"Okay today we're going to work on our printing." Ms Chalk announced "Who knows what printing is?"

Several hands shot up.

"Spencer?"

"Printing is when my daddy tries to get his copy machine to work, but then when it doesn't he says stuff that my mommy says I can't repeat in 'mixed company'." Spencer explained.

"Uh.. Not exactly. How about you Rebecca." Ms Chalk said shaking her head.

"Printing is when you go to the FedEx and tell them to print stuff, and then they do." Rebecca replied assured her answer was correct.

"Again. Not quite… Abby? Do you know what printing is?" Ms Chalk questioned her favorite student.

"Yes."

"Would you mind explaining it to the class?"

"Printing is when you write, only not in cursive." Abby explained, looking Rebecca directly in the eyes.

"Very Good! You all know your ABC's so it's time we learn to write them. I'm handing out a workbook we will be working on for the next few weeks. There is a letter on every page as well as a few activities to go along with it." Ms. Chalk explained as she passed out the bright green workbooks. After she'd given a book to everyone in the class except for Abby, she asked them to open up to the first page and do the pretest.

"Abby, would you come here please?" Ms. Chalk asked quietly as to not disturb the other students. Abby walked over to Ms. Chalk. "Follow me." She said as she took Abby's hand.

After a walk down several hallways Abby was unfamiliar with until they reached a room with a blue door, similar to those on the offices. Ms Chalk opened the door and led Abby inside.

"Abby this is Mrs. Olsen." Ms. Chalk introduced an elderly woman. The woman, Mrs. Olsen, had comforting eyes.

"Hello." Abby said, waving at the same time, out of habit.

Mrs. Olsen waved back. Ms. Chalk tells me you sign. Mrs. Olsen signed.

A grin a mile wide spread across Abby's face. As she nodded.

Mrs. Olsen laughed. "Oh Ms. Chalk you said she was adorable, but you never told me about her personality."

"I told you she was different…" Ms. Chalk pointed out.

Abby you want to see something? Mrs. Olsen asked

Abby nodded… again.

Mrs. Olsen opened a drawer to reveal a book. The cover was simple, paperback, and had a picture of a tree without any leaves on the cover. "This is our first goal." Mrs. Olsen said. "Abby you've been learning how to read a bit. Can you tell me what book this is?"

"I can try….It says…Classis…"

"Classics."

"Classics… Made…Easy…Emily.. Br…"

"Bronte."

"Bronte… Wuthering Heights! Really?!! I'm going to read this?? I'm going to read Wuthering Heights!?!?" Abby was bouncing up and down with excitement.

"This is an easier version. It's much shorter and much simpler than the actual novel. But yes Abby I'm going to help you read this." Mrs. Olsen informed her smiling.

Abby's green eyes danced. It had been four weeks since she'd started school. Every morning she got up to come and had nothing to look forward to. She'd began to learn to read, and she caught on fast. Quickly finishing all the books in the Kindergarten classroom. Ms. Chalk was having a hard time keeping up with what Abby had and hadn't read. Somehow she'd managed to always have something to keep Abby reading.

"Thank you!" Abby said. "When can we start??"

"Actually Abby, you won't be ready to start for quite a while still. Mrs. Olsen is going to come back next Monday to give you a reading exam to see what level you're at. Then we'll work some more on your reading skills…" Ms. Chalk was trying to explain why she couldn't just jump into a simplified version of a college level novel.

"I thought you wanted me to read it!" Abby said her eyes welling with tears. "Why can't I read it? It's just a book! I've read plenty of books! What makes this one different?"

"Abby some books are harder to read than others. This book is a very hard book. I have no doubt in my mind that you could read this entire book to me right now. But do you remember how we talked about vocabulary?" Ms. Chalk said, trying a new approach.

"Yes. My Vocabulary is all the words I know the meaning of when I read or hear them." Abby replied confused.

"Well you don't know most of the vocabulary in this book Abby. You wouldn't understand what you were reading!" Ms. Chalk said noticing the click as Abby understood.

"Oh. Okay. When will I be ready?" Abby was anxious to begin.

"Abby it's hard to tell. But it probably won't be this year. You're still learning and we don't want to push you. Besides winter break is coming up so we won't be able to continue lessons over that." Ms. Chalk said looking into Abby's green eyes deep in thought.

Ms. Chalk, if I can't read this until next year, why get me so excited now? It's like torture! Is that what this is some kind of torture method? I sure hope not… But maybe I could use that on Rebecca… With like something she really wants, but not letting her have it…

A Smile crept onto Abby's face.

"There's the Abby we all know. Come on lets go back to class." Ms. Chalk said taking Abby's hand and leading her back to the Kindergarten classroom.

Abby sat down in her seat next to Rebecca. Rebecca glanced up from her work to give Abby a dirty look, but she didn't stop writing. Abby looked around the room. A lot of people were done with their pretests and they were sitting waiting for everyone else to finish. Spencer was eating his paste, as usual. Evan was rubbing his eyes, he had allergies and the pollen from outside was obviously bugging him.

After another forty minutes, the only person still working on the pretest was Rebecca. Ms. Chalk went over to Rebecca.

"Rebecca sweetie, you almost done?" Ms. Chalk asked quietly.

"NO! I'M NOT ALMOST DONE! SO LEAVE ME ALONE AND LET ME FINISH!!!" Rebecca screamed.

Ms. Chalk had had enough. "Okay Rebecca you're done."

"NO I'M NOT! GIVE ME THAT BACK!" Rebecca was screaming as she scratched at her teacher desperately trying to retrieve her test. "GIVE ME! NOW NOW NOW!!! I WANT IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK! THEIF THEIF! MS. CHALK IS A THEIF! SHE STOLE MY WORK! EVERYONE HIDE YOURSELVES!!" Rebecca was now going for attention if nothing else.

Panic ensued. Girls running for their backpacks to protect them. Boys running to the toy bins to protect their favorite playthings. A group of girls, the ones Abby liked to call the hopscotchers, ran to the bucket of sidewalk chalk to protect it.

"Hey!" Abby said. "Hey! HEY! EVERYONE BE QUIET!" The room fell silent. Not once had Abby said so much in one sentence. She'd been the quiet strange one, not the bossy one.

After a moment Rebecca started screaming again, but Evan covered her mouth.

Abby continued. "Would Ms. Chalk take anything from us? Why would she? Has she ever given us any reason not to trust her? Rebecca's just trying to make you all help her! Why should you?" Abby was on a roll. People we're starting to understand.

"Hey yeah!" Spencer piped up. "Evan don't you think Abby's right?"

"Yeah! What about you Nate?"

"YEAH!! WHO ELSE!!!" Everyone else in the class made some sort of action showing they agreed. Everyone except Rebecca and her friend Olivia. Hesitantly Olivia started to talk.

"Abby's right…"

Rebecca bit Evan's hand to get him to release her mouth. "OLIVIA! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY FRIEND!!"

"I'm your friend? Since when did friend mean following you around and doing exactly what you say?" Olivia was standing up for herself for the first time.

"Since forever!" Rebecca pointed out.

"Rebecca… That's no way to treat someone!" Abby was going through a mixture of feelings. Part angry at Rebecca, part feeling bad for her.

"Come on guys… Lets go outside!" Evan shouted, and the entire class followed, except for Abby and Rebecca.

Ms. Chalk ran out the door motioning for the two girls to follow.

"Rebecca…" Abby started.

"Don't even talk to me. All you did was turn everyone against me!" The little girl sat on the floor as if she were a clump.

Abby sat down next to Rebecca and wiped a tear from her face. "Becca, you shouldn't expect people do to what you say. That's not how you make friends."

"How did you know I liked to be called Becca?"

"… I didn't. My aunts name's Rebecca, and she goes by Becca. I just thought it worked…" Abby tried to explain.

"Well, how do you make friends?"

"By being nice, and helping people… And… I don't know"

"Are you my friend?"

Abby was unsure weather she should laugh or not. She didn't want to hurt someone who was already hurt. But she didn't really want Rebecca on her tail. "Uh. Kind of, but only on a low level, I guess… Well not really. You have to earn your friends…"

Rebecca looked hurt. "You don't want to be my friend do you??"

"Not really…" Abby scuffed her toe into the carpet.

Rebecca looked her square in the eye. Abby avoided her gaze and walked outside. Rebecca on her trial.

"Rebecca, come with me." Ms. Chalk said waiting patiently for Rebecca to follow her. They walked over to one of the playground monitors. Abby could tell Rebecca was getting in trouble, and she honestly felt bad for her. But what could she do?

She watched sadly as the playground monitor led Rebecca to what she assumed to be the principals office. There was nothing she could do about it then. So she headed over to the playground. As was startled as Anna, the girl with red curls, walked up to her.

"Abby, you wanna join?" At first Abby was sure the girl was joking. But then she realized the sincerity in her eyes.

"Uh, yeah… what are you playing?" Noticing that the girls had drawn four big squares instead of their normal game of hopscotch.

"Four Square! It's not as hard as it looks, but it can only bounce once in your square. The goal is to get all the other players out. You get out if it bounces more than once." Anna explained.

"Oh so it's like tennis only with four sides of a court, and without a racket?" Abby said analyzing the game.

"Sure…" Anna said obviously not knowing what tennis was.

Abby stood in the third square. Next to Anna and Emily, across from Evan. Emily served the ball into Anna's square, who skillfully hit it bouncing it into Abby's square, in the upper left hand corner, a perfect shot. Abby dove for the ball missing it by inches. Her arm dug into the cement.

"ABBY!" Evan screamed from several feet away. Anna and Emily rushed over to her.

"Evan get Ms. Chalk!" Anna instructed. Evan just stood there in shock. "What are you waiting for?!?! Go!" Evan disappeared to the other side of the playground. Emily was trying to calm Abby down.

"Shh… Abby, It's gonna be okay." Emily comforted as Evan reappeared accompanied by Ms. Chalk.

"What happened!" Ms. Chalk exclaimed seeing Abby's arm still stuck in the asphalt.

"We were playing four square," Anna explained "And Abby dove for the ball, missed by inches, and her arm hit the cement first, is she gonna be okay?!?"

Ms. Chalk looked more closely at the scene. Abby's arm had several rocks in it, and one large rock that was still attached to the cement was implanted into her arm.

"Anna, I need you and Emily to take Evan to the Nurse." Ms. Chalk said noticing that he was hyperventilating. "Then I need you to tell Ms. Park, the secretary in the main office, that we need an ambulance." Anna nodded, and helped Evan up and to the Nurse.

"Abby shhh. It's alright, everything's going to be alright." Hearing Abby's cries a few students had assembled and were gasping at what they saw. For the first time Ms. Chalk realized there was a lot of blood.

"Okay, go inside students, come on, All of you. Inside now! There will be someone in there with you in a moment. Until then just sit quietly in your seats." All the students obeyed immediately, all except Rebecca. She stood there stunned.

Ms. Chalk looked up and saw tears welling up in the girls eyes, "Rebecca, she'll be okay." She said trying to convince herself more than anything.

The tears spilled over, "She's never gonna know." she sniffed.

"Know what sweetie?" Ms. Chalk questioned.

"How I just wanted to be more like her… I wanted to go to school when I was her age, I wanted to but mom said no." Rebecca explained between sobs.

Just then Anna and Emily returned with Ms. Park. "I called the ambulance, it should be here any minute." Ms. Park said quickly.

"Thank you, will you please take Anna, Emily, and Rebecca into the classroom then continue to watch the other students?" Ms. Chalk asked.

"Sure, of course. Come on girls." Ms. Park ushered Anna and Emily back to class without much effort. Rebecca took a bit of work, she didn't want to leave Abby's side.

Five minutes later Abby was surrounded by people. Ms. Chalk was wiping her hair away from her face. Two paramedics were working on her arm trying to get the rock out without causing too much pain. The principal Mr. Jackson was there just for the sake of duty. He was talking to Ms. Park who had tried to get a hold of Abby's parents, and had remained unable to find anyway to contact them as neither of them were at home.

"Easy Abby." A paramedic said as Abby flinched with the pain. "It's almost out…"

Ms. Chalk stood up to stand next to Mr. Jackson and Ms. Park. "You do think she'll be okay don't you?" She questioned the two of them.

"Yeah… yes… of course!" The two replied in unison.

"Abby will be fine." Ms. Park assured her noting the genuine concern in her eyes for the first time.

Abby screamed racked with pain as a paramedic pulled her arm for the final time releasing her arm. "There we go, Steve, get her in the ambulance, now!" the paramedic shouted to her assistant. Abby was lifted onto a stretcher, and taken to the vehicle.

"Who's going with her?" the paramedic questioned expecting an immediate answer.

The three adults looked at each other, then both Mr. Jackson and Ms. Park locked eyes with Ms. Chalk and said "You go."

Unsure of her capability to comfort Abby she reluctantly climbed into the back of the ambulance. The doors slammed behind her and they accelerated quickly, no sirens, just lots of speed.

Ms. Chalk watched as a paramedic put pressure on the wound trying to stop the bleeding. The other paramedic preformed a number of tests mumbling to them self and taking notes "Pulse…187….Blood pressure… 50 over 50… air hunger… Steve she's loosing too much blood!" Steve, who apparently was driving speed up and turned on the sirens as the other paramedic talked to Abby.

"Do you feel dizzy sweetie?"

"Uh huh" Abby replied through gasps for air.

"Okay just hang in there. You wouldn't happen to know her blood type do you?" the paramedic said facing Ms. Chalk.

"I'm… A…. positive…" Abby choked. Both Ms. Chalk and the paramedic were taken aback. How on earth would she know that.

"You sure?" The paramedic asked.

"Yes… In my… back… backpack… I have a medical… medical card… with all my… information… in case any…. Anything… ever happened… and… it… said… A positive…"

The paramedic was impressed, Ms. Chalk wasn't so sure, "Are you sure you should take chances with something like that?!?" she questioned

"More than 80 percent of all Americans have type O or A blood, it's pretty likely that she has A positive blood even without checking." The paramedic said writing something on the clipboard. She picked up a two way radio and spoke into it. "Ambulance entering emergency, A positive blood loss, be ready, arriving in three minutes."

During the last three minutes of the ride the paramedic did all sorts of things prepping Abby for the emergency procedure. As they pulled into the hospital Ms. Chalk stepped back as to give the paramedics enough room to get Abby out. The doors swung open and Abby was hoisted out of the ambulance and into the hospital. Ms. Chalk followed closely behind, but she was stopped at the emergency front desk.

"Excuse me, are you here for, Abigail Sciuto?" The woman at the desk asked.

"Yes…" Ms. Chalk replied slowing to a stop.

"I need you to fill out these forms." She explained handing her a huge pile of forms.

"Uh, I'm not really her guardian, I don't know that I know most of this stuff, I'm just her teacher…" Ms. Chalk said looking down at the pile.

"Well that's fine, answer everything you can find out. Also try and get her parents here as soon as possible." The woman said pushing the pile to her.

Ms. Chalk took a seat in a purple plastic chair. Name… Abigail Marie Sciuto… Date of Birth…March 27th…Social Security Number… I have no idea… Recent Illnesses… Again no clue…

After about forty minutes of continuous not knowing the answers to questions, she took the forms back to the receptionist. "I filled them out as best I could."

"Thank you." The woman said and then was startled when Ms. Chalk didn't go away. "Can I help you…?"

"Can I see Abby?" Ms. Chalk asked.

"Let me see, oh no, she's still in critical condition, they're still working on her. It looks like it may be a while." The receptionist told her.

"Oh, okay thank you." Ms. Chalk said and then walked out the door to get some fresh air. It was pouring. Then at a spilt decision, Ms. Chalk ran out to the road and caught a taxi.

"Canal Street please" She said as she climbed into the car. She knew they had already tried Abby's house for her parents, but Ms. Chalk remembered Abby talking about her Uncle Charlie owning a bar on Canal street and she was sure she could get a hold of him.

As they pulled away from the hospital she made note of which hospital they were at "Medical Center of New Orleans.." She mumbled as she wrote it on a piece of paper that was in her pocket.

After about a twenty minute drive, the driver said, "Here's Canal Street… Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

"A bar…" Ms. Chalk replied. The cabbie almost laughed, she certainly wasn't dressed for the bar on Canal Street...

"Oh sure, there's only one, it's right down here…Ah here we are. That'll be 11.33." The cabbie said

Ms. Chalk handed the money to him and climbed out. She looked at the place, it wasn't as run down as she had imagined. For some reason she had imagined a creepy old building with Graffiti covering the outside, and it violating all sorts of codes. She chuckled as she noticed a designated drivers required sign, which somehow assured her that this place wasn't creepy.

She opened the door to reveal a mostly empty bar, with only a few people at a pool table and the bartender wiping down the counters in view. She walked right over to the counter.

"What can I get for you Miss?" The bartender asked.

"I'm looking for the owner… Charlie… Last name, might be Sciuto… I'm not sure though…" Ms. Chalk explained.

"You got it Miss… YO! CHARLIE! A LADY'S HERE TO SEE YOU!" The bartender shouted into the back.

A man no older than twenty seven appeared from the back. He was clean shaven and looked very much like Abby with the blonde hair and bright green eyes.

"Hey! I'm Charlie Underwood. Proprietor of this fine establishment." He introduced himself.

"I'm Andrea Chalk." Ms. Chalk introduced herself. Charlie reached over to shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you Andrea. What did my staff do to you?" He asked eying the bartender specifically. The bartender put his hands up indicating he hadn't done anything.

"Oh no, I'm here because I'm your niece Abigail's teacher…" Ms. Chalk began.

"Whoa, Abby would never do anything wrong. She's a good kid, a little curious maybe, but not a troublemaker. What ever you think she did, she didn't. I'll vouch for her." Charlie said very defensively.

"Oh I know Abby's a good kid, she did nothing wrong." Ms. Chalk tried again

"Then what exactly are you doin' here?"

"There was an accident. Abby's in the hospital, we haven't been able to get a hold of her parents, neither of them are at home and we can't contact them. Abby told me about you once so I came here trying to find someone who might be able to tell the people at the hospital more than I can." Ms. Chalk explained.

"Abby's in the hospital!?!" Charlie stood there shocked.

"Yes, She lost an awful lot of blood, I don't know much about their condition, they don't want to tell me much because I'm not family."

"Can you take me to her?" Charlie asked quietly.

"I don't have a car, I came here in a cab from the hospital… but she's in the Medical Center of New Orleans." Ms. Chalk explained.

"Okay, I've got my truck out back, do you want a ride back there?" Charlie offered grabbing his coat from a coat rack by the backdoor.

"Uh… yeah, That would be great, thanks." Ms. Chalk replied with a smile.

"Hey Angela, you got a jacket? It's pouring out there!"

"Uh. No mine's back at the school…"

"PETE! Where's your jacket?!?!" Charlie yelled to the bartender.

"Front coat rack… why?" He responded.

"I'm borrowing it." He said tossing his own Jacket to Ms. Chalk. "Trust me, mine's clean, can't say the same about Pete's though…" He said putting on his employee's jacket.

They got into the old rusty pickup truck. "It's not much, but it runs." Charlie explained. "Normally I walk everywhere but you know this is important."

Ms. Chalk just nodded and sat as they rode the twenty minutes back to the hospital.

Charlie hopped out of the truck, and ran around to Ms. Chalk's side to open up her door. "Where is Abby at?" Charlie asked as they sprinted their way to Shelter from the rain.

"Last thing they told me was she's in critical condition, so she's probably in the ICU" Ms. Chalk replied as they entered in the sliding doors to the emergency room.

"I'm looking for Abigail Sciuto." Charlie said as he approached the reception desk.

"I'm sorry only family is allowed in to see her right now." The receptionist replied.

"I'm her uncle…" He replied simply.

"Oh, she's… in… the hallway actually. She's being moved from ICU to a regular room right now. She'll be in room 453 once she's there." The receptionist explained.

"Thank you" Charlie said rushing to the elevator. He walked into the elevator nearly knocking over the man walking out of it on crutches.

"Oh… uh Sorry." He mumbled. He was distracted, I was supposed to be at Abby's house today. I was supposed to be waiting for her when she got home. I figured she wouldn't need me until later… This is all my fault! I could have been there! I should have been there…His thoughts were interrupted as he reached the fourth floor.

Stepping out of the elevator he looked at the nearest room number: 401. He had more than fifty rooms to pass before he'd find Abby. He started down the hallway glancing up on occasion to check the room numbers. 432….444….452…453… He stopped fearing what might be inside.

He opened the door slightly and laughed at what he saw. Abby was sitting upright in her bed frowning with frustration. "No you see you have to put your arm HERE!" Abby was directing a nurse. He recognized the cat's cradle trick he had taught her a few months ago. He opened the door all the way.

"Hi Ab…" He started

"UNCLE CHARLIE!!!" Abby screamed trying to break free from the chords holding her to her bed. "You came!" She said a little less loudly, struggling mightily to break free.

"Whoa there kiddo." Charlie said making his way across the room to her.

"Did you know I had to get twelve stitches in one cut and nine in another. And I get to wear a cast too because I broke both of those big long bones… What are they called?" Abby asked the nurse sitting next to her.

"Humorous. That's what they're called." She replied.

"Right… Well I broke BOTH OF EM! BOTH! The rock went straight through em both!" Abby was beaming.

Charlie scooped her up in a gentle hug. "Don't you ever do something like this again, you got that Abby? You almost scared me half to death."

"Yeah… Like I'm gonna get my arm stuck in the sidewalk again…" Abby responded in her usual sassy way.

"Glad to see there's still some Abby under there." Charlie responded.

Then there was a knock at the door. Charlie opened it to reveal Ms. Chalk, Anna, Emily, Evan, and Rebecca. Anna, Emily and Evan rushed right to Abby's bedside and were oohing and ahhing over her black and red cast now adorning her arm. Rebecca dug her face into Ms. Chalk's skirt trying to hide her tears. And Charlie started up conversation with Ms. Chalk.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, not in a mean way. He was merely curious.

"Well I decided to go back to school to see the kids off to school, but those four, were insistent on coming to see Abby. Their parents are waiting in the lobby for them…" She answered explaining everything that had happened since the last time they'd seen each other.

"It's sweet of you, to you know come here for a student." Charlie said trying to cover the awkward part of what he'd said.

"Thanks. I'm just gonna go say hi to Abby now…" Ms. Chalk said walking across the room to stand behind the three jumping kids and leaving Rebecca standing at the door.

"Hey Abby! Glad to see you feeling better." Ms. Chalk greeted her.

"Yep. She got total seventeen stitches Ms. Chalk! That's more than I have fingers, but not more if you count my toes too!" Evan explained excitedly.

"Abby are you gonna be at school tomorrow?" Anna asked seriously.

Abby looked up at her Uncle for an answer, he shook his head no. "I guess not." She replied "But when I get back, you me Emily and Evan are on for a two on two game of hoops, you got that?!" Abby said excitedly.

"YEAH!" Evan and Emily said simultaneously. Anna replied shortly after with a "Of course Abby!"

Rebecca left by the door with Uncle Charlie looked up at him and said. "She's a good kid. I wish she were my sister." And with that she walked out the door. Charlie was confused but didn't make a big deal out of it. He glanced over at Abby and smiled. Anna had joined her on the bed and they were singing while clapping hands.

"A sailor went to sea sea sea. To see what he could see see see…"

Abby smiled to herself. She finally had people who didn't just see the part of her that was visible on the outside. People who loved her for what she was. They were her friends, She finally belonged.

Author's Note: Hey Guys! Sorry this Chapter took so long! It went a lot longer than I wanted it to! But I like the way it turned out! Reviews are Love!!