Speech |a.f.i au|

1.3

I sat in English class with Luke, Abbey, and Madi. Madi and I were working on a previous assignment because we had both missed an equal amount of days. Madi got the stomach flu, which resulted in me getting the stomach flu.

"You guys aren't contagious, right?" Abbey asks, having parts of her blouse cover her nose, mocking a hospital mask. Madi and I roll our eyes and shake our heads.

"May I use the restroom?" Madi raises her hand while asking the question. The teacher waves her off, indicating that she can dismiss herself to the disgusting public school bathrooms.

"Wait, Madi!" The teacher calls out at her, "Will you stop by the office for me, I have a box that needs to be picked up?" she nods at him and begins to stand from her seat.

Abbey looks at me and smiles. Madi tells us she'll be right back and leaves the class. Once she leaves and closes the door, Luke stands up.

"Hey everybody, so a guy is gonna come in here with an animal, so please don't freak out. And, if you're allergic to dogs, please leave," Luke announces. Everyone shrugs him off and continues to chat and do their work, no one leaves meaning that our plan would go through.Thankfully, our teacher was on board with this as well.

Calum rushes in with a box, with the top cut off, which was also being covered with a blue, plush blanket. Many people begin to stare at the mischief we were currently causing.

"Alright Hood, I may not like you but this is a nice thing you're doing for Madeline," Our English teachers says before opening the door to the back closet. Luke, Abbey, and I rush to our seats and pretend to act as if everything is normal.

When Madi enters, her forehead scrunches and her eyes squint, clearly confused with what is on top of her desk.

"Guys, what's going on?" she asks us, her blue eyes scanning at the box in front of her. We all shrug our shoulders and we watch her cautiously approach her surprise. She takes a deep breath before removing the blue blanket and revealing her surprise. When she sees the baby Saint Bernard, she squeals and quickly picks up out of its box.

"Oh my goodness, look at the puppy!" she shouts, holding the puppy close to her chest. The dog starts to bite down on Madi's hair and I start to laugh. A few seconds later, I speak up.

"Hey, Mads, look at the collar," I tell her. She positions the puppy so that it's facing her, some of her hair dangling out of the dog's mouth. Her eyes scan the collar and Luke stands up from his desk and he opens the back closet door. Calum exits the closet with a blue orchid in his hands, smiling brightly at Madi.

"Read what it says out loud," Calum tells her and Madi starts to chuckle, tears brimming her eyes. They were tears of joy, something I know Madi wasn't used to.

"Be Mine?" Madi reads from the collar. Luke is smiling at Abbey while Abbey is watching Madi's expression. "Yes, Calum," Madi sniffles and nods her head.

She gently puts the dog back into the box and hugs Calum. She nuzzles her head into his neck and when they release, Calum hands her the blue orchid. At this point, the entire class is watching and some begin to clap.

Five minutes before class ends, Madi asks the class to help her come up with a name for the puppy who was a boy, and she kindly let everyone who wanted to, get the chance to pet him and hold him.

"Alright, Campbell wins!" she shouts and many of the students who voted for the name, cheers. The bell rings and as everyone files out the door, most people congratulate Madi or give Calum a high-five.

"Can Campbell come to Speech and Debate practice?" Madi asks Abbey.

"There is no practice today," Abbey says before she digs through her backpack and pulls out a planner. Luke raises his eyebrows at Abbey, Calum wraps a hand around Madi's waist, using his free hand to pet Campbell, who was still trying to eat Madi's brown hair. 

Abbey scurries to the month of March in her planner and quickly flips to the second week. I rub my eyes, waiting for her to reply. I kind of hope there is no practice because I stayed up all night with Ashton over the phone.

Before Abbey can tell us anything, Calum and Madi already left, taking Campbell with them.

"Guys, I'm so sorry. There was a meeting but it was canceled and I forgot to tell you all." Abbey runs her hands through her hand and quickly grips it as if she were pulling it out, shutting her eyes tightly. She was evidentially stressed out. Luke and I exchange glances before he makes his way over to her and starts rubbing her shoulders.

...

"Do you want to go on a date tomorrow morning?" Ashton asks. We didn't have school tomorrow, apparently, there was a flood in the girls' bathroom on the first floor, them canceling gave us a three day weekend, and I was not complaining. Though, classes would resume normally the following Monday.

"Yeah sure, I'd love too!" I tell him. "Are you not coming in?" I ask him. Usually, after Ashton drops me off at home, he'll come in for a few minutes or for the majority of the evening until his Mom summons him back home.

My mom didn't mind having Ashton around and things weren't nearly as awkward since my mom gave all of us the birds and the bees talk. No one is usually sheltered from this talk but because it was my punishment, she felt the need to print out photos of STD's and described what each one did to the male and female genitalia.

"Not tonight, I promised Harry I'd take him out with the guys for some guy time." I nod my head, understand. "You should call the girls, get out of the house tonight," Ashton says before pressing a kiss to my temple.

"I'll see you tomorrow at nine o'clock sharp, okay?" I grab my backpack and open the door of his car.

"I'll see you tomorrow, be safe tonight. I love you," before I get out of the car, Ashton presses a kiss to my lips.

"I love you more, text me!" I shut the door to his car and I begin to go up towards my porch. When I turn around, I notice that Ashton is waiting for me to go inside and I smile at how lucky I am.

When I get inside, I see my mom playing with Campbell. She's using a laser light and watching him chase it, making her laugh.

"Hey mama, where's Madi?" I ask, taking off my shoes and setting my backpack by the coat closet.

"She's in the shower. She came home a little bit earlier than you. I guess she went to her house to discuss things with her mom. It didn't go so well, according to her." mom tells me. I nod my head and sit next to her on the couch. Campbell starts scratching at my leg, so I lift him up on to the couch with mom and me.

"Her mom is struggling, Rene. And so, for right now, because Madi is eighteen and can do whatever she wants, she will be living with us until you both go off to college, but I'm taking you and her out to get her mind off of it." I pull my mom in for a hug and I can't wait for Madi to start feeling at home in our house.

"I love you, Mama," I say, releasing her from my embrace.

"I love you too, princess. Now go get ready!" she insists, I hold my hands up as if I was surrendering and I lift Campbell from my lap and put him down on my mom's lap. "And wear something comfortable!"

...

Mom drove Madi and me all the way downtown, which is a good twenty-five-minute drive away from our house. She took us to the Cheesecake Factory and after spending a good two to three hours there, she took us to the mall so we could pick out some new clothes for Spring.

"Rene!" I hear Madi shout from the dressing room. I hadn't seen what she picked out yet because I was picking out some clothes for myself at the moment.

"Yeah?" I shout back and start heading towards the fitting rooms.

"I want you to see this!" I can hear the excitement in her voice. When I get to a position where I can see her, I gasp.

Madi was wearing a beautiful, blue, spring dress. Her skin was glowing and that's when I knew that Madi was getting better.