Chapter 2
Crossroads mission school, Oklahoma
December 1858
The next three months went by quickly for Kaylie. The schoolwork was easy for her, as she had excellent tutors before she left Georgia. However, the chores were an entirely different story. Kaylie had never done chores before. Her family had slaves and servants who took care of everything. By the end of each day, Kaylie was physically exhausted. She had never worked so hard in her life. Sister Agnes assigned her the chore of cleaning the kitchen with a few other girls after breakfast each morning.
Each night, Kaylie made it a point to finish her supper quickly so she could spend some time in the courtyard before bedtime. No one really went to the courtyard after dark, but Kaylie loved it—the way the moonlight cast a cool glow on the cobblestones. The stars always seemed brighter, and the night darker since she left Georgia, but she missed the sweet-smelling magnolias.
She waited until she saw the boy named Ike walk through the corridor. She had wanted to talk to him but hadn't found a moment when Nicole wasn't at her heels. When he came within her reach, she grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the bench. Kaylie took his hand and placed her slice of orange on his palm. Ike smiled and broke it in half, handing her one of the halves.
"I'm sorry about Nicole," she said sincerely.
Ike shrugged.
"And I don't think you're stupid. I thought that story you wrote for class was real nice."
Ike began moving his hands around, then repeating his movements but slower the second time. Kaylie frowned and shook her head as she apologized. Ike motioned for her to stay, and he ran into the boy's dormitory, dragging one of the older boys out behind him.
Kaylie stiffened slightly. She had heard the girls talk about the Indian boy. They said he was a half-breed who didn't speak English, and some of the girls said that he even scalped a father at the mission a few years before. Ike pushed the other boy closer, and reluctantly, the older boy held out his hand.
"I'm Buck," he muttered.
"Kaylie."
She shook his hand quickly, then shoved her hand back in her lap. Apparently, the girls were wrong, he did speak English. She wondered what else they were wrong about.
"Ike wants to know where you are from," Buck said.
"Georgia," Kaylie replied, looking up at the young man. He was almost scowling at her. "You can understand him? Why can't he talk? What happened to his hair?" Her questions shot off faster than Buck could even answer.
"I ain't no doctor," Buck mumbled clearly annoyed by her.
"Where are you from?" she turned and asked Buck.
Kaylie watched as Ike gestured wildly, and she watched Buck gesture back.
"Are you talking with your hands?" Kaylie inquired.
"It's Indian sign," Buck commented as he continued to sign to Ike.
Stop being so mean to her Ike signed.
"What's he saying?"
"Nothing," Buck said sternly, but his frown faded.
"Can you teach me how to talk like that?" Kaylie asked.
"Leave her alone! Are you alright, Kaylie? Let's go, it's bedtime." Nicole pushed her way between the two boys and grabbed Kaylie's hand. "He's the half-breed we warned you about, he'll scalp you while you sleep!" Nicole hissed under her breath.