[spoiler=chapter12: Rini Castiel's POV]
[i]Her black hair hung in her face. She always had her head down, that Rini. She never played with any of the other kids. Actually, she never did anything. No one really paid any attention to her, I didn't either. Until she stuck up for me.
I was sitting in the sand box on the playground, minding my own business, when 3 kids come up to me. The one in front had blonde ahir and blue eyes. He wore a sleeveless turtleneck and black pants. He had a girl standing halfway behind himiwht dark brown hair and Hazel eyes. She was on the right. Rini, with her black hair and gary eyes, stood on the left. When I caught her eyes, she quickly looked away, but I noticed the bruises she had on her face. She looked as if she hadn't gotten any sleep last night. Though she had marks on her face, I could still tell she was beautiful.
The blonder in front of me caught me staring at Rini and grabbed the dumptruck I was playing with. I abruptly stood up and held out my hand. "Please give me back my dumptruck."
The Blonde laughed and handed the dumptruck to the brown haired girl. She giggled, walked up to me, and dumped sand on my head. I glared at her and reached for my truck. Before I grabbed it, she pulled it away, filled it with more sand, and handed it back to the blonde who threw the sane at my face. I watched as he filled the dumptruck with more sand again and gave it to Rini. "Hey, Rini. Just throw this sand at him. It's fun!"
Compassion filled the blonde's eyes as he looked at Rini. She took the dumptruck and looked at me. I put my hands in front of my face as the other two started to kick and throw sand at me.
"Stop it! That's not nice!" Rini's voice ranged out across the playground. I uncovered my eyes and looked up at the girl. She held my truck in a defensive manor. "Why are you doing this to a sweeat and innocent boy? He hasn't done anything wrong to you or any of us, Johnny."
The boy -Johnny- grabbed Rini and pulled her close. My heart fell to the bottom of my stomach as I saw how Johnny was holding her. "He was staring at you and I didn't like that. He should show you more respect."
Rini pulled away from Johnny and grabbed my hand to pull me to my feet. "People stare. It doesn't matter what you do and don't like because right now, he's showing me more respect than you." Rini pulled me and we started running. We didn't stop until we reached the other side of the playground.
"Why did you stick up for me? You don't know me." Rini looked at me. "It was nice, but you didn't have to do that." I gave Rini a pat on her hand.
Rini looked up and smiled at me. "I don't like bullies. Johnny is dangerous, but he would never hurt me." Rini gave me back my truck and gave me another smile.
Ever since then, me and Rini were inseperable. She told me about her life at home, about the bruises, about her mom, about everything. She had a lot to say and filled our time together with her laughter and her stories. I couldn't talk about myself, I wouldn't, couldn't. I just wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. Too bad our time was cut short.
Rini's birthday, we celebrated at school. I had my parents go out and buy party supplies and had our teacher prepare the room. My parents set up some games outside; racing face painting, a small field day for us. All of our class mates showed early so we could hide. When Rini showed up (with fresh bruises) we all jumped and yelled surprise. I was happy to see her smile.
We all went outside to play. Rini dragged me towards the races. The goal was the playground across the street. Me, Rini, and four other racers took our marks. As soon as the whistle was blown, I took off with none of the other racers in sight. I could hear Rini behind me, panting. When I reached the street, I look behind at her. When our eyes met, I started to slow down. I felt my feet hit the pavement in time with my heart. Meeting Rini's eyes, I saw the same compassion Johnny had showed her. She smiled at me, then she rushed up and pushed me.
The next thing I heard was the screeching of tires and boom. I landed on the other side of the road and I thought I was hit, until I looked up and saw Rini on the ground. When I rushed over to her, she was lying face up and I craddled her head in my lap. She started to grow cold as I screamed for Help. The life left her body as the ambulance arrived.
After that, everything happened in a blur. Rini was rushed to the hospital and everyone was rushed inside the school. No one said anything until the next day. Rini's mom came in with a police officer and pointed at me. "THAT'S THE ONE WHO KILLED MY ONE AND ONLY DAUGHTER!" I jerked at that. Whispers erupted around the classroom. Most of them were accusations: "He murderd her." "He was jealous of her because she got the most attention."
I willingly got up and went to the police officer and yelled at him, telling him the whole story from the top of my tiny lungs. I told him how Rini smiled at me before she pushed me. I told him how I loved Rini. I told him I didn't touch her. My voice became heaver with tears as I finished and Rini's mother hugged me. She said she'd forgive me for Rini. Too bad our classemates weren't so forgiving.
Our classmates made the rest of my second grade year the worst. Many said that I should have been the one to die. Some said that I even wanted her to die. The ones who started those rumors were no other then Johnny and that other girl. I was glad when they moved. Even though, rumors still tortured me. Before long, I really believed that I was the cause of Rini's death. I believed that if I was paying attention, I could have saved her life and risked my own.
Rini...didn't deserve to die.
I should have been the one to die...
I shouldn't be here...
I'm sorry...
I'm so sorry...[/i][/spoiler]