Chapter 3
Oakley's P.O.V
I couldn’t move a single part in my body without pain erupting in my stomach. I felt numb all over apart from the penetrating pain. My eyes fluttered open and I squinted at the bright lights surrounding me. Why were the lights turned on when I just woke up? I looked over to my side carefully and noticed the high rails on the sides of my bed. This wasn’t my bedroom. Where the hell was I?
"Oakley, darling how are you feeling?” I heard a soft voice from above me. I had never heard this voice before in my life. Maybe she can explain where I was.
“Oakley, honey can you hear me?” The voice asked me a second time.
I carefully nodded my head, being careful not to agitate my headache anymore that it already was.
“You were in a house fire earlier today and we brought you here just to do some check ups and make sure everything’s alright.” She smiled at me.
I looked up at the women talking about to speak myself and ask her all of the questions that were running through my mind but my throat told me otherwise.
"Rest your voice for a little while dear. I understand you have many questions why you’re here, but you need to know that you breathed in a lot of smoke earlier today. The smoke reached your lungs but don't worry, soon enough you're going to be okay after a fair bit of rest you’ll be as good as new." She reassured me.
I had not a single clue what was going on at the moment. How was I brought to the hospital if the last thing I remember was being stuck in the house? I recall being locked in the basement and couldn’t find a way out. No one should have found me. I was supposed to die. I didn't want to be here in the hospital bed getting better. This wasn't right.
"How?" I muttered, disobeying her orders.
"We still don't know how the house fire started but it was a big one, that's for sure. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. You might be able to answer this though. There was a boy who saved you and brought you here, do you know who he might have been?"
Bloody Jason, he probably felt bad after locking me in there in the first place.
Dirty Prick.
"He looked around your age maybe a little older. He refused to leave your side the whole ride to the hospital. He carried you out of the house before it collapsed I was told too. Stupid boy he is if I don’t say so myself. He ran into the house while the fire was blazing at its peak. He could have done some serious damage to himself if he was in there any longer He left the minute he heard you were going to be okay. He was very worried about you Oakley." She smiled.
I honestly had no idea who saved me. I didn’t know of anyone who cared for me. No one cared about me. Why would they help me?
When I get out of this hospital, I was going to do some serious questioning.
******
Mary had a yelling and screaming match with me blaming me for the house burning down when I got out from the hospital a couple of days later. She told me I wasn't looking after the house and the kids well enough. Maybe if she were home more often we wouldn't have had the dam fire in the first place. Yes, it was my fault, I’ll admit that; I left the stove on, but if she were home cooking dinner herself then none of this would have happened in the beginning.
We found a new place to stay luckily, for a cheaper price and just a few blocks away. This house was much smaller than the last one, but it was better than nothing I suppose.
One night after we had settled into the new place I could hear Mary on the phone discussing sending us all away and she would then buy a small house for herself. That process could take days, months even, so it was out of the question at the moment for her. She had much more important things to do like drink and cry her sorrows away.
There wasn't much that survived in the fire though. Eleven boxes of stuff were all they could get back. Everything else went up in flames with the house.
Although, a bonus of moving to a new place only a few minutes away from our last was we didn't have to go to a new school. Not that I was really fussed about moving schools. I didn’t have any friends to say goodbye to, so it didn't really matter that much to me.
I didn't really care that we had moved houses and I didn't care that my stuff was gone either; I had what I needed to get through my time here. My old bedroom had been furthest away from the kitchen, so I was fortunate enough not to have lost everything, some of my clothes and books were thankfully saved.
One thing I was most defiantly not okay about was I now have to share a room with the devil boy himself, Jason.
I begged, nagged and prayed down on my knees, but because the youngest got first pick of their rooms, which I thought was utterly ridiculous. I ended up sharing a room with whoever was left. Of course it had to be Jason, the most annoying and rudest human being on the planet. I thought this was completely wrong and unfair.
"Jason move your stuff dammit. You can't take up the whole room in here. We are sharing the bedroom it’s not just yours!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. It hadn’t even been a week yet and we were close to the point of killing each other.
"What are you going to do about it?" He asked, taking a step closer towards me.
"Get out of here. Far out, you're so annoying!" I shouted. He grabbed one of my crutches and threw it to the ground angrily.
"I’d like to see you walk now!” He yelled slamming the door behind him.
I hated him so much. If I had the chance to kill him, I think I would.
I didn't want to be here. I shouldn't have made it out of the fire. I have been racking my brain ever since I woke up from the hospital bed trying to figure out who in the world was there the day of the fire to save me. I did know something though; whoever it was that did save me, I hated them. I fell to the floor, notbothering to grab my crutches. My hand automatically rose to my neck for comfort.
I froze.
Where was my necklace?
The necklace that I never ever take off, not even if I go swimming or have a shower. Where was it? I couldn’t have lost it. That was completely out of the question.
"Jason?" I yelled hobbling to the door. I winced from all the pain in my leg. Stupid fire.
"What now?" He returned obnoxiously.
"Have you seen my necklace?"
"What necklace princess?"
"My mums purple cross necklace, I wear it every day and it's gone. Where did you put it?" I demanded.
"Aw has poor little Oakley lost her necklace? It’s okay, I’m sure Daisy can make you a new one with the bead set she got. Oh wait that’s right, that got burnt in the fire you started. God my bad." He smirked.
"Jason shut up, I’m being serious okay!" I started to panic.
"No precious, I haven't seen it." He laughed.
I started hyperventilating. I had to find this necklace even if I had to search for days. I grabbed my crutches and hobbled to my car that was parked out the front. I drove as fast as I could to the burnt down house. I was told at the hospital that I wasn't allowed to drive and now I understand why. The shooting pain was excruciating.
This necklace was more important that any pain I was feeling right now.
I would go through anything to get it back around my neck.
There was police tape surrounding the rubble of the burnt house when I got there surprisingly. Maybe they were still trying to investigate what triggered the fire to begin in the first place. I looked around and there wasn't anyone near by so I bent down and went under thetape. I limped through the little entrance that was still standing and I saw something move around the corner.
"Hello?" I asked. There was someone here and I was determined to find out who it was, and what he or she was doing in my old house. Or what was oncea house I guess you could say.
"Oakley?" A deep male voice replied. I knew this voice. It was so familiar.
"Who's there?" I asked nervously.
"What are you doing here Oakley?" the deep voice asked me. I turned around and saw no other then the schools biggest jerk Scott Williams staring back at me. What the hell was he doing here?
"I could ask you the same thing. This is my house, what are you doing here?" I demanded for him to answer me.
"You shouldn't be here, it’s not safe just to be wondering around here like this. Hence why they had the police tape around the place to keep people out. You obviously missed that I guess."
I laughed dryly. "Clearly, so did you. What are you doing here Scott?"
"You remember my name?" he asked surprised. Was he actually serious right now?
I didn’t know what to say. I looked at him with the most curious look on my face. “What are you talking about of course I know your name. I don’t live under a rock. Everyone knows your name. You’re the asshole who decided to graffiti my locker, of course I would know your name.”
I turned around and made my way down to the basement. Before I did I looked behind me at Scott and saw him flinch. I guess it was kind of mean. He deserved it though, the way he treats people, especially girls, it’s disgusting. It was time for Scott to understand that it wasn’t okay what he was doing.
I could hear him trailing behind me, but I didn't care at the moment. I had to find this necklace, and then I would be out of here and I could leave Scott to do whatever snooping around he wanted to. I don’t know if he is expecting to find money or something on the floor. We didn’t have any of that. He was wasting his time.
I walked over the wood that was crumbled on the floor by the door entrance, and started searching for the gold chain. There wasn't much that survived in the basement because it was mostly all made from wood. Me not being able to bend down didn't help the search either. This was going to be a long day.
"Why were you locked down here anyway?" he asked scaring me.
Why was he continuing to make conversation with me? Couldn’t he tell that I wasn’t interested? Obviously I didn't want to talk to him.
Hold on, how did he know I was in the basement, unless... "How did you know I was in here Scott?" I turned around accusingly.
"Oh, um I was kinda here when the fire happened." He shook his head uncomfortably.
"Why?" I shot at him.
"I live done the road, I smelt the smoke, thought I could help out."
"So how did you know I was locked in here if you were outside?" I demanded, knowing that the answer he was about to give me wasn’t one I would like.
"Oakley, the fire brigade wasn't coming for at least another ten minutes. I wasn't going to stand there and watch the house burn while you were still inside it." What was he trying to tell me?
"It was you that saved me wasn't it?" I asked him accusingly.
After a minute of silence, he slowly nodded scratching the top of his nervously.
"You risked your life to save me?" I didn’t understand why Scott would ever do something like that for me.
He nodded again, obviously feeling uncomfortable about the whole situation.
"Why?" I wasn't sure he even knew I existed in this world.
"I told you, I wasn't going to let you die in here." He had the tone as in 'duh stupid!'
"You shouldn't have." I muttered and turned around continuing to look for my necklace. A hand gripped onto my upper arm and spun me around.
"What did you say?" he demanded obviously angry at my last remark.
"Nothing," I muttered.
"Oakley why didn't you want to be saved?" He asked softly.
"Would you want to be saved if you knew that you were the reason the fire started Scott? If these kids got hurt because of you, how would you feel? If you knew that Mary was going to yell at you and make you pay for all the damage? The money you give to her is the money that's going towards your car and for college. Would you want to be saved when you have no friends and hate going to school every day so people can laugh at you and call you names? I have no parents and live with a bunch of little kids. How do you think I feel Scott? I hate my life; it would have been easier if I died last week." I didn't notice that I was crying until Scott wiped a tear of my cheek with the tip of his thumb.
I was angry. Why would he even ask a question like that?
"You don't mean that." He shook his head quickly.
"You wouldn't understand Scott. You get everything you want, whenever you want. You have friends, a family, a house, a car. I could name over a hundred things. You are so used to getting all these things that you take advantage of them. Not once do you ever think about the people who have nothing. You’re so selfish." I was shouting now.
"You have no idea what I have to do to get those." He growled.
I huffed. "Oh please just get out of here, Scott I don’t want you here." I raised my voice at him again. He was so infuriating it was hard not to lose my mind with him.
"I told you. It's not safe here. It wouldn’t be right if I left you alone."
"I won't be long." I muttered.
"What are you looking for anyway?"
"My necklace, I think I dropped it in here and I have to find it before I leave."
"I'll help you." Before I could argue, he was already lifting boxes to see if it was caught under anything. I guess four hands were better than two. With his help I would be able to find it quicker and get the hell away from here.
It had been a few hours and we hadn't found a single thing. I looked at my phone and realized I had work tonight in an hour. I still hadn't found the necklace and I was panicking. With the luck I had today, I didn’t think I ever would find it. It was probably burnt to ashes like the rest of the house.
"Crap!" I muttered.
"What's wrong? Did you find it? Is it broken?" Scott turned around franticly. His face showed pure concern and worry. Why was he acting like he cared so much when to him it was probably just some silly necklace that could be replaced.
"I just remembered I have work tonight, I have to go like now."
"You can't work when you're on crutches Oakley." He smiled.
"Were you not listening to anything I just said Scott? I have to go to work, I NEED the money." I started walking away.
"Have fun then," he mumbled suddenly pissed off.
"Are you going to stay here?" I asked him.
"Yeah maybe, I'll leave soon." He smiled.
"What, you like staying in burnt down houses?" I asked.
He smirked. "I like helping damsels in distress." He laughed and continued to look around the Basement.
*****
As soon as I rocked up to work they sent me home straight away telling me that I was going to be useless. There was no point in me being there, so I turned back around and drove him.
When I got home there were two cars parked in the driveway. No one comes to visit us. Who could it be? Being as careful as I possibly could, I hobbled awkwardly inside and suddenly heard a few voices coming from the lounge room. I could also hear a little kid crying, probably Jacob bawling his eyes out like usual.
"Mary?" I asked stopping in the doorframe.
"Oakley where have you been, I was getting worried about you.” She demanded, putting on the happy family act seeing’s though people were here.
"I went for a drive to sort some things out, why what's going on?" I asked Mary hopping it was nothing to major.
"People are here sitting in the lounge room. Hurry up and get some food for them from the kitchen. I was waiting for you to get home so we could tell you the big news.” She stormed back into the lounge room with the two guests whom I hadn’t seen yet.
Once I had cut up some summer fruits and biscuits and cheese on the big plate, I walked into the lounge room and saw all the kids sitting on the floor around the coffee table waiting for the food like they hadn’t been fed in days. Before I could laugh at them I noticed a young couple sitting on the couch holding hands looking up at me smiling nervously.
"What's going on?" I asked probably a little too rudely.
"Oakley this is Mr. and Mrs.Brighten. They are going to be adopting Jordan and Daisy. They’re here today for the official meeting." Mary smiled at them. Yeah that's what you want Mary don't you? You hate every single one of us and cant wait to get rid of us. The day we’re all gone she would probably have a party to celebrate.
I looked at Daisy and Jordan when were now stuffing their faces with grapes and strawberries. They were the cutest little kids I think I had ever met, they were always so happy and full of energy all of the time. These two were the type f kids who on Saturday mornings would watch cartoons full blast at six o’clock.
I was going to miss them dearly.
"Oh."
"Is that okay with you?" Mr. Brighten smiled towards me. It was too bad if I said I wasn’t okay with it. It’s not like they can say no to taking them now. Everything has already been clarified. He looked like he would be a fantastic father no matter what happens nevertheless. Mr. Brighten was a tall man who had brown hair and looked really kind and sweet loving. They were a youngish couple; maybe they couldn't have kids so they wanted to adopt. They looked almost perfect for the two of them.
A small tear fall from the corner of my eye after taking a few minutes to think about what was actually going on. "On one condition." I sniffed.
"Oakley!" Mary hissed.
"No, no that's fine Mary, what is it Oakley?" Mrs. Brighten asked me as she squeezed her husband’s hand tighter hopeful.
"On the holidays I can come over and visit them maybe once or twice?" I asked nicely.
"You can come over every day if you really want to Oakley. We never did want to separate you all, that’s the last thing we wanted to do. We really want kids, and these two are perfect for us."
"That's more than okay then. Be careful though, they’ll wake you early in the morning with their cartoons full blast, and they’ll only eat their cereal with their special spoon. Don't let Jordan near dogs either if you go to the park or something, he’ll fall in love with them, then sulk for days when he realises he can’t keep them. Make sure you pick Daisy up from soccer practise on time, and go to all of her games, one day she'll be the most famous female soccer player in the world." I reeled off things that only I knew about them that make them happy.
"Thank you Oakley, we will take the best care of them, I promise" Mrs. Brighten smiled at me wiping one of her own tears.
“I'm going to miss you guys though." I wiped a tear off my face and hugged the two little ones.
"Don't worry about us." Daisy gave me a toothy grin.
"Promise me you'll look after her for me Jordan?" I asked high fiving him.
He nodded furiously.
"Have fun, and stay out of trouble alright?"
"Bye Oakley!" They said together.
This is how we ended up with only 13 kids.
*****
Before I went to bed that night I heard Mary talking on the phone in the kitchen.
"Are you sure? Okay, well you better come before dinner then. I won't be here but my oldest will and she’ll help you out and show you around the place." Who was she talking to?
"Thank you very much, bye now." She hung up the phone and placed it on the dining table.
"Who was that?" I asked Mary entering in the kitchen making myself visible.
"That's your new babysitter; he’s coming first thing tomorrow night."
Before I thought Mary couldn’t ruin my life anymore, she has struck once again. "I’m sorry, but did you just say he?"
"Yes, there’s nothing wrong with that. Now hurry up and get into bed! We’ll talk about this later on." She ordered me.
*****
You know how I said I wanted to be heard at school; and that I wanted people to know who I was?
I take it all back.
This morning instead of people pointing and laughing at me, they were gossiping instead. Word must have gotten out that I was a poor orphan girl who has no money and no family. I could only suspect one person who would have told everyone. I should have known that Scott wasn’t someone I could trust.
Who else would have told everyone about it?
I hopped along to class without my crutches as they magically disappeared this morning and sat down in my usual spot in class, not looking up for anyone. People were still talking about me, I could hear every single word they were saying, and they knew that. They were talking loudly on purpose, just to mock me. I couldn't wait till I graduated from school. It was nearing the end of the year, meaning less classes and less time seeing these horrible people every day.
"Oakley?" Scott called. Everyone suddenly stopped talking and looked up at the doorframe where Scott was standing, eying me down.
I looked up at him and he turned away and walked out of the room expecting me to follow him.
Great, another thing that people can talk about. Scott and I are talking at school so we must be an item or something.
"What?" I demanded to him as I stepped out of the classroom.
"Where are your crutches Oakley? You know what the nurse said before you left the hospital.” He reassured me, talking down to me as if I was stupid.
"Why do you care?"
"The doctor said you shouldn't be walking without them for another two weeks. You are only going to do more damage."
"Well I feel fine."
"No you don't."
"Don't tell me what to feel! You don't even know me!" I yelled. I was sick of people telling me how to feel all the time. Scott and I had our first proper conversation yesterday and now he suddenly thinks he understands me.
"After your little melt down yesterday Oakley, I think I know you quite well. Better than most the people in the school actually." He snapped at me.
"So that gives you a right to tell the whole school about it does it?"
"What are you talking about?" He looked truly confused but I was not buying a single bit of it.
"Everyone knows that I'm the poor little orphan girl now Scott. They all know that my parents are dead. They know that I nearly died last week in the fire. Who else would have told them?" I didn’t realise I was crying until I felt a wet droplet fall on my cheek.
"Why would I tell them about your personal life Oakley?" he growled, angry at the accusation.
"I don't understand why you do a lot of things Scott," I snapped back at him arrogantly.
"Whatever, here." He held his hand out and dropped something into mine. I looked down at it, and my eyes grew wide in astonishment. It was the necklace that I thought I had lost in the fire. The Purple cross was burnt a little around the edges but it was still here. It didn't burn away like the rest of the house.
I looked up ready to thank Scott and take back all the mean things I had just said to him but he was already walking away from me.
"Hey Scott wait up!" I yelled running after him.
Running with a burnt ankle wasn't such a good idea. My leg buckled in on me before I could get to him and I tripped falling flat on my face.
Scott turned around and ran to me, kneeling on the floor beside me.
"This is why you use your crutches when they tell you too Oakley! You're such an idiot sometimes." He shook his head at me.
Tears fell from my eyes as I clutched onto my ankle.
"Oakley look at me.” Scott carefully grabbed my chin and pulled it up so I was looking straight at him. "I hate seeing you cry. Come on I'll take you to the nurse before it gets worse." He turned around and gently grabbed my legs and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He lifted me up and we walked to the nurse’s room.
"Thank you Scott," I muttered into his chest.
"What for?" He asked.
“For everything. For saving me last week in the fire, for helping me out yesterday by finding my necklace and also for sicking up for me. It means so much to me. I seriously appreciate it Scott.” I told him. I don’t think I ever did thank him for saving me last week; I was too busy wishing I were dead to be nice to him.
"Don't mention it Oakley." He smiled down at me.
"No seriously, I mean it, thank you." I patted his hair.
Scott chuckled. "You think I'm a dog?" He asked.
"Yes, now walk faster." I smiled. My leg was stilling burning with pain, but I wasn’t too fussed right this moment. I think I’ve just made my first friend in years. Surprisingly it was the jerk that would make my life a living hell.