Page 4 of Rescuer

CHAPTER2

Accidents

The next twoweeks flew by rather quickly. Halt and I were getting closer, finding out more about each other every day. I knew most of his secrets, and he also knew most of mine.

He always stuck up for me when I was bullied, and he never commented on my almost-white hair. No one knew why I had very light blonde hair. I even asked Mom about it. She had dark-brown hair, and my father had black hair. I seemed to just be weird.

Charlie and Renee both had black hair like my father. None of my grandparents had blond hair, so everyone just thought that maybe it went back further than we were looking, and it was a deep gene. Some of the students in my class still made fun of my hair when Halt wasn't at school, so those days, I just kept to myself.

There was this one little girl who never spoke badly about me and usually played by herself, but we never really spoke. I wanted to be her friend, but I didn’t know how to.

According to Renee, it was now Friday, and we were just arriving at school. “Have fun today!” our mom called as we exited the car rather excitedly as tomorrow would be the start of a weekend.And since Halt came over sometimes, maybe I wouldn’t have to go the entire weekend without seeing him.

“Hey, Noah!” Halt said, running up to me as I entered the class. While everyone called me Lee, Halt called me Noah, and I loved it. He was the only one, and it was like having something special between us.

“Hi,” I said excitedly as I put my backpack in my cubby.

“I can’t come to your house today,” he said sadly.

A frown pulled at my lips. I wanted to play with him after school. “Why not?” I asked as the teacher called for our attention.

“Ryan has a doctor's appointment,” he said. I didn’t get a chance to say anything before the teacher began to put us into small groups for two guest speakers that were coming to see us. They were going to teach us about fire trucks and firemen, and also how to stop-drop-and-roll, whatever that was.

“Hi, I’m Amy.” The shy girl walked up to me, looking scared.

“I’m Noalie,” I said taking her hand as we were led to a different room. She seemed nice, but she didn’t say very much, even when I tried talking to her. It made me miss Halt.

Why did the teacher separate us?

After the guest speakers were all gone, we were put into one class again, and I immediately went in search of Halt.

“Noah?” he called, gaining my attention.

“Found you!” I squealed, pulling Amy behind me. She stumbled, but I kept plowing forward. “Halt, this is Amy,” I introduced. Halt smiled at Amy before he turned around and pushed a smaller boy in front of him.

“Noalie, this is Brady. We just met while that guy was talking,” Halt said, pushing the little boy closer to me.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, sending a nervous look in Halt’s direction.

“I like your hair,” Brady commented, making me blush.

“Really?” I asked, not used this.I felt like he was getting ready to play a trick on me and tell me that my hair was ugly like everyone else.

He eagerly nodded his head. “Yeah. It’s awesome,” he said as we took a seat on the carpet.After an activity, our teacher always let us play to give our minds time to rest from school stuff. She was a really nice lady.

“Amy, want to play Legos with me?” Brady asked, turning to Amy who was hiding behind me. She nodded silently, turning red as he took her hand.

Before we knew it, it was time to go home, and I had to say goodbye to Halt when I really didn’t want to. “Bye, Halt,” I whispered, hugging him. “See you in two days.” I rushed to my sister's classroom where she came out, laughing with Ryan.

“You're early,” she commented, looking down at me.

“I’m excited, that’s all.” I shrugged. “Good luck at the doctor,” I said, looking at Ryan.

“Thanks, Lee.” He then walked off to go get Halt. Renee and I rushed to the car where Charlie was already waiting for us.

“Come on, girls. Dad’s home!” Mom cheered. I was practically bouncing in my seat at the news as Renee struggled to get me buckled in.

“He’s back!” I screamed, not even caring that my voice was way too loud for the inside of a car. Daddy had been gone for a few days now because of work. It happened sometimes, and I always missed him when he left.

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