𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢'𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 ♡

24

"Or me getting punched in the face." Jake looked at the picture and then hugged me. "Thank you."

I let go and placed the ice pack back on his face. "Now keep that ice on."

Jake smiled. "Hey Cayden, do you want to be my seeing-eye bird?"

Cayden smirked. "Do you want a matching black eye?"

Jake put his hand up to his eye defensively.

"I've got to go home. My Mom's going to wonder what happened to me." He leaned down to kiss me. "Bye."

"Bye," I said as he stepped out the door. "Love you."

"Love you too!" He put on his Iron Man suit and flew away.

Scarlet and Eva hugged me.

"Do you want to come have a sleepover at my house?" Scarlet asked.

"Um, unless you want to be carrying me everywhere, I suggest not. Maybe another time though," I said.

Cayden and Blaze also hugged me as well, which surprised me.

"Bye," they both said and followed the girls out.

After they left, I hoisted myself onto the couch and pushed my wheelchair to the other side of the room. I stood up and took a step, I didn't feel any pain so I took another, and another, another until I reached the wheelchair and rolled myself back over to the couch. I wasn't even tired! I did my little happy dance in my wheelchair.

I stood up and tried walking to the kitchen table. I could! I wasn't even tired! I was so happy I called Jake.

"Hello? Mom- Mom I'm fine-"

"Jake!" I said. "I can walk!"

I think he dropped the phone. "Really? That's awesome! So no wheelchair then tomorrow? What about PE?"

"Well, Coach says after self-defense, we are moving on to boxing so I might be able to do that," I said and walked in a circle.

"Awesome," Jake said. "I've got to go, my Dad just got home and is going to wonder what happened. Love you, bye."

"Love you too bye." I hung up and walked into the training room.

I looked at the treadmill. Maybe I could start running. I turned it on to a low speed so that I could jog. Then I turned it up so that I was sprinting. Soon I was sprinting at top speed as my Dad walked through the door.

"Calla? Calla- where are you?!" He must have seen my empty wheelchair.

"I'm in here!" I called and continued sprinting.

My Dad ran into the training room. "I saw the empty wheelchair and- You're walking!"

"Actually running," I said and made the treadmill go faster.

"That's great!" My Dad said. "Did you tell Jake?"

"Yeah, some guy named Devin punched him today," I said and stopped the moving belt. "He didn't even stumble but Jake punched him back and knocked him out."

I got off the treadmill and relaxed.

My Dad handed me a glass of water.

"They're sending her up tomorrow after school."

I nodded and took a drink of water.

"Can I slap her tomorrow if she makes fun of me?" I smiled.

"If it means protecting our family name, then yes."

He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on top of my head. 

For a second, I remembered my Mom's funeral.

"It's okay honey, she's in a better place now." My Dad patted my three-year-old head.

I sniffed. "Where's that better place at?" I wrapped my arms around my Dad.

"Heaven." My Dad said. "The enemy won't get her there."

I looked around the church and spotted my Grandma and Grandpa. "Grammy and Papa said she made a mistake. What did she do wrong?"

"Loving someone she couldn't stay with."

"Calla, can you hear me?" My Dad waved his hands in front of my face.

I shook out of my flashback.

"Yeah, sorry. I was thinking." I stood up. "I better rest."

I went into my room and laid on my bed and tried to remember what my Mom looked like.

"Hey, what do you want for dinner?" My Dad poked his head into my room.

I sighed and said, "I'm not hungry."

He gave me a sad look and closed the door.

After he was gone, I tried to sleep. 

But when I slept, I had nightmares and Jake wasn't there to comfort me. 

I thrashed around in my sleep a lot but I finally made it to morning.

"Calla, come on get up." My Dad turned on my light and left the room.

I reached for my wheelchair but then I remembered that I could walk.

I looked into my closet and found this to wear:

I headed to the kitchen after getting ready.

"Three minutes." My Dad clicked his watch.

I sat down at the table. "Ah, so I see you're timing me again." I took a bite of my cereal.

My Dad took a sip of his coffee. "Hey, you can walk- you're on the clock." He smiled.

I crunched down on my cereal in silence until I finish.

"Am I still doing half days?"

"No." He said. "You can walk now so you'll be fine." He flipped open his newspaper.

I nodded and put my bowl in the sink, this was going to be a long day.