slight smile and looked over at her picture on the wall. I had just noticed, once again, how empty her office was.
“So, why aren’t you married? Or....with anyone? Are you always alone like this?”
“I’m not alone,” she chuckled, “I have the secretary...our principal....”
I just stared at her, “You’re twenty-eight right? Still young, pretty, and alone?”
Miss Shy looked over at her picture on the wall, “I have my cat...” she looked a little lost in thought, “She’s all I needed after Bruce.”
“Ex?”
“Yeah, he was my fiancé.”
“Oh...” Now I feel bad for asking.
“He passed away two years ago,” she was still looking over at the picture on the wall.
I didn’t really know how to respond to that, so I didn’t. I knew well how it felt to lose someone. I couldn’t stand the look on her face because it reminded me of myself...sad, “He’s in a better pace,” I blurted.
Miss Shy looked back to me with the same light smile, only I could tell that she was sad, “You think so? He wasn’t really the best citizen, as a matter of fact, I wouldn’t even consider him a good citizen.”
I bit my lip for a second, “Well, it’s good to at least hope that’s where they went. Heaven,” I thought of my parents.
“Is that what you think about someone, Rose?”
I looked back up at her and saw Winee’s face for a second, then I blinked a few times to get her out of my mind, “No...” I lied, “sometimes.”
“Who was he?” She asked.
I smiled at the thought of Winee, back when we were close, “Her name was Winee- Windred. She was my best friend when we were kids,” I froze, feeling like I said the wrong thing. I don’t want to bring up my childhood, and I don’t want to raise questions about that time in my life.
“What was she like?”
“Shy,” I took a deep breath, “Adventurous,” I remember all the times she would hug me after a bad dream, “Caring,” and all the times she would help me after training, “She loved me....we were like sisters.”
“What happened between the two of you?”
I remember the time we fought for real for the first time. She was trying to run away... “I...she,” I started breathing heavily again. I wish that I could stop getting so worked up like this, “We fought. I didn’t want to but,” I could see myself punching her over and over again. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t have a choice. She was going to leave me, “I should've went with her.”
“Went with her where?”
I snapped back into reality and looked over to Miss Shy. She was giving me this intense look, like she was really trying to figure things out. Figure me out. I had shown her weakness again. Weakness was and still is not tolerated!
“I have to go,” I said, my thoughts were still on Winee, “I’m sorry, I have to go,” I stood up and left the office. Miss Shy didn’t stop me.
Chapter 15
I skipped the rest of the day, this time telling the nurse that I was sick, and was allowed to be sent home. I just wasn’t in the best mood anymore. The excitement from this morning had disappeared, and I lost all motivation to do anything. I was exhausted. It was as if my emotions were making me physically tired.
When I got home, I went straight to the shower and stood under the warm water. I wanted to think about Winee and all of the good times we had together, but then a part of me told me not to, because it would hurt too much. We had our good times, and then we had our bad. And it was the bad that always outweighed the good.
I got out of the shower and headed to my room. When I got inside, I saw a steaming bowl of soup sitting on my dresser and my aunt fixing my bed sheets.
“What are you doing?” I asked blandly.
Aunt Shannon turned to me with a worried look on her face, “When the nurse called me, I decided to come home early so that I could take care of you.”
I sighed, then frowned, “But I don’t need any taking care of. I’m okay. You shouldn’t have come,” I walked inside my room and looked down at my soup, immediately feeling guilty.
“Well, I did, and I’m going to take care of you. You just started wrestling, I can’t have you getting the whole team sick, then no one would like you after that,” she laughed a little, trying to lighten the mood, “Just eat your soup and get some rest Rose.” She quickly left my room. I guess I made her too uncomfortable to be inside of it.
I looked down at the bowl of soup. I wasn’t hungry, but I still decided to eat it just so that my aunt would feel like she did something. Afterwards, I took a nice long nap.
* * *
Winee’s soft laugh echoed in my ears. I could hear her laughing as she hid behind a bush. We were playing a game of tag.
If it were one thing that Winee was good at, it was running. She was way faster than me, and it was never easy to catch her. I always had to make up a strategy just to get close to her.
Winee rounded a large tree, and I followed behind her. We were both laughing together, even though nothing was actually funny. It was simply because we were having fun, and that was rare.
Winee rounded another tree, and like before, I followed her. We went back and forth with her running forward and reversing around the tree, and me trying to meet her so that I could tag her. She laughed again as she decided to run in the opposite direction down a steep hill.
I followed her. Winee was laughing the whole time, but I actually started to get scared. We were running very fast now, and starting to get very far from home.
“Win...ee!” I yelled, “Slow do...wn!” But she kept running ahead, and she didn’t try to stop. Eventually, the only thing that did stop her was a root in the ground that tripped her into rolling. When I tried to slow down, I slid onto my side and also started rolling down the hill. I stopped when I rolled right into Winee.
I was breathing heavily while she laughed. She was laughing so hard, that she soon started to make me laugh. I didn’t even know why we were laughing so hard.
After a few minutes, Winee’s laughing came to a stop and now she was just looking up at the trees and the sky. I turned to Winee to see serious look on her face.
“You know,” she started, “we could run away.”
My smile faded. She turned to me, “We could run away and find our families.”
Thinking about my murdered parents brought pain to my chest, “I don’t have a family.”
“Well, then you could come live with mine. I always wanted a sister.”
“How are we even going to find them anyway?”
A big smile formed on her face, “We get out of these woods, and go look for help. We could use someone’s phone and call the cops. I’m sure that they were looking for us.”
I looked up at the sky. After everything I’ve done, and everyone I’ve hurt, I didn’t deserve to be free. Not after losing my parents. It was all my fault. This was my life now.”
“We’ll get in trouble,” I said in a serious tone, “Arnold will punish us.”
“Not if he doesn’t catch us.”
“No, I won’t do it. I won’t run away.”
“But Rose-”
“No!”
Winee stared at me for a moment, then back at the sky, “Well, I can’t leave without you.”
“You won’t,” I took Winee’s hand. She was the only family I had and I couldn’t lose her.
* * *
The loud ringing on my phone woke me up.
“Hello?”
“Rose?” It was Lorena.
“Yeah,” I didn’t feel so tired anymore.
“Are you okay? They said you were sick.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Are we still working on the project today?”
“As long as you’re up for it.”
“
I am,” The butterflies came back.
“Good, I’m on my way to come get you.”
We said our goodbyes and hung up. I went to brush my teeth again, and then threw on the clothes I wore earlier. I saw my aunt sleeping on the living room couch on my way out of the house.
Lorena pulled up about five minutes later and smiled at me through the windshield. I waved and went to get in the car.
“What’s up?” She asked as she backed out of my driveway.
“Nothing really, just waking up.”
“You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. And don’t worry, I’m not contagious.”
“I hope not, Josh would lose it if he got sick.”
I frowned, but then straightened my face before Lorena could see.
“So the project,” Lorena started, “All we have to do is write a paper about him and one of his books.”
“What about Romeo and Juliet?” It was one of my favorite plays.
“Yeah, we could do that,” She sounded excited.
“We could get the book or the play, I'd rather get the book, and then after reading it we could do a little research-” I stopped talking when I saw a large sign up on a brick building with the words “Save Our Children” on the top. Under it was a child, about the age of eight with torn up pants, dirt smudges everywhere, a shirt that was too small for him, and no shoes on.
My heart started racing when the thought of that organization came to mind. It was a slave trade organization, only those particular slaves had to fight their way free. Or at least that’s what they told you. There was a huge bust and nearly 500-1000 slave owners were arrested. Out of that only about 400 children were found alive. I was among those 400.
Now there’s just a bunch of orphan children out there that could never make it home. Some were collected by other slave owners, and then some were so messed up that they couldn’t imagine going back to their families. Then, there were the children who accepted the lifestyle, and found new owners. I would’ve been one of those kids if I weren’t forced to live with my aunt. I’m happy I’m out though, and I don’t ever want to go back.
Caged (Caged series Book 1) Page 8
