Lilac Hearts

Chapter 4: back to School

DISCLAIMER!

Just thought I would make it clear that the Dragon's of Pern books are real and very good! I thought that the books suited Jonah because he is quite studious and the books can be quite hard to understand if you don't have a wide vocab. 

Anyway - I recommend them but I didn't make it up. That is all ;)

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Chapter 4

Back to school 

The days flew by and suddenly (according to my doctor) I was well enough to attend school again. I hadn't had an attack since that time by the bridge, so as long as I was "well observed" I could continue a normal life. The only thing was - I wasn't exactly normal. Just the fact I kept having dreams about a past life was enough to prove that.

I woke up that morning with a lump in my throat. Fully dressed I came downstairs early enough to sit at the table with everyone else. Breakfast was becoming a ritual for me now too. Normal for most, but I had always left the house with enough time to get me to school at exactly 8:30am. It had never occurred to me that sitting around a table with a bunch of twittering people was actually quite fun. I could sense Jean loitering around me nervously a lot more than usual today. I knew she didn't want me to go to school. She wanted me to stay at home where I was safe.

There were only four of us that went to school here - Sasha, Karin, Cory and me. Sasha and I were the same age and in the same year. Cory and Karin were also of the same age - because they were twins. They were only in the seventh grade of the same middle school me and Sasha attended, whereas we were in the last year before high school. The other orphans were home schooled. Jean was a qualified home-school teacher, as were many women in this town. The grade school was in the next town over so for people as poor as we, it was a waste of money to commute the children there and back every day. 

As I finished my cereal, Anna hopped down from the table and came to tug on my sleeve. She had been following me around with wide trusting eyes almost constantly recently. It made me happy to see her doting face and I loved to make her laugh when we played together. Sasha had joked with me about taking away his little soldier but I don't think he really minded, because he already had his hands full with all the other kids that were still weary of me. 

"Big sis Illia, are you going to school today?"

"Yeah," I started a little shyly, "Me and big brother Sasha are going together today."

Anna looked pleased with my answer, but continued to protest anyway,

"But what am I going to do without you or big brother around? It'll be super boring." She pouted, making me giggle.

I ruffled her hair and swivelled in my chair to face her.

"Don't worry little one, I'll be back before you know it. Don't forget that you have to do school here with Jean and the others today. I hope that you'll make sure everyone works as hard as you."

Anna beamed at me and nodded. She ran over to the other side of the table were some of the other kids had finished and were waiting for her. Even from here, over the many other children's chatter, I could hear her demanding good work from them today. 

I giggled again and looked to Sasha, who nodded reassuringly. Together, we packed up our dishes and ran them under the sink, giving them a quick scrub before putting them away, grabbing our bags, and heading out of the door.

"...and everyone is working together on a giant project." Sasha sighed, "It's such a drag, but its fun ya' know?"

For the majority of the walk Sasha had been chattering away a lot more than usual. Despite his confident attitude I was sure he was just as nervous as I was, so I was thankful that he tried to take our minds off it. But as we walked, and the school building started to come into sight, my nerves got the better of me, and my heart started to beat dangerously fast. My breathing was only just beginning to elevate when Sasha was by my side. We carried on walking but his arm was on my shoulder and he pulled me close. Looking down at me, he smiled and I felt warm and comforted. I knew that as long as I had Sasha I would be fine, but I also knew that he wasn't in my class which worried me. Mostly I was afraid to face all those people who still thought I was an Ice Queen, who still thought I was gross.