Five years later
"Sabine?" Miss Julia said. She gently shook Sabine's shoulders to wake her up.
Sabine opened her hazel eyes and looked up at her latest guardian. For the past five years, she had been tossed from person-to-person, school-to-school, home-to-home. No one had adopted her yet, and all her guardians either ended up being unfit to care for her, or died from old age. Sabine seemed to have bad luck following her everywhere she went, but Miss Julia seemed okay so far.
"Good morning, Miss Julia," Sabine said sleepily.
"Good morning, Sabine. Are you ready for school?" Miss Julia asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Sabine said, sitting up in bed.
Miss Julia smiled warmly. "Well, then, come on downstairs. I have hot cocoa and oatmeal for you."
Sabine smiled as well and followed Julia downstairs for breakfast. She enjoyed her rich hot chocolate and apple flavored oatmeal. Then, with a full stomach and a happy heart, she headed back upstairs to change clothes.
She finished changing and then slung her new backpack over her shoulders. Her old white backpack covered in drawings had finally worn out too much to carry her heavy school books, but she kept it as a memory of her old life.
Her new backpack with cactus designs on it was sturdier and had more space for school supplies, but the stiff straps dug painfully into her shoulder blades as she bounced down the stairs.
"You look nice, dear," Miss Julia said as Sabine walked back into the kitchen.
"Thanks, Miss Julia! I really like these new clothes you got me," Sabine chirped happily.
"Well, that's because you picked them out yourself!" Miss Julia laughed. Sabine giggled and smiled as she pulled her lunchbox out of the fridge.
A horn honked from outside and Sabine's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm gonna miss the bus!"
"Go on outside then, I'll be at the store after school, but I should be back around five," Miss Julia said, giving Sabine a pat on the back.
"Okay, see you later Miss Julia!" Sabine said as she walked out the front door.
"Bye-bye, Sabine!" Miss Julia waved as the door shut.
Sabine raced down the concrete sidewalk to the end of the road, and reached the bus just as the driver was about to close the doors.
"Wait!" Sabine called.
The driver, Mr. Thompson, opened the doors back up and Sabine climbed on the bus.
"Late again, Miss Trillian?" Mr. Thompson called as Sabine sat next to her friend, Isadora, towards the back of the bus.
"Yeah, sorry!" Sabine called back.
"No worries." Mr. Thompson yawned, then closed the bus doors again and drove down the street.
"Morning, Sabine," Isadora mumbled as she wrote a couplet down in her commonplace book.
"Hi, Iz," Sabine said, looking over Isadora's shoulder.
"Hey, no peeking until it's done!" Isadora laughed, closing her book so Sabine couldn't see.
"Okay, okay," Sabine said, putting her hands up in mock surrender.
"Well, I guess you can look because I actually just finished it," Isadora shrugged, opening the book again.
"I am a triplet, a child of three; And my brothers annoy the heck out of me," Isadora read out loud.
Sabine giggled and said, "Yeah, your brothers are annoying sometimes."
YOU ARE READING
𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕨𝕠 ℂ𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕠𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 (ASOUE)
Fanfiction"Shh, don't cry, Sabine," Quigley whispered in her ear. "It's okay, don't cry." His hand slid down her arm, then gently landed in her palm. He slowly spread his fingers out, then carefully entwined them with hers, as if he were savoring every sweet...
