Highschool Sweethearts

Chapter 11 - The Future

"I want this someday," I whispered.

"Yeah?" Dani asked and pulled me closer to his side. 

We were lying in my bed with little Crystal taking her nap; she was sprawled out on my chest.

"Yeah," I said wistfully 

"How many?" he smirked over at me.

"Oh, whoever marries me will have to love kids; I want at least 3," I smile enjoying the way his eys bug out.

"3?!"

"At least," I add 

"That's a lot," he said,

No, it's not, 

"Problem?" I smirk at him this time.

"Nah, I just never pictured more than 1 if that."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yep, but it's all good with me. You're the one who's gonna take care of 'em every day." He said and moved his free arm to rest behind his head.

"Very true, there's nothing I want more than to be a mom," I smile at him; he probably thought that might turn me off of having lots of kids.

He smiled at the ceiling. "You'll be great at it. How many boys, how many girls?"

"Mm, 2 boys 1 girl... if I only get 3. What about you, what would you want?"

"I always imagined having 1 boy, so I guess boys? I'm not really sure I'd know what to do with a girl; I'd figure it out, though."

"You play with Crystal just fine." I point out

"Yeah, but I'm not allowed to play dolls or go to her tea parties anymore... I can't blame her either; I'm no good at it."

"Well, maybe we'll have a tomboy," I said 

"With two brothers? She'll be a tomboy all right, but she'll probably still like girly stuff."

"Maybe, I feel like I'd be a better boy mom anyway."

Dani chuckled "so before your a mom, what do you want to be?"

"I really don't know; whenever I think of my future, that's all I see; I see myself taking care of a bunch of kids. I can't afford college, and my grades aren't good enough for any grants or anything, so I'll probably just do something to get me by. They are plenty of jobs out there that would be enough to get me through. Ya know? What about you? You said Football is your dad's dream. If you don't go pro, what are you going to do?"

"I don't fucking know. I say it's my dad's dream, but before mom died, it was mine too, and she would always say I'd be her little football star. Part of me still wants to do that for her, but the other part doesn't because it's painful but also because dad has sucked the fun out of the game for me. If she was still here, it would be a no-brainer, but since she's not and dad is pushing so hard, I've just lost my love of the game."

"Don't let your dad do that to you, Dani. You still love the game, I know you do, I can see it, and for what it's worth, I love watching you play for that reason."

He kissed my forehead, and we fell silent.

---

Dani and I snuck out of class early to beat the stampede of kids on our way home. When we turned down the hall towards our lockers, we both froze, and I slapped a hand over Dani's mouth to keep him from saying something stupid. 

Ella and David were standing in front of an open locker, hugging, and Ella was crying. David was hunched over to cradle her tiny frame into his stupid tall one

.The bell rang, signaling the end of classes, and the stampede of kids could be heard coming down the halls instantly. 

Both Ella and David looked up and spotted us almost instantly. When kids started to fill the hall, David pulled Ella over to Dani and I. "Someone stuffed her in a locker before this last period, and no one let her out," David growled.

"Oh, Ella," I said and started to rub her back. She wasn't crying anymore but she looked miserable. 

"Who?" Dani growled.

"She won't tell me,"

"Ella, tell me so I can kill them," Dani said angrily.

Ella shook her head and kept her face hidden against David. "Just drop it, ok?"

"No, I won't." Dani snapped "tell me who did it"  he said a bit more gently then before.

She didn't answer

"Ella, are you ok?" Eric's voice boomed from right behind me, making me jump.

She looked at Dani, looking betrayed "you told him," she said

"like fuck was I not going to tell your brother," Dani said.

"I'm fine, really," she told Eric and wiped her tears quickly, pretending nothing happened. 

"Ella, who locked her in there?" Eric asked

"It doesn't matter," she said firmly "lets just go" 

"It does to me," he said back

"And to me," the rest of us said nearly all at once. 

"Really, it's fine."

"No, it's not," I said firmly.

"I want to see camera footage then," Eric said firmly, turning and marching to the principal's office. we all followed him but I stayed with Ella in the waiting room while the boys went to watch the security video. 

"Just tell me, Ella, we're going to find out anyway," I said as gently as I could with how angry I was that someone would do that. 

I had her sitting next to me on the couch, leaning on my shoulder. "Can't you all just leave it?" she whispered

"No, we love you, and someone hurt you."

"Tara," Eric growled 

"That bitch" David growled

"Mr. -" the principal started to reprimand him.

"Fuck off," David said, cutting the principal's words off

"Why, though?" Dani asked in confusion. 

"Ella," I whispered gently when I saw that she was silently crying again. I turned, pulled her into my chest, and rubbed her back.

"Why doesn't she love me?" she whispered, and it broke my heart.

---

All of us went out to Beth's Dinner after school to try and cheer Ella up. Beth herself was our server, and she brought us all a few sundaes to share; she said they were on the house and looked at Ella a bit sadly before going to serve other tables.

None of us brought up today's incident, and we all were just trying to make Ella genuinely smile. 

I regret to say that we failed. We received many fake smiles and no more tears, but Ella was still hurting and couldn't seem to get her mind off of it despite our efforts.