Chapter Eighteen: Graduation
Bea woke up after what felt like days, but was most likely only half an hour. She looked around the small office and saw someone she was not expecting smiling down at her. It was Johnathan Woodsburough. He had a towel in his hand and he handed it to Bea and said in a voice that sounded as though he was trying to sound soothing, "Want this? You look like you have been crying."
Bea shook her head a little and tried to figure out what was going on. He was the only one in the room. "What are you doing here?" She hadn't meant the words to sound so rude as she had spoken them, but she really didn't understand why he was here.
Johnathan gave a small laugh and said shyly, "I have been in denial. My dad was bugging me for years to go into high security like him after school. So I was trying to decide if I really wanted to, or maybe I was trying to piss him off. Yeah, so for the last few weeks of school here I have been doing some stuff with the care fairies to see what things are like with them. But to be honest, it really isn't my thing. This was my last day with them and then I was going to tell them I am through."
"What do you mean? Have you changed your mind?" Bea asked as she tried to sit up a little. She had been unable to make her wings smaller after the accident; an unfortunate result of the damage to her wing. It was quite uncomfortable to be lying down in bed with huge wings on your back. She sat up and swung her legs over the bed, facing Johnathan.
He shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her. "To be honest the care fairies work is insanely boring. But then today happened and it was really cool."
"Well, nice to know that my injury has given you some excitement for the day."
"No, no, I'm not trying to say I am glad you got hurt, just saying it was something different. Still don't think I want to do this kind of thing forever though." Johnathan had stood up and held his hand out to Bea. "You done with that towel? I'll put it away and get you some more potion."
Bea hastily wiped her face clean and felt so much better. Her forehead scrunched up in concern as she asked, "Is that potion what made me sleep?"
"Nah. One of the Care fairies did a little magic to make you sleep. They thought you needed the rest and the time to calm down too." Johnathan turned back around from the filling up a similar cup with the same sweet tasting, airy potion and placed it in Bea's hands. "Drink up!"
Bea swallowed it again and felt that same sweetness spread to every corner of her mouth. As she handed the glass back to Johnathan her fingers touched his and Bea shivered a little. She had forgotten how wonderful his smile was. She was prepared to smile back when she remembered that she was supposed to be angry at him after everything that had happened at the solstice. Even though tons of time had passed since then and they had seen each other at school, Bea had not yet had a single conversation with Johnathan. She had seen him try. He had edged closer to her in the hallways or made to say something between classes, but Bea made it a point to always be busy or moving in a totally different direction. She wasn't really sure why she wanted to avoid him so much, but she did know she was mad and she didn't like the thought of losing that feeling over time. So she made sure to relive that evening every time she saw him to get the same bad feelings to return. She was a little frustrated to discover that today, despite seeing that evening crystal clear in her mind as she stared at the floor, the anger that she had felt before had gotten so small and feeble that it got shot down and destroyed with that shiver from his touch.
Johnathan had been watching Bea stare at the floor. He turned to return the glass and with his back to Bea he mumbled feebly, "Hey, you know, I'm sorry about that night. You know, at the solstice. I'm sorry about that. I've been trying to tell you that for a long time now, but I could never get you at school."
Silence filled the room as Bea tried to think of what to say to Johnathan. His apology had been sweet and she believed him, but she just couldn't think of any words.
Just then the door opened a little and the older care fairy's round face peered around the door. "Is she up?"
With the door opened Bea could hear faint sounds from the stadium. The crowds were clearly cheering and Bea strained to hear what was going on.
"Competition just finished. They are awarding prizes. Your parents and brother have been waiting outside. I told them not to disturb you, but since you are awake now we can let them in."
And it seemed that her parents took those last words to mean an invitation to the room. Mrs. Featherstone was already standing by Bea, holding her shoulders and turning her face to her own.
"Are you OK? How are you feeling? Tell us what happened?" Mrs. Featherstone's words just spilled out and Mr. Featherstone laughed a little.
"Calm down, Mae. She's fine. The care fairies know what they're doing." His words seemed to have worked, as Mrs. Featherstone's frame relaxed a little. But Mrs. Featherstone kept hold of Bea's hands.
"I'm fine, really. So what happened? Who won?" Bea felt a lump forming in her throat and she tried to swallow it. She didn't want to cry.
"Some girl, from one of the other islands got first and then Veronica got second, and a couple of other girls did well to, didn't they?" Mr. Featherstone asked his wife.
Mrs. Featherstone nodded and smiled at Bea before she spoke. "Yes, they all did really well. No one noticed at first that you were out of the race. I am so glad that the care fairies got to you quickly though. What happened? Tell us what happened Bea?"
Bea was waiting for this. She had been trying to think about it before the sleep took over her earlier. She had been ready to tell everyone and anyone that would listen that it had been Veronica, that she had pushed her and made her tumble towards the obstacle and get stuck. She had even been making random attempts to tell the Care fairies as they had taken her from the field that it was Veronica's fault. No one had listened to her and she hadn't been able to string together a cohesive statement anyway. Now that time had passed, Bea was happy that no one knew. She had decided that she would not tell anyone, not even Curtis and Catherine. In her mind Veronica had crossed a line that day. She had taken her dislike of Bea to a new level and if she wanted to play that way then Bea was going to raise her game too. She wasn't going to cry and complain because she was sure that was what Veronica wanted.
So with a little adjustment of her thoughts she gave a weak smile to her mother and said, "I messed up. I had been doing pretty good and I dashed into that obstacle and I had always had trouble with that one part. I misjudged and just grazed one of the trees. It freaked me out and caused me to sort of roll into the other one where one of the spikes broke through my wing. I was just sorta stuck then, hanging there." Then to try to make the entire story stick even more, Bea added, "I'm sorry you guys."
This seemed to have worked wonders. Tears fell from her mother's eyes and she pulled Bea towards her and said, "Don't say you’re sorry. You did so well! You were really so amazing. The entire crowd thought so too. We were all watching you and then you just sort of disappeared and I was so worried. Thank goodness you didn't get hurt too much."
Mr. Featherstone was next to her now too, patting her on the back and saying, "We are so proud of you. You did wonderful." Bea was surprised how easy it was to lie. It was almost like all of her anger at Veronica had been so sharply focused into this new telling of her story. She almost gave herself up though when she saw her brother's face twisted up in lines of honest concern. A little tiny moment of pride entered her mind and made her wish that she could burst out and tell him to get rid of that stupid look on his face. She wanted to tell him, tell all them what happened and that she was such a good flyer that she would not make that mistake. But she pushed the pride aside and focused on her new telling of the truth.
A small knock on the door brought Bea out of her thoughts. It was a couple of important looking fairies following behind an even more important fairy that Bea remembered being the one who had spoken before the start of the race. She hadn't remembered a word of what was said as she had
been nervous and trying to focus and she imagined now that they were probably here to tell her that she had been disqualified. Before Bea's thoughts ran away with her down a dark road of gloom and lost hopes for her future the one fairy spoke.
"So sorry to disturb you all. Miss Featherstone, are you all right?" The fairy was old and his voice sounded like sandpaper.
"I'm fine, thanks," Bea mumbled back.
"Myself and the trainers and the referee were all talking and well we all decided to bestow upon you an honorary flying award for having performed so outstanding prior to your little accident. I know that the trainers are all very excited to see you become a flyer and they all extend their invitation to you. The announcement was just made with the other awards. We had hoped you would have been well enough to come and join us at the awards' ceremony a few moments ago, but the care fairies seemed to have thought otherwise. Congratulations, Miss Featherstone." The fairy had extended a withered hand to Bea and she took it delicately in her own and gave a huge smile.
This meant that everything was going to be OK, that it wasn't the end of the world that she had not been able to finish the race. Bea wondered to herself if this is what Veronica had wanted. She wondered how far her hatred of Bea went and how much pain she had wanted to cause. Was she just hoping to make Bea look stupid? Did she just want to win as much as Bea did? Or was she thinking bigger? Was she hoping to have prevented Bea from going into training?
A great deal of commotion spread through the room as Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone and brother all stepped closer to hug her and congratulate her. Johnathan was smiling at her too and it felt like the room got smaller and for a moment it was hard to breathe. The older fairy and his entourage slipped out of the room, leaving the family to celebrate. The care fairies stood by, smiling as well, until the older one finally cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.
"Well, you seem all patched up for now. Now about your wing." The older fairy had pulled up a chair and everyone else took it as a sign that they too should be seated. Random chairs were gathered from against the wall on the other side of the room and everyone was giving their upmost attention to the care fairy.
"So, can I still fly? Since I'm going to training I must be all right, right?" Bea asked the fairy nervously.
She nodded. "Yes, you will fly again. But you first need to get your wing repaired."
Bea didn't understand. "What do you mean? Didn't you guys fix it while I was asleep? Can't fairy dust mend it?"
"No, dear, I'm afraid not. The wings of a dream fairy are very strong and don't often get damaged. When they do they do not mend on their own, and there is no known magic that can be used to fix them."
Bea found her mother's hand resting on the bed next to Bea and she took it and asked, "So, then how am I going to fly?"
The care fairy had grabbed a pamphlet from the desk against the wall and passed it over to Mr. Featherstone. "There has been some great advancement with this panel replacement system. There are different grades of panels made by fairy dust that you can choose from. They are then attached to the wing to replace those that are missing. Look this over and then decide the course you want to go with. Bea, here will just need to go in for the attachment. A hole this size will probably take a few hours. And then she should be as good as new."
Bea didn't get it. She thought for sure that all it would take was a flick of someone's wrist and her wing would be good as new. But her mother and father were both nodding and looking over the pamphlet like they knew this was coming.
"We'll have to choose which one we can . . ." her father whispered to her mother.
Bea watched as her mother's eyes narrowed, "I think we already know that we will do whatever it takes to get her the best replacements available."
The care fairy seemed to sense what was coming and tried to save the Featherstones the embarrassment of an argument. She smiled and said, "Well, if that is all you are free to go home."
"Really? I can leave?"
"Yes, we have done all we can and you probably have many anxious friends that want to see how you are doing, so you are free to leave. We wish you a quick and strong recovery." The older fairy suddenly drew Bea into a hug and gave a quick whisper, "You are an amazing flyer, regardless of pushy Miss Iverson." She quickly let Bea go and turned to gather Bea's things that were sitting in a chair.
Bea realized that her profoundly confused face was giving her away when her eyes met Johnathan's and his eyes slanted in concern. Bea quickly tried to erase everything with a smile and it seemed to have done the trick, because Johnathan smiled back at her in a way that she had never seen before.
The very next day was graduation and so the euphoria of the competition just seemed to melt into the following day of celebration. The only snag to the day was the Bea's wings were still huge no matter how much she tried to make them shrink back. The ceremony was held at the school in the field that Bea had spent so many days practicing for the flying competition. Bea felt a strange sense of loss when she arrived and saw that the usual obstacles and Ms. Hill's whiteboard were missing. School was over and she was moving on to training and then actual missions. She proudly accepted her diploma from the principal, Mr. Attwell, gave an extra loud cheer when Catherine and Curtis' names were called and found herself making eye contact with Johnathan when he descended from the platform after receiving his. She saw Veronica get hers and searched the group of parents and family and found her father and little sister, but no sign of her mother. Bea felt extremely annoyed by this. She knew that it would be normal to feel a little sorry for Veronica that her own mother couldn't find the time to be there for her daughter's graduation and Bea did not want any reason to feel sorry for her.
After the ceremony parents met with their children and everyone took some time to mingle and wish everyone well. Bea's family found the Royces and she gave Catherine and Curtis a big hug each. She tried to communicate something special to each of them in that hug, to let them know how much she really did appreciate all that they had done for her, how much they meant to her. She felt like she was saying goodbye, which was ridiculous since they were all moving to the training island and she knew that she would probably be living with Catherine and Curtis in the student housing. Maybe it was because they were all leaving their kid-self behind on this family island that they had called home that she felt like it was a farewell of sorts. The Royces were just inviting the Featherstones over for a small lunch celebration when Bea and Veronica made eye contact. Veronica sneered. Bea smiled.
"Come on Bea let's head over to my place," Catherine said as she made to grab Bea's hand. But Bea had drawn it away and had not stopped staring at Veronica.
"Bea?" Catherine asked nervously. She shared a quick glance with Curtis. Bea straightened up and started walked briskly towards Veronica.
"Uh-oh," mumbled Curtis.
"What is she doing?" hissed Catherine. The two of them stared after Bea with fear rising in their hearts. Now was certainly not the time to make a scene.
Bea found herself standing right in front of Veronica. Mrs. Iverson gave a funny glance at Bea and moved a little to the side. Veronica's little sister slid behind her father. Bea thrust out her hand.
"Congratulations, on winning second. I didn't get a chance to say anything yesterday since I was down with the care fairies. But you did a great job and it will be fun going to training with you." Bea had to fight every instinct to not give herself away by saying something mean or laughing at herself for sounding so ridiculous. But to watch the effect of her words as Veronica's expression shifted from sneer, to annoyance, and finally to confusion was worth every ounce of self-control. Before even giving Veronica the chance to speak, Bea turned on her heel and returned to her friends and family. She knew that she was going to be spending a lot more time with Veronica in the future and that her mission over the next year or so would be to figure out why it was that she hated Bea so much.
The True Stories of Dream Fairies: Bloom Page 18