Sam's car is slightly dirty- mud caking the wheels and splashing onto the southern parts of the car. I really don't mind though, I used to love playing in the mud when I was little, and when we climb up into it on the little metal steps, the inside of the car has a homey feel to it. The dangling car freshener is shaped like some sort of dog, hanging over the slightly battered radio. I love homey things. Maybe that's because I don't actually have a home. How funny my life is. I'm trying to keep the hurt about Brady deep within me, as whenever I start to think about him tears come to my eyes. The school will be talking about me...
"So did you sleep okay?" Sam asks as he places his key in the car to start the ignition.
"Yeah, thanks. I have no idea how to repay you," I sigh gratefully. "If you and Emily ever have children, I'm your babysitter for life."
Sam laughs at the car chuggs itself into life.
"You don't have to do anything to repay us. I'm just glad that I found you. I don't mean to make you feel bad, but the woods are a dangerous place to fall asleep," he adds. His voice starts off amused, then when he glances at me in a pointed angry look, I can tell he's not happy. When he turns back to face the road we're winding down, I can see by his side profile that his jaw is clenched.
"I know, sorry, I don't know what happened. I was really upset..." I struggle to remember as the car rumbles down the empty road. My eyes are on the road, my brows furrowed. When I can't remember anything about falling asleep, I run my hand through my disheveled hair.
"...about Brady," Sam finishes, his expression revealing his fear of what I'm going to say.
I jump in my seat, shock streaming through my every pore. How can he know? Hurt spreads through me after the shock, mixed with embarrassment- not only the school will be talking about my horror last night, but Sam and Emily- possibly the nicest people I've met in my life, knowing that I'm just another stupid sucker for Brady. Another girl for everyone to laugh at.
"How do you know?" I croak, sitting up, staring horrified at Sam.
He glances at me, smiling sadly, then pulls the car up next to the forest for a second.
"Brady came around the house while you were asleep," he says as the car shudders to a stop on the muddy grass.
I'm too stunned to speak. My mouth opens and closes again and again like a fish. No words come out. I can't even form a coherent thought in my head, the shock is too much. Brady would have seen how upset I was. Oh god, he would have laughed. He would have laughed at me like there was no tomorrow, and said that I was just another stupid girl with a crush.
To be honest, I feel a bit faint. My legs feel weak, my eyes burn with unshed tears.
"What, what..." I can't manage to say any other words than those. I don't even know what I'm trying to say with them, but through my shock I notice Sam looked at me in concern and sadness.
My heart feels like it's literally broken in two.
"Don't worry, we didn't let him see you for long."
"He wanted to see me?" I croak, disbelief leaking through my voice. He wanted to punch your light out, remember?- my mind throws at me cruelly. My heart throbs even more in pain. Why did this have to happen, when I was so near to being completely happy with my brother?
"He wanted to... apologize," Sam smiles at me sadly, looking concerned. He's such a nice person, why couldn't I fancy someone like him and not Brady?
I can tell that Sam's telling the truth, but I'm shocked. It doesn't make me feel any better. Brady would have lied, said anything to try and hurt me again. But he didn't need to.
The pain I already have locked in my heart is worse than a thousand beatings.
"We'd best get going or you'll be late for school," Sam smiles at me comfortingly, reaching to turn the key of the car again.
Fear washes through me when he mentions school, and I shudder. The snide comments people will share with each other by covering their hand when I walk through the corridors, Brady's friends laughing at me. Oh god, and Brady will too! Just kill me now. I never used to be bothered by the bitchiness at school, but now it's a different story.
"You must be dreading school," Sam says when the car is back to chugging down the deserted lane and into Forks.
"Yeah," I confirm, covering my face with my hands and rubbing in my desperation for everything to just... go away.
"Just keep your head down and concentrate on your work, only talk to your closest friend about this... party thing, and you should be fine," Sam advised.
Hopefully he's right.
When we are finally rumbling down the road the Orphanage is is, I notice the time on the tiny clock of the radio. I have forty-five minutes to get ready for school. Shouldn't be a problem- but I want nothing more than to climb into my nice, cosy bed and sleep for eternity. If I skipped school today, Jordan would be extremely mad- no doubt he would find out- so I have no choice but to go. And this problem isn't going to go away by itself.
"Which one is it?" Sam asks, his elbows driving the steering wheel like a pro.
"The one at the bottom left," I reply, savoring these last few moments of him thinking that I'm just an ordinary girl. An ordinary girl with two loving parents, loads of hormones, a cute little house, annoying siblings, and a dog.
I always wish that I could be that girl.
The car drives down the hill that winds to the right toward the Orphanage, the last house on the street. All the other homes on this street are average sized and pretty-looking. The Orphanage is larger than the rest of the houses on the right side of the road, but not massive either. I wish sometimes that I could live in one of the pretty houses next door with my parents and brother, like a normal family, but that'll never happen.
Sam frowns as the houses get less and less as we go down the street. He's waiting for me to say 'This one here', but I'm not.
Just before the lane curves round to go back the way we came on the opposite side, I say the words he's been waiting for.
"This one here."
He automatically stops the car, making it shudder to a halt, and then sees the house we've stopped at properly. 'FORKS ORPHANAGE' is carved into the huge stone plaque at the top of the building.
I don't want to see the look on his face, and make a job out of unbuckling my seatbelt and carefully placing it behind me.
When I can't busy myself with the seatbelt any longer, I turn to look at him. He has a look of disbelief, shock, sadness, and pity on his face. I'm used to seeing it on adults, but sometimes they're faking. It's strange to see someone I've just met be so sincere.
"I had no idea. I just wasn't expecting that..." he says, hands by his sides. He blinks several times in his shock, then gives me a nice smile.
I smile sadly at him back, then look up at the Orphanage again. I sigh shakily.
Same old Orphanage. No parents to kiss me when I walk in the door. Just me.
Sam's POV
I want to ask.
I want to ask her what had happened to put her in this place, but it's none of my business. I've never met anyone from the Orphanage before, until now. Emily had said that there were only little kids there when she was helping out- Kayla must've not been there that day.
Needless to say, I'm shocked to find out that she lives here. She seems so sweet, and it's not fair that she has to live here. Are her parents dead, or did they abandon her? Either way, I felt rather rubbish.
When we make our way inside the stoney building, I push the questions I want to ask to the back of my mind. Emily always says that I'm too nosey for my own good. But this girl doesn't seem like the sort to be in an Orphanage...
The inside of the place is kind of dreary, resembling a doctor's office. But when Kayla leads the way into some sort of sitting room to the left, I see all the little kids playing with their supervisor. Cooing, laughing, and squealing are heard throughout the room.
Some of them are just babies. It's heartbreaking to see them here- their start in life without their parents.
But when Kayla walks in, one of the babies faces light up in a gurgly smile. She's just about able to walk, no more the one year old, and she scurries toward Kayla.
"Hello, Amy," Kayla cooes, a bright smile on her face as she kneels down to pick the tiny girl up.
I must admit, I'm kind of surprised. Kayla seems like a natural around the kids, but if it were me in an Orphanage I would want to steer clear of all of them.
A woman comes up to Kayla where we stand, looking both worried and furious. She doesn't look that old, perhaps in her late thirties. Pink lipstick is over her chapped lips, her hair curly and messy.
"Where have you been, Kayla?"
Poor Kayla tries to come up with an excuse- you can see it plainly because of her expression. The tiny girl in her arms plays with her hair, a tiny, happy smile on her little face.
"She had a sleepover with my fiance, sorry, she must've forgotten to tell you," I say, excuse already in hand since we got out of the car.
The woman looks at me as if just spotting me, seeming to buy the excuse.
"It happens," she nods at Kayla, a reassuring smile on her face.
Kayla beams at me, squeezing the baby, then a look of dismay and fear appears on her face.
"I'd best get ready for school," she reluctantly places the baby down again.
"Don't worry. All you have to get through is today, then everything will be fine," I reassure, looking around the room packed full of toddlers.
"I can make my own way to school if you like," she says, standing back up.
"No, no, it's fine. It's on my way, anyway, I have to go see someone."
Kayla smiles. Her whole face lights up when she's happy. It's such a shame that she'll probably not do that today. Nobody deserves what Brady did- this Chloe girl that he nearly did it with was most likely a friend of Kayla's, otherwise she wouldn't have reacted like that.
She quickly runs up the stairs to get ready for school, and I turn back to the toddlers. They all looks so sweet, not even dressed yet, all in their feety pyjamas. I can see why Emily loved it here- she loves children, naturally. We're not actually married yet, but she loves to call me 'husband' to people, she says it feels nice. When we have our own kids, they'll get all the love they need. It's so heartbreaking that the children in the Orphanage don't have that.
Kayla's POV
I ran upstairs to get changed. Why can't the school have a fire or something...
No, I'm not about to commit arson, thanks.
To say I'm dreading it would be the understatement of the year. I hate my life. I hate it, I hate it. Why did Chloe have to be such a slut?
Oh god, Chloe.
I had been concentrating on the hurt that Brady caused rather than Chloe. But now, I collapse on my bed, breathing hard. I try to stop them, but my whole body is wracked with sobs.
And here, when no-one's is looking, I cry.
I cry for Chloe, Brady, and the lost parents that I'll never be happy with.
Sam's POV
Kayla comes downstairs after about five minutes. I must say- I'm impressed. All women take ages to get ready, and I have to blink several times to make sure I'm not seeing things when Kayla comes down ready for school.
But that's not all I notice. Thanks to my wolf hearing, I could hear her crying a while back. I wanted to go up there, but I figured that she had to let it out. If I went up, she would've hold it back in and that's no good for her.
"What?" she smiles at me. There are no traces of her sobs.
"You got ready quickly, I'm not used to women doing that," I joke, wanting to cheer her up. She feels like a sister to me already, even though Brady hasn't told her about his imprinting. I feel this way about all my brothers imprintees, they hold a special place in my family of... er, wolves.
For the next half hour, I make myself useful and help give the children their breakfast. Some of them are only a few months old, and have to drink milk. While I'm opening one of the tiny jars for one of the slightly older babies, I freeze at a troubling thought: did I make the right decision, letting Brady go to school? Should I call him and order him not to? And if I had let him stay last night, and let him talk to Kayla? If I had done that, then she may not have been as fearful of going to school.
After a few moments, I open the jar, shaking my head to try and get the thoughts away. I made the decisions last night, and now I've got to live with it. Whatever choice I had gone with yesterday, Kayla would still me hurt- there's no way to avoid it.
I turn around to a little baby boy who's sitting in his high-chair in the kitchen, gurgling happily. His blue feety pyjamas are buttoned up all the way, a little bib tucked around his collar.
I can't help but smile. I've always had a soft spot for kids. Kayla is playing with a little boy and girl, tickling them and making them giggle in the sitting room. Little toys are spread about the room, cars and dolls, looking more like a playground with a soft red carpet.
I pick up a blue plastic baby spoon from the cutlery drawer, and scoop a little pea mush onto it before placing it on the baby's lips. His tiny mouth opens and closes, gulping it down easily. His big brown eyes watch me happily as I feed him, giggling every now and then. You can't help but smile at a little baby who's giggling at you, seriously.
The woman from earlier, possibly the manager of this place, comes up to me and smiles approvingly, leaning against the kitchen counter. Her eyes scan the sitting room, stopping on Kayla.
'She's good with the kids, isn't she," what she says isn't a question- it's a fact.
"Yeah," I look up from the baby boy to look at Kayla. She's taking care of the kids like a pro- just the right amount of cooing.
"It's such a pity that she's in here- any parents would be blessed to have her as a daughter," she sighs sadly.
"Can't you find a foster family for her?" I ask, hope coming into my eyes. Kayla- my probably soon-to-be sister- would be happier with someone to look after her, I'm sure.
"We tried, when she first came in. But sadly nobody's interested in fostering an older child- they only want the babies. And Kayla's older brother is coming for her in a week or two, we're all thrilled about that," she smiles happily at me, then watches Kayla play with the kids again. "It's such a shame she's even in here in the first place- she's such a sweet girl." The woman turns round to the sink, rinsing one of the baby cups.
I turn back to the gurgling baby, back on my task. Her brother's coming for her, that's good. Now I won't have to worry as much about her welfare.
After feeding the little baby, I wipe his mouth carefully with his bib. He seems satisfied, kicking his little legs gently and beaming at me. I've forgotten how cute little babies are. I know, not exactly manly to say that things are cute, but I'm a wet guy.
I place the baby boy back into his cot in the sitting room- one of the supervisor's told me he likes to have a nap after his breakfast. Sure enough, as soon as I lay him down, he gurgles happily once more then falls fast asleep.
Noticing the time on the clock, I get Kayla and tell her that we need to get going. I can see by the look on her face that she had been having fun with the kids, and I've just taken it away. I hate doing this to her, but I can't think of any other way to help.
I give her a sympathetic smile. I feel so sorry for her, but I think she realizes that she can't ignore this problem forever, and she does need an education. Hopefully Brady has come up with an amazing plan to win back his Kayla.