Chapter Text
Is it a bad thing to want something so much? The feel of touch, human touch, that you haven't felt since you left your mothers warm chest. Air. Cool, breezy air that doesn't smell like bleach and makes goosebumps rub down your entire lifeless body. Love. From people who you want to see, not who you are forced to see. From someone who actually cares..not who uses you to get their paycheck. You sit there, on your small, bland twin sized bed and wonder "Will I ever get to be happy?"
...
"Get to it, child. Idle hands make the devils workshop." snaps Sister Woodhouse.
"Sorry, Sister. I'll get right to it." Betty says as to not anger the nun.
Sister Woodhouse. One of the many old, bitter nuns that run the orphanage, The Sisters of Quiet Mercy. It's basically an old, run down church that the town uses to harbor 'children without a present guardian', as some liked to say. It made Bettys' blood boil when she heard people call orphans that.
I'm an orphan, just say it. It's not that hard to do.
She knew they did it as to not hurt her feelings though, so she guessed she appreciated it. But that also made Bettys' blood boil. It made her feel..sheltered.. fragile..weak. Betty was a lot of things, but she wasn't weak. She hated being seen as someone who needed to be looked after. Someone who needed to be tread around lightly. Betty could look after herself, always has been, always will.
Betty quickly gets back to folding the clothes, and soon after, they call for lunchtime. Bettys stomach is practically seismic with the mention of lunch, but she refuses to eat whatever green slop they put in front of her. Apparently, it's meatloaf ,but it moves like it's some gelatinous jello.
She opts to go to the library instead, the only place she can truly be free. No one goes in there expect for the occasional cleaning crew, but Betty is practically invisible unless she needs to be seen. A talent she uses to her advantage. She discovered the library while doing one of her chores. Betty was ordered to the janitors closet to mop up some coffee that one of the Sisters dropped (she's sure it was on purpose,they love seeing the kids suffer), but found the double doors to the library instead.
She soon fell in love with the literary that filled the shelves, especially the romance section. With titles like, The Fault in Our Stars, Everything, Everything, or her personal favorite, Romeo and Juliet,they gave her hope. Hope that she'll leave one day. Hope that she'll feel again.
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"Children! I would like to have your attention. We have a new addition to the.."
Bettys mind faded out at that. Every time the orphanage had an 'addition', it meant another kid was being added to the mix. It didn't really make sense, the orphanage was overcrowded anyways.
"Elizabeth,"
Betty freezes at the mention of her name, worried they caught her daydreaming and she'd be punished. Forced to do cafeteria duty, scrubbing every inch of every bathroom with a toothbrush, or worse.. whipped. Betty herself has never been whipped before, too afraid to do something that would ever get her a whipping besides sneaking off to the library of course, but she didn't want this to be her first. She's heard horror stories of kids not being able to walk for months just because they didn't finish their chores in time. Betty was silently praying it was nothing bad, they just needed her help with something..
"Yes, Sister?"
she says hesitantly.
"Forsythe here will be bunking with you, child. I trust you will give him a friendly face to remember."
Oh...Forsythe,what a name..
Betty looks up, and is startled by what she sees.
A boy. He's a boy.
There's rarely any boys at the orphanage. The ones that are there are either under the age of thirteen, or just plain weird. So, Betty has never made friends with any boys. Betty hasn't really made friends with anyone. There was one girl, Ethel, that she said hi to on the occasion that the Sisters let her out of her room. The Sisters were always so cruel to Ethel, and Betty never knew why. She was a sweet girl, and obedient too. Betty always thought that if she got out of the orphanage, maybe she would come back for Ethel,too.
"Of course, Sister."
Betty says as she looks at him and gives him a smile. Not a genuine one, but one that's enough to catch his eye.
The nun walks away, leaving Betty and Forsythe alone.
"You're certainly easy on the eyes."
Forsythe says with a smirk, causing Bettys breath to catch.
"Oh, well thank you.."
Betty doesn't really know how to respond to that. She's never been complimented before, let alone been called pretty. He didn't exactly call her pretty, but Betty felt as if it counted as so.
He's not ugly, either.
Betty thinks, catching her own self off guard. Betty can't focus on boys right now, she needs to worry about getting out of this horrid place first. Betty shakes her head and then walks back over to her folding station, signaling for Forsythe to follow. Once they reach it, Betty slowly slides him over a stack of clothes, and looks at him, intending that she's going to show him how to fold. Forsythe just lets out a laugh and says,
"Thanks, Blondie, but I'm pretty sure I know how to fold."
"I'm just doing what the nun instructed me to do. Have at it, then."
Betty says back with a light blush on her cheeks.
Blondie.
What kind of name is Blondie? No one has ever called Betty anything other than her real name, Elizabeth. Betty is just a nickname she made for herself, she hates her real name. It never fit her, and she doesn't think it ever will. Blondie though..maybe it's something she could get used to. Betty decides that she likes Blondie.