A Diamond In The Rust

Reporting for Duty

It was Monday and my day was pretty good so far. I noticed Esmeralda wasn't at school, n-not that I was looking for her or anything! I pulled up to the parking lot of the orphanage and noticed a red convertible. That car has never been here before...You know how people dangle things from the little mirrors inside the car? Yeah well this car had a rosary and a Mexican flag. Oh shit. I almost forgot today was the day Esmeralda started her community service. I quickly checked myself before entering the doors. Everything was quiet, as usual. I walked over to Santino's office and saw him chatting with her.

I held my breath and walked in. "Lovino! Esmeralda here tells me you two already know each other! This is great, will you please show her around before starting work?". No. "Of course", I turned to her and forced a smile. She stood there smiling as her long wavy hair was pulled back into a ponytail, capturing every strand of hair perfectly except for her long side bangs. Hell, Santino even gave her one of our uniform polo shirts. Ugly pale yellow things that were surprisingly comfortable. The lettering and trim were red and we were supposed to wear jeans. Some people say they're cute, but I beg to differ. The only difference between mine and hers was that the back of my shirt said 'STAFF' and her's said 'VOLUNTEER'. I also noticed she had a name tag. I couldn't hold in my fake smile anymore due to my dispare, but I managed to pull a successful poker face.

"Ready?", I asked her as I noticed how short she really was, now that I was forced to stand so close to her. I knew she was only a couple months younger then me, but she just barely reached my shoulder! I'm five foot six, so that meant she only reached up to five feet exactly. My face went through a couple expressions as I tried not to laugh at her height. I almost even found it adorable. She shook her head to my answer, "I need to use the bathroom real quick". Santino let her use the one in his office. "I don't see why your so worked up about this. She seems like a great girl", his thick Italian accent addressed to me as my eyes shifted around. "Pfftt...she's probably just manipulating you! I shit you not Santino! She's playing with your brain! You might wanna put up round the clock surveillance", I narrowed my eyes and spoke in my own accent as I cautiously looked behind me. I heard Santino quietly laugh. "Oh Lovino. Or do you think it's YOUR brain she's messing with? Hmm", he crossed his arms and smirked.

I jumped and blushed, "W-what! No of course not. You think so?". I knew he was right. Having her every where I went and having her in my life made me trippy, but I would never admit it. "Si of course Lovi. You kinda jumpy", I didn't want to continue our conversation and luckily, Esmeralda walked out of the restroom. "Okay I'm ready now", she flashed a blinding white smile as I frowned, not looking forward to this whole month. "Follow me", I simply said, walking out the door not waiting for her to start the tour. I heard the door open and close behind me. She was standing behind me, I could tell. Shit. I tensed up as I took in that I was legitimately alone with her for the first time. Sure we've been alone at school, but we were just alone in a room where people were up and about around us. But here, Santino was away in his office and the kids are napping and now I'm stuck giving her this long ass tour around the whole fucking building! And it's a pretty huge building if you ask me.

The tour felt as if it took ages. Although, it wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be. Call me crazy, but I swear she lit up when she met the dull kids. She immediately started talking to them and some even smiled. I even heard a couple of little giggles coming from the children. Well that's new. She didn't waste anytime in getting to know each and everyone of them.

We were currently in the middle of an arts and craft session, or more likely, I sat at a desk flipping through a magazine while Esmeralda sat with the kids making macaroni art. I glanced over at them from over my magazine, which was much more interesting if you ask me.... She sat at the tiny table and all the kids just crowded around her. They were all laughing there little heads off with bits of glue and macaroni here and there. Esmeralda was trying to peel some dried glue off her hands when a little girl came up to her. I gasped when I realised who it was. Her name is Katy and she always sits in a dark corner and never EVER talks or looks at anyone. She had macaroni tangled up in her hair and asked for assistance in getting it out. Esmeralda wasted no time in peeling macaroni out of the sheer blond ponytail. She was so focused and gentle with the kid. She made allot of facial expressions as she tried to look at the hair from different angles and her tongue stuck out a little. I found my self smiling at her, but then I remembered that she was the goddess of chaos and forced myself to wipe the smile clean of my face. When Esmeralda finally got all of the macaroni out from the thin ponytail, the little girl turned around and threw herself into Esmeralda's arms as if she was forever grateful. Esmeralda returned the hug and wrapped her arms securely around Katy.