Chapter One: Hopes and dreams

My facial expression changed too bright and lit up when I saw this ad in The New York Times. The ad went as follows:

Pendas and Apriliquoy!

At Pendas and Apriliquoy’s Village

Curing centers we care for and love

Your animals as well as find cures

For uncured animal diseases. Some

Diseases that we have cured are

Cancer, Scomkp ( a rare biting

disease), Caalch ( a disease where

there is a problem in your eye where

You should not be able to see but can.)

, and even dissolving noncancerous

Tumors! Signed: Cole Pendas April Apriliquoy

more

Oh my Gosh! This was amazing! These Cole and April people had actually Cured cancer. “Shay,” I yelled to my foster mother

“Ya, Dani?” she asked back.

“Can I borrow your cell for a sec?” I said.

“Sure hun, Why?” she asked with confusion.

“Well . . . ,” I tried to explain. “I was reading this ad in The Times and these people names Cole and April actually cured cancer for animals!” I said stressing the word cured.

“Hun, animals are not the same as people,” she said.

“I know Shay but can’t I at least try? We have been looking for this kind of person ever since I was diagnosed,” I said.

“But hu-,” “Just give me your cell!!” I screamed after interrupting Shay.

“What if they can’t d-,” “They can try!” I screamed even louder after interrupting her again.

“Okay, fine Dan we’ll go tomorrow,” she said knowing that the argument was over and that I had won.

After the argument with Shay I left my room ,which was where the fight had taken place, walked over to the stairs, slid down the sleek purple banister ( Shay is a sucker for deep violet) and walked over to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door, grabbed an ice tea bottle and took a sip. “Ugh... it is so boring in this house,” I said to myself under my breath. Then I racked my brains for ideas to make it fun and decided to call my friend Sai. I picked up the phone and dialed: 843-459-3280. Ring ring ring ring ring the phone went until Sai picked up.

“ Qveax residence , Sai here,” Sai said sounding all adult-like.

“Hey Sai, do you wanna come and hang out at my house. I have important news to tell you,” I said. Then I thought about how I never actually borrowed Shay’s cell to call the cancer cure people. I thought about asking again but then remembered that I was still on the phone.

“Oh... sure. To save ourselves from being bored when I get there let’s decide what to do after you tell me your news,” she said.

“Okay... let’s go swimming! You know, in Lake Inotcle. The one that we kept talking about going in but never got around to it,”

“That’s brilliant! I would need to borrow one of your suits because at Virginia Beach I left mine at our beach house,” she explained.

“K whatever,” I replied.

“ Bye, I’ll see you in about five minutes,” she said. She hung up before I could say bye back. About five minutes later Sai arrived. Before I answered the door when Sai rang the door bell I yelled to Shay and told her that we were going home. She said that she could drive us when we were ready. Sai let herself in before I got to the door. “Hey, she said after she walked in.

“Let’s go up to my room,” I said. Then we flew upstairs and changed quickly so we could get there before it was dark. “Shay we are ready,” I yelled.

“Hello Mrs. Detrimule,” said Sai.

“ Sai, you know you can call me Shay,” Shay said. “ how would you like it if I called you Ms. Qveax?” she asked jokingly. Then after we all laughed we climbed into Shay’s mini van. Sai and I climbed into the back and then I remembered that I forgot to tell her about Cole and April.

“Guess What!?” I whispered in Sai’s ear.

“What?” she questioned.

“So we all no that I have cancer, right?” I said.

“Ya, I don’t really like to talk about it. Whenever I do I think that any moment you will be hospitalized and we can’t be friends anymore,”she said sounding worried.

“OOOOKKKKAAAYYY... well so I was reading this ad in The Times today and it said that these people named Cole Pendas and April Apriliquoy Cured cancer for animals,”

“Oh My Gosh!” Sai said.

“ I know but then Shay was like ‘people are not animals’ and I was like ‘ these people can at least try’ then I won the fight and we decided that Shay could take me tomorrow to their curing center village,” I said excitedly.

“What are you going to tell them?” Sai said.

“I dunno I’ll probably just ask if they could try to cure me and that I could work for them to pay it off,” I explained.

“That’s cool,” she said. “I really hope it wor-,” but Sai was cut off by a sudden BAM! It wasn’t like it was bad or anything but it just gave us a jolt because Shay just stopped suddenly.

“We are here,” said Shay. Then we climbed out of the car and started to run towards the bright blue lake. Sai dived in and I did a cannon ball.

“Oh My Gosh! It is so COLD in this lake!” I said. After a while we got used to the cold. We swam for about two hours in silence. We both loved swimming so much that when we do it is like we are in our own little world... or heaven. Then it started to get really dark so we climbed out of the lake.

“By the way, I love your swim suits!” Sai said pointing to our purple (again with shay’s thing with purple) suits. Sai picked up her little juke of a cell phone and dialed her mom’s cell. “Hey mom! Can you come and get Dani and I from the lake? Thanks, love ya. Bye!” Sai said to her mom.

“Let’s get our towels so we won’t get so cold,” I said dully.

“Fine,” Sai said just as dully.

“Have you ever realized that life gets so boring when you turn 12?,” I said.

“Ya I kind of have,” Sai said.

“I have a secret,” I said.

“What is it?” she said sounding more interested.

“I know that you think that it is really weird that I don’t call Shay my mom but, I have a reason. She isn’t my mother. She is my foster mother. She couldn’t afford to adopt me so she fostered me. I have been living with her for about one year. I love her and everything but I just can’t call her my mom,” I said quietly. Sai gasped.

“I never knew,” she said.

“Most people at school don’t. Well nobody at school does actually. I can’t believe that school starts in only two weeks!” I said.

“7th grade is going to be so different. Weird...,” Sai said. Honk! Honk! Honk! Sai’s mom had arrived. Sai and I hurried over to Sai’s mom. “Thanks for coming mom,” Sai said.

“You’re my daughter what am I supposed to do, not come?” Mrs. Qveax said. We laughed hysterically for a couple of minutes. We sat in silence just because there was nothing to talk about. I started to study the palm of my hand while getting bored when Sai whispered in my ear, “Can I tell my mom about you and Shay?”

“Um... she already knows. Shay told her that she couldn’t tell you. She swore on her life, I promise,” I said.

“Oh,” she said.

“We’re here. It’s time for this ride to end and for Dani Detrimule to get out of this joint and join the world,” Mrs. Qveax said trying to sound funny. Nobody laughed.

“ Thanks for the ride Mrs. Qveax,” I said. I opened the sliding door and walked over to The purple front door and touched the handle which was freezing cold. “Shay, I am home,” I yelled. Then I slipped off my shoes and socks and waited for an answer. Nothing came. I walked over to the garage to see if her sleek purple Lincoln was still there. It wasn’t. I figured she just went to the store to buy a couple of groceries. I decided that I should probably call her. I poked around the rooms in the house looking for the phone. I found it in the library. Shay had a very large library filled with millions of books. She was an editor. She set out about 50 books in a certain section. Those were the one’s she had edited.

I went to her mahogany editing desk , grabbed the phone and dialed her number. Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring. “I’m not here right now please leave a message,” Shay’s ringing voice said. Beep. “Hey, mom. I was just wondering where you were. Sai’s mom came and picked us up from the lake. I tried again. This time I was more lucky. She answered on the fourth ring.

“Hey, hun. I am sorry that I didn’t answer before. My cell got lost in my tote. I am just picking you up some school clothes,” she finished.

“K, love ya. Bye,” I said.

“See you in a couple of minutes. Bye,” Shay said back. Then we both hung up. I decided that I would watch American Idol. Before I turned on the television I grabbed another Ice tea. Then I sunk into the purple couch , grabbed the remote and started to watch. Thirty minutes later my mom got home. “Sorry I took so long. Bad accident on the highway,”Shay said.

“It’s fine,” I said while I took a sip of tea. This episode was extremely funny because Simon Cowell told this kid that his face looked like he had stole it from an oversized monkey. Ha. It was about 10:30 when I slipped into bed. My purple silk sheets warmed my skin at the touch. My tempur-pedic bed was so comforting even though I was fully awake when my head cushioned my pillow I fell asleep right away. I had a dream. It was great. I found Cole and April and they cured my cancer. But when I woke up I remembered that none of that happened and that I still had cancer. I then got out of bed and changed into my normal clothes. They were a purple shirt and blue jeans. My shoes were black. I had this really cool jacket that was black but it had spurts of gray and blue everywhere. I wear that all the time. Even in Arizona summer. Just because it looks cool. I opened my door and walked over to Shay’s room. I knocked on the door.

“It’s opened,” Shay said. I opened the door .

“Can you please drive me over to the Pendas and Apriliquoy village curing center?” I asked.

“In a minute. I still have to get dressed and have my morning coffee,” she said.

“Getting dressed takes like two seconds and we can stop at Starbucks and buy some kind of coffee,” I said.

“Okay, we can leave in a couple of minutes,” she said. I walked downstairs and got myself another iced tea. I love iced tea. Then I went in my room again and grabbed my ipod. I put the white earphones in my ears and started to listen to Your Guardian Angel by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Then I went into the mini van. Shay never let’s anyone but herself in her Lincoln. She is weird like that. I still love her, though. A few minutes later my mom climbed into the drivers seat. She put in the key and put the car in reverse. She backed out of our long driveway, Then we drove to the quad. The quad is a parkland that has many places to eat and things in it. We got out of the car and walked towards Starbucks. When Shay opened the door and that ring went off. Then we walked to the desk where you order things.

“I would like a...number two the cappuccino with cream and milk.” Shay said.

“I would like a vanilla coffee frap,” I said.

“Okay, that would be 6.69 please,” The lady at the door said. Shay handed the lady a MasterCard and then Shay signed the receipt. Then we walked over to the car and climbed in. I was starting to shake I was so scared of what would happen next. Shay put the address of the place into the G.P.S.. The shaking was getting worse and worse and more frequent. I kept taking sips of the cold frap and I am sure that was not helping my shivering. As we crept up closer to the curing village I got more nerves come and jump inside me. By now I was shaking uncontrollably.

“Sh-sh-shay. Are we almost there?” I asked.

“Yes we’ll be there very soon,” Shay said. After a while I saw huge bright golden gates with the words Pendas and Apriliquoy Village Curing center at the top. The car went up to the gates and waited. After a while the P in Pendas and the A in apriliquoy turned from a deep shade of red to a bright green. The gates then swiftly opened. Shay figured that she should go in so she did. We drove past many large cages occupied by so many different kinds of animals for a couple of minutes. Then we came upon a large Building and on the top it said Visitors Center near the top. Shay and I got out of the car and walked slowly up to the front door. As we walked in I noticed the lady at the front desk. She was beautiful. I know that sounds weird because I am a girl but she was. She was absolutely astounding. Her blonde long hair fit her face and body amazingly. Her head was shaped perfectly and her deep sky blue eyes were in perfect alignment. She had the most amazing smile that I was sure I would ever see in my life again. I was so amazed with her face that I almost didn’t see her little name tag pinned to her jackets pocket.

The tag said April Apriliquoy. “She looks amazing,” Shay said.

“I Know,” I said under my breath while I strode toward April. “Can I speak to the person in charge of this joint?” I asked a little more aggressively than attempted.

“That would be Cole and I but Cole really is the head Honcho, I guess,” she said in a voice that surprised me. She sounded kind of like she was from South Africa or something of that sort. April then picked up the phone dialed a number that was impossible to see and waited. Then after a couple of seconds she said, “ Dr. Pendas, you have a visitor,” she said.

“Who is it,” I heard a voice with a Scottish accent come out of the receiver. April then mouthed ‘ What is your name’ to me.

“Detrimule. Dani Detrimule,” I whispered.

“Her name is Dani Detrimule,” April said.

“ Well tell her I will be with her in a moments time,” he said through the receiver. I knew that I would never be able to get over that pronounced Scottish accent.

“Well, you heard him. You can take a seat over there,” she said as she directed me over to a small lime green couch. I sat down and at first thought that the couch vibrated but soon realized that it was just her with her shaking again. I felt like I was going to throw up. Shay came and sat next to me and took my hand.

“If this doesn’t work or they can’t do it you can’t be to disappointed,” she said trying too comfort me but was really just making it all worse. I didn’t tell her this of course. I was nicer than that. Then I heard a shuffle of feet, looked up and got my first glimpse of Cole Pendas. I stood up quickly feeling my stomach do a flip. There was only one way that I could look at this man. As my potential Savior.