Crossing Into Forever

Chapter 36

"Do you know who I just saw right before we walked in here?" Sibylla almost couldn't wait for them to answer.

Before anyone answered, Ella was already afraid of what the answer was.

"Let me guess...It's the doctor!" Lucy answered in an excited voice. She wanted to see him in dressy clothes. She, like the others, was of the opinion that it was best to watch him from afar. Usually, the less attention one drew from him, the better off they were. He had always been nice to her, especially when she had her allergic reaction, but she only spoke to him if he asked her a question in his class, or if she was not feeling well and needed a doctor. Other than that, she admired his good looks from a distance. Of course, poor Ella wasn't as lucky. And since Ella had been there, they had all gotten more attention from him than they were used to. He had always been nice when he was checking on them. She knew his reputation of being such a monster was probably a little unfair, but she had seen him get angry at people, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

"Yes!" exclaimed Sibylla. She could tell by the look on Ella's face that she still wasn't completely over what had happened in the cafeteria the other evening. "I'm sorry Ella...I'm not meaning to make you feel bad. You shouldn't feel bad about any of that though. He does scare people. Maybe he needed to hear that."

"Oh, no, you're not at all." Ella answered as convincingly as she could. "I promise. I'm over that now." She was able to muster up a weak smile. She had to admit that down inside, she was glad to hear that he was at the dance.

"When we all get out of here, maybe we will walk around a little. I think our seats will be taken anyway." Millicent was wanting to see if she could catch a glimpse of him too, but she didn't want the others to necessarily know that. She was just curious to see him outside of school.

The girls made their way out of the bathroom one by one. Ella was the last of the four of them to be in line. She was still in there and it was moving slowly. Standing so long in line made them want to sit again for a few minutes before starting their walk. The shoes they were all wearing were not very comfortable. While they were waiting for Ella, Millicent noticed that their table was still available. It was not that far away, and for a few seconds through the crowd, she had a clear view of it.

"You guys our table is still empty. My poor feet are killing me. Let's go sit down for a few minutes and then we will walk around some. I'm going to go tell Ella to come back to the table when she is done." Millicent went back into the bathroom to find Ella. The music was being piped in and it made it louder in there than it was out in the main part of the club. Right as Millicent entered back into the bathroom, Ella was just starting to go into a stall. She got Ella's attention and yelled as loud as she could that they were going back to their same table. Ella nodded her head, yes and Millicent nodded her head, yes, to verify that Ella had heard her. Again, Ella nodded her head. She walked out and went back to their seats with the other girls.

When Ella finished up, she came out of the bathroom and looked around for her friends. She was confused because she didn't see them. She realized that maybe Millicent hadn't said what she thought, because she knew they wouldn't leave without her unless there was a reason. She stood there for a moment watching for them, but there were still a lot of people there, and that made it difficult to see very far.

Ella decided to walk around a little in that area to see if she could spot them. Only a few people away from Ella, were three men that were looking for someone in the club that had been part of a small-time crime ring they were all involved in. The young lady, who apparently bore a strong resemblance to Ella, had skipped town earlier in the year when she was supposed to have been bringing a large sum of money to them. They had heard that she was back in town and supposed to have been at the club tonight. One of the men spotted Ella, and mistakenly thought it was her and got the other men's attention. Ella was so concentrated on finding her friends, that she didn't notice as the three men were walking toward her, with their eyes directly on her. Finally, right before they got to her, she noticed them. One of the men tried to catch her by the arm and told her she was to go with them. She was completely confused.