Chapter Two

On that very same day, my new family signed the papers to get me out of jail and they drove me to their house.
My new home was in the residential area of the city where I had never dared venture before. It was a beautiful house, painted a lovely olive green on the outside and with a large fenced yard where many gorgeous flowers grew in quantity. A large maple tree blocked my view of the left side of the house. All in all, I was amazed as I got out of the black car that stopped outside. Daniel got out of the driver’s seat and strode up to the door. Sarah stood behind me.
“This is your home now, Lily,” she said softly. “Come, let me show you inside.”
She led me up the path and through the door. As soon as I stepped in, I suddenly felt conscious of my ragged appearance and dirty face. The living room was lavishly decorated right up to the crystal chandelier. The walls were beige, and the couches were black leather. Numerous paintings hung from the walls, including some photographs of who I assumed to be Sarah and Daniel’s relatives. The carpet was a lush blue, and I could feel the softness of it through the soles of my worn shoes. Everything was spotless and in its place.
The rest of the house was decorated in much the same way, and after seeing all of the first floor, Sarah led me up the stairs in the hall. She showed me where their bedroom and the bathroom were located and finally, she led me to the room that was to be mine.
“It isn’t very much,” Sarah said as she put her hand on the handle. “I had no idea what you liked, so I just left it plain. We can change it to your liking later on.” Then she turned the knob and opened the door.
It was as if I’d stepped into a white blizzard. Everything was a shining white, the curtains, the bed sheets, the walls, even the carpet. It seemed quite nice to me.
“Thank you,” I murmured as I unbelievingly felt the sheets, sure that as soon as I turned around, they would be gone.
“You’re very welcome,” Sarah said with a wide smile. “Feel free to do what you like here. This is your room.” She closed the door and I could hear her going downstairs.
The first thing I did was close my eyes and pinch myself, just in case I was dreaming. After feeling the pain and assuring myself that I was indeed awake, I sank into the bed and lay staring at the ceiling. I hadn’t had a roof over my head since the orphanage, but this was different. This was my home, my room, my family; this was all new to me.
After a while, I pulled the sheath from my belt and sat up. My dirty fingers traced the intricate design on the blade, and finally, I stood and placed the dagger and sheath on the bedside table. After looking over the room more carefully, I decided to go downstairs.
When I went downstairs I found Sarah waiting for me, car keys in hand.
“Are we going somewhere?” I asked quietly.
Sarah smiled mischievously. “We’re going to the market place. I daresay you’re familiar with it?”
I smiled briefly but immediately wiped it from my face. Instead I followed Sarah outside to the car and sat in the passenger’s seat next to her.
“Why are we going to the market place?” I asked as she started the car.
“Oh, we need to buy you some clothes and things like that,” I stared. “Well you can’t expect to wear the same thing forever!” she said, shocked.
I quickly looked down at my hands, which were scarred and slightly calloused. Underneath the dirt, I could just make out a small mark on my palm that looked like a cut, which it was. Shortly before the orphanage turned me out, I had accidentally slashed at a girl with my dagger and the director cut my palm as punishment. The cut had been filled with dirt and closed, leaving a brown mark. The director had said this was my mark, the mark of the unwanted, and that very day he turned me out into the streets with only my dagger and the large uniform of the orphanage, which I had never removed except to try to clean and patch up a little.
“Shoes too?” I asked. I had always wanted shoes that actually protected my feet. Mine were four sizes too small and pinched my feet to the point of bleeding, not to mention the holes on the soles that allowed sharp objects to puncture them.
“Of course we’re going to get you some shoes!” she cried out, nearly crashing the car. “My, I wonder what the poor child has been through,” she muttered under her breath.
Three hours later, we were driving home; I was now dressed in a light yellow summer dress with wonderfully comfortable brown sandals. The rest of my clothing was in the trunk, a wide assortment of dresses, jeans, shirts, skirts, and of course shoes. My hair had been combed out (after much pain on my part) so that it was straight, and Sarah had placed a small yellow flower in it. My hands and face had been washed until they were rubbed pink and when I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize the pretty, thin figure staring back at me. It was as if I had been replaced by one of those girls I had always envied, with their parents and fine clothing. I couldn’t stop saying thank you for nearly an hour, until Sarah said that if I said thank you one more time, she’d take it all back. I knew she didn’t really mean it, but I quieted down all the same.
It was about two in the afternoon when we arrived back at the house. Daniel had returned to work in his own car and so Sarah and I spent the rest of the day finding places in my closet for my clothes. Afterwards, I took a nice long shower, grateful for the warm water running down my body, and I later changed back into my dress and returned downstairs for dinner. Daniel seemed at a loss for words when I entered the dining room and took my place at the table.
“Stop staring, Daniel,” Sarah chided. “Yes, it’s Lily, but don’t reduce her to tears with that face of yours!”
We all laughed, but although Sarah and Daniel continued to speak throughout the meal, I was relatively quiet, eating slowly, enjoying every bite. Suddenly their conversation turned to me.
“-which school should she attend?” Sarah had asked.
“School?” I asked, half afraid, and half excited.
“Yes, I think White Dawn is a good school, my sister Margaret went there,” she said more to Daniel than to me.
“No, White Dawn is too formal,” Daniel said. “What about Celeste?”
“I’ve never heard of it,” Sarah said. To be sincere, I had never heard of any of these.
“It’s a large boarding school, boys and girls, large grounds, it’s quite nice,” Daniel said with a small smile. “My school went there once for our tennis championships. We were ground to dirt, sadly. Our worst defeat in years, really.”
“So what do you think, Lily?” Sarah asked me.
“I really don’t know,” I murmured.
“The school year starts in two months, why don’t you go see the school tomorrow, Sarah?” Daniel said. “Lily can come to work with me.”
“Alright then, but she’ll have to come with me later to buy her uniforms.”
“Uniforms?” I asked, remembering the orphanage.
“Boarding schools require uniforms to make sure their students don’t run away or students from other schools get in,” she said dismissively.
“Boarding school?” I asked confused, I’d never heard of such a thing.
“A school where students live during the year,” Daniel explained kindly. “They come home for Christmas and the summer holidays.”
“So I’ll be away from home for most of the year?”
“Yes, but we’ll write to you of course,” Sarah said quickly.
“We wouldn’t be sending you away, except that boarding schools turn out some of the best students. You’ll have great opportunities there,” Daniel said.
“It’s alright,” I said. I really didn’t mind that I was being sent away, I was grateful enough to Sarah and Daniel for their kindness towards me.
“Well, I think you’d better be going of to bed, Lily. We’ll be waking up early tomorrow,” Daniel said getting up and gathering his dishes.
In answer, I got up and climbed the stairs, aware that Sarah and Daniel were looking at me.

__________________