Chapter 9.
Homecoming flyers had gone up. Kit peered at the one near her locker as she zipped her bag closed. I'm going to drop by Hannah's today, she decided as she bent to gather the rest of her belongings in her arms. She hadn't visited the kindly counselor in a while, and even though she knew Nat probably went out of his way to help Hannah, she wanted to contribute, too.
As she straightened, something caught the corner of Kit's eye. She whipped her head around in time to catch sight of someone's hair disappearing around the hall. "Hello?" called Kit.
No response, but she heard someone's feet skittering. Frowning, Kit followed the noise. She rounded the corner in time to see the frail, skinny back of a little girl—"Prudence?"
Prudence halted, turning guiltily.
"What are you doing here?" asked Kit, walking towards her.
"I…" Prudence shuffled her feet, looking down at the floor. "Mommy brings me here after school sometimes when Daddy's not home. Usually I just sit outside her office, but I got bored and I… I didn't mean to be a bother."
Kit gaped. "You're not being a bother at all! But what do you do while your mom works?"
"Just sit," said Prudence, glumly. "Sometimes I do my math homework."
"How about reading? I know a good book always helps me pass the time."
"I can't read." Prudence's voice was barely above a whisper.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, well…Mommy says I'm dyslexic." Prudence struggled with the last word, her mouth crumpling around it.
"That doesn't mean you can't read," Kit said gently.
"I don't like to."
"Why not?"
"Because the other kids look at me funny when I do."
At this, Kit felt her heart squeeze. How awful, to not be able to find solace in the written word because of what others said; how awful, to suffer those stares without any means of escape.
"Come with me," Kit resolved.
Prudence looked over her shoulder, worried. "To where?"
"Have you met Hannah?"
Prudence shrank away from Kit slightly. "Mommy says she's a crazy old lady."
Kit laughed. "Not at all! She's the sweetest person ever, I promise. Are you allowed to walk around?"
Prudence nodded. "Mommy tells me not to bother her when she's working. I just have to be back at her office by six."
"It's four now; that gives us two hours, and don't worry, we'll still be right here in the building." Kit started to walk towards Hannah's room, but Prudence didn't follow. "Come on, Prudence," coaxed Kit. "I promise you, nothing bad will happen, and if you don't like her I'll walk with you back to your mom's office, okay? But you should give her a chance."
"I…" Prudence grappled with the decision for a little longer before hurrying to Kit's side. Together, they walked down the hall.
o.O.o
"I've brought you another friend, Hannah," introduced Kit as she opened the door. Prudence stepped in behind her, her arms wrapped around herself. Hannah beamed at her and got busy setting out a muffin and a milk carton, crooking a finger towards Prudence.
"No need to be afraid, dear," she encouraged. "Are you hungry?"
Prudence looked towards Kit for guidance. "It's delicious," promised Kit, smiling.
Prudence tiptoed towards the chair and sat in it, nibbling at the muffin cautiously at first before she quickly devoured the rest. As Kit watched her eat, she tried to decide what to do. She wanted to help Prudence—Kit of all people knew how it felt to be ridiculed—but wasn't sure how. As she looked around Hannah's room at the different instruction manuals about how to confront children, how to talk about difficult situations, an idea began to take root in her mind. It was no different from what Mercy did at the library sometimes, Kit reasoned. And maybe the personal attention, away from other prying eyes, was just what Prudence needed to build up some confidence.
"Prudence, you said you didn't like to read because the other kids made you feel embarrassed," started Kit.
Prudence, relaxed and content after Hannah's food, nodded.
"Well, what if I helped you with your reading?"
"Here?" asked Prudence.
"Yes, it would just be you, me, and Hannah—if that's all right with Hannah, of course," Kit added hurriedly, realizing she hadn't consulted Hannah before offering up the room.
Hannah waved a hand at them. "You can use my room however you'd like."
"What do you think, Prudence?"
Prudence mulled it over. "Just us?" she repeated.
"Just us."
"Okay," agreed Prudence.
"Wonderful!" Kit beamed. "What do you say about us starting tomorrow? I'll bring you a book so you don't have to worry about anything. Just meet me here, okay?"
o.O.o
The next afternoon, Kit hurried to Hannah's to find Prudence already there, staring at her lap and swinging her legs back and forth. Kit deposited her bag on the ground before pulling some picture books she had gotten from the library the night before. Mercy had looked at them in amusement but hadn't asked. Kit didn't have any specific plan for instructing Prudence; all she knew was that she wanted to show the girl how much fun reading could be. If she could share even a portion of the gift her grandfather had bestowed upon her, Kit knew it'd be worth it.
Prudence started falteringly, pausing between every word to glance furtively at Kit. Kit nodded encouragingly, spurring her to go on. Hannah's typing provided a pleasant background noise, and she said little.
"There, now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" asked Kit after Prudence finished the first book.
"It wasn't smooth. I…I stopped too much."
"But you kept going, and that's what matters," said Kit. She looked at the notebook where she'd jotted down words that had given Prudence trouble. "Try this word again."
"Grown," Prudence said carefully, pronouncing it like "gown."
Kit tilted her head. "That's a good guess," she said, "but this one's different. It rhymes with 'own,' see?" she demonstrated.
Prudence repeated the word, modifying her pronunciation before frowning. "But how do I tell?"
Kit hesitated, stumped. "Well," she started, "think of it like this. The main word is 'grow,' right?"
Prudence nodded.
"And 'grown' comes from 'grow,' you're just adding on the letter 'n'; but think of it as the 'n' is just tagging along, so the main sound stays the same." Biting her lip, Kit reached for a pen and wrote out another word on her notepad. "Like this word, here."
"Show," read Prudence.
"Right. So if we add an 'n'…"
"Shown."
"What if the word were 'mow'?"
"Mown!" exclaimed Prudence.
"There you have it! So when you see words like these, see if you can find the main word when you take off the 'n' and that'll give you a clue to how to say it," said Kit. "Now, there's another combination of letters that makes this sound, and that's 'oa,' like in 'groan,' see?" she said, writing out the word.
Prudence looked from "grown" to "groan," biting her lip. "They rhyme?"
"Yes. Can you think of any other rhyming words that might be spelled this way?" asked Kit.
Prudence shook her head. Kit placed a thumb over the "gr," showing only the "oan" part. "You've got this, Prudence," she said. "What's a letter we could put in front of these that would make a word?"
"M?" Prudence said after deliberating.
"There's one! Moan," said Kit. "And I can think of another one—loan!"
Prudence giggled. "What do those mean?"
"Well, a loan is when you let someone borrow something. Like how I'm going to loan you this book so you can read it again at home," explained Kit, holding it out to Prudence.
Prudence put her hands up. "N-no, I couldn't," she stuttered, her shoulders sinking a little. "Mommy would find it, and then she'd ask questions…" she trailed off, looking at her feet.
"You haven't told her about this?"
"No."
"Is it because she would get mad?"
Prudence's chin jutted out as she hesitated. "Maybe."
"Oh, Prudence." Kit should have known. She'd already had one encounter with the woman. Why hadn't she thought about it before, that Principal Cruff might be less than pleased to have her daughter interacting with a spoiled rich girl and a 'crazy old lady'? Or did it have to do with the reading? Who could begrudge their child reading? Or maybe, whispered a voice at the back of Kit's mind, she doesn't want to see her daughter put effort into something only to watch her fail. Kit bit her lip. "What if I left it in here, with Hannah? I won't be here tomorrow because I have to work, but you could still come by and read it on your own. I'm sure Hannah would even help you if you need it."
Prudence considered it before nodding. Some of the confidence slipped back into her shoulders, making her sit more upright.
"And I'll try to find some more fun ones for next week," said Kit.
Prudence reached for the book, tugging it into her lap and tracing over the words on its cover. Her hair fell in her face. "Thanks, Kit," she said softly.
Kit's smile broke over her like a wave. "You're welcome, Prudence."
o.O.o
"What is he doing here?" whispered Kit as she tied on her apron, gesturing furtively to the broad-shouldered boy walking through the door.
Judith stared at her blankly. "I told him you worked here. He's been trying to talk to you, but you kept disappearing right after school this whole week so I told him it'd be better if he just met you here."
Surprised, Kit let go of the elastic band she was using to tie up her hair, snapping herself on the finger. "What?"
"Don't look so surprised—I told you this was coming!" said Judith, not bothering to hide the excitement in her voice. "Oh, looks like I have to take an order. Run the cash register, will you?" Judith smiled sweetly, sashaying away from the counter as William approached. She held her notepad up to cover the left side of her face as she mouthed, "Don't mess this up."
Kit opened her mouth to respond, but someone's chest obscured her view of Judith.
"Hi, welcome to Skio's Short Stop. How may I help you?" Kit began immediately, trying to calm her nerves.
"Hello, Kit."
"Hello, William," she relented, recognizing his eyes were focused on her rather than the menu.
"I haven't seen you lately."
"I've been busy."
"So it appears."
"Yes, well I…um…it's nice to see you, William," said Kit, fiddling with the string at the back of her apron. She tried to call up the confidence she'd recovered over the past few weeks, but it was chased away by William's expectant gaze. If only he would say something more than just a few words! Kit had had all sorts of plans about how their next encounter would go, but in her imaginings, she'd forgotten how difficult conversation with William could be.
"You look nice."
"I…" Kit patted her hair. "Thank you?"
William reached for a plastic cup and started to play with it, running a finger along the rim as he mustered his words. Kit was grateful that there wasn't a customer waiting behind him. "Are you going to the homecoming game?"
Kit blinked. "Yes."
William nodded, setting the cup back down and straightening. "In that case, would you go to the dance with me?"
Kit's mind went blank. What had Judith said about this? It's a big deal. Don't mess this up. "William, I'm—"
"She'd love to." Judith had magically materialized behind the counter, her elbow jabbing into Kit's side. She turned her bright blue eyes to William, beaming. "Hi there, William, can I take your order?"
A/N: Slowly chugging along! Any thoughts or opinions are lovely! :)
