Gen One- Chapter Fifteen

My body, which had felt light and free in sleep, suddenly felt heavy and trapped as I woke up. There was a sniffling noise bothering me, and seconds later a big ball of fuzz was stuck right in my face. I sputtered and rolled away as Button's tongue lapped at my cheek next. Like always, she was insistent on getting at my face even though I was able to break free of my sleeping bag's grasp on me and gently pushed her away. She thankfully gave up on her licking. However, Button then proceed to lay herself on top of me. It was next to impossible to get her to move. I knew she hadn't liked being separated from me that previous night, so she was making up for lost time.

I glanced up to my left. Despite the little bit of commotion, Sunset was still sleeping deeply. Having her sleeping over was the reason I had locked Button out of the room instead of letting her share my bed with me like I normally did. Sunset and I had wanted to spend our time comfortably without having Button climbing all over us. And we had done just that. The two of us had stayed up late into the night talking, playing games, and watching movies on Eden's laptop. We were so tired when we were done having our fun that it hadn't taken much effort at all to convince Sunset to sleep in my bed while I used the sleeping bag. The novelty of using it hadn't worn off for me, although my back did ache some.

I got Button to move off of me a little more. That was when I as able to sit up properly and discover how she had gotten into the room. Eden had opened the door for her. He smiled at me for a moment before shaking his head.

     "What?" I mumbled sleepily.

     "Your hair is a mess," he laughed, not trying to be quiet, "And it's time for you two to get up. You do have school today, you know."

     "Don't wanna go." I mumbled again, lying back down.

     "Hey, you both promised if I let you have a sleepover on a Sunday night that you wouldn't give me any problems the next morning. You'll have to do all the household chores for the next week otherwise." Eden reminded me more firmly.

I lifted my head up. He had his hands on his hips and looked entirely unmovable. There was going to be no debating with him.

     "Alright, alright. Get Button off of me, and we'll get up."

Smiling again, Eden grabbed Button and softly got her away from me.

     "Whasit?" Sunset mumbled blearily, finally waking up.

     "We have to get up now." I revealed with a frown.

She groaned and went to pull the covers closer around her, but Eden got a mischievous glint in his eye and yanked the covers down all the way to the end of the bed. Sunset groaned louder and rolled over, but she did start letting herself slip off the mattress. Eden left with the room with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Sunset was having worse trouble getting her day started than I was, so I took the opportunity to make use of the bathroom first. I was so out of it too though that I stood there groggily brushing my teeth for twice as long as normal. It was a wonder they didn't begin to shine. After washing my face, I changed into my day clothes. I had just buckled my sandals when I stood up in a hurry as I felt a swelling in my chest. Almost instantly I let out a massive sneeze that had me sniffling and snorting for a second. I went ahead and rewashed my face and then my hands. Eden had been on my case for the past week after I had gotten sick that Friday. Luckily, I had only missed that one day since I was able to recover over the weekend. A light tightness remained in my chest after the sneeze, but it was practically nonexistent so I ignored it.

I don't know what Sunset and I had been thinking having our sleepover that night. Not only did we have to worry about getting up for school, but we even had to worry about getting up even earlier than normal. That was because it was our week to tend to the school's tiny garden near the kitchen. Since a lot of the kids attending the school did live in the city, it was the school's way of adding some nature into our lives. Each week a group of four would be tasked with weeding and caring for the small plot. It just so happened that I got both Sunset and Frost in my group. Sunset and I had woken up more by the time Eden dropped us off. We greeted Frost with cheer and got to work. That had us fully waking up. Though weeding sounded like it would be tedious and boring, it was crazy fun sitting there and pretty much playing in the dirt with our friends. Our group would also get to be the lucky group to harvest most of the plants. The grapes, watermelon, and lettuce in the garden were just about full grown.

There was only one downside during our time weeding that morning. As it was, Purity was in our group as well. Of course, she still absolutely loathed me. It was difficult ignoring her grumpy presence over in the corner. I assumed her glare was because she just didn't like being around me and because she didn't want to be there in the first place. Purity had assured us the second she arrived that we wouldn't be getting any of her help. Her designer clothes made by some fashion designer with a silly sounding name would never get close to the dirt the rest of us so eagerly sat in. Frost, Sunset, and I had no problem with her sitting out though.  She did at least keep quiet, and we were able to have our fun without her disturbing it.

The minutes ticked by, and more and more students made their way into the building. When the buses arrived and began dropping off our classmates, it was time to end our work for the moment. Purity took off right away, and Sunset dashed towards Sunflower when she showed up. Frost and I finished putting away the spades and other equipment in the nearby locking box. I was going to go say hello to Sunflower as well, but Frost put his hand on my shoulder to stop me.

     "Are you feeling alright?" he asked, his sudden increase of concern confusing me.

     "Yeah? Why do you ask?" I wondered.

     "I was just thinking that maybe you might be feeling sick again. You've been sniffling a lot, you kept rubbing at your arms as if you were cold, and now that I can look into them I can see that your eyelids have a red tint to them. You seem kinda flushed too."

I frowned mentally. Frost might have to wear glasses, but it felt as if his eyesight was perfect. I thought I had been being really subtle with my sniffling and stuff. My nose had been bothering me some, and I did feel cold even with the late summer heat beating down. I had wanted to ask Sunset if I could borrow her jacket, but I had chickened out. I took a deep breath and steadied myself to hide that I did feel slightly off.

     "I really am fine. It's just a bit of hay fever. It's been being out here messing around with the plants and stuff that's done it. I'll be fine once we get inside." I reassured him, honestly believing at that point that that truly was the case.

     "Okay then." Frost accepted somewhat reluctantly.

To my great disappointment, it wouldn't take too much longer for me to find out that my small symptoms were not because of a short bout of hay fever. Those symptoms didn't go away after I went to the bathroom to wash my hands yet again, sat down at my desk, and concentrated on nothing else but Mrs. Chamois' lessons even though the increased chill on my skin and pounding in my head demanded otherwise. Unfortunately, the symptoms got worse and worse. The hot sunlight was streaming in through the window behind me. Normally I would get way too hot, but at that point even that heat did almost nothing to assist with stopping the chills making my body shake. I might as well have been frozen in a case of ice. My head really did ache as well. It was if someone was slowly driving nails into both of my temples. I kept my head down, stared at my notebook, and barely moved my eyes. It helped to quell the pain somewhat.

I know I should have said something the second I realized my body was throwing a fit again, but I couldn't work up the energy or courage to say anything. How was I supposed to reveal that I felt ill? What would happen if I did? Given that it continued to take a lot of effort to get myself to raise my hand to answer questions, bringing everyone's attention on me because of something unrelated was a big burden. Then there was the fact that I still didn't want to admit that I was sick again. I had been doing so well over the summer with not catching anything, but here it was hardly a week past the last time I had been bed-ridden and already I felt worse than I had then.

My plan was to ride the day out. As bothersome as the cold and the headache were, I wasn't sniffling or coughing anymore. Cold and some pain I could handle. I would not have to worry about missing another day of school and then get myself all healed up with plenty of rest that night so I could come back tomorrow. Yes, that was the plan. However, Frost went and ruined it. Mrs. Chamois had us pair up to work on an assignment she gave us. We were allowed to choose our partners, but we couldn't pair up with someone we had already worked with. I had worked with Amaranth and Cocoa so far, so it was time for Frost and I to be a duo. We only just started working when Frost frowned at me really hard.

     "Meadow, you are not fine." he said firmly.
     "I am. You're seeing things." I lied hopelessly.
     "Don't even try that. My mom's a doctor. I know a thing or two about sick people. Besides, even if I didn't an absolute idiot would still be able to see that you're not well."

He grabbed my arm for a few seconds. He placed his hand on my forehead too.

     "See? You are freezing, but you forehead is almost scary hot. You have to go see the nurse."

I ignored him and continued working on our assignment. Frost huffed. He raised his hand, and almost right away Mrs. Chamois came over.

     "What can I help you with?" she asked.
     "Meadow is sick." Frost said instantly.
     "Are you now?" Mrs. Chamois looked at me with concern.
     "I'm fine." I mumbled.
     "No, you are not." Frost retorted angrily before turning to our teacher, "Feel her forehead. She's got a terrible fever."

And Mrs. Chamois did feel my forehead. I blushed with embarrassment. Most of the others around couldn't help but to hear what was going on, and they had turned to look. So bothered by their gazes, I practically missed the deeper expression of concern etched up Mrs. Chamois' face.

     "I'm afraid Frost is right, Meadow. You do have quite the fever, and you do need to go see the nurse. She'll most likely send you home. You definitely need to rest."

I pouted.

     "Frost, will you walk her to the nurse's office? You don't have to worry about the class assignment."
     "Sure."

I had no choice but to have Frost lead me to the nurse's office. I avoided everyone's stares on me as we walked out of the room, and I kept my head down as the two of us made our way through the halls. Frost didn't say anything until he explained to the nurse what I was too stubborn to say. I was given some medicine and told to lay down in one of the beds. She let him stay for a while, but I don't think he stayed that long considering I was asleep the second I laid my head on the pillow.

Voices woke me up about twenty minutes later. I figured it had been twenty minutes because that was how long it took Eden to drive me to school. It was him and the nurse talking now. They were, of course, discussing me. I stared at their feet on the other side of the curtain separating the beds from the rest of the office and wearily listened.

     "I see that you've written here in her records that she is affected by an immunodeficiency disorder?" the nurse questioned.
     "Yes. Immunodeficiency with hyper-IgM. My parents and I always knew she had a weaker body, but it wasn't until this past winter when she had severe bacterial bronchial pneumonia that she was diagnosed." Eden answered.
     "I don't know too much about that particular diagnosis, but I assume it's caused much trouble in the past?"
     "It has. To tell the truth, it's half the reason why I put Meadow in home schooling. Being in such constant close quarters with other children and high exposure levels to germs and illness was wreaking havoc on her. I had hoped she would do better now that we've been taking her in for proper treatment, but if this keeps up..."
     "I am thinking along the same lines, unfortunately. I have a feeling with the fever she has that she'll be out for most of the week if not the whole week. It hasn't been a month yet since school has started, and with her potentially missing out on over a week of classes already it might be best to make the decision that this kind of environment just isn't suitable for her well-being."
     "I've been worrying that would end up being the case. I'll definitely be taking her to see her doctor. Hopefully, he'll be able to give us some options to give her a boost so I don't have to pull her out. Meadow was so excited to come here after all."

I pulled the covers over my head as the two of them kept talking. This life just sucked! I just wanted to do things normally, but thanks to that stupid, stupid, stupid Company that was never going to happen! It took a lot of strength not to cry. I actually had to let myself be swept away by the pain of my fever in order to distract myself from the conversation and its disappointments. Thankfully, it ended less than a minute later. Eden and the nurse came around the curtain to find that I was awake.

     "I am being told that Frost said you were deliberately hiding that you were sick. That true?" Eden asked me in frustration.
     "I thought it was just a bit of hay fever that would pass."
     "Yeah, nice try. There's no way you were mistaking this high fever you have as a light exposure to allergens." Eden chastised.
     "I didn't want to go home."
     "Meadow, I know it's tough but in these kind of situations it doesn't matter what you want. You are gambling with your life here, or do I have to remind you of what you went through this past winter?"

I shook my head miserably.

     "I'm going to take her temperature again. Perhaps it has gone down some." the nurse interjected optimistically, probably trying to make the tense air not quite so bad.

She got the thermometer and popped it into my mouth. I had hoped as she hoped that my fever had decreased some, but my heart sank when she glanced at the reading and looked worried.

     "It's gone up," she revealed quietly, "It's 103.1. It was 102.5 when she came in."
     "I think we're going to have to make that trip to the doctor right away then," Eden sighed, "At least the hospital is right next door."
     "Nooo!" I whined, almost losing my fight with my tears.
     "I'm sorry, Meadow. There's no choice if your temperature has risen that much in such a short amount of time. You're just going to have to take it as a lesson that you can't avoid feeling ill and hoping it will go away."

I did go ahead and cry in the car after Eden half carried me into it so we could make the incredibly short drive to the hospital. With the staff still remembering me well, I was admitted right away. Test after test was done to see what I had come down with. We were all relieved to find out I just had a cold, but what a cold it was! My fever was stubborn. It constantly fluctuated between 103 and 104, occasionally peaking around 105. I had no desire to eat, I could barely get out of bed, and I was having trouble breathing again. It was mostly for that last reason why it was decided that I had to remain at the hospital. My doctor and the nurses were afraid the cold would warp into another infection.

So, the school nurse turned out to be right. I missed that entire week of school. The room I was in was at least better than the other one. It wasn't blue so that was mostly why I say that. It was also bigger and had a bed for another occupant, although I was the only one in the room for the whole time I was there.

I was also allowed a lot more company than when I had pneumonia. That first day almost everyone came to visit. That was the nice thing about having the school and hospital so close in proximity. It was easy for my friends to walk over. Allium kept us in stitches that afternoon with his antics. Another good thing about the close proximity was that I was able to keep up relatively well with my classes. Eden had collected all my books and other supplies, and Mrs. Chamois herself came in each afternoon  to help me go over the basics of the lessons. I managed to complete all the homework and in-class assignments my classmates did, and I learned to be truly grateful for my outstanding memorization skills. I never would have been able to keep up otherwise.

Overall, that week wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. The cold was nothing like having pneumonia, and one week was nothing compared to more than a month. I was released early Friday morning, and I spent the whole weekend sleeping or sitting outside in the shade with Eden relaxing and taking in the nice weather. I felt pretty good on Saturday. On Sunday, I felt perfectly fine. My doctor had put me on a new regime that consisted of coming in for more visits and me taking medicine daily. He said that there wasn't enough alarm to pull me out of school yet. Essentially, I was going to ride out the semester and see how everything went with the increased care before putting me back into home schooling was discussed.

I walked into class that Monday to find out that some new rules had been set up- rules that the whole class had to follow in order to help me out. There was a lot of stuff about washing hands, coughing into a sleeve, staying away from me if one felt sniffly, and that sort of stuff. There had even been a system worked out between all the teachers in our grade so that if someone did feel slightly ill but not ill enough to stay home that would have my classmate being sent to another classroom for that day. It was embarrassing to have such a policy implemented, but I could breath easier once I found out most of my classmates liked the idea. It meant they could see their friends they normally only saw during lunch and recess more.

The lone person who had a problem with the new rules was, naturally, Purity. I was going to be spending the afternoon at Amaranth's house. We were in no rush, so we lazed about the classroom and hallways talking to other students and just playing around a bit. The classroom had cleared out save for one person when we went to get our stuff to leave. For whatever reason, Purity was still there as well. She walked over to me when Amaranth was having trouble finding his one notebook.

     "So, thanks a lot, Envy." Purity whined at me.

I ignored her like what I thought was best. I turned my head, looking at everything but her.

Obviously, that didn't sit well with Purity. She didn't like me fighting back against her, but what she hated even more than that was not giving her the attention she thought she deserved. Purity stepped into my line of view and pointed an angry finger at me.

     "I bet you feel so special having everyone have to do all this stupid stuff for your benefit. I'll not be doing anything of it though. I'm not going to make my life difficult because you're afraid of silly germs. I have enough to worry about without you making it worse."

I had to bite my lip slightly to stop myself from saying anything. What bothered me the most about Purity was how she constantly went on about how hard her life was. As if! She had the best life ever: loving and rich parents, the nicest clothes, friends even though she was ridiculously despicable, and no worries aside from her deluded belief that everyone who didn't fawn over her had to be jealous instead. Then there was me. Created, not born, due to selfish greed. I had been trapped and experimented on. It was all but guaranteed I would never know my real parents. Eden and I always had to fear anyone who we didn't already know. There was never a night where we could truly sleep peacefully. I had to inject a strange and potentially dangerous concoction into my body at regular intervals just to find some semblance of safety. I had to lie to even my closest friends about everything I really wanted to tell them. Now I couldn't be guaranteed my health for anything.

     "Did you hear me, Envy? I'm not following these stupid, new rules. You can get sick for all I care."
     "Leave her along, Ugly!" Amaranth called from the back of the room.

He had started calling her Ugly when he had gotten fed up with her subtle bullying. It drove Purity crazy, but she had never said a word about it for some reason.

She frowned at Amaranth, but she did keep her mouth shut- at least when it came to retorting back against him. Her attention refocused on me.

     "I bet you haven't even been sick these two times. You've just been faking it all because you want attention. I've had so much on me that you thought you could steal some away by putting on an act. Well, it's not going to last for long. Everyone's going to see what a fake you are soon."
     "I'm telling you to leave her alone." Amaranth demanded firmly as he began walking over to us with his stuff.

Purity wasn't listening to him. I was wondering what was going on with her instead. This really nasty smile suddenly spread across her face. Her expression then distorted as she pulled her head back with her mouth open wide. I barely had time to blink let alone figure out what she was doing. A second later I had my answer. Purity snapped her head forward, letting out a massive, fake sneeze right onto my face. Instinct had me pulling away just in time to avoid the worst of it, but a gross spray of her saliva did end up on my skin.

With wide eyes, I stood there frozen with shock. I couldn't believe Purity had seriously just sneezed on me on purpose. There was no doubt that Purity had a warped personality, but what she had done was downright blackhearted. I was not the only one who thought so. Purity was able to stand there for all of the briefest of seconds with a smug grin before red flashed before both of us. Amaranth dashed forward like a bullet to full out shove Purity. I stumbled away in shock. His shove wasn't a simple push to get her away from me. He went after her with what seemed like intent to hurt. She collided with the floorboards with a loud cry and a thick "BOOM!" I was terrified Amaranth had actually hurt her. There was some slight part of me that didn't want to see Purity be hurt, but mostly I didn't want Amaranth to get in trouble.

There was dead silence in the room. Purity was too stunned to register any damage she had taken. She stared up at Amaranth wide eyes full of surprise. I could hardly look at him myself. The Amaranth standing before me then was unlike the Amaranth I knew. His expression was distorted with rage. He looked truly dangerous.

The silence was broken after some time. I was so out of it I couldn't register exactly how much of it had passed until Mrs. Chamois walked into the room having no idea of what was waiting for her. With Purity still on the floor and Amaranth looming over her, it was no wonder her mouth dropped open.

     "What is going on?!" she demanded in a cry.

That snapped Amaranth and Purity out of their daze. Purity clearly, perhaps thankfully, wasn't hurt because she jumped up like the floor was a trampoline as she and Amaranth swarmed Mrs. Chamois while they loudly threw out their explanations at her. It was a chaotic mess of words. She must have deciphered enough though, for she ordered that we all head to Principal Fog's office so our respective guardians could be called for a meeting to sort everything out.

It was an awkward half hour while we waited for Eden. Amaranth's house was right down the street, so Blaze had shown up quickly. Purity lived relatively close by as well. Her mom was the next to arrive. Eden, however, had been grocery shopping when he got Principal Fog's call. He had been next in line, so he went ahead and checked out before he rushed back to the house to shove the cold items in the fridge and freezer before hurrying to the school. He was really angry at me at first, but he calmed down when it was revealed I wasn't the one in trouble. I was merely a witness to attest to Amaranth's and Purity's actions.

Principal Fog's office was crowded with him, the six of us, and Mrs. Chamois in there. I stood close to Eden. I was shaking with nerves even though Blaze, Principal Fog, and Mrs. Chamois had been so supportive and nice to me in the past half hour. I think I was mostly just tired of things going wrong. After spending a week in the hospital, playing at Amaranth's house was what I wanted- not being a participant in what was practically a trial.

Principal Fog rested his elbow on the desk with his fingers laced. He studied both Amaranth and Purity. An exasperated, almost amused look was what he gave Amaranth. It was then that I recalled what Mrs. Chamois had said on my first day about how Amaranth had challenged even him several times. Given how comfortable Amaranth seemed, it was obvious it was not his first time in this sort of situation. The look Principal Fog gave Purity was not as lighthearted. It was much more stern.

     "I've got a basic idea of what happened. However, now I'm putting my foot down. You two are not to speak over each other when explaining," he commanded Amaranth and Purity, "You'll both get time to talk and make rebuttals if need be. Amaranth will go first."

Amaranth took a little breath. He spoke calmly, simply, and with composure.

     "Purity has been giving Meadow problems ever since the first day of classes. She calls her 'Envy' out of spite and is constantly being rude to her. Purity was the whole reason behind what happened today. Meadow and I were getting our stuff out of the classroom so the two of us could head to my house to play. Purity, who was still in the room too, went up to Meadow and began complaining to her about the new classroom health rules. She accused Meadow of faking being sick so she could steal away attention from her. Meadow was ignoring her and not giving in to her jabs. Purity said she would expose Meadow as a fake, and that was when she purposely sneezed onto Meadow's face.
     All the rest of us know Meadow has definitely not being faking her illnesses. She's like the one person in this school who would rather come to school than stay home when she's feeling down. I was with Meadow a lot when she was sick during the winter and over these past couple weeks. I've seen how bad she's been and how much pain she's been put through because of it. Knowing how easy it is for her to catch stuff, I just got mad when Purity deliberately did something to try and get her sick. The only thing that made sense at the time was to get Purity away from Meadow, and so that's why I pushed her. I didn't mean to go at her quite so hard, but I was just that angry because what she did was downright horrible."

Principal Fog nodded when Amaranth finished. He didn't say anything, but it looked like he accepted what Amaranth had explained. Principal Fog shifted his attention to Purity. She spoke with such a sickening sweet and innocent voice that it made me want to gag.

     "Amaranth is wrong," she began softly, "I wasn't being rude to Meadow about the new rules. I was just expressing my thoughts on how I thought some of them were rather extreme and can potentially cause a lot of hassles for the rest of us. Maybe Meadow took that as me insulting her or accusing her of faking her illnesses, but that wasn't my intention. The sneeze, well, I just sneezed. I've been feeling sniffly all day, and it simply came out. I wasn't trying to aim for Meadow."

Her explanation wasn't greeted with as much acceptance from Principal Fog. The way she spoke, and the way the rest of us knew her to be, was solid knowledge enough to know that she was lying.

     "Purity is the one who is lying," I got to say when Principal Fog let me speak, "Everything Am said is the real truth. Purity was being horrible to be like she always is, and when she sneezed on me on purpose Am got angry and pushed her hard. You can tell he's telling the truth because he's willingly incriminating himself while Purity is the one who is trying to weasel her way out of getting in trouble."

Principal Fog took a moment to think, but he soon nodded again.

     "Judging from the stories and answers, I'm going to take what Amaranth and Meadow are saying as the truth." he revealed.
     "What!?"

The cry of anger and disbelief came from Purity's mom. Having been standing there with confidence and poised expression, her face suddenly grew enraged.

     "Purity is perfect! If she says she didn't sneeze on this girl on purpose, then she didn't sneeze on her on purpose!" she continued.
     "I'm sorry, Mrs. Waters. I have to use what I know about each of these students as a basis for my choice. Amaranth, though he has gotten in trouble before, has only gotten in trouble because by doing so he was protecting a classmate from being unfairly treated. If your daughter had not been acting out of malice, I know for a fact he wouldn't have done what he did. There would have been no point. I can't say I know Meadow as well as I know him, but she has given me no reason to think of her as dishonest. Your daughter, however, has already lied directly to my face several times even though there was irrefutable evidence of her wrongdoings. Each and every day I am getting complains from students, teachers, and other parents about how she bullies other students. Your husband was respectable and accepting of the fact that your daughter has some less than perfect tendencies when I talked to him on the second day of school. I'll ask that you be the same way." Principal Fog chastised her gently.

Mrs. Waters must have been backed into a corner. I was wondering was kind of response she would give next, and she had to have known too much of what he said was true because she attempted to avoid it all by changing the subject. Her attempt worked well for a few moments.

     "This is all just ridiculous!" she began, "I don't know why we're having this debate on blame! That brat over there shoved my daughter so hard that she fell! Whether intentional or not, Purity only sneezed! She sneezed! You would think she had pulled out a knife given how the rest of you are acting!"

Blaze's face narrowed in anger at Mrs. Waters chide towards Amaranth. He opened his mouth to say something, but Eden had him beat. He stared at Purity's mom with a frown, looking none too pleasant.

     "I don't think you understand that your daughter's actions are very serious," he started stiffly, "If Meadow was completely healthy like the rest of her classmates, then yes, Purity sneezing on her wouldn't be more than a terribly rude choice. However, Meadow is not strong or normal in terms of health. She never will be. Things most children don't ever have to think about are becoming more and more of a concern and threat for her. She has to constantly live in fear of what will trigger her next flare up. Something as seemingly simply as someone sneezing on her could end up sending her to the hospital again. Every time Meadow gets sick, she also has to worry about how that sickness could develop. The two of us woke up every morning last week and prayed her cold hadn't developed into another bout of pneumonia or something similar that could cripple her like she was crippled over the winter. She was so bad then that her delusional fever had her walking outside, which very nearly killed her. I was told that day to expect that she would die. Each time her heart almost stopped no one believed she was going to make it. That kind of situation is always a fear whenever Meadow grows ill. I'm going to have to take her home, stuff her full of medicine, and hope that your daughter's decision does not end up hurting my sister. So, yes, what Purity did is not something to be taken lightly."

Eden's words had more of an effect on Principal Fog and Mrs. Chamois than they did Mrs. Waters. His words had had no effect on her at all. She rolled her eyes and glared arrogantly at him.

     "You just killed a poor tree by spewing out all that nonsense at me. What your sister's health is like should be of no concern to me or my family. And, if you're that worried over her, lock her up in your house and be done with it. The last thing the world needs is diseased children running about ruining everyone else's lives. If they can't survive against the simplest of germs, then their loss isn't really something to cry over, is it?"

I had never seen an expression like what I saw on Eden's face after Mrs. Waters said that. I began to suspect that how he charged over to her with Blaze right behind him and starting a pretty loud yelling match with her was a lot like how he had been after he had found out I escaped from the hospital. Him, Blaze, and Mrs. Waters really went at it. More noise was added when Principal Fog tried desperately to get them under control. The arguing was so bad that even Purity looked upset and mumbled out an apology for her mother. I don't think anyone heard it except for me and Amaranth. Amaranth had shifted around in his seat to hold my hand and try to have a quiet conversation entirely separate from the fighting when what Mrs. Purity was saying got really nasty. The majority of what she was saying kept boiling down to me having no purpose or worth if a disease could take me out so easily.

I doubt I wouldn't have minded so much if I had continued to see her as an adult version of Purity that had to be ignored like I had envisioned her at first. The truth was though that I remembered what Eden had teased me about those few weeks back- that I could potentially be Purity's sister. Her mom would then be my mom as well. Her mom could be my mom. The possibility did exist. I stared in Mrs. Waters yelling face to see if there were any similarities between the two of us. Doing so only made me want to cry. The more I contemplated if she was my mother, the more I believed it to be true. The thought that one of the people who should love me the most could potentially be spewing out again and again that she essentially thought the world was better off if I died pained my heart and hollowed my chest like never before. What made it worse yet was thinking that she might still think the same way even if she knew I could be her daughter.

The fighting went on for about five minutes, although it felt more like an eternity. Principal Fog finally got the adults to stop their bickering when he threatened to call the police. After having stood up in quiet fury to quell the rage spinning out of control, he sat back down with a huff. There was more glaring, particularly in Mrs. Waters direction. The quiet in the room was just as awful as the yelling, but thankfully Principal Fog hurriedly finished up the meeting gone wrong.

     "You're right, Mrs. Waters. There is no point in having a debate. This is my decision- Amaranth and Purity both have a week of detention starting today."
     "That's ridiculous! I'm going to talk to the superintendent!" Mrs. Waters rebuked.
     "You know what, let's do that. I wanted to have a chat with you anyway, so I'll give him a call and bring him over. I know he's very excited to talk to you about all your many calls to him about painting Mrs. Chamois' classroom white and taking away Purity's homework so she can attend these supposed 'acting classes' you keep mentioning," Principal Fog responded almost threateningly, "Mr. Yonder, you are more than free to take Meadow home. I hope we see her tomorrow in good health. I apologize for this incident spoiling a good start to your afternoons. Mr. Viv- Blaze, you are free to take your leave as well as I'll have Mrs. Chamois take your nephew and Purity to the detention room."
     "Purity's not going anywhere!" Mrs. Waters screeched.
     "She's going to go with her teacher and her classmate." Principal Fog commanded firmly.

I didn't hear much else of the conversation, for Eden quickly ushered me out of the room. Both Blaze and Amaranth gave me encouraging smiles as we departed. The two of us didn't head straight for home though. Eden was far too upset and furious to drive responsibly. He stomped around outside the main entrance while I sulked on a nearby bench. Enough time passed for Blaze to exit the building. He spoke to Eden for a minute, gave me another smile, and went home. Eden sat down with me after that.

     "You know, I honestly think Purity would still be the same as she is now even if she wasn't white," he said, "I honestly think I feel bad for her too. The poor girl was doomed the second she was born to a mother like that."
     "Mmm..." I mumbled back dismally, "And...about Mrs. Waters..."
     "Yeah?"
     "Well, you said that Purity could be my sister...so then...what-"
     "Hell no, Meadow," Eden interrupted, "Don't you dare worry for a moment about that atrocity of a woman being your mother."

Eden suddenly froze up and glanced around. I got what was up. We were doing it again- bringing up stuff that we shouldn't be bringing up in public.

     "Trust me, I was only joking that time," he continued very softly, "You and that woman don't even look anything alike."

I nodded, still not sure. Mrs. Waters and I didn't look much alike, but Purity and I did a little bit. I hadn't seen Mr. Waters yet. What if I simply took after him instead?

     "Is there anything you want to do?" Eden asked to change the subject.
     "Anything I want to do?"
     "You were supposed to spend the afternoon having fun with Am, but obviously that isn't going to happen now. So, tell me what else you want to do. I'm still so angry at Mrs. Waters that you could ask me to buy you a horse and I would probably go ahead and do it."
     "Can I have a horse?!" I squealed in excitement.
     "How about horse riding lessons?" Eden compromised with a terribly amused laugh.
     "Yes!"
     "Alright, I'll look into it. How about a movie to tide you over in the meantime?"
     "Can we get the big bucket of popcorn?"
     "Maybe we'll get two." Eden joked merrily.

I laughed. My downcast mood quickly forgotten due to my excitement, I all but skipped as I followed Eden to the car.