I didn’t know where that burst of confidence came from. I was usually a confident person, not afraid to speak to strangers or speak in front of a large crowd but whenever I was sad I zoned out from the world turning into this shy, awkward girl. Especially since it was as painfully sad as this situation.
I had been scared to face Chase from the day Olivia and I had barged into his room which was only yesterday. He had seemed mysterious from the moment we walked in. He intrigued me and I felt part of myself want to get to know him.
There was a knock on the door and I instantly sat up. One of the other girls in the room called out, “come in,” and the door opened.
Miss Lancy appeared, closing the door behind her, coming towards my bed and sitting down on it facing me.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” She asked, concern shown on clearly on her features.
“I’m alright,” I said, looking down at my hands, looking back up after a few seconds.
A sad smile was stretched across her face not truly believing my words.
“Well, I’ve come here to let you know that we need to get yours and Olivia’s uniforms for school.”
“Now?”
“Yes, I think now would be the best time since school’s starting next Thursday.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Let’s go,” she said, standing up and started making her way towards the door.
I stood up, walking right behind her and down the stairs.
Just before we went into the living room, she stopped in front of Chase’s room and ducked her head in, my eyes following her. He was sitting at the study desk and was working on what seemed to be a drawing.
“Chase,” Miss Lancy called out.
His head shot up at the sudden voice, “yeah.”
He looked flustered, by Miss Lancy and me coming into his room. His face soon turned into the normal blank look. His hair was a bit messy and his eyes seemed to darken to a really dark shade of blue.
“Could you look after the children while I’m gone,” she asked sceptically.
He looked down sighing, “If I have to.”
She walked in further whilst I stayed where I was.
“Thank you,” Miss Lancy said, going up to him and kissing his forehead in a motherly way.
She walked back over to me and out of the room. I turned back to look at Chase. His eyes were on me, that blank look still on his face. I looked at the drawing on the desk, noticing how pretty it looked. Tall, dark trees scattered around the border coloured in dark browns very similar to his hair. A path went through what looked to be a forest, a small, timid looking elf with blue hair and eyes walking through it with what looked to be a rusty sword and a bag full of things.
“Cool drawing,” I blurted out.
“Thanks,” he said looking back at his drawing.
I took that time to exist and walk towards the front door where, soon enough I found Miss Lancy waiting with Olivia.
“Charlie!” Olivia screamed out running towards me.
I picked her up and hugged her close to me.
“I missed you,” she said innocently.
“I missed you too,” I said back.
“I made lots of friends,” she said grinning at me.
“That’s nice,” I told her.
I walked over to Miss Lancy, then setting down Olivia so we could set off on our way. We walked out the front door and down the ramp, pausing when I didn’t know where to go next.
“Here,” Miss Lancy said leading the way to a white mini bus standing in front of the orphanage in what seemed to be the parking lot.
I was shocked to say the least that I hadn’t noticed it before. Miss Lancy unlocked the door, sliding it open. Olivia jumped into the vehicle, choosing to sit in the first double-seater seat behind the driver’s seat and I walked in after her sitting next to her. Miss Lancy soon got in, behind the steering wheel and started up the engine. I shut the door as Miss Lancy reversed the mini bus. Soon after, we were on the road, on our way to get our school stuff for the year.
After about ten minutes of driving Miss Lancy cut the engine, parking the mini-bus near a row of small shops. We got out of the vehicle, then waiting on the pavement for Miss Lancy to lock up the mini-bus and join us on the path. Once all three of us were on the pavement, Miss Lancy lead us to a nearby shop with various uniforms hanging in the shops windows. We went inside, the small bell above the door notifying the cashier that customers were entering the shop.
“Hello, Frances,” Miss Lancy greeted the older man sitting behind the cash register.
“Oh, hello there Laura,” the man, Frances replied.
“Frances, we need to buy two uniforms, one for this little girl,” she said gesturing towards Olivia, “and this young lady,” she said pointing to me.
“What schools will they be going to?” Frances asked.
“Oakville High School and Oakville Public School.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. What sizes are you after?”
“Charlie, would you happen to know what size Olivia is?” Miss Lancy asked me.
“I think she’s a size seven in children’s sizes.”
“What size are you Charlie?”
“I think I’m a size eight in women.”
“Which pieces of uniform were you after?” Frances asked.
“For the primary uniform, shorts, three shirts, long pants and a jumper. For the high school uniform, three shirts, a skirt and a jumper.” Miss Lancy replied.
Frances went around to the back of the store searching for the items.
I looked around the small store, mostly consisting of a counter with the cash register on top of it, in the middle of the store and uniform hanging from behind the wall. Most of the space must’ve been used for storing all the uniform in the store, I thought.
It wasn’t until a good fifteen minutes later until Frances reappeared with a pile of newly sealed uniform. He placed down the pile of uniform, scanning them and placing it in a bag.
Once he was finished he told Miss Lancy the amount and she paid the correct amount before we exited the store and went back to the mini-bus.
“Are we going home now?” Olivia asked impatiently.
“No, not yet. We still need to buy you shoes and some school supplies,” Miss Lancy answered. ‘
“Aww, that’s boring,” Olivia whined.
The drive wasn’t as long, it was only a few minutes. Miss Lancy drove into this huge shopping centre called Westfield. She parked the mini-bus on the top floor and we went inside the huge centre. We followed her around Westfield, going to a shoe store that was having a back to school sale on school shoes.
“We need to get you girls some shoes to school as they’re very picky about having only leather shoes.” Miss Lancy said.
“Miss Lancy, I can wear my converses as they’re made out of leather,” I said, knowing it would cost her less.
“Your choice but sure,” she replied smiling.
“I like these shoes!” Olivia exclaimed, pointing to a pair of leather shoes with two Velcro straps instead of shoelaces.
“Excuse me miss,” Miss Lancy called out to a nearby shop assistant.
“Yes, ma’am,” the younger lady replied.
“Could we try on these shoes,” Miss Lancy asked showing her the shoes Olivia pointed to a moment ago.
“Sure what size are you after?”
“I’m not sure, could you measure?”
“Of course ma’am.”
The shop assistant went away in search of the measuring scale while I sat next to Olivia on the cushioned couch.
She came back a moment later carrying a measuring scale.
“Now which one of you are getting her feet measured?” The lady asked.
“Me!” Olivia screamed excitedly.
The lady and Miss Lancy chuckled in response as the lady began measuring Olivia’s feet.
Soon enough we had bought the shoes Olivia wanted and were heading along to another store called Big W. There I picked out notebooks for subjects and a packet of pens whilst Olivia had fun picking out a pencil case and all the things she needed.
We went home afterwards, all three of us tired. I placed the uniform inside of my wardrobe and the books inside of my school bag.
The following week passed by normally, with the exception of Australia Day.
Australia Day was a pretty big celebration to anyone living in Australia. It was a time to celebrate the founding of Australia, with amusement rides, food stalls, a concert and fireworks.
Every year I would celebrate the event with my parents and Olivia. It didn’t feel right celebrating it without them and at a different place.
Miss Lancy had gathered up the children that afternoon, saying that all of us would be heading to the nearby park to celebrate and see the firework show later that evening. I didn’t want to go and I pleaded not to go, but with no such luck.
I ended up being forced to go.
“No excuses,” Miss Lancy had said.
I sighed and put on my converses, grabbing my phone afterwards.
“Can I at least go a bit after?” I had asked. I didn’t want anyone to know I lived in the orphanage, at least not yet and it was pretty obvious that the whole neighbourhood would be there.
“Sure,” Miss Lancy said.
Just before they were about to leave, my curiosity went into overdrive.
“Miss Lancy?”
“Yeah?”
“Why isn’t Chase going?” I questioned.
She sighed, “He doesn’t want to.”
“Unfair,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Anyway we better go, give the key to Chase when you’re heading out,” she handed me the key into the palm of my hand.
“Alright,” I said, slipping the key into my pocket.
She soon left with the other children, leaving me alone with a mysterious boy in the other room.
I sighed, walking over to the couch and sitting down. I pulled out my phone, putting on the game Subway Surfers and playing it a few times. I got sick of the game and stood up walking over to the white door by the bottom of the stairs.
The door was slightly pushed open when I got there. I pushed it opened and walked inside. As I entered the room, Chase’s head snapped up to look at me. His hair was a bit longer than last time and his eyes were a lighter blue colour. He still wore the blank-look upon his face, and was previously drawing the picture he was a few days ago, now almost finished.
“Hey umm,” I started saying, “I’m heading out to the Australia Day thing at the park and Miss Lancy told me to give you the keys.” I reached out and handed him the keys into the palm of his hand, my fingertips lightly brushing his skin. A few butterflies flew around my stomach at the contact, but I shrugged it away.
He nodded his head.
I turned around to leave but curiosity got the better of me and I turned to look at him again.
“Why aren’t you going?” I asked.
“Don’t want to,” he simply said.
“Neither do I yet I’m forced to,” I replied a little annoyed at the fact that he got to stay home.
“It’s too crowded for me,” he argued.
“Lucky ass,” I muttered under my breath, walking out of the room.
The park was close by and it wasn’t long before I saw the huge amusement rides come into view. I looked around in awe, at the rides. I had a love for amusement rides and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw how stunning the sight in front of me was.
I walked around the various rides and stalls, seeing many families celebrating together in joy. I smiled a sad smile at them, wishing my parents were still alive to celebrate.
I saw Stacy running up towards me, from the corner of my eye.
“Hey,” she said excitedly.
“Hey,” I replied back.
“Cool isn’t it?” She asked.
“Yeah it is,” I agreed.
“Wait until you see the fireworks. They’re definitely the best part.”
I nodded my head at her words.
“Hey, you should come over and meet my friends. Come on,” she said pulling me towards two teenage girls.
One of the girls had black hair and brown eyes. She was pale and a bit taller than Stacy. The other girl also had blonde hair but had greyish blue eyes. She was the tannest out of the three and the shortest but still taller than me.
“This is London,” she said pointing to the black haired one, “and this is Darcy,” she pointed to the blonde haired one.
“Hi,” I said shyly.
“This is Charlie, the girl we saw a few days ago,” she explained to her friends.
“Hey,” they said in unison.
I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening with Stacy, London and Darcy. They weren’t bad girls, they were pretty fun. We went on a few amusement rides and ate some food from the food stalls. It wasn’t a bad Australia Day but it could’ve been better if my parents were still here.
I did see Miss Lancy and the children a few times. The younger ones played on the playground and in the sandpit. The older kids went on a couple rides together. I noticed that many people looked at the younger children with Miss Lancy in pity.
“That’s the lady who runs the orphanage,” Darcy told me.
“Why is everyone looking at them in pity?” I asked curious.
“No one wants to end up in the orphanage, or an orphan. They pity them that they have no parents,” she explained.
My throat suddenly felt dry, and I knew that I couldn’t tell anyone here.
“Hey look,” Stacy said, grabbing our attention pointing towards Miss Lancy and the person who just came to talk to her. “The loser came to talk to his mummy,” she laughed, pointing towards Chase.
He was talking to Miss Lancy a few metres ahead of us. I was quite surprised to see him here, as he said earlier that he wouldn’t be going. I felt bad that they were laughing at him.
I walked away from the three girls, going nowhere in particular. I lingered around the stalls for a few more minutes before someone announced that the firework show would start in 10 minutes.
I was getting a bit sick of the crowded space so I walked away from where the main event was being held and towards the bench near the pond. It was pretty dark, as it was nearing 9pm as I made sure not to trip over on anything on my way.
I plopped down on the bench and breathed out a long sigh. I placed my hands on either side of me on the wooden bench and jumped in surprised when my hand touched another hand.
“Crap you scared the shit out of me,” I said turning my head to face the person.
I was surprised, shocked even when I found the person to be Chase. His now dark blue eyes shinned in the moonlight and his hair was close to falling into his eyes.
“I could say the same for you,” he said simply.
“What are you doing here?” I asked curiously.
“I’m here to watch the fireworks, why are you here?”
“Just needed some space. It’s too crowded over there,” I said gesturing towards the overly crowded event near the children’s playground.
Silence came over us, neither I nor Chase spoke a word until the fireworks started.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” I asked once the first one exploded.
Chase looked amazed. He looked at the fireworks as if they were really precious. I stared at him for a few seconds, knowing that I would have to befriend this boy no matter what. He was a mystery that no one had yet discovered and I wanted to make it my mission to get to know him.
Once the fireworks ended most of the families with smaller children left, leaving behind the teenagers to have fun on the amusement rides. I got up, knowing that it was, my time to leave.
I turned around to see what Chase was going to do out of curiosity. He slid himself to the edge of the bench where, I hadn’t noticed, was his wheelchair. Using his strong arms, he lifted himself back into his wheelchair and make sure he was comfortable.
He looked up at me as I stared back at him. I must’ve crept him out as he started to push himself away from the bench. I ran up to where he was and fell into step as he pushed himself.
“What’s your last name?” I asked randomly.
“Why?” He questioned.
“Just curious.”
“Hamilton. What’s yours?”
Chase Hamilton.
“Parker.”
“So like Spiderman?”
“Yes, who knows we could even be related.”
I felt myself relax a bit when it came to talking to him. It was still weird as we were strangers to each other but we did meet a few days ago.
For the remainder of the way home, neither of us talked. Once we got home, I went up the ramp and onto the porch. I knocked on the front door and Miss Lancy opened it for us.
She smiled at both of us and said, “Come in, come in.”
She stepped aside and I held the door open for Chase. I went upstairs towards my room and the second my head hit the pillow I fell asleep.
The next few days passed by quite quickly. I didn’t talk to Chase and spent most of my time either in my room or at the park. Before I knew it, it was Thursday and Thursday meant school was starting back up again.
A/N
Sixth Chapter!
Hope you enjoy it :)
I would appreaciate comments or votes.