Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, been a bit lazy lately. However, I promise I'm gonna do my best to finish this story. So enjoy chapter 3!
CHAPTER 3 : The Bond
When we arrived at the girls bathroom I waited outside for them to finish clean up the mess made by Tomo. In the meantime I was quickly reviewing what happened to me since I got in the orphanage. I made the acquaintance of three of the most revolting kids I ever met in my life, then I met a girl with horns and pink hair who I helped to fend off the aforementioned bullies, even though I barely knew her.
I guess you may already think that my life is very unique. HA! If you consider this weird, wait and see what happened to me as the years went by! But that will have to wait.
As I was saying, the girls had just finished cleaning the bag and were now exiting the bathroom. The girl who had come to our rescue then turned to us.
"Sorry for what happened today. I know those kids can be terrible at times, but I can guarantee you that not everyone here behaves like them. If either one of you has a problem you can trust me" She then gave us a warm smile, one that was hard not to believe in.
"Sure and thanks again for your help back there" I said still remembering the situation I found myself in when facing Tomo and his friends alone.
"You welcome. Well, I'd better go now see you around!" With that said she turned around one of the many corridors, disappearing from our sight.
I then turned to Kaede "I should go too. I may not need to go to the nurse, but some rest could do me good."
"Wait!" She said, stopping me in my tracks.
"Something bothering you?" I asked curiously.
She remained silent for a moment before answering. "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Help me."
"You were in trouble and I couldnt just leave you at their mercy. Is something wrong with that?"
"No... it's just... here people usually treat me like trash because... because of these" she then pointed at her horns.
"Don't you think that I'm a freak?"
This time it was my turn to be silent. I honestly didnt expect her to ask such a question. Sheesh, talk about low self-esteem.
"Trust me, I know better than anyone else that its not your appearance that makes you human. Its the way you act that makes you who you are. You may be a little different, but in the end we are all the same on this earth. No one deserves to be treated as trash." I said that as confidently as I could. I could see that that last line left her a bit shocked.
"I hope that answers your question." I continued.
"Yes. Th-Thank you" Kaede said smiling.
I smiled back and walked away, making my way to my room. I collapsed as soon as I laid on my bed. Finally some well-deserved rest.
The next day started out as any other. I woke up, got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast.
I got my usual juice and was about to sit alone at my usual table when I spotted Kaede in the distance being again harassed by the same three kids that were so kind to give me the gift of at least a dozen bruises.
So do you think I was scared of getting a few more? Nah.
I walked towards the table where they were arguing and made my presence known in the most polite way that I could.
"Well, if it isnt my favorite trio of idiots!" Ok maybe I didnt put that much of an effort into it.
The head-idiot turned around grinning evilly at me. Honestly, that only made him look even more stupid.
"Look who just got here! Did you come here to take yet another beating" he said proudly feeling as if I had my back against the wall while surrounded by three hungry wolves. Three very ugly hungry wolves.
"You would start a fight in a cafeteria under the eyes of all these teachers and students? Wow Tomo I really did overestimate your brain capacity" It was my turn to take pride in my words as he glared at me and I could here Kaede giggle.
"Laugh while you can! But one day there wont be some random girl to save you and then you will receive more than a few bruises!"
"Really? Good to know, be sure to tell me when I should start caring"
After that last line they stormed off fuming angrily and muttering some curses obviously directed to me.
"Jeez those people are really a drag" I said sitting down at Kaede's table, only to notice that she was looking at me with a confused stare.
"Err... What? Did I do something wrong?"
"What are you doing?"
"Sitting with you" I replied in a isn't-it-obvious tone
"Why?" She seemed even more confused.
"Hey if you dont want me to I can just..."
"No!" She was suddenly alarmed "Its just no one ever sat with me"
"What? Oh c'mon now you're making your life sound like a living hell!"
After she remained silent I realized that I had just stated the truth
"Oh... sorry" I continued
"Dont be. Its not your fault"
What followed was the one thing I hate more than a beating: awkward silence. So I tried to start a conversation asking various simple questions like her favorite color, her hobbies and some other stuff. At first she was kinda shy, but with time she started getting more confident, at some point she was even asking questions herself.
"So Alex, where did you live before you came here?" She asked me
"My parents died when I was little, my uncle took me in even if he wasnt too happy at the idea. Then strange things started to happen when I was around so I guess he got scared and abandoned me."
"What kind of strange things?"
"To tell you the truth I'm not really sure myself"
She looked down with sad eyes. A girl getting sad because of my past? Not gonna let that happen!
I stretched a bit before getting up "Hey how about we take a walk? I really cant stay seated for another minute"
I met her sad crimson eyes one more time before she nodded happily. We walked around the orphanage for a while as we kept chatting. Occasionally someone would look at us with looks of confusion, shock and sometimes disgust. However it just took me to glare at them to make them stop whether they were students or teachers.
We finally reached the garden which was almost empty. If I learned anything from that wretched place is that the kids are extremely lazy. Instead of going to play in the garden they would rather sit down in the cafeteria until their ass is feeling numb.
"Tag you're it" I said tapping her shoulder.
She looked at me in utter confusion yet again.
"Well c'mon! Please tell me you know how to play tag!" Mocking can be a very good way to persuade someone at times. In fact she looked at me with a determined stare and started to run after me.
We spent the morning like that, playing together. It was good for the both of us, I really dont remember when was the last time someone played with me and she never had someone to play with.
After one full hour of running we sat at the base of a tree enjoying the break.
"Well that was fun" she said smiling.
"Yeah we should do it more often!"
The bell rang signaling that classes were to begin. Kaede once again grew sad and I just had to comfort her. For some reason I felt like her older brother.
"Hey dont worry I'll see you after classes and tomorrow we'll play again how's that?"
She looked at me "You promise?"
"Of course" I replied grinning.
So we were on our way to continue our joyous voyage in the land of math and science. Yeah right.
After that day I felt like a bond was born between me and that girl. It was a bond that would keep us united for over eight years and that would help me to survive in the most difficult situations.
Thats Chapter 3 and I'm already working on Chapter 4 so I promise it wont take as long as this one. It should be out in about 2 or 3 days. Hope you guys are enjoying this so far!
