Change My Mind (n.h) [on hold]

Chapter Two: Now I'm Lying on the Cold, Hard Ground

It was almost noon in Ghana now.

And I was hungryyyy..... I'm just in love with food.

I swear I've lost about 10 pounds in the four months I've lived in Ghana! Not that I'm complaining, I definitely could've lost those 10 pounds. And it's not like they don't feed us here. I just eat a lot of food for the average teenage girl. And they're don't happen to be many pizza places here.

If you couldn't already tell, I love food. A lot. It's hard to explain my relationship with food. I'm very lucky I can eat a lot of food and barely gain anything though. If I didn't have a high metabolism...... I don't even wanna think about it.

Anyways, Rae and I had just got done teaching basic math to some of the six year olds. It was your good old 1+1=2, 2-1=1 stuff.

When you look at some of the kids smiling, you just can't help but to smile right along with them. It brightens up your entire day. And to see a little child that has lost their parents and has less then you be grateful for everything. For you. For you just being there with them. It makes you grateful for everything and everybody in your life, and you want to pull them closer. It makes you so appreciative, and really makes you think.

Yeah, sorry for getting all mushy there. Emotions aren't really my thing. I just kinda feel that they hold you back, that they're barriers. And to explain them is even more difficult.

Besides that, before and after lunch the orphans have a bit of free time. Rae and I always tell stories together. Well, Rae tells the stories, I just sit and listen along. She usually tells simpler versions if Harry Potter, but once in a while she mixes it up. Today she decided to tell Cinderella.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl. Her name was Cinderella," Rae began, trapping the attention of the wide-eyed children. They were silently crowded around us, completing a circle. They sat leaned forward, waiting for further detail to escape her mouth.

I usually sat next to Raelynn and let her light voice calm me. Today was no exception.

About halfway through the story, where Cinderella's Fairy Godmother uses her magic to allow Cinderella to go to the ball, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see one of the head volunteers, Stephanie. She was an extremely tall girl, and had to be about 5 years older than myself. She was one of those tall girls who was really thin at the same time. Stephanie also had a cluster of freckles below her eyes and near her nose. Her hair fell just below her underarms, and a dyed honey-brown color.

I got up and brushed myself off before walking over to where she had paced about 10 feet away.

Rae gave me a confused look, but I just signed to her, "We'll talk later."

Rae has picked up bits and pieces of sign language from me. It's really helpful. She turned her attention back to the children and carried on her story.

"What's going on Stephanie?" I questioned, the possibilities racing through my mind. I felt my forehead crinkle with worry.

"Oh nothing bad if that's what you're worrying about," she in a country twang, waving her hand as though dismissing my fears. She had a heavy southern accent, probably from Texas I guessed. I didn't really know my southern accents.

"We've just got a few visitors staying with us for the next couple days," she said, trying to cover up a smirk that appeared at the end of her statement. We both ended up giggling at her failed attempt to do so.

"Who is it? When are they gonna get here?" I asked eagerly. Just for the record, if I was a cat, curiosity would've killed all nine of my lives.

"You can wait until lunch," she responded, dropping me a hint. She began to walk away backwards, gunning at me with a mischievous smile. I stuck my tongue out at her and she just good-humoredly rolled her eyes.

I caught the very last bit of the story as I returned to Rae and the group of children. "...And they all lived happily ever after. The end," she recited in a hypnotic voice.

The children all applauded and some of them stood up, giving hugs to the both us, despite I didn't help tell the story.

After a while, all the children began to form a friendship with you. And since they were all orphans, you basically became their mother or father. And that's kinda what it felt like at times. I was definitely going to miss all the children after I left, but Rae and I agreed we'd go back one day to visit. Raelynn of course had a relationship like this with the children too.

Now that we were done with story time, it was time to eat lunch. As we walked toward the lunch tables and eating rooms, some of the young children hung onto our hands and shirts, others swarming around us.

Giggling an chattering, eventually the children broke away from us and ran towards the picnic tables. Rae and I chuckled with affection before turning our feet towards the volunteer meal room, or as we called it the break room.

"So what was that about with Stephanie?" Rae prodded me with curiosity.

"She told me we have some visitors coming this afternoon, they're staying with us for a couple days. She wouldn't say who, she just gave me this really weird look...." I trailed off, making a creepy face, which was far off from what Stephanie had done.

We bursted out in hysterical laughter, but when walking through the doorway, not even four feet in the room, Rae's laughter turned into shrieks of utter excitement.

Me? Well, I was right behind Rae, laughing even harder at her reaction of the five figures standing in the break room. I was lying on the cold, hard ground, dying of laughter. Yep, it was One Direction.

A/N: Okay, I've had this chapter done for a while, but Watt Pad just upsets me on my iPhone, so I've been having to do it on my brother's laptop. So what do you guys think? C'mon, don't be shy! Comment, favorite, fan me, tell all your people! People are nice. Most people anyways. Be friends with the nice people. And Superheroes. Same difference, I guess. Bye guys! Tundra xoxo