chapter 4

Susan found herself swimming in the deep ocean, twirling around like a ballerina underwater. She was swimming loop de loops in the water as a dolphin would, she was surrounded by a school of fish. She swam gently, looking around at all the coral, admiring all the vibrant colors and the sunlight pierced from above, dazzling the glitter like sand below. She swam through the sparkling waters, she thought, I need air, but then when she took a deep breath she was fine, like a fish she could breathe in the water, or maybe she didn’t need air after all. She laughed the whole world to play with all by herself. This was great. She could be alone at last, she scuttled around looking for her sketchbook that looking should have usually been by her side, however, it was not there. She suddenly noticed her hair was tied in a braid and had a dark blue hue to it, she wondered “I don’t know how to tie a braid" she realized she must have been sleeping and dreaming, as she looked around she noticed her legs were not there but instead a tail. As she began to investigate her arms and her tail, she was not wearing her bathing suit, she looked around, it seemed no one was around to see her. She realized her figures had longer webbing than normal and she thought I looked like a. like a.... she thought, she smiled, I’m dreaming and I’m a mermaid. She decided that what she looked like, recalling some picture of mermaids that she

saw in the library. Some mermaids wore clothing and others didn’t. She remembered how pretty she thought they were. She didn’t want to wake up, what was going to happen next, she tried to guess.

She knew there was no time to feel sad, I’m a mermaid it can be fun to swim around some more, as she looked up through the water she realized she saw that same floating castle. She was swimming underneath it. If only I had my sketchbook she thought to herself. This is a dream silly, maybe I can imagine one, but no matter how hard she tried a pencil and paper never appeared, well perhaps I'll just play a game she thought, as she was thinking she saw a school of dolphins nearby, so she decides to swim with them. She delicately held on to one of their backs, as she rode along, jumping in and out of the water. One of the dolphins started to make chatter and clicks, and even though she knew that she didn’t speak dolphin she understood perfectly, they wanted to play, so she let go and they Susan and her new friends started to race. To her amazement she was able to keep up with them, it was fun playing with the dolphins and she was glad one of them let her ride on their back. They played for hours, she felt tied. This was a dream, why was she tired, she wondered but who knows. What was her favorite thing to do on the beach? Resting on the sand. She began swimming towards the beach to take a nap. She had a tough time climbing out of the water, she couldn’t stand on land, so she had to do a baby crawl whilst moving around like a snake. Once she was out of the water, she decided that here was far enough. She laid down looking up at the sky enjoying its worth, she started to feel sleepy. A strange feeling overwhelmed her as she closed her eyes. Her body began to be shaken, it was one of the young girls waking her up, a good friend of hers Karly.

Karly was a five-year-old girl, she was currently the only roommate that Susan had, she was a pretty girl with brown eyes and dark black hair that was long and curly. She was currently dressed in a long nightgown

that was white with pink flowers as a pattern, even though it was basically Susan’s responsibility to help take care of her, Karly was often helping her. She was a very capable young lady who only needed a hand with some minor things, Susan slept heavily. Like real heavy and often needs a wake-up call, once she got up she helped Karly get dressed and then got dressed. They had both washed their hands after using the bathroom, it seemed they had about half an hour to play before everyone else was up and ready for breakfast. So, they got out some dolls to play pretend with. Susan started talking about her amazing dream, which got Karly smiling and cheerful, trying to play quietly, “You finally get on your mom's good side, don’t start being late for school, she might end up saying you can’t go or something”.

Before the girl knew their time to play was up, as one of the governesses knocked on the door. She heard them playing and it was time to go. The house was full of children, the only young children there were Susan and Karly, everyone else was at least 9 years or older, several of them being 12,13 and even 14. There were two older children that were ready to be adults. They helped around the house as governess’, both were 16 and they were sister's -Lilly and Riley. It was Lilly who was trying to get their attention. The two of them were never adopted, they had been continuously moved around from place to place, they had only been at this home for just under a year. MS Laura had asked them once, but since they had been by themselves for such a long time they didn’t want a family any more. they had one another and that’s all they needed, but they didn’t mind helping and having a job helping them. They were both promised a job once the state no longer paid for their care. Susan couldn’t remember all the children’s names and she didn’t want to, but she knew two other girls and 1 of the 14-year-old boys who have been there the whole time while she has been there, His name was Jake, Riley had prepared them all a feast. She did this almost every other day, and sometimes switch chores with her sister, or had one of the other children help. Breakfast was ready for all the children, it ranged from eggs and sausage and orange juice, freshwater and lunches ready to go for later. All the children attended school to either public school or a private school depending on if they got a scholarship from the state. Laura deals with most minority kids so most of them do get a scholarship while others have a special talent that gets them a scholarship, at this home and school academy where life skills and basic academic knowledge along with tutoring and programs for the children to participate in.

After eating breakfast Susan was ready for the day, she went to the elementary school which was a public school. She had a plan to help her mom acquire the rest of the stuff. She knew there was no way she was going to do that many chores, considering it took her quite a while to save up the money she just spent.

They got a ride to school and it was Susan’s job to make sure Karly got to school, and to pick her up from daycare. After walking Karly to kindergarten, she waited for her teacher to arrive playing with her and some of their classmates, they were playing a quiet guessing game and practicing some songs that they knew. She then walked to class, she always had a pass to walk in the hole way, arriving late every day because she dropped off her little sister, normally they would only let the older student do this, but Susan proved to be more than responsible and Laura was needed back at the shelter as soon as she could, even though most of the work was taken care of legally she has to be there or have a legal stand in which cost money. So, the school tried to work with her, and since she was the only foster child from that shelter who went to this school they had little options. The day went by,

smoothly as normal, she was ready for the new school though, because here it was hard to make friends, she was scared to get too close and most people would be mean to her because she was adopted, she tried making friends before, but it just never seemed to go well. _{Susan was working hard on her math skills, she raised her hand to} ask the teacher if they could learn about money and how it works, she had a specific question in mind. The teacher answered that they were going to cover money in the next month, but she would be glad to answer questions after class. Susan decided to stay for about five minutes after class, she finally got what her math teacher was talking about, she had a couple of minutes to get to her next class. The teacher gave her a note just in case she ran late. Making it to gym class just in time, the girls were practicing some basic ballet, it was a way to introduce the class to the student and try to get anyone to join the after-school program. In Susan’s mind, this meant she could have an easy day, and this was going to be fun.

"MS Mariah, can I get dressed right here because we're all girls? it will save time?"

"Do you have your clothes underneath?"

"No, my leotard is in my book back."

"Please go get dressed in the bathroom, I see your note you're fine, and I want your front row, I'll need you to help me teach some poses and positions. Alright?"

Susan smiled, the idea of helping the teacher made her fill with happiness.

It didn’t take long for Susan to get dressed, she came outside and was ready to begin. They started with first and second positions along with some simple stretches.

Why couldn’t I just change here,

School rules, besides you never know when another teacher might walk in or perhaps a boy.

That made her blush pink in the face, oh right I guess I didn’t think of that.

Now let's continue, sticking with basics and some intermediate steps, it seems like they may have found some fans for ballet and dance. Most of the girls were wearing shorts and a tank top because they didn’t have the proper uniform. The teacher explained about the leotard and why they are required to wear it along with the slippers, strength and beauty was the purpose of ballet and dance.

As she was explaining, the principal walked in. She and a fellow student who was walking just slightly behind her. MS Terry, the principal started to talk to the class. "This Is Zoë Taylor, she is a new student here, I want all of your girls to give her a warm welcome. Zoey was the same age as Susan. She had brownish, red skin and curly hair. She was slightly taller than Susan,

Looking over to Zoe the principal said "looks like you're in luck.  they are practicing dance today,” She pointed out Susan and began walking over to her. "This is Susan, she is one of our best dancers, she can help teach you. It can be a lot of fun, but it can also be challenging, I do hope you will enjoy your stay here at our school". MS Mariah, unfortunately, didn’t have any extra gym clothes. “I guess we will have to excuse her for today, we will need you to get some workout clothes." Susan quickly raised her hand, after being called on,

"MS Mariah, I think me and Zoey here are about the same size, she walked over to her to try to figure it out, I have an extra leotard, I just went shopping and the one I'm wearing is new."

"That is a great idea, why don’t you go help her get dressed and helped her with the basics as you did with the other girls, I'll take it from here with these girls."

There were no other girls from ballet club in the gym class, and hardly any of the girls at the club or in the school seemed to notice Susan. She was hoping she could finally make a friend. In the past, it had been hard for Susan to find a real connection with anyone.

Susan had helped Zoey get dressed and started her off with the basics, she was doing a good job until suddenly Zoey fell short of breath. The teacher quickly asked one of the girls to go get the nurse, whilst she tried to monitor the situation. It became apparent that she had mild asthma. It turned out that there was a mix-up, and that for some reason her conditions were not reported in her transfer, which had caused the school to call paramedics, to get a standard breathalyzer. The medic arrived and gave Zoey the right amount of medicine to use for the rest of the day. The teacher sent a report home asking for her medication,

However, it turned out that her previous school had not reported her medical conditions. This led to a letter being sent to the old school to get any remaining medication that was there, it took a while but eventually, the whole mess was solved.

Susan had never seen anyone get seriously ill like that before. It was terrifying, she did her best to help in any way, by asking her to calm down or trying to relax her, but truly she didn’t know what to do at all. Having raised younger kids who had temper tantrums she thought it was best to follow what she did when dealing with that, her idea did seem to help her breath slightly better, the paramedic even congratulated her on thinking quickly. When Zoey was finally feeling her back at her best, it didn’t take long for Zoey to give Susan a comforting hug for helping her so much.

"Thank you for showing me how to dance and you were a good friend as well for trying to get me to breathe easier," she said with a small smile on between her cheeks. “Let’s be friends from now on, okay?" Susan was delighted that she finally had a friend.

The gym was finally over, Susan let Zoey keep her old ballet clothes, they still were in good condition. She said goodbye to her new friend, the rest of the day went quickly, and the school day had finished. After school, she had to wait to pick up her sister at kindergarten. She walked over with her towards the arts and craft shop and gave her a hug. "I will see you later," Karly hugged her back, "have fun at the dance." Susan went to the girls' room to go and change into her leotard tights and slippers, she put on a dress over top of the uniform to walk from the bathroom to the gym. She was slightly shy but as soon as she started dancing she forgot about all of that and only thought about the routine and her part in the performance if there was one. Her gym teacher who volunteered for the job, this was after school activity, they had many at the school, she went over to her teacher, MS Mariah. Susan explained her idea to the teacher, MS Mariah was on board right away, and she started to come up with ideas also.

Her idea was to put on a play to make some money, "That's a fantastic goal and a wonderful idea. We can even put on a play and sell tickets; the profits will go towards your art supplies and will be a great way to get donations. I'm sure we will get plenty to do both, what you're doing is wonderful, and thinking about other kids like you. that’s amazing."

They got started working on it right away, every girl wanted a part, even some of the high school girls were in on it. Going around town asking people for donations and support of what they were trying to do. They needed help getting boxes to carrying the art supplies, it

seemed to them that these schools in town were all short of art supplies. They reached out to any student in their school to see if they wanted to be part of this big idea.

Everything was going well, now they need to figure out a good story and how to get everything together that they need. The work was only beginning. First thing first was they sent letters home for all the kid's permission from a legal guardian/parent and permission from the principle. They had all the girls who wanted a part to sign a paper, the next step was to see who was going to show up and then sign parts and come up with a theme. Christmas came to mind, coming from one of the older girls, perhaps they can do a part of swan lake or the nutcracker?

All the kids seemed to love the idea, so they put it to the vote and made this clear in the letter to the parents so that they could get other people's opinions as well. The teacher made copies for everyone and they got started on their normal practice, dance lasted an hour, they practiced every day doing stretching and simple dance steps, dance was over, some of the girls left early. Susan was always one of the last to be picked up, after saying her goodbyes to her dance friends, she got dressed in her school clothes and went to arts and crafts. She got her snack later, as it was in the refrigerator, along with some juice. Her sister sat down with her every day, so she would have someone to talk to, most of the kids have already left. The ones who did sat were all preoccupied with trucks and books,

before they knew it was time for aftercare to be over about 6 pm every day.

This time it was Kevin to pick them up with a note, he was a neighborhood kid in a high school, he was 17. He had football practice and baseball, so him picking up the girls every day after school was easy money for him. The girl working with her

in the back

was his younger sister. One day he realized those two girls were always there with his sister, so he came up with the idea, at first Laura didn’t like the thought of a young man taking her kids home but he proved to be respectful and was a great kid. After signing everyone out, he had driven to the front gate where one of the governesses was glad to give him his normal 5 dollars and he then drove off to go to his home with his sister.

Once Susan and Karly were home Susan tried to find her mom, who seemed to be away on business and Lilly and Riley were currently in charge. MS Sara stood in as the Head of house, she would have to wait to get her letter signed, because only their legitimate parent can sign the paper. When they got home it was time for dinner, they tried to wait for all the kids to get home first before it was served. Tonight, they were eating hot sandwiches; roast beef, turkey and ham that they could have with cheese. Dinner was served with soup and fresh-cut tomatoes, for a drink was the choice of juice, lemonade or freshwater for anyone who wanted it. There was a rule that no juice was allowed after seven o'clock, only water. But they had freshwater that was filtered.

Susan was normally quiet, but she took her spoon and taped her glass, so everyone could stop talking. She cleared her throat, generally, there was no talking allowed at the table, but during special occasions, people would make a toast or say prayers.

"Excuse me, I have an announcement and a request for everyone. Please may you all stop what you are doing, my dance team is putting on a school play. Now I still need to get permission from my mom, but I am almost certain she will say yes. Therefore, I would like to ask all of you to attend, and if anyone would like to help, let me know and you can talk with my dancer teacher Thank you, everyone." Her chair glided back in gently as she sat down.

Her well-presented speech got everyone talking. As well as her never speaking to anyone before, she was very shy. Some of them knew since she was a baby, a large majority of the girls said yes right away, as well as the oldest boy. Unfortunately, some of the other children had no interest in dance, watching or anything likewise. Lilly reminded them to keep their manors and that they were most likely going to attend weather they wanted to or not, so it might as well be your choice to go. Lilly was the most excited she had even been, she was immensely proud of Susan's bravery to talk to everyone like that. With the announcements out of the way, it was time to eat again.

Dinner was overwhelmingly good, everyone helped clean up. Some homework had already been done, so they were allowed time to play before their bath and bed. Lilly walked over to Susan, "I would love to help out. I'll go with you to dance tomorrow and talk with MS Mariah." Said Lily quietly.

Before long, it was time to go to bed, all the older children had already taken their baths. It was time for Karly and Susan to go and take a bath. They could take a bath together, and Susan helped Karly with the supervision of either Lily or Riley. Today it was Lily, they were talking more about the dance play that was coming up and what was going on and how Lily could get involved. Maybe she can be in the play, she used to dance too and was a student of MS Mariah’s. Lily hoped the dance teacher approved of an old student helping.

       

After their bath it was time for bed, Susan's mom was still away. She must be on a long trip, Lily was more than happy to help whilst Laura was away. Lily had given her a call early this afternoon to check up on her and gave a report of how everyone is doing at the home. Laura gladly gave her permission and allowed me lily to go ahead and sign it for me. "I won’t be home for about a week, so I'll need you to be in charge until then." Explained Laura in her monotone voice. Lily got Susan out of the bath and dry. The bathroom was already cleaned up, the girls sat playing quietly in their rooms.

Lilly reminds them that bedtime is in 30 minutes.

Karly and Susan had fallen asleep quickly after an exhausting day. Susan opened her eyes, she quickly noticed that she was high up amongst the clouds. Her body glided eloquently like a bird. she started looking around, suddenly two beautiful blue and green wings, which was covered with mystical patterns, caught her eye. 'Oh wow. Those are butterfly wings!' She looked at her hair to find two, long black antennas. Her hair was down just like any normal day, with a hair click holding her hair in place. She glared down at her body. 'She had legs and feet, I guess I'm a fairy or a butterfly, or maybe both?' The endless possibilities ran through her subconscious mind. She was wearing her favorite white dance leotard along with a skirt. She wanted to do some more exploring, so she fluttered around dancing and spinning as she practiced her dance moves thinking what was the swan lake like? She had never seen it or the nutcracker, she had never seen a real play. Susan had only ever read articles that portrayed amazing stories. She flew and flew until she saw a dazzling rainbow before her eyes. It appears it was coming from higher up. The rainbow had caught her attention, and Susan wanted to see where it led. The same castle which had appeared in previous dreams was once again here. The intimidating waves crashed against the rocks below, she tried to squint her eyes, but she couldn’t see her dolphin friends anywhere. Could this be an opportunity to find new friends? Maybe she could find some birds to fly with? After flying around every inch of the castle for hours, it seemed she had no such luck.

There were no birds to fly with nor butterflies. Only the marshmallow-like clouds floated softly around her. Susan dove straight through them. She found herself getting wet as if she was swimming through water. What a peculiar dream she was having. She tried drying herself off by spinning around tirelessly, which helped but only a little. Her hair was drenched wet, the unwelcoming surge of bitter coldness took over her body. Susan floated down to the marshy ground below where the air was much warmer. She found what looked like the same beach as in another old dream. She heard some unusual sounds; the sounds grew louder and louder.

She awoke to her good friend Karly jolting her awake again. "Goodness Girl, you do sleep heavy I thought I was

never going to wake you" She said with a sigh of relief. She gave her sister a warming hug. "Thanks, I was flying around this time. I was like a butterfly" explained Susan excitedly. "let's get ready for school, ok?" Said Karly, dismissing any further conversation.