Learning To Live Again

Chapter 19

Malia's POV

The next few days passed the same with Wally bringing me my work and working it with me.

"What are you reading?" Wally asked as he lounged on my bed.

"The evolution of early Eukaryotes," I replied offhandedly.

"The evolution of what?"

"Cells that have a nuclear envelope, cytoplasmic organelles, and a cytoskeleton." I answered, but looked up when he didn't respond.

"Biology", I simplified.

"You're really into all this science and math stuff aren't you?. It's what you want to go to school for?" He asked as he sat up.

"I guess, it's important, it's all around us."

"And your moms ok with you going into a science field?"

I stopped and froze when he asked me about my mom.

"You're not going to college right?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"No, I'm going....hey stop changing the subject!" Wally said as he caught on.

"I'm not doing anything," I replied getting nervous while looking down.

"Yes you are! You always do this whenever you don't want to answer a question about you!" he shouted.

"You should go now," I replied tightly.

"Whatever, have fun with your eucalyptus cells," he yelled as he left and closed the door.

Wally's POV

"Hey what's going on? Mrs. Kent asked as I stormed past the kitchen.

I stopped and turned to her as I rubbed my face.

"It's Malia, every time I think I'm getting in I get shoved right back out," I confessed.

Mrs. Kent guided me to a chair and made me sit.

"Listen Wally, Malia...well...she's got a good heart, she really does. It's just that...it's been broken. A lot. She needs time. If she doesn't want to talk about things you can't push her."

I thought about what Mrs. Kent said as I got up and left to go home.

Malia's POV

"Malia," Mrs. Kent called as she opened my door.

"Is he gone?" I asked

"Ya he left. What happened?" she asked while sitting on the bed.

I looked down and thought for a moment.

"He keeps asking about things I don't want anybody to know about. About my mom, why I moved here, and I don't want to be looked at differently."

"Especially by him," I quietly added after.

"Malia, do you like him?" she asked.

"I don't know. I mean he's nice to me and I enjoy being around him. When he complements me I get a feeling in my stomach," I started to ramble.

Mrs. Kent smiled softly at me "Oh Malia, if you want him to stay around and if you want any type of relationship with him you need to start opening up. Not all at once, but little by little. Bad things happened to you, things that shouldn't happen to anyone, but if you place a little trust in someone, you'll be surprised at how little that will matter to them if they care enough about you. And let me tell you, Wally cares about you, I can see it every time he looks at you, or he wouldn't be here every day."

Mrs. Kent got up and patted my shoulder as she walked out. I thought about what she said as I finished my work and looked online about the colleges I applied for.

The next day I lounged on the couch watching Jerry Springer when there was a knock on the door. I looked at the clock, which read 4:50 and my heart jumped a little at the thought that Wally would still come over. I got up and answered it, but looked down when I opened it and saw Wally.

"You still came," I stated as he walked past me.

"I told you I would see you every day till you were ready to go back," he answered as he handed me the mail from the mail box.

It was mostly junk but when caught my eye. An official looking one with my name on it from the Board of Education. I sat down at the kitchen table as I stared at the package in my hands.

"What's that?" Wally asked.

"My SAT score," I answered looking up.

Wally asked if I was going to open it or stare at it till it tells me all of life's mysteries. I gave him a smile as a ripped the end opened and pulled out the papers. We were both quite as I read, and as I read I got more excited.

"How did you do?"

"I got a 1585 out of 1600," I answered not able to keep the smile off my face.

My smile turned into a laugh as Wally pulled me out of the chair and into a hug as he laughed about how amazing that was. We pulled about as Mrs. Kent walked in. she too joined in the hug when I gave her the news. Instead of cooking, she ordered in some Chinese and the three of us ate dinner together at the t.v.

Wally left around 7 and Mr. Kent came home soon after. When Mrs. Kent told him about the SAT scour he smiled and ruffled my hair as he walked by to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I helped Mrs. Kent put away the left overs.

When I told Mrs. Kent that I think I wanted to go back to school tomorrow she smiled at me and told me to get ready for bed and that she'll take of things for the morning.