91 Petals

Chapter 2

First Petal

She looked up as we came over and as soon as her green eyes alighted on my face she smiled.  The girl standing before us was the girl from the stairwell. 

                “So you’re Max then?” she asked.  Her voice was so heavily Irish-accented that it took a minute for me to register that she was speaking to me.  “And it looks like you’ve got all of your stuff.”

                “Oh, good! So you know each other then?” William asked sounding relieved. 

                “Not exactly, I fell down the stairs and she helped me up,” I said quietly.  Her hair was out of its ponytail and cascaded down her shoulders in long red waves and she was holding a book in her right hand.  She looked older with her hair down like that. 

                “Well, that’s nice.  At least you two aren’t total strangers.  Max, this is Rachel’s little sister, Ellie. She’s a freshman here,” William said. 

                “It’s nice to meet you,” she said smiling at me.  “Again.”  Ellie seemed like a nice enough girl I guessed.

                “You two will have more time to talk in the car.  We need to get to the hospital,” William said impatiently.  He got into the car and Ellie and I piled into the backseat.  Our backpacks formed a wall between us but I could still see her. 

                “It’s really nice of you to do this for my sister,” she said looking over at me.  Her green eyes were sparkling.  “I’m glad they picked you.” 

                “You barely know me.  How do you know I’m a good choice?  I might be thinking about stabbing your sister when you leave the room,” I said bluntly. 

                “But you aren’t thinking that.  Besides, if you were the kind of guy that stabs cancer patients for a living you would have beat up those guys on the stairwell.  People who stab cancer patients are either sociopaths or very violent…or both.  But you, Max Peters, are obviously the complete opposite of a sociopath.  You didn't try and stab that boy that pushed you down the stairs, you just got up and walked away.” She was looking at me with this confident look in her eyes. 

                “So, where are you from anyway?” I asked eager to change the subject. 

                “Brackly, Ireland.  My family owned a potato farm there.  We lost it six months ago, in a big fire that someone set late at night.  We moved here a while ago.  We don’t have a lot of money but we make it on our own.”  Ellie looked sad and thoughtful all at once.  For just a moment I thought she might start crying. 

                “Rachel doesn’t have any friends; I don’t either really.  My family and I are the only ones she has that can keep her company.  So, I asked the principal if she could have someone from her class come visit her a few times a week so they could get hours towards service,” she continued. 

                Ellie was a smart girl.  She knew that unless there was some sort of reward involved, a normal teenager would never willingly except to befriend some random sick kid from another country. 

                When we finally reached the hospital we followed Ellie inside to the receptionist’s desk. 

                “We’re looking for Rachel Adair’s room,” Ellie said.  Her voice raised about two octaves and she suddenly looked like she meant business.  The receptionist turned to her computer and started typing.  She said something only Ellie seemed to understand because Ellie nodded and started walking towards the elevators.