It had been an hour since the angels first observed the Reed siblings and Tonya was now in the front seat of Allison Cooper's station wagon. Allison Cooper was a social worker and she was driving Tonya to Hope Valley Youth Home. Everything had been arranged half an hour earlier. Allison was under the impression that Tonya was getting transferred from Sinclair Youth Home and so she arrived to find Tonya waiting on the front porch of Sinclair, carrying a red knapsack. Allison had no clue that Tonya was an angel, on her way to an assignment, but she could see the fear behind Tonya's eyes, which was somewhat obvious. Allison smiled at her as she turned off the highway.
"You look a little nervous." She pointed out. Tonya turned to face Allison, and she returned her smile.
"Sort of. I guess this orphan stuff is new to me." Tonya replied, being completely honest. The truth was that she was nervous. Her past assignments had always been difficult, but she never had to understand what a teenager felt like to lose parents. Tonya was scared that she wouldn't know what to say to Tiana when the time came to reveal herself as an angel. Tess had always told Tonya that God would give her the words, and that they would be the right words because they came straight from the mouth of God, but as Tonya was on her way to meet her new assignment, she could feel what humans called "butterflies in the stomach."
Allison pulled her car into the circular driveway at Hope Valley.
"You ready?" Allison asked as she smiled at Tonya. Tonya smiled back.
"Yeah, let's do it." She replied, as she opened the car door and hung her knapsack over her shoulder. Allison led the way up to the front door of the youth home, with Tonya right beside her. Father, give me strength. I trust in You to make this work. Tonya prayed as Allison opened the heavy front door. Ms. Ovending had been waiting for them, as she approached the two. Ms. Ovending smiled politely at Tonya.
"Hi honey, you must be Tonya." She said as she extended her hand. Tonya smiled and shook it, being careful not to act too eager or too happy. After all, she was an orphan, and she had to remain dedicated that role to fulfill this assignment.
"Yes, I'm Tonya." She then forced herself to look away from Ms. Ovending, as if to take in the new surroundings. Ms. Ovending shifted her eyes to Allison, who was reaching into her briefcase.
"Well Ms. Cooper, thank you for driving Tonya down here. I appreciate it." Ms. Ovending said gratefully.
"Anything I can do to lend a hand." Allison pulled out a large folder from her bag. "Here's her file from Sinclair." Allison handed the envelope to Ms. Ovending, causing Tonya to keep herself from smiling. Tess thought of everything. She thought to herself as Ms. Ovending thanked Allison once again. With everything settled, Allison said goodbye and took off, leaving Tonya with the excited headmistress.
"Well Tonya, we're happy to have you. Let me show you to your room." Ms. Ovending smiled and led the way, as Tonya followed her through the long corridors and up the long staircases. Tonya was feeling less and less nervous as she was getting closer and closer to Tiana. She was beginning to get excited to meet her.
"Here we are." Ms. Ovending announced as she opened the door to the girls' dormitory. The same one Tonya had stood in less than an hour ago. Tonya saw a bunch of girls chatting, doing their hair, getting binders and pencil cases together, but as soon as they saw Tonya, they all stopped, as if waiting. They stared at Tonya with disgust and hate.
"Girls, this is Tonya. She's new here and I expect you all to be nice to her." Ms. Ovending announced, as she led Tonya through the dormitory. The girls all stared coldly at Tonya, but Tonya only saw Tiana in the corner, sitting on her bed.
"Tonya, this is your bed, right next to Tiana. Classes start in about 15 minutes, so just follow the crowd and you'll be fine." With those words, and a brief smile, Ms. Ovending left the room. Tonya sat on her bed, and faced Tiana, who was brushing her brown hair. She was so beautiful.
"Hi, my name is Tonya." Tonya said, trying to act shy. She didn't want to frighten her. Her job was to befriend Tiana, not scare her away, but Tonya was relieved when Tiana turned to Tonya and smiled.
"I'm Tiana. So, you're new huh?" Tiana asked. Tonya nodded.
"Yeah, I transferred from Sinclair." She replied. Tiana nodded.
"How long were you there for?" She asked, trying to make conversation. Tonya shrugged.
"Not very long. I usually go from place to place." She said, thinking of all the different assignments she's had.
"I've been here for a year. Me and my brother. My parents passed away last year." Tonya could see Tiana fighting the tears away. She wanted so much to just hold the girl in her arms, but she couldn't. She was one of them now. She couldn't push.
"I'm sorry Tiana." She said simply.
"Why? You lost your parnets too. We all did." Tiana replied, with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"Yes, but..."
"Oh man, we should get to class. You can come with me. I'll show you the way." Tiana changed the subject as quickly as she had started it, as she got up to lead the way out. Tonya wanted to push further, but she knew she just had to trust, and let Tiana open up in her own time. Besides, they had just met.
Tonya got up and followed Tiana out to the hallway, where some older girls were talking. They turned and stared coldly at Tonya. Tonya smiled.
"Hello, my name is Tonya." She said in a friendly manner, trying to be polite.
"We know who you are." The tall redhead, Sandra retorted. Tonya's smile disappeared as Sandra turned to Tiana. "I can't believe you, Tiana. Hanging out with new trash like this. You better watch out or your reputation will fall apart."
"Get over yourself Sandra." Tiana said quietly, as she looked at Tonya. "Come on, let's go." She led the way and Tonya followed, hearing Sandra and her friends making cruel remarks behind her back. Tonya fought back tears that were stinging her eyes. She had never been teased before, or disliked. It hurt her, and she didn't know what to do with those feelings. She tried hard to forget them. She had other things to worry about.
Tiana sat at her desk and pointed to the desk beside her.
"This one's empty, you can sit next to me." She smiled, as Tonya thanked her and sat down. She had only known Tiana for nearly half an hour and she had already made an observation. Tiana was very friendly and polite, but Tonya knew there was a deep pain behind it all. Her smile showed it all. So faint, so small. So full of pain. It was so hard for Tonya to just sit back, but she had to be patient. So Tonya prayed quickly that God would bless Tiana Reed abundantly.
As the rest of the kids made their way into the large classroom, Ms. Ovending stood at the front of the class, waiting for the boys and girls to be quiet. Once they had settled down, Ms. Ovending began talking.
"Good morning, boys and girls. I hope you all had a great weekend, but now it's Monday, so back to the books." She heard the usual groans and mumbles, but she carried on. "As you may remember, your last tutor has left Hope Valley. She found your antics a little too much to handle. Hopefully, you'll treat your new tutor with a little more respect." Ms. Ovending said sternly, catching Trevor laughing in the corner of her eye.
"Zip it Trevor!" She snapped, as Trevor rolled his eyes. Ms. Ovending pretended she didn't see him. She already spoke to him once today.
"Please join me in welcoming our new tutor to Hope Valley. Monica." The class didn't follow Ms. Ovending's applause as they watched Monica walk into the classroom with a bright smile on her face. The class eyed her, as if plotting how they could get rid of this tutor. Tonya smiled back, glad that she would be seeing Monica a lot during this assignment. Tonya just had a feeling she would be needing a lot of guidance throughout this assignment. Now that Tonya wasn't the only angel in Hope Valley, she didn't feel so alone.
"Hello. I'm glad to be here and I hope that we can all get along." Monica said eagerly as she stared into the blank expressions of these teenagers. So much anger, pain and fear laid behind their young expressions. Monica thought that they could all use an angel, but Tess had told her earlier that each one of these kids would have an angel when it was their time to need one, but right now, only two kids were ready for the angels.
"Well, we're glad you're here too, Monica." Ms. Ovending said, as she faced the class. "Well, most of you already know, but we also have a new girl today. Her name is Tonya and that's her, sitting next to Tiana." The class snickered and whispers filled the room.
"Hey! What have I told you about teasing? I expect you all to accept Tonya and make her feel right at home. And if I hear otherwise, you'll be spending your lunch hours with me in my office!" Ms. Ovending stared hard at the class, until they all quieted down.
"Alright, they're all yours Monica. Good luck." With that, Ms. Ovending left the room. Monica faced the class and smiled brightly.
"Alright then, let's get started, shall we?" She asked the uneager students as she turned to write on the board. Little did she know of what was going on behind her. Trevor pulled his eraser out of his binder and flung it across the room, hitting Tonya right on the cheek!
"Ouch!" Tonya cried out, as the pain shocked her. She still wasn't used to the physical pain that her human form often felt. Monica turned from the board quickly to see Tonya holding her cheek, and Trevor holding his laughter inside.
"Excuse me young man. What's your name?" Monica asked politely, but sternly.
"Trevor." Trevor replied casually, with a shrug, not caring.
"Ah, well, would you mind telling me what's so funny?" Monica asked. Trevor raised his eyebrows.
"You want to know what's funny? It's that girl, Tonya! She's so ugly, I can't stand to even look at her. It's hilarious." Trevor replied, as he stared deviously at Tonya, laughing. Tonya's mouth dropped open as she stared back. There were so many things she was tempted to yell back, but she kept herself quiet.
"Trevor! That's an awful thing to say, now apologize this instant!" Monica commanded, hurt that Tonya had to hear that. Trevor snickered.
"Apologize to her? Forget it. She probably wouldn't even understand, because she's as dumb as she is ugly." Trevor retorted, not even caring that he was digging himself deeper into trouble. Or that he was hurting Tonya's feelings.
"Trevor, I think that maybe you need to go talk to Ms. Ovending right now!" Monica was stern, but Trevor only laughed.
"Why? So I can tell her what a stupid choice it was to let trash like Tonya come into this place?" Trevor asked, but before Monica could say another word, Josh Everett spoke up from the back off the classroom.
"Shutup Trevor. Man, do you ever just stop talking?" He yelled, obviously fed up with Trevor's attitude. Monica watched as she could literally see the anger rising quickly inside of Trevor. His face turned red and his eyes widened. He stood up quickly and ran to Josh, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him to his feet roughly. The girls screamed out and the guys began to holler, "Fight, fight, fight!"
"Don't ever talk to me like that again!" Trevor screamed out, and Josh swung his fist up and punched Trevor in the face, sending him flying! Monica was already pushing through the group of boys who had surrounded Trevor and Josh and she grabbed Trevor just as he was about to swing back. His teeth were clenched in anger.
"Trevor! Calm down!" Monica yelled out as he struggled from her arms, lunging at Josh. He punched him square in the nose, causing Josh's nose to bleed!
"Boys! Stop this at once!" Monica yelled as the boys only stared at each other coldly.
"You're going down." Trevor muttered under his breath.
"You're all talk." Josh replied.
"Alright you two, I'm bringing you to the nurse's office and after you get yourselves fixed up, you're both going straight to Ms. Ovending!" Monica led the two angry boys out of the classroom, telling the class she would return shortly. Once she was gone, the kids went into a loud chaos in reliving what had just happened. Tiana gripped her hair in her hands and sighed.
"I'm sorry Tonya." She said quietly. Tonya blinked to hide her own tears as she faced Tiana.
"What do you mean? Why are you sorry?" She asked. She knew the answer, but she couldn't reveal that she knew Trevor was her brother. Tiana had not yet told her so.
"That was my brother, Trevor. I'm sorry he said those mean things to you. You aren't any of the things he said. He's just like that with everybody. Even me sometimes." Tiana confessed, obviously frustrated, and hurt.
"Why is he like that?" Tonya asked, trying so desperately to be a good friend, and a good angel but Tiana only shrugged.
"I don't know. He's been that way since mom and dad died." She replied, as her voice softened. Tonya could tell that she was remembering.
"That's so sad." Tonya remarked, but Tiana only shrugged, brushing it away.
"As Trev would say, life goes on. Get over it. So anyways, I'm sorry for what he did." She stared at her desk. She obviously didn't want to talk about it anymore, but Tonya did. Don't push. Tonya thought to herself as Monica re-entered the room.
"Okay, now quiet down and let's move on." She said as she turned to face the board. Monica was feeling frustrated as well. Her first interaction with her assignment had gone horribly. Trevor was so hard to reach. Monica kept her worries about how she would complete her assignment to herself as she went back to teaching the class, who remained silent.
Trevor sat outside the nurse's office, waiting for his turn. Josh was in with the nurse right now, getting his nose cleaned up. Trevor clenched his fist tightly and pursed his lips. He was furious! He hated when people told him what to do. Especially kids his own age. To Trevor, nobody had that authority over his life and he hated it when they tried to. He just couldn't stand it. Stupid kid. Who does he think he is? Trevor sighed heavily and leaned back against the chair. He heard the door open and he looked up to see Josh leaving the nurse's office. He glared down at Trevor, who returned his cold stare. Josh ran off, shaking his head. Trevor wanted so badly to get up and beat Josh up, but he didn't. I'll get him later. He heard the nurse call out his name from inside her office. Trevor rolled his eyes and got up. He walked into the nurse's office to find an unfamiliar woman smiling. Trevor narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked in a hard voice.
"Oh well hi baby. I'm the new nurse. My name is Tess. Now, Monica tells me that you got into a fight in class." Tess replied as she stared at the black eye on Trevor's face. Trevor rolled his eyes.
"What is with all these new people? Yeah, I got into a fight. So what?" He said coldly as Tess gave him an ice pack.
"Keep this on your eye baby. It will help the swelling go down." She sat back down and watched him as he gently placed the ice pack on his eye.
"Well?" Tess raised her eyebrows. Trevor narrowed his eyes.
"What?" He asked in a snobby manner.
"Why did you get into that fight? I'm sure Ms. Ovending told you kids not to get into fights. So, what happened?" Tess asked again. Trevor sighed and rolled those blue eyes once again.
"Man, you sound just like Ovending. I hate it here! I didn't do anything wrong! I wish everyone would just leave me alone!" Trevor threw the ice pack down on the ground and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Tess shook her head as she stared at the closed door.
"Oh Father. That little boy has got a lot of anger inside of him. We know You know what You're doing, but Lord, please do it soon." She prayed silently, as she thought about the Reeds sadly.