Life Goes On (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 2 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Eleven

❝school (pronounced skuːl or skool), noun
an institute to educate children.❞

Elle was terrified, to say the least.

School had never been much of a fun concept to her. She was worried about what everything would be like without her Papa around. He was so funny and nice, and she was never away from him. She missed him. He would be patient with her, and he would always make sure to teach her without being mean.

She stayed silent, while the teacher marked the roll. "Alison?"

"Here!"

"Tom?"

"Here!"

"Jonah?"

"Here!"

"Felicia?"

"Here!"

"Drew?"

"Here!"

"Elle?"

"H-Here."

The boy named Drew looked at Elle with a kind smile. He had brown eyes like her, and brown hair. He looked friendly, and that was what Elle needed at that point- a friend. He waved at her when he noticed she was looking back.

She looked back at the teacher while he finished up the roll. "Alright, class!" he said. "For our first day, we're just going to draw and colour in a picture of ourselves and our families! I'll give you all some paper, and there's crayons and felt pens on all the tables. Have fun!"

Elle sat alone and began drawing a picture of Hunter with a guitar, and a dog and turtle. She drew a house, and a tree, with a hollow in it, and the sun in the corner of the page. After thinking for a moment, she drew a woman in a cloud with red hair and a yellow circle over her head- a halo. The boy, Drew, came and sat beside her.

"Hi!" he said cheerfully. "I'm Drew. It's nice to meet you. Your name is Elle, right?"

"Yeah," said Elle quietly.

He looked at her drawing. "That's cool!" he said. "This is mine." He showed her a picture with four people and a cat on it. "This is me, my mom, my dad, my big brother Shaun and my cat. Her name is Princess, and she's a white cat."

"I've never had a cat," said Elle thoughtfully. "My Papa has a big dog from even before I was born. He runs fast. And my mom's turtle."

Drew looked at her picture again. "Where's your mom? It's only you and your dad, and then there's your dog and your turtle. But what about your mom?"

"She's in Heaven," said Elle, pointing at the woman on the cloud at the top of her drawing.

"Oh." He thought for a moment. "My Nanna went to Heaven last year. My mom cried a lot."

"My Papa doesn't ever cry, except once. But sometimes he looks at the photo book and he looks sad."

"What do you mean, once?"

"On my birthday last year, when I turned five, he was happy and stuff during my party, but when he said good night to me, he started crying, and he hugged me real tight and said that he was sorry Mama was gone."

"Oh. My mom makes good food."

"My grandmama makes good food. She's a teacher here."

"Really?" asked Drew, perking up and looking interested. "Who?"

"Everyone else calls her Mrs Hayes."

He nodded. Then, he smiled again. "Wanna be friends?"

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