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Dereka Lotus Pellins. She stood by the entrance, her arms wrapped around her bag. If she just took one more step...just a tiny step...it would be the hardest thing she had ever done. Derek looked behind her one last time, as though she could see the world she left behind. As though she could see her old school, and Mama Cook in her kitchen, the warm smells that flew in through her open window in the summer. The flowers that fell through the window in the fall, and the snow piling up in the winter. She closed her eyes as though she could smell that birthday cake. Taste it on her lips. Hear Mama and Ms. Gralden singing happy birthday. Had that only been a month ago? That was before she knew she was leaving...no, not just leaving. Seeing Tristan again. Just one step, and she would begin yet another journey. On far more dangerous than the last, but not near the peril of the next.
Taking a deep breath, Derek lifted her foot to move, when she was slammed into from behind. Books scattered and pencils flew. That step soon became a leap, and a failed struggle to keep from falling. She hit the ground and groaned. "Well, that wasn't quite what I expected...Watch where you're going!" she added to the girl that had knocked her down, but she just kept going as though she couldn't see Derek at all. More girls where pouring out of the buildings and Derek scrambled to pick up the rest of her stuff before it got to trampled.