Dean's Daughter

School

The next morning I wake up early, too early. The sun hasn't risen and the girls are still in bed. I glance at the clock and it reads 5:48. I attempt to go back to sleep but end up tossing and turning I end up just laying awake staring at the ceiling for two hours. My eyelids grow heavy and I finally begin to fall asleep. BEEP BEEP BEEP! The stupid alarm clock had to wake me up.

Ms. Gomez's voice fills the hallway shouting "Rise and shine! Wakey wakey eggs and bacy!" I cover my head with my pillow and groan. My pillow is soon ripped away from my face. "Hey!" I grumpily shout. "Wake up it's time for school." Christina's groggy voice says. I sit up and walk to the bathroom. There is a line out of the door.

I go downstairs, grab a water bottle out of the fridge, and go outside to the front and find a bush. I brush my teeth there and when I am finished I go inside to find Ms. Gomez. "That's an interesting way of brushing your teeth." She says with a grin. "Have you never been camping? That's how I do it all of the time." I reply so quietly I could barely hear my own words. "I actually have never been camping," Am I actually having a conversation with her? I guess so. "What!" I spit out instantly "It's so fun my dad always used to take me!" I emphasized always to to make it more dramatic. "Wow, your father must have been very fun." She somehow had excitement and sympathy in her voice. "Yeah, he was I miss him, alot." I do miss him. I miss him so much it hurts, really physically hurts.

"Well, today all of the children have school and you aren't enrolled yet. So we will go down and enroll you maybe you can start tomorrow." I know what she was doing, she was changing the subject so I won't think of my dad. "Okay." I quietly mumble, the thought of having more people around scares me.

I begin to breathe too quickly and have an anxiety attack. Ms. Gomez starts to panic and calls 911. The kids in the house rush down the stairs, some tried to calm me down, a boy brought me a pillow, and a older girl got me a bottle of water. The paramedics got here too late and I was fine. They apologized and left. Ms. Gomez sent everyone to school and I went to my room.

She came in after a little while. "How are you feeling?" She looked scared of me. "I'm fine" I whispered. "Okay, that's good. Do you still want to go today?" I slowly nod my head. "We will leave when you are ready." "I'm ready now" I instantly responded. "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Okay I'll be in the car waiting, come down when you're ready." I nod quickly and walk to the dresser to change.

Once I'm dressed I go to the car. The ride to the school is short. Ms. Gomez attempts at conversation but I tune her out. She turns up the radio and I quietly sing along to some of the songs that play. When we get to the school I grow anxious. I feel like running inside, but I patiently wait for Ms. Gomez who is taking her sweet time. She applies more lipstick, sprays a perfume that hurts my nostrils, puts more mascara, and fluffs her red hair. We finally get out of the car and make our way to one of the large buildings. She opens the door for me and I walk in.

The cool air blows in my face and I shiver. "Follow me" Ms. Gomez says. I obey her and walk right behind her like a little duckling. We walk into what looks like the main office and a nice lady greets us.

"Hello Ms. Gomez, and who is this?" She says with a bright smile. I hide behind Ms. Gomez as if she were my mother. She gently grabs my small hand pulls me in front of her and rests her hands on my shoulders. "This is Dani Winchester, she's new. We're here to enroll her." Her smile is wide and bright. "Well that can be arranged I'll call Ms. Hills down and you can talk to her." Her voice is a little raspy and soothing. "Thank you Mrs. Little." "No problem Ms. Gomez, have a seat she will be her shortly she is in a meeting." We turn to the chairs and sit down. We sit in silence for a few moments.

"So Dani, since you're new and don't have much clothes I thought you and I could go shopping after this. We could get you some new shoes, jeans that don't have what looks like a mixture of mud and blood on them, some nice shirts, maybe a dress?" She wants to take me shopping? "Umm, yeah that seems fun. And it's animal blood my daddy used to take me hunting, he said I need to learn. I didn't think it was noticeable." She pulls out a pair of jeans from her purse. "Well luckily I brought these. Go change there is a restroom down the hall third door on the left." I go and change my pants and quickly go back.

When I go in Ms. Gomez is standing next to a tall blond woman. That must be Ms. Hills, I slowly walk up to the two of them. Ms. Gomez grabs my shoulders the way she did earlier. "This is her, say hello Dani." "Hi" I mumble. "Dani stay here I'm going to talk to Ms. Hills I'll be right back. Here you can read if you want." She hands me a "Clifford the Big Red Dog" book.

I make my way back to my chair. I decide it wouldn't take me long to read it so I would time her to see how long it takes. The clock reads 9:37. I begin reading, then I finished, I began again, then finished again. She finally walks out and greets me with a smile. I look at the clock again and it says 9:48, only eleven minutes. We walk to the car, I get in the back seat and put my seatbelt on. She starts to drive and we arrive at the mall.

We walk in the mall and it is massive. She grips my hand and pulls me through big crouds. We spend the whole day there. She feels like more of a mom than someone who has to take care of me. By the end of the day I have 4 blouses, 3 t-shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 dresses, a pair of tennis shoes, and a pair of flats. One dress is casual so I could wear it to school, and the other is fancy I could wear it to a wedding. She says the kids should be home soon and we should get to the house so she is there when they get off of the bus.

We go back to the orphanage and I put my clothes away in my drawer and set my shoes in the closet. I hear voices and footsteps coming down the hall. Christina and Alyssa came in. "Lets go play outside!" Christina shouts. "Okay."