The Gift

Chapter Fourteen-Home Sweet Home

I knocked on Joseph's door, sniffling and trying to stop crying. 

"Come in!" I heard him call. I wiped my tears, took a deep breath, and opened the door. He frowned instantly when he saw me. 

"I want to go home, Joseph. Right now." I told him, shutting the door behind me. "I can't be here anymore. I just want to go home. I haven't even contacted my family yet, or my friends, and you told me I could. I know no one here likes me, or has faith in me, so can't you please just release me from this hellhole? It's bad enough getting hated on by people back at home. But here? You told me I'd be accepted. I'm not feeling that right now." 

"But, Nichole, if you go back right now, Rufus will get you. And it's a sure thing he will, too." Joseph tried to stand up, but I put my hand out to stop him, stepping back.

"I don't want to be here. No one wants me here. I want to go home, and see my family. I don't care about Rufus. If I die out there, at least I die around the people I actually feel happy around. I can't stand thinking about the days here from today out. I just can't. It's hurting me more than anything else could. I don't feel welcomed. And you told me I would. But if I don't like it, and I don't care about Rufus, why make me go through this?" I said, with my tears flooding back into my eyes. He looked at me sadly.

"Do you really want to go, Nichole?" He asked me. 

"Yes. I do." I told him. He sighed and stood up. He snapped his fingers, and something appeared on his desk. Tacky.

"Then I will let you go." He marked something off something on the paper, and looked at me sadly. "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your time here, Nichole. This has never once happened in the hundreds of years we've been here. You really are completely extraordinary." He told me. And then he said, "Go, pack your bags. I'll get someone to drive you back."

I nodded and then turned and headed back upstairs. When I reached the dorm, I forgot I left my key in the dorm. I knocked, embarrassed that I had to come back, and Emma opened the door. She smiled thankfully. 

"Oh, thank goodness, you're back. Where did you go--?"

"To Joseph." I cut her off, and slid past her. Everyone watched me as I went through the hallway and went to my closet. I only packed the things I came here with, and then slid the bag over my head and then walked out of the room.

"Are you switching dorms?" Chase frowned at me.

"No." I said, and then when I reached the door, Gia asked, "Then why do you have that bag?"

I looked back at all of them, and I saw Cole's extremely hurt face. I couldn't cry. Not now. Not in front of everyone. No one here would miss me. This was all pretend anyway.

"I'm leaving. For good." And then with that, I opened the door and left. I didn't want to hear anyone else ask why, or wonder why. I just needed to leave.

"Well, Nichole, I hope you have a good life back at home." Joseph said sorrowfully. Faker. I hate fakers. Just give up already, dude. 

"Better life than I have here," I muttered. I dropped my bag in the backseat, and then before I could climb in, I heard Brett call my name loudly. I looked over to see all of them running to me, even Cole. I really didn't need this right now.

"Why are you leaving? This place is paradise!" Gia said, panting. 

"It's not for me." I said. "And nothing any of you say can change my mind. I want to go back home." And then I added bitterly, "And plus, I'm just a young and fragile girl that needs everyone to go gentle on me. That's all I am, and who I always will be."

And then I got in the back of the car, shut the door, and then my driver drove off, leaving the school in the dust in seconds. I instantly shut my eyes and whimpered, before bursting into tears and quietly sobbed into my hands. That was probably the biggest mistake I ever did. Trusting them. I knew I didn't belong there from the start.

So why did I feel like part of me got left behind with all of those people?

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"We're here," the driver said. I opened my eyes, startling from my sleep, and saw my house I was longing to see again. I opened the door, and the first thing I saw was everyone in my dorm. They were cutting in and out, and I saw Cole and Chase arguing. Cole was saying it was taking too much energy and it was dangerous, and then Chase was saying he only wanted a second.

"There! Nichole!" I saw Emma wave at me. "Please, Nichole, you have to come back! Rufus wants you, we all know this--"

"Nichole?" I saw my foster mom come out in confusement, but before she could say anything, Jeremy shoved past her and ran to me. I dropped my single back and smiled thankfully, as he picked me up in a tight bear hug and said, "I thought you were dead!"

"I told you she was at school," Kim told him. 

"They kidnapped her," Jeremy retorted, putting me down. "She just dropped off the face of earth, how could I have believed they were telling the truth? Was it really a school?" He looked at me, eyebrows raised and expecting.

"They...." I looked over, and saw Emma's eyes widening in fear slash warning. "They were a different kind of school." I said.

"And they kidnapped you." Jeremy said. I rolled my eyes.

"They didn't kidnap me, Jerms." I told him. He narrowed his eyes and me and folded his arms across his chest, just like he used to when I argued with him. I prepared for his comeback, even though I didn't usually have to, I was always right in our arguments.

"Oh, so they just drove up beside you in a nice car, told you where you were going, and you agreed to go to the butt shit of nowhere, and had a nice time?" 

I frowned. "Well, no, but--"

"They kidnapped her. I told you." Jeremy looked at Kim, and she scowled.

"They didn't kidnap her. You had a nice time there, didn't you, dearie? You just didn't think you belonged? Right?" She asked me. Now thinking of it, they really did kidnap me. But...I did have a nice time there at first.

"Of course I had a nice time. I just missed you guys so much I couldn't stand it. And plus, towards the end I knew I wasn't like them." I told them. Jeremy scoffed and shook his head.

"Of course you're not like those weirdos. They kidnapped you! You're better than them, Nichole. You're better than what you look like on the outside. You are reliable, and strong, and sweet...and..." he pulled a face, "and I missed my best friend."

I smiled, and for the first time, I felt actually happy. I felt accepted again. So out of happiness, I hugged Jeremy. I told him we weren't allowed to be cheesy, because I didn't like the idea of getting too close to this family. Just because it was a foster family. But I really loved this family, and my goal to not connect with this family ended quicker than I wanted it to. But as much as that goal would have been smart, I liked having a family again.

After I let go of Jeremy, he smiled and then tugged me inside by the arm. Kim started talking about a new recipe, and Jeremy was secretly mouthing how horrible it was, making me have to stifle my giggle. I looked back one last time at my old dormmates, who watched me in sadness as I got pulled inside to my home. And into my real family, who I now trusted. I was going to tell them. Just not tonight. Or anytime this week, or maybe not even this month. When I knew Cole wouldn't come back...

Or maybe I could tell them just to be stubborn and to upset Cole..

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Thanks for reading! :) Hope you are enjoying the book!!