Change // H.S.

6. A Work in Progress

*Dani's POV*

I couldn't stop thinking about the idea that Rachel proposed. It was definitely something I wanted to do but I couldn't bring myself to do it because I was afraid my parents would be upset again. A few days pass before I finally decide to go for it. I'll be fixing the underlying problem this time, I tell myself.

It's Saturday morning and I walk into the homeless shelter. I find the front desk.

"How may I help you?" the woman asks.

"Hi. I have a strange request. You see...I want to make a difference in people's lives. I thought feeding the homeless was making a difference but apparently it wasn't. So I'm here hoping you could point out to me someone in this shelter who is in need of help the most? I want to help that person get back on their feet," I say, not even sure I was making sense. The woman's face brightens up. I'll take it that she understood what I said.

"I know just the person. Follow me," the woman gestures. I follow her into the building. I gasp at the large amount of people sleeping on the floor here. I didn't realize there were so many homeless people near campus. I wish I could help them all. I felt sick inside. I'm staying in an apartment close to campus when I really don't need to. Those thousands of dollars spent on rent could be used to help these people.... I shake the thoughts from my head. The woman leads me to the far corner of the building and stops in front of a young man sound asleep.

"He's the person in need of help the most?" I ask her quietly. She nods. I'm so confused. Why him? It doesn't look like he needs help. He looks like a student at my university. I was expecting to be brought to a woman with kids or perhaps someone like Lisa.

"Please help him," the woman breathes. I can hear the desperation in her voice. I don't know what's so special about this boy, but he apparently means a lot to this woman. I turn to face the woman.

"Okay. I'll help him," I say. The woman thanks me profusely and walks back to her desk. Once she's gone, I realize that I don't know what to do. Should I wait for him to wake up or come back later? I don't even know what to say to him when he does wake up! I start to panic. The boy shuffles in his sleep and I freeze. Thankfully he doesn't wake up...yet. I feel awkward standing so I sit down and look at the boy. He looks so peaceful in his sleep and his brown messy hair is all over the place. I all of a sudden feel like a creep looking at him sleep so I take out a textbook to read to pass the time.

Twenty-three pages later, he finally wakes up. I put my textbook down and look at him expectantly. He stretches his arms over his head for a while before he realizes that I'm staring at him. He turns to look at me and gives me a hard glare.

"What are you looking at?" he asks me harshly. I blush and look down at my hands.

"I...uh...." I look back up to meet his gaze. "I want to help you," I manage to say. I realize how weird that sounds coming out of my mouth. I want to help you. Way to be awkward, Dani! The boy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't need help," he immediately says.

"Then why are you here?" I ask, waving my hands all over the place to show 'here' as the homeless shelter.

"I--" he starts but then realizes he has no answer. He takes a while to gather his thoughts. "Look. This room is full of people who need help more than I do. I don't even know why you chose me of all people." I don't know why I chose you either, I think to myself.

"I must've made a mistake," I say, getting up to leave. I grab my textbook. "Sorry to bother you." I walk towards the woman at the front desk. The woman sees me coming towards her and she smiles.

"Well?" she chirps expectantly.

"Can you find me someone else?" I ask. I can tell she's hurt by my question.

"What happened? What did he say?" she asks in return.

"He told me to find someone else in need of help more than him."

"Don't listen to him. Please...I'm begging you. Please don't give up on him. He needs help." The fact that this woman is practically begging on her knees is scaring me. What is it about this boy?

"Is he your son?" I ask cautiously.

"No," she quickly replies. "She's my sister's son. My sister passed away two years ago. He's supposed to live with me but he refuses to and I don't know why. He's been staying at this homeless shelter for a week now. He can't live like this forever. I don't know what to do or say to make him change his mind. Promise me that you'll do whatever you can to help him." I look into the woman's pleading eyes and I can't say no.

"Okay, I promise," I say, not knowing what I was getting myself into. I start to walk back to the boy but he's gone. Where did he go? Did he move? What? No! I walk back to the woman and ask where he could be. She tells me he's probably in the cafeteria and directs me there.

The cafeteria is full of people. I realize how futile it is to look for him. I don't remember what he looks like anymore. After scanning the crowd for a while, I finally see him. Or at least I think it's him. As I walk towards him, I realize that it is him. He's hunched over eating his breakfast alone. I sit down right across from him and he looks up, his eyes meeting mine.

"Persistent, aren't ya?" he asks. I look him right in the eyes.

"My offer still stands. I want to help you."

He laughs. "I don't need help." He gets up to throw his trash away but I stop him by grabbing his arms. His face is suddenly serious but he sits back down to my relief. I pull my hands back.

"Yes you do. I can help you turn your life around. Do you want to continue living like this forever? Tell me," I challenge him.

"Why do you even care? What's in it for you? Please go find someone else to bother. I'm doing just fine, thank you very much," he spits. I don't know what it is but I finally had enough. I took out a piece of paper and furiously wrote my cell phone number on it. I threw the paper at him.

"You know what? Call me when you're ready to admit that you need help," I snap at him. I get up and leave. Just as I'm about to leave the building, the woman behind the front desk cries out to me.

"Stop! Please!" she yells. I stop in my tracks and turn to look at her. "You promised." I paused for a long time before speaking.

"I'll come back tomorrow. I need to go, sorry," I say and walk out the door. I ran my hand through my hair and took a deep breath. This is going to be a lot tougher than I expected. What the hell did I just get myself into? He's going to be a work in progress.

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They finally met! :D