PROJECT: NYNE

Chapter Nine: Xena

Sky pulled me out of the P.E. Office. For such a small person, she was surprisingly strong. As soon as the door shut, I heard a cry of pain. Followed by more muffled cries. Sky burst the door open, rushing to Blaize. She helped him up and practically pulled him out of the room. The teacher looked mad. I followed Sky into the girls bathroom, dragging Blaize behind her.

"You can't let him do that. You shouldn't have let him before either, and he doesn't live with you anymore."

"I know."

"Why then."

"It's easier."

"Live with you?" I interjected, even though it was none of my business.

"I'm adopted." Blaine said. "He was one of my foster care providers.A very abusive person who doesn't understand or comprehend anyone's thoughts but his own." Oh.

"Sorry." I said, not knowing what else to. Sky turned around and walked out of the room, crying. Blaize turned to face me.

"Well let's get to class, shall we?" I stared at him. Indecisive of what to do. I guessed that since Sky said that Blaize didn't like to be serious, that I should just Ignore my feelings. I followed him out of the lavatory and to his first class. After I had gotten him there, I somehow found my way to my first class.

Sky was already in there. I sat down next to her. I tried to focus but my mind kept drifting to what Blaize said. Before I knew it, the bell rang and Blaize crutched in. "Where we're you guys?" I looked over at Sky. She wasn't paying attention. In fact I think that she looked angry. Blaize nudged her and she looked up. "Huh?"she said looked startled and confused. Blaize looked annoyed.

"Where were you guys?"

"The bell rang already?"

"You need to stop getting so depressed whenever anyone lays a finger on me."

"You need to stop being so cavalier about the whole thing! That's why I'm upset. Because you don't seem to care about what happens to you.We need you, Blaize. Celie needs you." Blaize looked up while I was wondering who Celie was.

"Is she worse again? Do I need to come over?"

"She's not doing great, I think you should. I was going to ask you to anyway, but I got a text from Jodiah. She's okay now, but just had a Celie attack."

I looked back and forth between them, trying to figure out who they were talking about and why Blaize cared more about her than Sky. Finally Blaize looked at me and answered my first question.

"Celie is Sky's little sister. She has luk-"

"-Celie disease." Sky interrupts.

"That's what we call it to not scare her when we're around her." Blaize continues. "And to not scare us when we're not around her. Do you need to work?"

"Yes." Sky said. "And Jodiah has class."

"My leg."

"Xena?" What about me? Blaize turned towards me.

"Will you help me watch Celie tonight?" He asked.

"Sure," I agreed. Blaize and little kids with no one else around made my stomach churn. I could tell Sky understood.

"Thanks, you guys." She said. We both nodded.

Leukaemia. And she was only a little girl...

~~~~~~~~~

Finally, the bell rang and school was dismissed. I had just hung up my phone after calling my mom to inform her that I would be helping watch Celie with Blaize.

We all crammed into Blaize's bug and drove Sky to her job as a part time manager at the local book store called The book worm. When we pulled into the small parking lot, Sky turned around in the front seat to face me. "Thank you so much for helping with this." There wasn't much I could say. It had started sprinkling by the time we left on our way to Sky's house. Every time the rain got harder, Blaize drove a little faster. A crack of lightning lit up the dark sky. Blaize jumped and sped up. Even in the rain, Sky's house seemed happy even though I knew it wasn't. We walked through the white picket fence, around the flower bed, and up the three steps to the porch. Blaize got a key out of his pocket and opened the door. I was soaked to the bone but Blaize didn't get a drop on him.

The front entrance of her house was even more extravagant than the outside. There was an actual coat rack and a little closet for shoes. The hallway opened up into a large living room with a fireplace and a large t.v. The couch was a sectional that took up most of the room and on it was a lump of blankets covering a small girl. She started sitting up as Blaize crutched over to where she was. He scooped her into his arms and hugged her tightly, balancing on his good foot. He was so gentle with her, like she was about to break in his arms. 

"Blaizey!"she said weakly.

   "Celie!" He replied. Blaize set her back down on the couch.  

"Who's she?" Celie asked, her smile gone. "That, is Sky and I's friend, Xena. She just moved here from Chicago." As soon as she heard friend, she smiled. Every thing she did seemed fragile. 

"Come over here, Xena." Blaize said. I did. Celie laid back down, like she didn't have the strength to sit up anymore. Blaize sat down on the chair across the room. I sat down next to where Celie was laying. "Do you play violin too?" She said. I assumed she was referring to Blaize. "No. I play viola."  

"Like Blaize except lower?" She asked. 

"Exactly." She was smart. The lights went out as a huge bolt of lightning lit everything up. Loud thunder rumbled through the house as Celie jumped into my lap, her eyes wide. After a second everything was silent and pitch black. All at once the lights came back on and Celie's muscles relaxed. I looked up to see that Blaize wasn't there. Celie must've noticed it at the same time as me. She clung tighter to me and cried out. "Blaize?" She said. "Where'd you go?" He came through a to the right of the couch carrying a prescription medicine bottle. "I needed to make sure this was in the right place in case... if a Celie attack..." He sat back down and have me instructions to the bathroom to get the "testing kit". I did what I was told and came back with it.  

"Okay. Open it and get the thermometer." I did what I was told and wiped it off with alcohol wipes and dried it. After it beeped I took it out of her mouth and read it out loud. "101.3."  

"That's better!" Blaize said. She had a high fever. Was that good? Blaize wrote something down in a small notebook. "Now weight." I pulled a weird scale looking thing out of the testing kit. Celie stood up and onto it. When I read the screen I couldn't help but gasp. Blaize flared at me. "Yay!" Blaize said. "You've gained!" Gained? How small was she before? Blaize wrote down something else in his notebook. 78 pounds. Holy cats. "Let's celebrate with cookies!" Blaize said, as he stood up and crutched to the kitchen. "I'm not hungry." Celie replied.  

"That's because your spleen is enlarged. You know the rules. Eat three, be free." Celie groaned, but took the cookie anyway. She took three small bites of it, and looked up at Blaize. He shook his head, and took a huge bite of a cookie too show her what he wanted. She took two more small bites and handed Blaize the rest of it. Everything was quiet.  

The only sounds were the rain softly pounding on the roof and Blaize crunching on a cookie. He shifted in his chair and the floor boards creaked under his chair. Celie started sobbing and clutched her head. Blaize rushed over, leaving the crutches by his chair, wincing every time he put pressure on his leg. He cradled her in his arms. "Bathroom. Orange cabinet. Blue bottle."

I ran to the bathroom and got the medicine. Celie took it and almost immediately stopped crying. Her muscles relaxed and her eyes closed. Blaize was shaking. "Her room is the second door on the left through that hallway. I picked the unconscious Celie up and carried her to her light blue room. Her fluffy blue bed was in the corner. I covered her with the black and white comforter. I sank to the ground, not able to stand up anymore. Blaize crutched in and sat next to me. "Alot to handle on the first day, huh?"