Orphaned

chapter 3

Kayla’s POV:

Hector drives an old 80’s model Chevrolet pickup. It’s a deep black color with heavily tinted windows.

“So where am I dropping you off at?” Hector says as he pulls out of the school parking lot. s**t, I didn’t think this part through. The last thing I want is for him to know I basically live in an orphanage.

“I live at the Villa” I reply. The Villa is an apartment complex just a block away from the transition house. The rest of the ride is silent when we pull up to the apartment complex. “Well, thank you for the ride!”

“I’ll meet you here, let’s say 6 A.M?” Hector asks as I hop out of the truck.

“Sounds good, tomorrow at 6. Also, Hector, I won’t stand for you being tardy.” I smile slamming the old truck door closed.

I wait for Hectors truck to disappear around the corner before walking away from the apartment complex and heading through the alley towards the transition house.

“Tomorrow was going to be interesting.”

I leap over the stairs onto the front porch of the transition house, opening the front door the smell of dust and aged wood filling my nostrils. I close the door behind me and run up the steps towards Anna's room.

Anna was 8 when social services brought her here. Her neighbors at the time had called for a welfare check that was when social services had found Anna asleep on a dirty mattress in her parents’ apartment after some investigating and a trip to the ER. The ER report not only revealed that Anna's parents were giving their daughter drugs but that they were also selling their daughter out in exchange for meth and h****n.

Anna ended up spending the next 2 years in a rehab center where they treated the addiction her parents forced on her, put her through therapy, and used all the resources available to give her a different life. Her file held pictures of everything, the mattress, her parents, her blood-stained clothes, the marks from her years of a***e.

The picture that was the hardest to look at. It was taken on the day social services did their welfare check. Anna was beyond the point of being malnourished. She didn’t look like a 6-year-old little girl, she looked like the skeleton of an old woman, her eyes had sunken in, and most of her hair had fallen out. She didn’t have any clothes on, just a diaper that was too big for her bony body. I could count every single one of her ribs and her hip bones looked like they were on the brink of breaking through her skin.

If her parents saw her now they wouldn’t even recognize her. She has thick brown hair that goes to her shoulders now, her once lifeless sunken hazel eyes now sparkle, and she is strong, she is unbelievably strong.

Anna is lying on her stomach with her ankles crossed as she reads one of her books.

“How was school?” I ask sitting down beside her.

“It was good, I got my English grade back up to an A.” She says beaming a smile at me. I had made a deal with Anna that if she could get her English back up, I would chaperon her upcoming gymnastics competition so she could go in December. I was planning to take her anyway, considering I am the one who is paying for her to go to gymnastics, however she didn’t need to know that.

“I am so proud of you,” I say, ruffing up her hair. “If you need anything I’ll be in my room doing homework and getting ready for bed,” I tell her as I stand up and head to my room.

The next morning

I arrive at the spot where I am supposed to meet Hector at 5:45 to ensure I got here before he did. A few minutes later, I hear Hector's truck coming around the corner.

“Good morning!” I say hoping into Hector's truck. “I guess it’s a good thing I took you up on your offer for the ride to school. I think it’s going to rain, and I have a pounding headache.”

“Good morning, I actually have some Tylenol in the glove box if you need some.” He says, pulling away from the curb. “I actually wanted to apologize, I know I kind of put you on the spot yesterday about me giving you a ride, and if I caused problems between you and your boyfriend—”

“Did you just say boyfriend?” I say cutting him off mid-sentence.

“Yeah, I mean that guy you helped yesterday, Nick? You guys seemed close and at the time and when I asked you I didn’t realize you might already have a boyfriend,” he says, putting his hand on the back of his neck, his biceps stretching the fabric of his long sleeve flannel, he seems nervous.

“Nick and I are not a thing,” I reply turning my attention to the droplets of water hitting the window.

“Oh, so you mean to tell me all I have to do is faint and Kayla will come to my rescue?" I turn my head to see Hector batting his eyelashes at me.

“Doctor Kayla never leaves her friends in distress,” I say as I place the back of my hand on my forehead, Hector lets out a heartfelt laugh and my stomach does a small flip at the sound of his laugh. He places his arm on the back of my seat as he turns around to look behind him as he backs into a parking spot by the gym. Hector and I make our way towards the gym to go over his schedule. I feel someone looking at me. I turn around looking through the mostly empty parking lot when I find the set of eyes that are looking at me are Nicks.

Nick is standing with a group of people, his back leaned up against a newer black SUV. I see Lexi standing on Nick's right when she turns to say something to him, it feels like I am watching everything in slow motion as I watch Nick push off the vehicle and begins to walk towards me, Lexi storming in the other direction.

Whatever trance I was just in is broken when I feel a warm sensation spread across my hand, I look down at my hand to see Hector's fingers engulfing mine, his hand is nearly double the size of mine. I peer up through my hair and see Hector smiling at me softly, “Let’s go figure out this schedule before we both end up being late for class.” Hector says, gently pulling on my hand.

“I don't have a first period,” I grin, “So the only one who will end up with detention is you,” I say, winking at him, before dragging him through the gym doors behind me.

“Did you get your class schedule yesterday?” I ask taking a seat on the bleachers.

“I got one yesterday when I enrolled.” He only enrolled yesterday? That seems a little strange.

“Well, are you going to get it out?” I tease. I watch as Hector's eyes look down, only now realizing that I was still holding his hand. I can feel my embarrassment immediately climbing up to my face, “Oh. Sorry. I hadn’t realized - “my voice fading out as I let go of Hector's hand.

Hector reaches down sticking his hand into his bag pulling out a piece of paper, he scoots his body closer to mine, holding the paper to where we can both easily see it.

“It looks like you have 2nd, 5th, and 6th period with me, so you can just walk with me to those classes. But for 1st, 3rd, and 4th I’ll meet you by my locker and show you where those are.” I hand the paper back to him “I’ll go ahead and walk with you to first period to make sure you find it and I’ll show you where my locker is.” I say standing up, the warm sensation that I felt earlier has returned as I look down to see Hector looking up at me, and then everything goes dark.

Kayla’s flashback

I can see my mom sitting next to me in the backseat, she is humming a lullaby to me.

“We have to leave Jake, they will come for us, and who knows what they will do”, I could hear the fear in my mother’s voice.

“I know Nancy, I’ve made the arrangements for us up North, we will head up there tonight, it’s going to be okay.” I can hear my father's voice coming from the front seat. I watch as my father looks at me through the rear-view mirror, he smiles at me just before I hear my mother scream.

“JAKE!”, My mother screams pointing in front of the car and throwing her body over me.

Present-day

“Kayla!”, I hear Hector yelling at me, I open my eyes, he is sitting on the gym floor holding me in my arms. He brushes his fingers through my hair, “Kayla, Kayla, are you okay?”

I scramble out of Hectors arms the sound of my mother’s scream still ringing in my ears.

“Kayla are you okay?” Hector asks me again as he takes a step towards me.

I turn around and sprint for the gym door, using my full body weight to shove the door open, my mother’s face flashing in my mind as she yelled my father’s name. I am completely overwhelmed as I feel my knees hit the pavement and my stomach clenches as a wave of nausea crashes over me.

I lie on the cold pavement waiting for the feeling to pass, I need to get to the library, I need to know more about what happened on the day that they died. It isn’t long before the feeling completely subsides and I am able to get up without dry heaving, I race up the sidewalk towards the library, who were my parents running from?

I walk into the library taking a seat at one of the computers in the far back, I open the web browser, when I realize, I don’t know what to look up.

Nicks pov

"Hey Nick, isn't that Kayla", James elbows me and whispers. I looked to my right and see her getting out of Hectors truck laughing at something. I watch as she stands there the morning sun beaming over her face, her nose scrunching up as she laughs. I have always thought she was beautiful, but after that day in the gym I can’t stop thinking about her. I am admiring Kayla when she turns around her gray eyes sparkling as her laughter reaches her eyes, she is staring directly at me as she smiles.

“I’ll see you in first hour.” I tell James. I start walking towards her when Hector grabs a hold of her hand pulling her back towards the gym. I can feel everyone’s eyes staring at me, as I continue to walk towards the gym. I know if I turn around and head back to the parking lot I will get clowned and I do not want to deal with James questions in first period, I’ll just go to the library and get caught up on some assignments. I pass through the double doors of the library taking a seat at one of the back tables, my eyes scan the library not looking for anything in particular, that’s a lie I was looking for her.

Giving up I pull my math book from my bag when I hear the library doors push open Kayla walking right through them sitting in front of a computer right next to me at the back of the library.

Sitting down in front of a computer I watch as her face go through a mix of emotions, determination, confusion, uncertainty, she looks lost. Just get up and talk to her Nick, see if you can help. I think to myself trying to work up the courage to get my a*s out of this chair and talk to her.

Okay, f**k it. I stand up from my chair, my legs feel heavy not wanting to move, as I force myself to walk towards Kayla. I sit in the chair to her right. She doesn’t look at me just stares at the blank computer screen as if she is completely lost in thought, mhm I clear my voice her eyes still not leaving the computer screen.

Maybe this was a mistake, she’s obviously not acknowledging my presence, just say something make her see you.

“Hey Kayla, are you okay?”

“I don’t know what to look up. I don’t even know where to start.” She replies her eyes still focused on the screen. What is she trying to find out?

“What are you trying to find, maybe I could help.” She looks at me, emotions I can’t decipher swirling in her eyes. Tears are swelling in her gray eyes.

“My parents” she croaks out, before looking away from me refocusing on the computer screen in front of her

Her parents? What about her parents? “What are their names? We can look them up by their names” I suggest.

“Jake and Nancy Bennet” she says her voice no louder than a whisperer. I open the internet explore on the computer in front of Kayla. Jake and Nancy Bennet, I type into the search bar and hit send, maybe I should of enter our city to narrow the search?

The first article to pop is an article from 2006 the article reads

Little girl leaves fatal wreck unscathed

I look at Kayla tears running down her cheeks, reaching over for the mouse as she clicks on the article, I lean back giving her some room as her eyes scan through the article before landing on a picture of a totaled car with a man in his early 40’s standing to the side of the wreck looking directly into the camera, the man made my skin crawl.

Kayla looks at me as she stands up before walking towards the library exit, follow her Nick her parents died, she could use a friend. I stand up logging off the computer before following Kayla out of the library. I turn the corner to find Kayla with her back against the wall and her eyes closed, I stand beside her, what do I say to someone who just found an article about her dead parents? Did she know her parents were dead? How did she survive the wreck? I form a headache thinking of all the unanswered questions I have, imagine how Kayla feels. My heartaches I couldn’t imagine losing my mom.

Kayla opens her eyes, taking a shaky breath before looking at me. “You don’t have to follow me around.” She spits, her bloodshot eyes looking directly into mine, her cheeks covered in red spots from crying, she’s angry and upset don’t take it personally Nick.

“Come on Kayla,” I say grabbing her hand and pulling her into a hug, I am taken back when she doesn’t fight me instead allowing her body to relax against me as she wraps her arms around my waist. I inhale deeply taking in her sent and memorizing how she feel in my arms right now as I hold her. I wrap my arms around her shoulders as she begins to sob causing her whole body to tremble. The class bell rings alerting that first period has ended, I tuck Kayla into my side and guide her out of the building back towards the softball field.

“Where are we going?” she says with a sniffle.

“I figured you could use some air after what I just read.” I tell her holding her hand as we continue to head towards the softball field. We take a seat in the grass beside the field. I lie down in the grass folding my hands behind my head enjoying how the sun feels on my face.

“I’m sorry you’re the one dealing with this. I just needed to know what happened and –“Kayla stops midsentence her eyes widen, “ you cannot tell anyone about this, I have managed to keep my private life separate from school for year absolutely no one knows about this.”

“Kayla what happened?” I ask, she looks down at her shoes, “I’m not going to tell anyone and if you don’t want to talk about it I will drop it.”

“My parents died right before my seventh birthday,” I can see the tears swelling in her eyes before she looks back down at her feet, “the were in a car wreck as you saw in the library, I cant remember all the details of how I ended up on the other side of the country but I bounced around from foster home to foster home before they ended up sticking me in a what is basically an orphanage.” An orphanage? Kayla was living in a group home. “And I was supposed to be showing the new guy, Hector, around the school, when something weird happened. We touched, and a memory of my parents’ car wreck played in my head. Which is why you saw me in the library just now looking them up.”

I scoot closer to Kayla, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and bringing her head into my chest. “I am so sorry Kayla. You have been dealing with this on your own.” I sweep my hair through her black hair, watching as her hair separates between my fingers. “Let’s do something to get your mind off of things.” I offer, she lifts her head up locking her gray eyes onto mine.

“Like what?” her eyes sparkle at me. I stand up offering her my hand, “Well what do you enjoy doing?” I ask her, she places her hand in mine allowing me to help her off the ground.

“Well, when I am under a lot of stress I like to run and practice softball.” She says looking over at the field.

“Okay so let’s practice.”