Forlot: The Dress That Was Once Hers - Book Six {Completed}

Chapter Forty-Four

I blinked for what seemed like forever and squinted as if I could not see well and tried focusing.

In fact, I was trying to focus on what Mr. and Mrs. Danos exclaimed at their daughter.

"Mom! Dad!" Dejah whined. "Do not talk that loud. You will embarrass me and Eleanor."

It was too late for that. Everybody in the gym, from teachers to students, clearly overheard her parents. Pairs of eyes focused on the four of us and watched.

"See? Now look at what you have done!" Mrs. Danos snapped at her daughter.

I could tell that my best friend was frustrated. "What I have done?! You started it!"

"There is no reason to raise your voice like that!" Mr. Danos stated, straightening out his mustache.

"There was no reason to say what you said to me and Eleanor! It was rude and uncalled for!"

I quickly jumped into the conversation. "Hold on for just a second."

Her dad crossed his arms. "I just did because one second already went by."

I had a hunch that he was being sarcastic and not serious. And by what Mrs. Danos confessed when we first walked in, I knew that her father and mother did not take a liking to me, which was bizarre because they treated me so nicely when I hung out at my friend's house over the weekend.

Did they pretend to be nice to me?

"Eleanor and I will be right back," Dejah said to her parents. "I need to talk with her."

Her mom tapped her foot and seemed impatient. "Do not take long! 'Cause your father and I are taking you home."

"Whatever!" Dejah pulled me aside and over to a corner of the gym. "I apologize for my parents. They are always like this."

"What is going on?" I asked. "Did I hear what I think that I heard?"

Her face twisted from serious to sad, and she slowly nodded. "Yes."

It made sense now. How she reacted when I mentioned that we should have hidden in her house. When I mentioned her mom and dad.
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I rested my back against the bush. It was not the most comfortable place. "I am dumb."

She played with her hair. "Why do you say that?"

"We could have just gone to your house and get your parents' help." I noticed the concern look on her face. "Unless...they are not home."

"Oh, they are home." She breathed heavily through her nose. "It...it is just..."

"What?" I placed a hand on her back and gently rubbed it. "What is going on?"

"Remember...remember the article...that you supposedly wrote about me and my family?"

I could feel fear covering every part of my body. Even my eyes. "Dejah, I...I did not—"

"It is okay, Eleanor. I know that you did not."
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No wonder!

I hugged her. "Oh, Dejah..."

She immediately and gently pushed me away as soon as I came in contact with her. "Sorry. We are not allowed to hug each other in front of my parents. They will not let us."

"Why not? Why do they not like me?"

"They do not like you. They...hate you."

"But why? I have been nothing but kind and understanding to you."

"They do not care about that. They judge you...for your skin color."

"Skin color?" I knew where this was heading.

Crub!

"It is not...entirely their fault that they think this way," my friend explained. "You see, my mother and father lived in Honduras their entire lives. It was when they were adults that they moved to America."

"So your folks are Hondurans. Cool. You know, our writer went to Honduras for a missionary trip. Twice."

"That is why she is mentioning Honduras. Anyway, the town that they grew up in learned a religion that they are now teaching me."

"Yes. I remember that religion."

"Because of it, they are very strict in following everyone. They think that religion is correct."

"Okay...but what does it have to do with them hating me?"

"I am getting there. While learning that religion, they were bullied almost every day because of their skin color."

What is wrong with their skin color? I love the color!

She fiddled with their fingers. "Almost all of the bullies...were people who were white."

Oh, no.

"The more they were bullied, the deeper they got into the religion, and it has taken a toll on not just them, but me."

"Do...do you not like your parents?"

"Of course not. I love them. But I do hate their religion, and it is mainly because they keep shoving it down my throat! And they will not let me be friends with anyone who is white because...well..."

"It is because I am white myself," I finished for her.

"Unfortunately, yes." She teared up. "I want to be friends with you. I really do. I even desire to learn what you believe. Christianity. But my darn parents will not let me do any of that!"

"Well...there is only one thing that you can do."

"And what is that?"

"You need to stand up to them."

"W-what?"

"It is the only way. You need to speak up and tell them how you feel."

"But...I..."

"Dejah!" Mr. Danos snapped. "Stop chatting with that dummy and come on! We are going home."

Dejah opened her mouth to speak, but Mrs. Danos jumped up.

"Your father is right. We are the ones who adopted you..."

Adopted?

"...and socializing with her kind is not how you move up." She motioned with a hand. "Come on!"

It was at this point that Dejah had enough.

"No!" she denied. She strolled up to them. "You have spend your whole life trying to get me follow in your footprints. And...I thought for sure that it would be okay...but then I realized that I want something that you never had. Someone who knows the truth!"