Words of Fate

Chapter 10

Arabella's POV

The bright light shines through the window waking me up. I stretch and roll over noticing Vivian beside me. The memories of last night come flooding back to me when Vivian locked me in this part of the community. I was furious she would do that to me and I still am. Now looking at her sweet resting face some of that anger floated away. I'm not impressed with what she did, but I'm just glad she's safe and I can't help but be curious about what she found out. I get up from the bed and walk to the washroom and splash water over my face enough to wake me up.

"Morning," a sleepy Vivian says as she slowly stretches.

"Morning. Have a fun a night last night?!" I snap at her, I'm not letting her just forget what she did.

"You can't be mad at me for that, I was protecting you" Vivian defends.

"No, of course not. Why would I be?" I ask sarcastically.

"Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it like that, but I did and the-" I interrupt her.

"You're right. You shouldn't have done it!"

"Ari, I'm sorry," Vivian says with a sigh.

"Look, we have to go to training for our jobs today. Let's just get dressed and go." A knock sounded at the door before Vivian can inject.

"Get up! We have a big day ahead of us!" Luca's voice comes booming through the door.

"Yeah!" I yell and with that, I walk to the door opening it. I see Sawyer and Luca standing at the door.

"Ari, you and I are going down to eat and then going over to the child care centre to meet the children and start your training. Vivian, you'll go with Sawyer, sound good?"

"Sounds good to me!" I say quickly as I put on my shoes, I hear Vivian sigh behind me but I could care less at this point.

"Vivian are you ready?" Sawyer asked in a husky tone. I don't wait to hear her answer before I'm out of the room.

"Hey, Ari?"

"What?" I say sharply and clearly annoyed.

"Are you okay? Is there something going on with you and Vivian?"

"It's fine, don't worry about it," I say quietly.

"Well, that's a lie. What happened?"

"We just got into a small argument, it'll be fine," I say, and then Luca mutters something incoherent. I just roll my eyes. Luca knew I was too stubborn to tell him anything, that's how our friendship worked.

"You know you can talk to me about things right?" Luca finally says to me.

"No offense Luca, but there are some things I can't talk to you about. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is."

"I understand." Our breakfast was quiet and it was more of just me playing with my food. About halfway through breakfast Dylan comes and joins at our table. He doesn't say much throughout the morning, still being his introverted grumpy self.

"Are you just going to play with your food all morning?" Luca asks concerned.

"You know what? Let's just go see the kids, I'm done!" I say to him and I begin standing to go down to the child care centre.

"Ari! You don't even know where it is!"

"I'll find it myself!" I shout back to him. Of course, Viv and I had already been exploring and I knew where the child care centre was.

"You know what! You can just find it yourself. I'm so completely done with your bitchy attitude! Get over yourself already," Luca says to me.

"Babe, are you okay?" Dylan asks Luca.

"I just need space!" With that Luca storms off down the hall. Dylan stands and starts going after him.

"There is no sense in following him," I say quietly in the direction of Dylan.

"I'm awake but he mainly just needs away from you. You have a bad morning so you have to b***h and make everyone else's morning bad like yours. Come on, let's go, I'll take you down to the kids." Dylan offers.

"I don't need a babysitter!" I snarl at him.

"Well, I don't want to be a babysitter, but we both don't have much of an option and I'd suggest you drop that bitchy attitude before you get anywhere near those kids, or you won't be seeing them!" Dylan says to me.

"Fine."

"What's up with you anyway? You're normally the quiet one." Dylan says finally as we walk out of the dining room.

"Nothing, I'm fine!"

"I don't know you that well, but that's a big lie."

"Fine, you really want to know?" I say calmly.

"Yeah, I would like to know, since you snapped at my boyfriend and made his morning crap."

"I'm scared."

"Scared?" Dylan scuffs and I roll my eyes at him. "What are you scared of?"

"This. I was moved to an unfamiliar location with unfamiliar people, and it's just scary."

"Understandable, I was just like you when I first came here, after a while, you learn to get used to it."

"How long does that take?"

"Over time you will." As we rounded the corner Cecilia came into view.

"Dylan, thank you for taking Arabella down to the children but I can take it from here." She says to Dylan.

"Of course. I have to go make sure Luca is okay anyway." Dylan says as he begins to walk to away.

"Hey, Dylan. Can you tell Luca that I need to talk to him?" I ask quietly

"Yeah, but not right now." With that, he rounds the corner and disappears.

"Is everything okay with you and Luca?" Cecilia asks.

"Uh, yeah. We just had a small disagreement." I say to her, she nods and smiles to herself.

"Arabella, are you adjusting here okay? I know it's a big change to go from constant life in The Heart to life here in Aceria. I promise you'll fit in just fine, the people here tend to be nicer than those in The Heart."

"Yeah, it's really different. But I'm going to have to find a way to get used to it." I reply to her.

"Well, if you're ever upset or scared just come talk to me. I'll always try to give you the best advice I can." It's almost like she knew what Dylan and I had been talking about.

"Thanks," I say.

"Cecilia! How lovely to see you down here. Can I help you with anything?" A dark brown eyed woman rushed out of the hall with a baby on her hip.

"Rosalee, it's nice to see you too. My niece, Arabella wishes to assist you in caring for the children." I'm not sure if I'll get used to being Cecilia's niece and having a family member that actually cares for me.

"Arabella how lovely to talk to you again. I'm Rosalee in case you forgot, but everyone calls me Rosa."

"It's nice to see you again too," I reply while shaking her hand.

"Rosalee, I was wondering if you could also train Arabella in childcare to make sure she's qualified?" Cecilia asks.

"Of course. Hmm, I'll find a book or two that will cover everything, so we could eventually have you taking care of the babies and toddlers, how does that sound?" Rosalee explains.

"That'd be great! Thank you so much." I reply. "When do I start?"

"Right now? You could help me put some snacks together and make some crafts or read with the children before you're trained" A wide smile spreads across my face. I love the idea of getting to spend time with the children.

"Of course."

"Great, we'll run over your schedule, and I'll have you meet the children and all the workers."

"Thank you so much," I say to her and we walk into the childcare center.

"ROSIE!" A little girl with wavy brown hair runs out from the corner of the room and into Rosa's arms, her deep brown eyes reminding of Viv's. I feel bad for what I said to Vivian, I shouldn't have gone off on her like that. I need to apologize to Viv and Luca, I've hurt them both and I shouldn't have.

"Arabella, this is Lilianna."

"Hi, how old are you?" The young girl digs her face into Rosa's neck while hiding her face. Slowly, Lilianna poked her head out and stuck up four little fingers. I smile at her.

"Lilianna why don't you go read?" She quickly nods her head and fly's off Rosa running to the small bookshelves that held children's books.

"Lilianna loves to read, I'm sure she and you will quickly become great friends," Rosa says to me.

"How many children do you have here?" I ask her.

"10 children, most of the parents don't have time to watch them daily with their jobs and everything so in the morning the parents bring them here, so we can take care of them until the parents have breaks or their jobs are finished," Rosa explains.

"Wow, that's great. It seems you guys have really thought of everything for this place" I remark.

"It's taken trial and error over the years and multiple leaders but we're at a pretty good place right now. Our systems seem to work properly." A young woman walks up to us with a baby in her arms and Rosa introduces us. "Vera, I'd like you to meet Arabella. I want you to look after her and make sure she gets along alright with us. She is going to start training in the childcare program. Normally, I'd be looking after trainees but I'm confident in you, Vera." Rosa asks a girl who was bottle-feeding one of the babies.

"Of course! I'd love too, it's nice to meet you, Arabella." The blue-eyed girl says excitedly.

"Please, just Ari. It's nice to meet you too." I reply, I almost bring my hand out for her to shake before realizing she can't with a baby in her arms.

"I'm going to get those books for you and I'll deliver them to your room. I'll highlight the important stuff and you can just skim over the rest."

"Thank you." I smile.

"Vera, why don't you get Arabella to help you make snacks for the children?"

"I can do that. Alright, follow me." Vera instructs. "So, it's not time for lunch yet, so we'll just make a few snacks."

"Vee?" A small boy around the age of 5 walks up to us, with a brown teddy bear in his arms.

"Yes, Gavin?" Vera asks in a soft voice.

"Can I have crunchy bread?" The young boy asked and it takes me a moment to realize he must mean toast.

"Of course, would you like peanut butter on it?" Vera asks.

"Yes please!" Gavin said excitedly.

"Here, I can do it." I offer.

"Sure, go ahead. The bread is next to the microwave and the peanut butter is in the cabinet above the toaster."

"Thank you. Um, do you have any blueberries and a banana?"

"Uh, yes blueberries are in the fridge and the bananas are next to the fridge. May I ask why?"

"Well, it's a little something that I picked up when I use to babysit, you'll see in a little while." Vera nods and I walk over to the kitchen. I get out a piece of bread and place it into the toaster. I then grab the peanut butter, blueberries and a banana. I cut up three pieces of the banana and pick out three blueberries, by the time I'm finished the toast pops up. As I spread the peanut butter on the toast I think back to when I had to make my own food. My birth parents never cooked proper food for me, so when they weren't there I often cooked for myself. When I babysat, I often made food into animals to make it more fun for the children. Currently, I made a bear, and as I gave Gavin the toast his smile got so bright.

"Thank you!" He exclaimed.

"Wow, you're great with the kids."

"You really think so?" I ask.

"Of course, you'll fly through the training easily," Vera says to me which brought a smile to my face. The rest of the day was simple, I read to the children for a little and made them all more animal snacks. But soon enough the day was over, I thanked Vera for helping me and I gave all the children hugs. As I was walking to my room, I stopped at Luca's and Dylan's room, I need to apologize to the people I've hurt today. I softly knock on their door and a few moments later, Dylan opened the door.

"What do you want?" Growled Dylan, glad to see he's back to his old self.

"Is Luca here? I'd like to speak to him."

"Tell her to go away! I don't want to talk to her!" Luca shouted from the room. Dylan shrugged and started to shut the door. I shot out my foot in between the door and the frame.

"Arabella. Remove your foot from my door!"

"Last time I checked this door doesn't belong to you!" I sass as I push the door open. I brush past Dylan as he tries to stop me, and I walk over to Luca.

"Luca, listen to me. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I've been so stressed out lately, and I take that out on the people I love. It's your choice if you want to forgive me, but I want you to know how sorry I am. We've been friends since Junior year, and I was stupid to let this argument break our friendship. I'm sorry." And with that, I leave.

"Ari! Wait up!" Luca says as I'm about halfway to my room.

"I forgive you."

"Wait! Really?!" He nods, and I quickly hug him while thanking him.

"Um, there is still someone else I have to apologize to, could help me?" I ask.

"I can do my best, what do you need help with?"

"I want Vivian to come home to a nice dinner that we can have while I apologize. I just need you to bring dinner to my place, can you please help?" I explain.

"Of course, I can. Dylan and I can go get the food and you get the place ready. I'll find Sawyer and tell him to escort Viv home. Sound good?"

"Thank you so much!" I say to him, and with that, we all go our separate ways. I walk into my room quickly change my clothes into something more comfortable. As I clean off the desk a knock sounds from the door.

"Come in!" I yell to Luca, he came in and set the food on the desk.

"Thank you so much, Luca."

"No problem Ari. I better go before Vivian gets here." Luca says, and he gives me a hug before leaving. Minutes later the door opens revealing Vivian, at first, she doesn't notice the food.

"What's this?" She asks bringing her eyes to the table.

"An apology. Look, I know we don't know each other that well, and I also know that I was stupid. I shouldn't have snapped at you this morning. I'm so sorry."

"Ari, it's okay, I forgive you. Is this even allowed though?"

"Um, good question. It's not like they can stop us, at least I hope not. Come on, you should get some food. I want to hear all about your day." Throughout dinner, we share our experiences with our training.

"So, what happened last night?" I ask timidly.

"Well, I got caught by Sawyer. I demanded to know what was going on, reluctantly he told me. They have this system thing, that they can see a person's real identity. This hunter is apparently high up in the Heart's protection forces. They were afraid for the safety of the people of Aceria. So, that's why they want to keep it quiet. That's also why you can't say a word to anyone." Vivian explains.

"I won't say anything. So, what are they going to do with him now?"

"There still trying to get information out of him, and I suggested that they put him in an almost unconscious state. Then question him, they'll have more of a chance to get information out of him by doing that because he'll have less of a filter." Vivian explains. "After that, I'm not sure what they'll do to him. Come on, we've both had a long day and we should get some sleep."

"Okay." With that, we both climb into bed and I soon hear Vivian's breaths even out. I stay up for a little while still trying to process the information Vivian gathered from Sawyer last night. But soon my thoughts escape me and I fall asleep.