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Chapter 10

  © 2011 Carol Nieves

Nothing was different at school today. If I had the slightest hope that I was getting closer to Danielle, it died the moment I said hello and she didn't answer me. Everything was the same.

When I was on my way to her house for the calculus tutoring, I kept asking myself, "Why do I even bother?"

Deep down I knew the answer to that question. I bothered because I like her, because I have a crush on her, because I cared. Was it worth it? I didn't know yet. Time will tell. The one thing I was sure of was that I wasn't giving up on her, not yet. Maybe that was one of her problems, people always giving up on her. I needed to spend my time with her wisely. She was more open to talk about herself when she was home and her walls were down. If I wanted to find out something about her, that was my only shot.

I was going to get her to talk about herself little by little. But I needed to earned her trust somehow.

I stopped at the store today again after school and got her something. She liked the candies yesterday; we"ll see if she likes what I got for her today.

The guards at the gate stopped me once again. They should've know me by now, I guess that they were dutifully doing their job. Danielle mentioned yesterday that she feels safe here, maybe having the security guards has a lot to do with that. But who knows, that girl is still like one of those puzzles, no matter how much you try to find a way to solve it, you just can't.

I had to hold back my laughter when Martha opened the door. She was covered in flour. Her hair, face, shirt, everything. " H-hello Mrs. M-Martha." I tried not to laugh, I really did, but when Martha said "Come on honey, you can laugh. I'm pretty sure I'm quite the sight.", we laughed together. She was trying to cover her mouth, but her hand was covered in flour too, she left a white handprint on her face. I clutched at my stomach because I was laughing so hard,it was hurtful.

"Do you know your way to Lolly's room? I don't want to go upstairs like this."

"I think I remember. Thanks Mrs. Martha."

"What Mrs. are you talking about? Just call me Martha. Any friend of Lolly's is a friend of mine." she was nice. She was one of those people you could see right through them. I could see, honesty but mostly I could see her love for "Lolly". I felt like hugging her.

"Mrs. Ma.. I mean Martha, I'm not her friend, not that I don't want to be, because I do, but to 'Lolly' I'm just a classmate and not just any classmate, I'm the one that she is forced to work with."

"Trust me honey, if you are here it's because she considers you her friend. Maybe not a close friends yet, but she respects and appreciates you enough to let you into her home. You don't know her as much as I do."

"But she fought against it. She argued with the teacher, the principal, and even her father. She didn't want me to be here." I said remembering the day we got paired together.

"Like I said, you don't know her like I do. She has been attending Dalton Hewitt since kindergarten and besides Nick, you are the only one that has come to this house. Even before...." She didn't finish what she was about to say.

Even before what? More questions to add to the puzzle. Martha's voice brought me back to reality. "Go on now, she is in her room. I'm going to clean myself up."

"Thanks Martha." I went upstairs still smiling a little about Martha's state. She really seem like nice lady. I was glad that Danielle has someone like Martha in her life. Especially after her mom's passing.

Ready for torture (calculus), I knocked on Danielle's bedroom door. There was a faint "come in". I opened the door but didn't went in. I looked around the room until I spotted her by the computer desk.