WARNING: SPOILERS!!! ~A Watty's 2019 Submission!

Saved for The Blind Girl's Friend

"Maddie, can I ask you something?" Annalise asked her as they practiced brail, Madelyn chuckling. "Or, maybe two somethings?"

"Well, you already asked me one thing. But, I'll let you ask me something else." She joked, but Annalise looked completely serious.

"Why do you always wear gloves?" She asked, moving her hand away from the paper and tapping around the desk until she found Madelyn's hands, and felt the gloves that she wore today. Though she couldn't see that they were a grey that matched her sweatshirt, they were soft, clearly handmade, made of soft wool. She could feel small speckles, and figured it was glitter, and she fingered them gently to feel each stitch. "And what made you come into the Gifted Program?" Madelyn sighed, and Annalise immediately regretted asking those questions.

"Well, those answers go pretty hand in hand." She told her, holding her hands tightly. "I was born with a severe case of Raynaud's Disease. When I get anxious or stressed or even just a little bit cold, it acts up."

"What's Raynaud's Disease?" Annalise felt foolish not knowing about what felt to be her only friend's disease.

"When I get cold or stressed, my blood flow goes down, and I lose circulation in my fingers and toes." She explained. "It's very painful, and really sucks. I can't go out in the summer on a breezy day without it reacting."

"That sounds awful." Annalise squeezed her hands gently, but Madelyn just shrugged, exaggerating a bit without realizing it so that Annalise could feel it.

"I take medication for it, and as long as I take it in time, it helps." She lifted Annalise's hand to the necklace on her chest, letting her feel it. It was a small, heart shaped locket. "I always have pills around me in case I need them. I keep them in my locker, my backpack, my car, everywhere. But even if I don't have anything like that on me, my mom got me this locket to keep at least two pills on me at all times. I go through at least five or six a day, but its comforting to know I have these just in case I need them." Annalise moved her fingers around the heart, feeling the engraved M in the metal. It didn't feel like a typical sterling silver necklace. It felt almost like steel.

"Your mom taught you to build cars, right?" She asked, hoping she was remembering that correctly.

"That's right." Annalise felt a wave of relief wash over her, and she could almost hear Madelyn's smile. She was glad she made the girl happy. "She liked working with metal in general, though cars were her favorite. As soon as I was diagnosed, she put herself to work making this necklace. At first, she used to hide little squishy toys inside, because it wasn't as bad when I was little, and they would distract me. But when I got older and it got worse, she helped me put my pills inside."

Annalise cutaway I really wanted to work on....

"And this is the Gifted Classroom!" Annalise made a pose for her friends, who, unknown to her of course, were looking around, a bit disgusted by the other kids in the classroom.

"Oh, Anna, its really... something." Karen said, though she didn't sound impressed, though Annalise, in the excitement of showing her lifelong friends her nice, new life, didn't notice.

"Isn't it?" She led them along towards her desk. "Wait til you meet everyone! Everyone's really nice here!" Unknown to her, Ashley had knocked over Alice's books, and she almost had to sit on the floor to pick them up. Karen shoved Andrew's wheelchair out of the way, Grant and Faith running after him to stop him from hitting the wall, and Bethany kicked at Jacob's crutches, knocking him over before they reached Annalise's desk, where they were shocked to see the way her desk was set up with the shelf attached underneath and her portfolio that Madelyn had helped her design.