I know the last chapter got a little… hurtful and probably bought up hard feelings for some of you. I'm thinking of putting trigger warnings up just in case I do do something like that again. If you need me to let me know.

Now onto today's chapter.

Chapter 5-

After taking the day off yesterday I decided to go back to school. I still was warm, and Jorrie has been avoiding me since I broke her bottle, but I didn't mind that. For some reason I just was not a great healer and ended up causing myself more pain when I tried to heal the bruises on my arms. I decided to just wear a sweater shirt most of the day that was thin enough I wouldn't get too hot and not too noticeable. I just patched up my hand as best as I could but would need some bandages to keep from opening the cuts back up. Thank God I wouldn't need stitches.

I had left for school an hour earlier and was surprised to see Matt waiting there with a young Vicky Donovan. I waved as I came into view, catching both their attention.

"Hey Mav. This is Vicky, my sister."

"Hey." I greeted them both. She returned it with a nod. "Why are you here so early?"

His cheeks turned a bit red, and he rubbed his neck. "Mom wanted us gone a little earlier. What's up with you? You were out yesterday and now you're here by yourself, no drop off."

"I had a cold but I'm better now. We also don't live far so I decided to walk. I just needed to get out of the house." That seemed to catch Vicky's attention.

"You too?" She asked.

"Yeah. You too?"

She huffed a laugh. "Yeah." The standoffish girl seemed to relax. "Matt told me you have a little sister."

"Yeah, she's 3 months old now." I smiled at even the thought of her. She was truly my light during the dark days.

"When can we meet her Mav? I really want to see the baby." He pouted.

How can I resist those pure blue eyes? "I'll let everyone meet her this Saturday at the park. My mom should be ok with it." Like she even cared. "Vicky, you want to meet her too?"

"Sure." She shrugged. I honestly was expecting her to say no.

Me, her and Matt waited another hour for the building to start opening up and school finally started. The Angels, as soon as they saw me, asked why I missed school and If I was ok. It felt nice to have someone worry about me. I reassured them that it was a simple cold, and I was ok. Even Tyler when he came in kept looking my way just to make sure I wouldn't tip over or something. It may have taken me a minute to realize it, but I had good friends. Hell, I had friends.

I had friends that cared if I missed school, who would invite me to spend time with them outside of school, who honestly cared. When recess came around and we were talking I was the one to ask them something for once.

"You guys want to come to the park this Saturday? Matt's coming to meet Windy."

Caroline squealed. "Are you really really serious? Like, honest?"

"Yeah."

"Duh Mavvy. We have been trying to get you outside of school since school began and now, we get to meet the baby. Ooh, I'm so excited!" Caroline squealed again.

"Goldilocks, I'm sure the bears hear you by now." I laughed. "BB, El Bell?"

"Of course, we're coming."

"I'm not missing out on a cute baby." Both of them said at the same time.

I looked at the last one who hadn't responded. Tyler was trying to play it cool, but he just wasn't there yet. "Ty Ty, you don't want to meet my sister?" I fake-ly sulked.

He rolled his eyes. "Ugh, fine. If you want me to come, I will."

"First a sleepover at Bonnies and now we get to meet the baby. Can this week get any better?" I did not share Carolines enthusiasm on the outside, but it did seem like my week was looking up.

When the end of the week came It was finally time for them to meet Windy, so I had to make sure she looked good. I put her in a really cute pink and blue onesie that had a bunny on it. I put on a matching headband with a bow on it and placed her in her stroller. I was matching her somewhat with a blue, pink and white striped shirt and light blue jeans. I put my hair in two puff balls as best as I could with small hands.

I grabbed a small, packed baby bag and was out the door. I went earlier to make sure no one that knew me would see me pushing a stroller all the way to the park. It's just weird to see an eight-year-old do so. At least my house was a good distance from both. Anywhere else in this town you needed a car to unless you were in the square.

I was sitting on one of the benches for a few minutes before I heard the sweet and high-pitched voice of Caroline.

"OMG!" She let out in a shrill pitched scream. She didn't even try and say hi for me but ran right up to the side of the stroller to get a better look at Windy.

"Oh Maverick, she's so cute." She cooed. With her attention on Windy she didn't even see Elena, Bonnie and Sheila come up to join us.

"Hey guys."

"Hey." They greeted back. "Grams, this is the girl I was telling you about. Maverick, this is my Grams." Bonnie introduced us.

If you've never had Sheila's eyes on you then you're probably lucky. It wasn't anything bad but like being under a lie detector knowing you haven't done anything wrong but still being nervous. Whatever her brown eyes saw in my darker ones made hers soften towards me. This sudden feeling of home and warmth enveloping me made me pull on my magic instinctively. I didn't trust feelings like that. Warmth soon turns to fire and a home was nothing more than a house filled with people to me.

I smiled as genuinely as I could but could feel how stiff it was. "Hello."

"Hi honey." She smiled at me. Good. There was no one I would describe as more good than Sheila. All those great things you would say about a person are true about her, or at least that's what I can feel from her. It makes you relax, calm down and block out your worries.

When Matt, Tyler and Vicky finally showed up they all took turns holding Windy and talking to her. Matt even played peek-a-boo before they all got bored and ran off to play. That was ok with me because Sheila sat next to me and helped me watch Windy. She didn't ask where my mother was, why I was here alone, not even the magic she could probably sense from me.

She just sat there with me and didn't judge me. It was jarring and brought on my fight or flight side.

"You're not gonna ask?" I asked her while looking at Windy doze off with her bottle in her mouth.

"You gonna tell me?"

"No."

She huffed good naturedly. "Then I'm not gonna ask. Though if you ever want someplace where you can get a cooked meal my doors always open."

I nodded, still keeping my eyes on my sister. I was almost afraid to lose this bubble of peace. A rare moment I would describe as happy. My friends were smiling as they chased each other, my sister was healthy, and I was alive.

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I savored every moment of now.

Yup, fluff. Or my own version of fluff. Also, it's time to move on from 4th grade so the next chapter will be a time skip. Reason 1 is because they really do need to move on and 2, my own memories of 4th grade weren't super happy, so I was having a hard time not making it totally depressing.

The moments with Vicky and Sheila, well, they'll only get better as Maverick ages. Maybe she'll have some other people to lean on who she can give the unfiltered truth to.

Like always, until next time- BIigSmallWonder