She's So Gone

~ Chapter 11 ~

Past

Rylinn made it about two hours after I left before her parents confronted her about sneaking out. Apparently her brother saw us, and he told them that morning, so I guess they were waiting to give her a chance to come clean herself.  Now she's grounded for a month, and we're not allowed to have a sleepover again for at least two months. I was worried that her parents were gonna call the children's home and tell them about us sneaking out, but for some reason they didn't.  It's the weekend now, and I'm currently helping Ms. Jacobs go through the donations that were dropped off a couple days ago.

"The little kids are gonna love this," I say sarcastically as I pull out a can opener in the toys donation box.

Ms Jacobs laughs, "that was clearly in the wrong box, just set it aside and we'll put it in the kitchen later." She then pulls out a deflated ball with an obvious hole in it, and frowns.  "Sometimes I really wonder what goes through other peoples heads."

I smile softly, "maybe it popped while in the donation box?"

She smiles too, "you know what, maybe you're right, anyways, how's school going, your freshman now, that's pretty exciting, right?"

I shrug, pulling out some of the clothes from another donation box. "It's okay, we're only a couple weeks in though."

I fold the t-shirt setting it in a pile marked 5-7, she nods, setting a set of wooden blocks in the keep pile for the toys. "What about volleyball, how're you liking that?"

I smile, still not looking up as I focus on folding a pile of jeans. "I really like it, the girls on the team are nice, and the coach is pretty cool, she says I have potential and that she was really impressed that me and Rylinn spent most of summer practicing, despite never having played before."

"That's great, I'm proud of you." When she says this I look up, surprised.

"Really?" No one had ever said that before.

She nods, "of course, you wanted something and you worked really hard to get it, I'm very proud of you." My smile grows and I bite my lip to try and hide it, not wanting her to know how happy that makes me, just in case it's a trick. I don't think she would do something like that, but I guess it's a learned response to just not trust people.  After a second of silence she speaks up again. "You know I'm surprised you're not hanging out with Rilynn this weekend, you two seem practically inseparable. In Fact it's weird you haven't hung out with her at all this week."

"Oh um…" I trail off not sure how to explain with out getting myself im trouble, so I decided on just the basic information. "She's grounded."

After a second she responds, "and is there more to that, you seem almost like you're hiding something."

I shake my head, not making eye contact as I turn away to carry the pile of clothes to the cabinets on the outside wall of her office. "No, that's it." I don't really like lying, but Ms Jacobs is so nice and I don't want her opinion of me to change.

"Dani?" She says slowly.

"Hmm?" I still didn't turn around, pretending as if making sure that the clothes were stacked perfectly, was the most important thing in the world right now.

"Did something happen last weekend while you were over at her house that you don't want to tell me about?" I turn around finally and slowly look up.

If I tell her, she won't let me spend the night anymore. "It's not a big deal really," I say quietly and she gives me this patient look, as if somehow telling me that whatever I did, she'll forgive me for. "We snuck out to go hang out with some older kids, and her brother told on her so know she's grounded and we're not allowed to have any sleepovers for two months."