Chapter 2: Bittersweet

“Hurry and get up you little brats, anybody who isn’t ready and on the bus in an hour will be left behind to clean the whole orphanage.”

Everyone woke up to the extremely effective alarm that was Ms. Proulx’s hoarse voice the next morning. It was that day of the month Ms. Proulx took all of the orphans with her to the town of Churchill; the only day that David’s chances of enjoying himself were more than one in a million. So David did not hesitate to get out of bed and quickly get ready. He didn’t care the slightest that he was still in great pain from last night’s beating.

David hurried downstairs to his awaiting breakfast; he was still very hungry from missing last night’s supper. He was glad to find out that today’s breakfast was oatmeal with brown sugar and milk, knowing how it wasn’t very often anybody there had a decent meal that would keep them satisfied until lunch, let alone one that was also at all enjoyable. Taking advantage of this rare and good quality meal, David ate it slowly and savored every last spoonful.

While eating, David saw Reese sit down across from him. Due to his outburst yesterday, David didn’t really know what to expect.

“Why did you give this to me?” asked Reese, holding up the sketch of the wolf that David left under Reese’s bed sheets. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

David was a little taken aback from the question. He figured that the answer would be obvious, but then again, the way he treated Reese yesterday was still very harsh and hurtful. All Reese wanted to do was make things a little easier.

“I just wanted to say that I was sorry, but I was afraid that I would only make it worse if I tried to do so personally,” answered David, “and I think that you deserve my sketch more than an insensitive jerk like me.”

Despite David’s answer, Reese handed him back the sketch. “You obviously worked really hard on it,” said Reese, “and I feel a little uncomfortable taking something out of apology like this.”

There was a pause for a while between the two boys, and a very uncomfortable one at that. Reese was really enjoying his oatmeal, so much that he was able to catch up to David and be the first one to finish. However, he did not leave, instead he just sat there and looked at David.

“Does this make us friends?” asked Reese, in a hopeful tone.

Again, David was completely taken by surprise by Reese’s question. He figured that his attempt to give Reese his little “kiss-and-make-up” gift and that would be the end of it.

“I don’t think making friends is that simple,” answered David. In saying this, he didn’t only realized that he had been a little blunt with Reese yet again, but also that he was screwing up a genuine chance at actually being happy in this little hell-on-earth orphanage.

“But then again, I’ve never had an actual friend before. So I’m likely wrong in making that judgment call.”

“Really,” exclaimed Reese, “not one single person to call ‘friend’?”

“I know, it’s really pathetic, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not pathetic at all. I do think it’s really sad. Well… maybe just a little pathetic.”

David found Reese’s response to be a little funny, causing him to chuckle under his breath a little. It had been a while since he had anything to laugh at other than Camille’s dumb ass comments and reactions when he was pissed off.

Just as David was about to continue his conversation with his new bud, Camille and (you guessed it) the Girard twins entered the room, forcing themselves to the very front of the lunch line and dishing up much more than their fair share of oatmeal. They were even pushing around all of the smaller orphans who were unfortunate enough to be in their paths. David would have decided to do something about it if it wasn’t for last night’s little tussle; he didn’t think it was worth getting beaten twice in the last twelve hours.

“Hey, leave them alone you big jerks.” Reese yelled, standing up in a self-righteous, but not self-absorbed manor. One could easily tell that he and David weren’t thinking in the same way.

“And just what is a little shit like you gonna do about it, huh,” asked Camille, not even bothering to look in Reese’s direction or acknowledge him in any other way than using such a simple taunt.

“What the hell are you doing,” David whispered, pulling Reese back down, “it’s not worth it.”

“That’s not what you thought yesterday morning,” said Reese, “you even humiliated them in front of everyone.”

“Yeah, and look at what I have to show for it,” David pointed at his busted lip and black eye.

Reese then realized that his efforts were futile if even somebody like David couldn’t hold his own against Camille and his gang.

When Reese settled down, Camille came over and shoved David’s sore face into the rest of his oatmeal. David suddenly envied Reese for finishing his meal so quickly.

“And what are you gonna do about that,” asked Camille, with the Girard twins giving each other high fives, like the mindless buffoons that they are.

“Nothin’,” answered David, wiping “I’m not gonna do nothin’.”

In hearing David’s answer, Camille waved for the Girard twins to fallow him to their seats, which were at the head of the table. All of the orphans that they sat next to quickly, and without hesitation, got up and moved at least five spots down the table. After which David pointed in Camille's direction as if to say, 'see what i mean?'.

Reese just sat there and looked at David with much disappointment in his stare.

“So…. that’s it,” asked Reese, “you’re gonna do nothin’.”

“No, I said I’m 'not' gonna do nothin’.”

Reese’s face lit up with joy. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ll think of something soon enough, but for now we both need to finish getting read for the day if we want to get on the bus on time.”

The two boys ran to do what they needed to to get ready: brush their teeth, wash their face, etc. During this time David was still having trouble finding out what he was going to do to get back at Camille. However, he would have to do something that wouldn’t end up in them having a rough day with the muscle head trio.

Then, as he and Reese were getting their jackets, David’s mind clicked and he knew exactly what he was going to do. He looked around to make sure that nobody would watching. When the coast was clear, he quickly snatched the jackets that belonged to Camille, Addison, and Ike.

“What are you doing,” asked Reese, “you won’t be able to do so much as walk today if they catch you.”

“That just gives me more reason not to get caught.”

“That still doesn’t tell me what you have in mind here.”

“If we hide their jackets, then Ms. Proulx will not let them on the bus, giving the whole day to ourselves.”

So they quickly hid the jackets where they would never be found, but at the same time it wouldn’t give away the fact that it was sabotage: under their beds.

“Don’t you think they’ll find them there,” asked Reese, “even those jack asses aren’t that stupid.”

“I’m aware of that,” answered David, “but I’ve noticed that they always go to get their jackets at the last minute whenever we leave the orphanage. So when they do find their jackets, it’ll be when they are cleaning under the beds, and during which we'll be gone.”

The boys quickly ran to the bus and waited for everyone else to get on, followed by Ms. Proulx. Just before she was about to close the bus door, Camille and the gang ran up to the bus without their jackets.

“And were do you think you’re going without your jackets,” demanded Ms. Proulx.

“Oh, please don’t make us stay and clean the entire orphanage,” Camille begged.

“I’m not gonna risk you guys getting sick, and we’re already behind schedule without the three of you failing to find your winter clothes.”

“At least let one of us go.”

David was sure that Ms. Proulx would send them back inside the orphanage to hurry and start cleaning, but to his shock, she pull out a spare jacket from behind the driver’s seat. He had completely forgotten about it.

“So, which one of you is the lucky bastard?”

Camille didn’t hesitate to grab the jacket and get on the bus, but not before turning around and wishing the twins good luck. It was then that David realized that Addison and Ike were also treated like dirt under Camille’s fingernails. He suddenly felt sorry for them, but knew it was to late to turn back.

“What are we going to do now,” asked Reese, “the biggest jerk is still coming with us.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” answered David, “we’ll just have to find a way to avoid him for the rest of the day.”

The bus ride to the town of Churchill was long, giving everyone the chance to catch up on their sleep before spending the day running around and trying to find somebody that would adopt them. David, however, wasn’t able to sleep at all. He was holding the sketch of the wolf that Reese had given back to him, hoping that he would see it again, which he believed he would for some odd reason he couldn’t explain.

Just when David was starting to fall asleep, they finally arrived at their destination. Everyone immediately got out of the bus and started exploring the entire place, looking for possible adoption parents.

However, David and Reese decided that they’d let new parents find them instead. They just simply wandered around the small town and talked about whatever entered their minds. It was very cold outside, so they took a quick stop at a near by coffee shop. Since they didn’t have any money to buy any hot chocolate, sitting there and smelling the coffee brew and imagine the feeling warm liquid going down their throats and sitting in their numb hands.

After sitting there for a good while, one of the other customers in the café walked over to them. She seemed to be in her late thirties to mid forties, and had a very warm and welcoming look about her.

“You two gentlemen look like you’d enjoy some hot chocolate,” said the lady, slouching a little so bring herself to their level.

“Sorry, miss,” David replied, “but we have no money.”

“Who said you would be buying anything,” asked the lady, in a reassuring tone.

“Thank you miss, but we couldn’t accept anything of the sort,” said David.

“What are you saying, David,” exclaimed Reese, “I can’t remember the last time we had hot coaco at the orphanage.”

“You two are orphans,” asked the lady, “you wouldn’t happen to stay with that dreadful Ms. Proulx, would you?”

Without even looking at each other, David and Reese both said, “You have no idea.” In hearing this, the lady immediately got two hot chocolates and gave one to each of them.

“Have a nice day, you two,” said the lady, as she walked out the door.

David just sat there looking at the door; he had a feeling that that wasn’t the last he would see of her.

“Wow, my own cup of hot chocolate,” Reese was so excited; he couldn’t believe what had just happened. His cup of coaco was gone even quicker than his oatmeal that morning. David, on the other hand, didn’t even touch his.

“Are you gonna drink that or not,” Reese asked, clearly hoping that David would say no.

“I’m not in the mood for coco anymore,” David replied, which was a complete lie; he just couldn’t shake the strange feeling he had about the lady from earlier.

“Suit yourself,” Reese gulped down David’s drink faster than his first cup.

When they were warm enough, they decided to go out and have a snowball fight. They were having a blast; even some of the other orphans saw what they were doing and joined in. Snowballs were flying left and right, it was every man for himself. Except for David and Reese, who built a little snow fort and fought against all of the other orphans. David couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed such a snowball fight, or enjoyed himself for that matter. Everything was going smoothly, at least until Camille joined in the battle, which meant no more fun. At least the Girard twins weren’t there to make it even worse.

“Is this all you’ve got,” shouted Camille, trying to get someone to face him, but to no effect. Everyone retreated the battlefield, leaving Camille against David and Reese.

The fight went on for nearly half an hour. Both sides were giving and taking numerous hits. David and Reese once managed to hit Camille in the face at the same time, royally pissing him off. David and Reese knelt behind their little wall of snow and were giving each other high fives for their one-in-a-million bull’s eye.

Just as David was about to pop his head out and talk trash to Camille, he took a hard and icy snowball to his black eye.

“AAAH!! HOLY CRAP IT HURTS!!” David yelled. He quickly got a hand full of snow and held it firmly to his left eye. He could feel something wet on the side of his face that dripped into his mouth; he tasted copper. For a second he began to panic that he had lost his eye, but it turned out that some of the ice from Camille’s “snowball” had only left a gash that went a couple inches down from the outer edge of his eyebrow.

David looked around for Camille, but he was nowhere to be seen, likely ran off after realizing that he had gone a little overboard, even for him. Figures, it was just like Camille to not take responsibility for his actions.

“Let me see,” Reese pulled David’s hand down to look at his new battle scar.

“It doesn’t look too bad, but we should get to the bus and get some bandages out of the first aid kit.”

Reese took the hand that David wasn’t using to hold snow to his eye and lead him back to the bus. Ms. Proulx was taking a smoke in the driver’s seat.

“What the hell happened to your face,” asked Ms. Proulx, not even trying to look concerned.

Reese opened his mouth, but David answered before Reese had the chance.
“We were running and I slipped on some ice.”

Ms. Proulx rolled her eyes and grabbed the first aid kit. Surprisingly, she turned out to be very good at first aid: she cleaned his wound and dabbed some zinc oxide on it to help prevent scarring, placed a bandage over it and gave him a couple of aspirins to help with the pain.

“I swear,” said Ms. Proulx, “I should have been a nurse like my mother.”

It was almost time to leave; all of the orphans were back on the bus. Ms. Proulx got back on the bus, but instead of hurrying to get back to the orphanage like she usually did, she called Reese out of the bus. Reese looked at David as if to ask ‘what is going on?’ David just lifted his shoulders, though he was pretty sure what was about to happen, but desperately hoped that he was wrong.

He looked out the window to see Ms. Proulx holding Reese’s hand, and as David suspected, reintroducing him to the lady from the café. Figures, he gets his first and only friend, then looses him to adoption on the same day. He wasn’t sure weather he should be sad for loosing a friend, or angry at the fact he didn’t see it coming.

David wanted to run and once again try to give Reese his sketch, but Ms. Proulx was already back on the bus and putting it in drive.

Tears began to fill his green eyes. Oh, how he wished that he his mother had never abandoned him at that hellhole of an orphanage. Life wasn’t fair; actually it was never fair to poor David Hemming. He looked down at his hands and saw he was still holding his sketch, and then he realized that a wolf was now the closest thing he had to a friend.

“Man, did I ever get you good,” Camille sat across from him on the bus, obviously enjoying the fact that David was in such emotional pain.

“Yep, you did,” replied David, “and you can bet that one day I will make you regret ever being in my life, you have my word.”

Normally, Camille would have just laughed at such a threat and forgotten about it, but when Camille saw the predatory blood lust that was in David’s eyes, he quickly got up out of his seat and moved to the very front of the bus.