Sacrifice for a Dream

Chapter 7

When I woke from the alarm blaring on my nightstand Saint was gone. The blanket had been folded and the pillow laid on top of it. The only reason I knew it hadn't been a dream was there were still brightly colored paper butterflies all over my desk.

I looked around the room, but nothing had been moved. My backpack was sitting on the floor next to my nightstand and the tray with my dinner was gone. I opened the drawer to my nightstand and the cell phone Anne had given me was still inside.

I opened the phone and saw that it had two missed calls from Anne last night. I hadn't even heard the phone ring. I looked at the clock and saw that it was seven in the morning. Breakfast was at 7:30 and classes started at 8:15.

Before I could make up my mind about calling Anne, the phone started to vibrate in my hand. I looked down at it and saw Anne's number flash across the small screen. My hands shook as I pushed the accept button. I missed her so much.

"Hello?" I said, not knowing what to expect. I'd never talked to Anne on the phone. If I had a problem at school, Anne would just come down to the school. If I had therapy or a club, she was usually there either helping or waiting for me to finish.

"Oh good!" Anne breathed a sigh of relief. "Where were you last night? I tried calling twice and you didn't pick up."

I looked at my foot and slightly stretched it. It felt much better today. I knew if I told Anne what had happened, she would be at the school as soon as she could and taking me home, to Gerald. And although what happened yesterday was horrible, I was still intrigued about all the boys I had met and my new friend in Fala.

"I'm fine!" I said a bit cheerier that I usually would especially for this early in the morning.

"Have you made any friends? Glimmer seemed nice," Anne prodded.

I rolled my eyes; thankful Anne couldn't see me. "Everyone is being super nice. I haven't spent any more time with Glimmer, but I did make a new friend in class. Her name is Fala. Her family lives close to the school and asked if I could come home with them for the weekend."

There was a short pause. I had never asked to spend the night at someone's house before.

"Are you sure?" Anne asked, and I could hear the worry in her voice.

"Yes, and I have my cell phone. If I'm having a hard time, I'll call you," I told her. I hadn't realized how much I wanted to go until that exact moment.

There was another long pause, "Alright. I guess that's okay. I'd very much like a phone call from her parents. If you could have her give them my phone number, I'll be expecting a call."

I nodded excitedly and then realized that she couldn't see me. "Thank you, Anne! I need to get ready, or I'll miss breakfast."

"Okay, call me when you have time!" Anne reminded me, before I could hang up.

We said our goodbyes and then I got off the phone. I picked up the scrap of paper that Fala left me on my nightstand and carefully texted her. It took me a few tries to figure out how to send the message on the phone. Then it took me even longer to enter the text using the numbers on the dial pad.

"My mom said I could go to your house for the weekend, but she wants your parents to call her first." I typed.

I waited a few seconds and got a vibration, "Sounds good, send me her number and I'll give it to my mom and the Chief. See you later!"

After putting turning the cell phone off and placing it in my nightstand, I put my feet on the floor and slowly put a small amount of weight on my injured foot. Although it let out a small twinge of pain, for the most part it didn't hurt. I took some more Tylenol with the water bottle left on my nightstand. I wrapped my ankle tightly before putting on my socks and tennis shoe over it. I grabbed all the things I'd need for classes and walked slowly to the cafeteria; I walked carefully and slowly on the stairs when I realized there was no ramp. I held onto the rail tightly.

When I finally got to the cafeteria it was packed. Students were milling about, already dressed for the day. Everyone stopped talking and stared at me. I quickly got in line and loaded up my plate with fruits, yogurt and a toasted bagel with cream cheese. As I was getting out of line and looking for a table to sit at, the tray was taken from my hands. I looked up to see Stone holding my tray and walking in the direction of the middle of the cafeteria. The students of the cafeteria kept getting quieter and quieter until I could have sworn that you could have heard a mouse fart.

I followed Stone since he carried my breakfast, and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go get another breakfast. I was very hungry.

Stone placed the tray down and sat beside it with a tray of his own that was heavily loaded with food. Besides the fruit, there was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, ham and two small cups of yogurt.

Once I was seated the cafeteria went back to its normal volume. Students continued to chat over breakfast and coffee. I glanced around but didn't see Fala or any of the other kids from the Tribe.

My eyes turned back to the table I was sitting at. Phoenix sat across from me, with a pouty Glimmer hanging on him. Beside her were three girls I didn't know. They were stunning, both wearing the school uniform yet somehow, they looked like fashion models. Two of the girls were blonde like Glimmer and the third was a tiny Asian girl who was exotically beautiful.

On my side of the table sat the twins, Luck and Legend. Beside them and to my left, sat Saint who smiled at me over a cup of coffee. I picked up my fork and began eating. On the edge of my tray, Saint laid a small orange origami fox. Its head was turned slightly to the right and its eyes were drawn in with a pen. I picked it up to study the intricate folds closer when Glimmer snatched it from my hand.

"How come you never make these for me?" Glimmer asked sullenly. "You only care about your new Pelican."

Saint didn't answer right away. He just placed his hand out for it slowly, and then said between gritted teeth, "Give it back Glimmer."

She reached out like she was going to put it in his hand when she 'accidently' dropped it in Phoenix's coffee cup, knocking the cup over and letting it pour all over the table.

"Oops," she said. There was no remorse in her voice, like yesterday when she pushed me.

I was seething on the inside, but I didn't want to get in trouble, so I said nothing to her. I laid my hand on Saint's arm. "Thank you for making it for me, it was beautiful."

"The only beauty I see, is the woman sitting beside me," Saint said gallantly.

"Are you kidding me?!" Glimmer yelled. All the heads in the cafeteria swiveled back to us again. Glimmer lowered her voice, "She's nothing but a child. A small, retarded child."

Phoenix looked at her and his eyes narrowed, "Glimmer, enough!"

Phoenix pushed her away from him and turned back to his bagel and coffee. Glimmer seeing that she wasn't getting what she wanted stood up and stomped her foot like a two-year-old having a tantrum. She strutted out of the cafeteria, pushing into some guy I had never seen before. Her friends sulked out of the cafeteria behind her.

"Finally," one of the twin's mumbled and the other twin grinned at me, flashing a dimple.

"Eat," Stone ordered me. He pushed my tray at me. He continued to shovel more of his food into his mouth. My stomach growled embarrassingly. I picked up my spoon and started to eat my yogurt and fruit.