Violetta passed her school year relatively in peace. In the middle of the first trimester both Violetta and Iris were moved up to the Advanced level. During the year Violetta placed in the top ten of her year. They were placed in the same class as Ruby. As it turns out, Ruby had already tried to create a favorable view of Violetta. Violetta did not expect this, as Ruby would have already made friends with some of these people who were of a higher rank than her. But then she discovered something that shocked her completely. Ruby genuinely thought of Violetta as a friend.
She had meant it when she said she regretted saying those words to her. Violetta knew that Heath didn't like Ruby or Victor, but she didn't mind them. She had thought of them as acquaintances, but not friends. She wondered where she drew the line on this. Maybe it was because they had both offended her, and she had not gotten over that yet. But because of this she would not easily trust them again.
She did like that Ruby was smart. She was teachable. She was on the lower side of the Advanced level, but that was still very smart. She asked Violetta and Iris to help her study. She wanted to remain in the Advanced level. To fail now would be devastating.
Ruby was at the bottom of the top 20 at first. But with Iris and Violetta's help she rose in score to be in the top 15 of their year.
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Violetta was excited to learn that there was an end of the year school dance for the school year. Everyone got to go. It was held in the big auditorium. Every grade may be invited to these events but somehow every year, they always segregate themselves. The fourth and fifth grades tend to all stick to one side. And the first and second graders to the other side with the third graders separating them in the middle of the auditorium. Snack tables. Would line the auditorium, and when need be thy could rest on the auditorium seating. Every teacher and many parents would be called upon to be hosts of the party. Violetta's parents both volunteered. Really the word host just meant chaperone. After the dance the children went home for the winter.
Because it was a childrens dance, they didn't allow the children to have dates to the dance. They all came together as a class. Because of this rule, there was no scrambling about to get a date, and no one was left out.
It was rare but sometimes those who were in the higher grades came to mingle with their younger brothers or sisters. Violetta was able to dance with many people. She could swear she danced with every male classmate, some of which she was sure she hadn't even met. She also danced with several of Heath's classmates. But for some reason she couldn't find Heath. It had been almost 2 hours since the dance started, and still no sign of him. The others managed to convince her to dance until he came. She decided it was better than sitting still waiting for him. Time flew as she danced with partner after partner, often switching in the middle of a dance.
Victor was the one who finally rescued her from the dance floor leading her to a table to get something to drink. "Where's Heath?" he asked. He was certain now that he would never have a shot with Violetta as long as Heath was around. So he had given up wanting to pursue her. But he did remain her friend.
Life was weird in that way. Sometimes people you see as enemies can become friends over time, and vise versa. Violetta was worried though. "I'm not too sure," she admitted. "Can you help me find him?"
Victor nodded, and the two of them snuck out so they could go and search for Heath. When they found him he was behind a tree. He was scraped, dried blood was on his clothes, and it looked like his arm may have been broken. Violetta stayed with Heath, and Victor ran to get her parents. Heath's parents never came to school. Not even when he was first signed up. No one knew what his parents looked like. They did however see Violetta's parents drop Heath off with Violetta on some weekends. This furthered the theory that there was a politically aligned betrothal set up between them, which meant Amistad and Laura were related to any problem involving Heath.
Laura came rushing out first. She looked really worried. Victor had found her first. She had someone else go and call Amnistad.
She rushed over and told them not to move Heath. She had already contacted the emergency services with a signal while she ran out. Violetta was crying, Heath was passed out and Victor was so pale it looked like he had no more blood for his face. She was heath's breathing, and she knew he was alive. She felt his pulse. It was steady.
Amistad soon followed and found them pretty quickly. He bent and gently tried to wake the injured boy.
Heath stirred. He looked up at Amistad. "Uncle Stad my arm hurts."
Laura thought Heath called Amistad that way because of Meiri. She had tried really hard to not like this boy, but hearing this Laura's heart broke for the boy. She knew her husband being secretive was no reason to blame a child. She was just being irrational because she was angry.
"What happened sweety," Laura said as she dug around for a handkerchief.
"There was a baby bird, and then I fell," Heath muttered. "I'm sorry." Heath knew Laura didn't like his mother. He couldn't help it though. The baby bird could have gotten hurt if he had just left it on the ground.
"No baby," Laura said, "You were just helping the baby bird right?"
She was wiping some of the blood off Heath's head when Amistad saw the emergency signal on her communicator lit up. His face went pale. How long ago did you send that? Laura furrowed her brows. She knew Amistad refused to go to the hospital or the doctor for any reason. He always called the doctor over to their home. He even argued that Violetta couldn't go. But this was an emergency.
"How long have you had that on?" He looked almost angry.
"Just a few moments" I just got here right before you.
"Turn it off!" He exclaimed and without giving her a chance to react reached out and turned it off for her. He quickly said into the recorder as an explanation that hitting the emergency signal was an accident. There was no need to come.
"We gotta go," Amistad had checked, there was no pain on Heath other than his arm and he had hit his head. The emergency services would probably come fairly soon. "This might hurt a bit," he explained to Heath as he lifted him up.
Laura, seeing the panicked expression her husband had did not argue, and followed bringing Violetta in tow. Victor looked confused and panicked about the whole situation.
"He's afraid of the Doctor's," Laura lied to Victor. "Go on back to the party. We'll take care of Heath."
Victor nodded. He decided that it was best to keep this event to himself. He did not have a good feeling about telling others about this.
In the mechanical carriage out of the school grounds they passed the emergency services going in. Amistad breathed a sigh of relief.
"Amistad…" Laura began. She had never seen him like this. Even for Violetta's birth they had a home birth. Amistad had argued that it would be much more precious that way. The doctor who had done the birth was a friend of Amistad's. They had not had any emergencies until today. She didn't understand this aversion to hospitals, or clinics.
"At the house," He explained as he called his doctor friend. Amistad debated inside whether it would be better to tell Laura a part of the truth, or leave her in the dark for her own safety.
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